Match Report: 11.10.2014 - Steelers v Blaze CC

Saturday 11^th October 2014 – Sheffield Steelers (4-1-1) v Coventry Blaze (1-2-1) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face-off: 7pm, Challenge Cup

Sheffield Steelers – 3
Colton Fretter PP
Gord Baldwin
Tyler Mosienko PS

Coventry Blaze – 1
Derek Lee

Steelers final home game in the challenge cup games got underway and Sheffield saw the return of Rod Sarich after injury which was his first game back in the arena. Sheffield would get an early powerplay in the game as Mark Smith was called two minutes for high sticking and it was a fantastically built played powerplay with some great passing and movement which also saw Roy go close as he tipped Baldwin’s shot wide from the blue line but on 3:19 Gord Baldwin took a shot from the left hand circle as Roy got a touch on it and it fell nicely for Fretter to shoot into the open goal for an early lead. They wouldn’t be in the lead for long though as Coventry would hit back on 4:14 after Doyle made two saves off but a rebound would fall onto the stick of Derek Lee who had the whole goal to aim at and levelled the game at 1-1. Coventry would have a power play of their own when Rod Sarich was thrown in the box for Interference and it would be an aggressive penalty kill by the home team but Doyle would make some cracking saves as Derek Lee tried his luck for his second of the game by shooting through traffic on the blue line but Doyle would catch it in the glove and not soon after Ryan O’Marra would attempt to shoot through the five hole but Doyle saved comfortably. Sheffield must have been feeling confident when Mike Forney from the neutral zone attempted to chip Brian Stewart in the Coventry goal but on 11:41 Sheffield would take the lead again as Gord Baldwin picked up the puck assisted by Latulippe and Mosienko and he’d skate in front of goal and managed to make the Blaze netminder make the first move before slotting into the goal on the backhand for a 2-1 score line. Sheffield would be creating some fantastic play so far and Eddy forced a glove save out of Stewart and then Sheffield thought they’d scored a third as Mosienko found himself in front of goal and fired one off the post it looked in but Mike Hicks said no goal only replays would show in the week but two goals in two weeks he’s said no too and we know that last weeks he got wrong. Sheffield would go on the power play and Gord Baldwin at the back door would tip a puck over the post with an effort that looked easier to score than miss. The period was getting physical with both teams laying down the hits and both netminders making good saves for their teams but Sheffield would take a 2-1 lead into the break.

End of the 1st Period: Sheffield Steelers 2–1 Coventry Blaze

Shots on Goal: Steelers 18-8 Blaze

Blaze started the second session strong looking to find a way past Doyle and the Sheffield netminder would pad an early shot wide and Forney would pick it up and he’d be away an eventually the puck would land at the stick of Cullen Eddy and could only shoot into the body of Stewart. On 21:11 Mosienko found himself one on one with Stewart but he was brought down in front of goal and Hicks signalled for a penalty shot it would be Tyler Mosienko that would take the shot and he would skate on goal and he’d deke the puck before slotting a forehanded shot past Stewart to put the Steelers 3-1 up. Coventry would then find themselves back on the man advantage and the best chance fell to two ex Steelers as Tait would shoot from the blue line Goertzen would re-direct the puck for Doyle to cover it up for the whistle. James Griffin was then next to try and find a way past Doyle as Coventry broke 3 on 1 only for the Blaze forward to re-direct wide of the goal and should have really tested the Sheffield netminder but Doyle would make two saves as Tendler found himself at the back door and had two attempts and just couldn’t score. Luke Ferrara who was man of the match on Wednesday was trying to add to his tally as he tipped just wide of Stewarts goal and with Blaze on another powerplay O’Marra shot from the top of the circle through traffic but Doyle padded wide of the goal and with the clock ticking down in the 2^nd Frank Doyle made the save of the game actually it was probably the save of the month as Craig Cescon found himself all alone at the back post he had the whole goal to aim at but Doyle dives an made a spectacular body save and the would ensure Sheffield took a 3-1 lead into the break.
End of the 2nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 3–1 Coventry Blaze

Shots on Goal: Steelers 4–12 Blaze

Coventry came into the third period 3-1 down but was struggling to create a large amount of offence and Sheffield seemed to have the game under control as Roy would go very close to adding a fourth as he tipped Cullen Eddy’s shot just wide. Next up to try his luck was Mike Forney as he found himself all alone in front of goal but Stewart managed to get something on his shot and push it wide and he’d do it again a couple of minutes later. Smith found himself on the right hand boards and tried to find a tip in front of Doyle but the Sheffield netminder got it covered up as Sarich laid a big hit on Rory Rawlyk which left the crowd in the arena cheering. Ben Arnt would shoot wide of the goal and probably should have gave Doyle something to worry about and then Ashley Tait in front of goal forced a cover up from Doyle but left his stick in and Cullen Eddy took it on himself that isn’t nice to do. Coventry would have one final powerplay and Bochek would shoot wide of the goal before Derek Lee fired a slap shot from the blue line into the legs of Doyle and Goertzen would one against the blocker on 58:20 Brian Stewart was pulled for the extra attacker and came very close to pulling a goal back as Doyle made saves and Sheffield put bodies on the line to block shots and Coventry had ran out of ideas and the clock ticked down and Sheffield took the win.
Shots on Goal: Steelers 7–10 Blaze

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 3–1 Coventry Blaze

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

Sheffield  - 2-1-0-0-[8]-{1/3}-30

Coventry - 1-0-0-0-[6]-{0/4}-29

Sheffield Man of the Match: #3 Gord Baldwin
Coventry Man of the Match: #41 Brian Stewart

Sheffield Points Round Up:- 7 Points
Gord Baldwin (1+1), Mathieu Roy (0+1), Jay Latulippe (0+1), Tyler Mosienko (1+1), Colton Fretter (1+0)

Coventry Points Round Up:- 3 Points

Rory Rawlyk (0+1), Ashley Tait (0+1), Derek Lee (1+0)

Referee: #27 Mike Hicks

Referee:

Linesman: #36 Phil Sewell

Linesman: #38 Danny Beresford

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Tom
@TomWalkeden

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