Steelers Win Final Home League Game v Blaze: (EIHL) Match Report

Saturday 22nd March 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (30-16-4) v Coventry Blaze (23-21-6) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 7pm

Final home game of the regular season as Sheffield take on Coventry who are still looking for points to confirm a playoff spot, Teddy bear toss game of the season so who's going to score that 1st goal to bring on the teddy's.

The game got underway and within ten seconds Blaze were on the attack as Ashley Tait was played in down the right but saw his shot go high and over, it would be followed by Tait having another go but could only shoot wide and Dowd would pick up the puck and break down the right top lay in Kohn just inside the Blaze zone and saw his shot gloved down by Zacharias. Coventry would then have two glorious chances as Guthrie went blocker side on Doyle but saw his shot go over the net and then several minutes later Cale Tanaka showed some fantastic skating and got himself on to the breakaway and Sheffield showed some fantastic D to deny a goal scoring opportunity. Coventry would take the first penalty of the game as Tanaka was called for hooking was that was soon evened up within a minute as Legue went for hooking and with Coventry back to full strength and a terrible turnover by the Steelers Doyle would have to save off Ryan Ginand back hand. Fata had two chances with Sheffield back on the power play but would see both his shots shoot over and wide. Would be several penalties called as Ginand and Spencer had words with each other and then within a couple of minutes Ryan Ginand just seemed to have lost it as something had happened on the benches which resulted in him hitting the boards with his stick before he attempted to hit the sanction in between the two benches. Just a couple of minutes late Frank Doyle had to save of Ginand who had the whole of the goal to aim at but couldn't get it past the catcher. With the Steelers back to full strength after a Lacroix tripping call the Steelers forward broke with Chris Blight in support but after passing to a Blight only saw the shot go wide. Doyle was called upon one final time as he had to knee pad a 1 on 1 effort by Shea Guthrie wide to keep the scores at 0-0 at the end of the 1st.

End of the 1st Period: Sheffield Steelers 0-0 Coventry Blaze
Shots on Goal: Steelers 10-7 Blaze

Sheffield started the second period brightly as Dowd skated in the Blaze zone 2 on 1 only to be denied by the post that would be followed by a Coventry power play which was easily killed by the Steelers as Coventry proved no threat on the man advantage. Sheffield would soon get a 5 on 3 power play chance and Legue had two great chances, one he put into the side netting of the goal before his second one was caught by Zacharias. Langlais would lay a hit on Ginand and then for some reason Ginand came from behind of Langlais and got him from behind on the face and then received nothing but he officials and then up at the other end Dowd would hit the post for a second time in the game. The second period seem to go by as it seemed like an exhibition game which it basically was for the Steelers with both goaltenders having to stand up and save decent goal scoring opportunities. The buzzer would go for another goal scoring chance but before that Meyer was denied by Zacharias for then Benn Olson to show his thuggish side from behind which didn't go down nicely with Stefan's teammates but the scores would still be deadlocked at the end of 2.
End of the 2nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 0-0 Coventry Blaze
Shots on Goal: Steelers 15-9 Blaze

Sheffield again started the period strong and saw Chris Blight's shot from the blue line blocked wide, and then Lacroix provided the loudest cheer in the arena of the night so far as it saw Ginand bounce back of him as well as another Coventry player in front of Zacharias's goal. Zacharias would soon be saving again then after a great pass from Lacroix to play in Langlais, Coventry began to get frustrated and brought out their physical side as Meyer received a big hit of Mike Egener followed by Coventry's Tanaka putting in a nasty hit from behind on Blight which saw the Steelers forward down injured and also saw the Coventry man receive a 2+10 penalty for the hit. Blaze however successfully killed the power play and wold soon see a glorious chance go a miss as Sheffield were struggling to clear their lines and Coventry couldn't find a way into the open goal. There would be some 4 on 4 hockey but not long after Sheffield would be back on the power play after Benn Olson elbowed DiCasmirro and received a two minute penalty and a penalty I was surprised wasn't extended for abuse to an official from inside the penalty box, And finally on 54:31 the first goal of the night was finally scored and it was a power play goal scored by Dustin Kohn when he fired a lovely little slap shot from the blue line to beat Zacharias down low with assisted of Legue and Lacroix and would bring on the teddies which involved the players helping to tidy up the teddy bear toss which looked amazing. Coventry had one final power play chance but couldn't find a way past Doyle who had been outstanding all night and then on 59:03 with Zacharias pulled the Steelers broke with Chris Blight who played in Maxime Lacroix to score into the empty net and help Sheffield win 2-0 on a Saturday night against Coventry.
Shots on Goal: Steelers 11-7 Blaze

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 2-0 Coventry Blaze

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield  - 0-0-2-0-[20]-{1/8}-36
Coventry - 0-0-0-0-[34]-{0/5}-23

Sheffield Man of the Match: #1 Frank Doyle
Coventry Man of the Match: #1 Mike Zacharias

Referee: #27 Mike Hicks
Referee:
Linesman: #23 Lee Young
Linesman: #14 James Kavanagh

So a very successful teddy bear toss which looked fantastic, and it was a strong performance and was a game played in playoff style only a week before the playoffs actually start and it is looking like the Coventry Blaze that the Steelers will face in the quarter finals. That also turned out to be Frank Doyle's sixth shut-out of the season and it was also nice to see Marc Lefebrve back in the building.

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Tom
@TomWalkeden
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