Match Report: 20.9.2014 - Panthers v Steelers CC

Saturday 20^th September 2014 – Nottingham Panthers (1-0-0) v Sheffield Steelers (1-0-0) @ National Ice Centre. Face-off: 7pm, Challenge Cup

Nottingham Panthers – 2
Chris Lawrence
Brandon Benedict

Sheffield Steelers – 1
Jonathan Phillips

The first derby of the season, Kowalski in goal for the Panthers and Doyle in goal for the Steelers, Dean Smith was the referee for the night and what an interesting night he was going to have.

The game got underway and Nottingham got going the quicker with Jacina having the first shot of the night as he shot into the body of Doyle after some good puck possession by Nottingham in the Steelers zone but then not long after Steelers were on the penalty kill as Baldwin was called two minutes for cross checking and a great chance would fall to Cody Wild but he would only be able to shoot high and wide, Dowd would keep the pressure on in the Nottingham zone and would force a mistake out of the Panthers D and he would play the puck to Fretter who could only shoot into the body of Kowalski before Stevie Lee was next to try his luck from the blue line but Doyle padded it wide as Steelers returned to full strength before Doyle up to his old tricks again performing a fantastic save of Lawrence left all alone at the back door. Steelers would go close after a Thomas mistakes let in Nottingham some good defensive play stole the puck back for Sarich to play in Latulippe who shot into the body of Kowalski just before Fretter tipped wide from a Roy pass. Then the decisions started as Latulippe was called two minutes for holding when it was clearly interference on the Steelers forward but it was soon levelled up as Graham was thrown in the box as well. Both teams back to full strength Dowd would break down the right to play to Latulippe skating in on goal but couldn’t re-direct the puck on target before the Steelers third line started putting pressure on the Nottingham goal but came up against a persistent Kowalski. Sheffield’s best opportunity of the 1^st period came on the power play when Cullen Eddy skates into the zone before passing to Forney on the left hand side who’s backhand pass found Mathieu Roy who just put his shot wide.

End of the 1st Period: Nottingham Panthers 0–0 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Panthers 13-13 Steelers

The second period got underway and it started in a physical manner as Di Diomete hit Stevie Lee into the boards hard to the amusement of the travelling support but Nottingham would continue to put pressure on when Mosey saw his shot just go wide followed by Kowalski denying Hewitt and Roy but on 24:32 Nottingham took the lead as the Panthers were putting on the pressure eventually the puck dropped to the left of Doyle and Lawrence skates on goal it looked like it went in off his skate but it happened that fast I think he was just trying to stop and there was no distinct kicking motion and Nottingham seem to kick on from there as Doyle had to perform some heroics to keep Sheffield in this game. Mid-way through the second Kowalski showed what such a good netminder he is when somehow he denied Dowd not one but twice with an open goal and there could have possibly been a third. Nottingham would soon be back on the power play and would be looking to score a second as Cody Wild fired a slap shot from the blue but Doyle managed to save it with the blocker before the Nottingham fans thought they’d scored again only to realise the puck was in the side netting of the goal and Bruce Graham would also see an attempt go through the crease as Sheffield successfully killed the penalty, one again the third line was performing this time Hewitt putting on pressure and showing a fair bit of speed which I wasn’t use to seeing Steelers would have another powerplay as Jacina was given two minutes for boarding on Fretter but Nottingham would kill it and then on 37:48 assisted by Hewitt and Dowd, Kowalski made a save of the British bulldog and the puck would bounce in front of goal for Jonathan Phillips to slot it past Kowalski and level the score.
End of the 2nd Period: Nottingham Panthers 1–1 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Panthers 17–8 Steelers

Third period got underway and Sheffield attempted to get on the front foot as Fretter shot straight into the body of Kowalski from just inside the neutral zone and then a poor giveaway by Baldwin let Lachowicz in but Steelers defended well and then Forney saw his back hand go just wide of Kowalski’s goal and then at the other end Doyle was making a glove save of Robinson. Some fantastic work by Dowd behind Kowalski’s goal saw him pass to Baldwin on the left hand board but his wrist shot only went as far as the glove of Kowalski. Nottingham would start piling on the pressure and eventually would be rewarded after missing several chances Panthers took the lead again on 45:56 when Doyle made a save the puck fell to Brandon Benedict to shoot into the open goal. There would be a lot of one way traffic with Nottingham controlling the majority of the third period having long periods of pressure in the Sheffield zone in which the Steelers struggled to clear their zone at times and brought even more pressure on themselves. It was almost 3-1 when Doyle had to make a diving save to deny Jacina at the back door. Sheffield were trying to create some offence but couldn’t break down a resilient Nottingham defence and ended up giving up 2 challenge cup points as Sheffield tasted their first defeat of the season.
Shots on Goal: Panthers 21–6 Steelers

FINAL SCORE: Nottingham Panthers 2–1 Sheffield Steelers

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)

Nottingham - 0-1-1-0-[8]-{0/10}-51

Sheffield       - 0-1-0-0-[30]-{0/4}-27

Nottingham Man of the Match: #26 Brandon Benedict
Sheffield Man of the Match: #1 Frank Doyle

Nottingham Points Round Up:- 5 Points
Evan Mosey (0+1), Chris Lawrence (1+0), Bruce Graham (0+1), Brandon Benedict (1+0), Greg Jacina (0+1)

Sheffield Points Round Up:- 3 Points

Jason Hewitt (0+1), Jonathan Phillips (1+0), Phil Hill (0+1)

Referee: #26 Dean Smith

Referee:

Linesman: #22 Paul Staniforth

Linesman: #15 Sam Motton

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Let's Go Steelers!

Tom
@TomWalkeden
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