Playoff 1/4 2nd Leg - Steelers v Blaze: (PO) Match Report

Tuesday 1st April 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (1-0-0) v Coventry Blaze (0-1-0) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 7.30pm

The final quarter final tie of the season, Sheffield have a one goal advantage! But can they hold on and make it to the final four in Nottingham.

Frank Doyle was in goal for the biggest game of the season for the Steelers and his opposite number Mike Zacharias was hoping to help his team overcome the first leg deficit. Tom Darnell got the game underway and the playoff hockey began. The game started in proper playoff fashion and it was the captain Steven Goertzen that led by example with a massive opening hit on Nejc Berlisk as Doyle had to catch the first shot of the game, It was an extremely gritty start with both teams playing a very physical game out on the Ice. Sheffield were trying to play from the back as Drew Fata would go from coast to coast but wouldn't be able to stay onside, the shots would start to fly in as first Doyle saved a shot from Egener from the blue before Dowd saw his back hand saved before almost tipping in a Stefan Meyer pass. The physicality of the game would continue as Lacroix was wiped out by Cale Tanaka in an end to end period and then on 08:24 assisted by Meyer and DiCasmirro, Dustin Kohn found himself all alone to the left of goal with a great snapshot that beat Zacharias to give Sheffield a one goal lead on the night. Sheffield wouldn't stop there though as Goertzen tried the wrap around on Zacharias but saw his shot saved, Ashley Tait then missed a great chance for Coventry as he tipped just over the goal before Goertzen played a great pass on to Lacroix's stick but he shot was saved by Zacharias from just in front. Coventry were trying to put the pressure on as Henrich missed a golden opportunity to level the game with the goal gaping before Ginand tried a neat turn only to end up involved in a tussle in front of Doyle's goal as the Sheffield goaltender covered up the puck.
End of the 1st Period: Sheffield Steelers (4) 1-0 (2) Coventry Blaze
Shots on Goal: Steelers 7-3 Blaze

Second period got underway with Sheffield having a two goal advantage but Doyle had to stand big performing a blocker save from Berlisk that was followed by some fantastic stick handling by DiCasmirro who chipped the puck over a Coventry D man but saw his follow up shot saved by Zacharias. The first penalties would finally being called as we would see two lots of 4 on 4 hockey but both Doyle and Zacharias made some great saves before Jonathan Phillips had everyone of their seats had they had thought he had scored after a great pass by Spencer but Phillips just shot wide and that was followed by a Coventry time out as the Blaze were being completely outplayed but on 30:51 Gord Baldwin fired a great shot from the blue line through traffic that was tipped in by Dowd to send the Motorpoint crazy and just a couple of minutes later Tanaka was penalised two minutes for elbows and it didn't take Sheffield long to make the power play when on 34:25 DiCasmirro played to Dowd after a cheeky spin and Dowd had the easy work to score into the empty net and just under a minute later Maxime Lacroix caught a puck and fired his trademark slap shot past Zacharias followed by a fist pump in the air for a 4-0 Sheffield lead with a quiet a large aggregate lead. Zacharias was soon up to the heroics again as he denied a Stefan Meyer wrap around, Coventry would then go on the power play as Goertzen took a slap shot to the skate from Michael Devin before Frank Doyle was saving a Ginand shot from the point followed by a frustrated Tanaka seeing his goal bound shot saved by Doyle and would see the man advantage run out.
End of the 2nd Period: Sheffield Steelers (7) 4-0 (2) Coventry Blaze
Shots on Goal: Steelers 18-6 Blaze

Coventry came into the third period with a give goal deficit to try and overcome and started it in the right fashion very early on 41:52 as Coventry scored as Ross Venus fired a slap shot and very nicely slotted it under Doyle assisted by Ryan Ginand but that would be all that the Blaze would have to shout about as Sheffield would take control and would have several goal scoring opportunities go begging as Lacroix was denied on two occasions and the traditional playoff hockey came back up as Drew Fata landed a massive hit on Tanaka which seemed to displease the Blaze forward. Ginand would then go onto miss an open goal but at the other end Lacroix saw his shot rebound back out to him but could only shoot over the open goal. On 54:09 Duston Kohn assisted by DiCasmirro and Dowd shot into the open goal after some neat passing work to score Sheffield's second power play goal of the game and Kohn's second goal of the game and at that point the fans knew they was going to Nottingham at the weekend. Doyle was called upon one final time as he had to cover up a Wilson shot in a period that had seen a lot of neutral zone hockey but their was still time for one final goal on 57:14 Danny Meyers received the puck on the blue line near the Blaze bench and fired a fierce slap shot past Zacharias to make it 6-1 to the Steelers and send the Motorpoint Arena into raptures. The clock would run down and bring a fantastic night to and end for the Steelers

Shots on Goal: Steelers 11-11 Blaze

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers (9) 6-1 (3) Coventry Blaze

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield  - 1-3-2-0-[6]-{2/2}-36
Coventry - 0-0-1-0-[8]-{0/1}-20

Sheffield Man of the Match: #13 Nate DiCasmirro
Coventry Man of the Match: #21 Ashley Tait

Referee: #9 Tom Darnell
Referee:
Linesman: #14 James Kavanagh
Linesman: #31 Ally Flockhart

After two years away from the playoff finals weekend the Steelers finally make it back with a 9-3 aggregate win against the Coventry Blaze which certainly gets revenge after last season and Sheffield will take on the Braehead Clan on Saturday evening in the semi-final match. See You In Nottingham Guys!!

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@TomWalkeden
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