Match Report: 21.9.2014 - Steelers v Giants EC/EIHL

Sunday 21^st September 2014 – Sheffield Steelers (2-0-0) v Belfast Giants (3-0-0) @ Ice Sheffield. Face-off: 5pm, Erhardt Conference/Elite League

Sheffield Steelers – 3
Jason Hewitt
Cullen Eddy
Colton Fretter

Belfast Giants – 2
Adam Keefe
Robby Sandrock

With the four man system in play, Steelers started the game with their 2^nd line with Doyle in goal for the Steelers and Murphy in goal for the Giants this is the first time these teams had met since the playoff final in April and it was the Steelers who had the first shot of the period as Darrel Hay saw his wrist shot from the blue line comfortably saved by Murphy but Giants were still looking for payback from that final defeat and took the lead on 2:21 when Giants forward Evan Cheverie had possession of the puck to the right of Doyle’s goal before turning and making a pass for Giants captain Adam Keefe to pick up near the face-off circle to fire it through Doyle for a 1-0 lead. Sawada should have made it 2-0 not long after but Doyle was able to make the save for his defence to then clear the zone then Murphy kept his side in the lead as he made a diving save from a shot on the point but on 5:17 there was nothing he could do to prevent Jason Hewitt levelling the score as J. Phillips broke up the left hand side and passed to Hewitt in front of Murphy’s goal for the British bulldog to take a touch and slot past Murphy on the delayed penalty. The game wouldn’t be level for too long with Shields sitting for interference Sheffield made their powerplay count as Mathieu Roy was on the attack in the Belfast zone attempting to get a shot away the puck fell to Eddy who took his chance and to give his side the first lead of the game on 11:22. Former Steeler Shields then tried to make up for his penalty when he tried his luck on goal but only saw his shot padded wide by Doyle, then a couple of minutes later Mike Kompon found himself in Sheffield’s zone and somehow managed to hit the crossbar through traffic followed by a poor turnover by the Steelers let in Cheverie at the top of the face-off circle but couldn’t get the puck past Doyle. Sheffield almost made it 3-1 when Fretter skated coast to coast to pass to Roy in front of goal but he couldn’t get it past the pads of Murphy and then Brookwell took a shot from the blue line but saw it tipped by McCutcheon onto the post.

End of the 1st Period: Sheffield Steelers 2–1 Belfast Giants

Shots on Goal: Steelers 11–15 Giants

Second period got underway with Belfast on the power play after an incident at the end of the 1^st involving Sandrock, Eddy and Fretter, Keefe was also involved but received nothing, Dowd also soon followed into the box but Sheffield showed some fantastic penalty killing as they defended as a team giving Doyle all the help he needed and if they couldn’t clear the zone they didn’t give up till they did though Doyle was seeing plenty of rubber but wasn’t taking any risks and was dealing with anything thrown at him, Dowd jumped out of the box and suddenly Sheffield had a 2 on 1 break but the pass to Roy was too far behind him and then in the next shift Colton Fretter came very close to scoring as he tipped Eddy’s slap shot just wide of Murphy’s goal. The scores were soon back level on 24:44 Sandrock was assisted by Darryl Lloyd to slot the puck past Doyle a nice move by the Giants but one where Steelers feel they should have been further ahead already but now found themselves level at 2-2. Dowd then had the next best chance to put the Steelers ahead again after Latulippe played to Dowd on the man advantage but fired his shot straight at the body of Doyle. Murphy almost had a head in hands moment when Roy skated into the Belfast zone and fired a wrist shot on goal that found its way under Murphy but the British netminder managed to turn around and get it covered up before it crossed the line then Latulippe skated into the zone and then turned and played a backhanded pass to Robert Dowd who fired one timer into the mask of Murphy, Doyle then had to make two catches of shots from the Giants 1^st line but couldn’t level the game before the buzzer.
End of the 2nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 2–2 Belfast Giants

Shots on Goal: Steelers 15–16 Giants

Third period started slowly with both team not wanting to take any risks in case of making any mistakes and the first real attack of the third came on 43:52 as Colton Fretter put the Steelers back ahead after a good play for Mike Forney the Steelers forward showed his quick hands to score his third goal for the club. Steelers were soon on the man advantage again and a spinorama move by Fretter saw him leave the puck for Forney to take into the zone but Cullen Eddy isn’t able to finish it off as Murphy was in the way. Belfast started to pile on the pressure was keeping Doyle busy especially when Doyle made a great reaction save as Saurette’s shot was deflected but Belfast were moving the puck well and looking for that one timer every time but Sheffield were putting bodies on the line or Frank Doyle was standing tall to what Belfast could conjure up. Some poor defensive play by the Steelers almost let Keefe in for his second of the game but Doyle was able to smother the puck into the body and then on the blue line David Phillips fired a slap shot through traffic to force a magnificent glove save out of Doyle but Sheffield didn’t make it easy for themselves on when on 58:02 Latulippe had to sit for holding and Belfast would finish the game on the power play and they was looking to level the game as a Sandrock slap shot went straight into the mask of Doyle before Sawada saw his re-directed shot covered up and with 90 seconds left Belfast pulled Stephen Murphy for the extra attacker but the best the Giants could do was when Cheverie sniped one against the post but the Steelers held on for the win.
Shots on Goal: Steelers 8-20 Giants

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 3–2 Belfast Giants

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

Sheffield - 2-0-1-0-[8]-{1/5}-0

Belfast    - 1-1-0-0-[12]-{0/3}-0

Sheffield Man of the Match: #1 Frank Doyle
Belfast Man of the Match: #6 Robby Sandrock

A massively important win for the Steeler as they don’t play a league game now till the 18^th October when they take on the Cardiff Devils at the Motorpoint Arena as Sheffield now play the rest of their challenge cup group games

Sheffield Points Round Up:- 8 Points
Cullen Eddy (1+0), Michael Forney (0+1), Mathieu Roy (0+1), Jason Hewitt (1+0), Rodney Sarich (0+1), Jonathan Phillips (0+1), Colton Fretter (1+1)

Belfast Points Round Up:- 6 Points

Robby Sandrock (1+0), Evan Cheverie (0+1), Mike Kompon (0+1), Adam Keefe (1+0), Darryl Lloyd (0+2)

Referee: #9 Tom Darnell

Referee: #27 Mike Hicks

Linesman: #23 Lee Young

Linesman: #22 Paul Staniforth

Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments please get in contact with the Frozen Steel Team on this article or via Twitter:-
@IAmMcCausland

@TomWalkeden
@AwkwardGinge
@FrozenSteelBlog

Check out the Frozen Steel Forum

or Email the team at frozen.steel.91@gmail.com

Let's Go Steelers!

Tom
@TomWalkeden
(Follow me on Twitter for Live Updates on Games)