Words: Jane Williams (@SteelGordita)
Photos: Jake Oakley (@SnapperJakeO)
The Bradfield Brewery Sheffield Steeldogs were back home following a great win in Swindon on Saturday night. Only Craig Elliott was missing from the regulars and he continued his turn as bench coach, complete with his arm in a sling.
The first period was a tetchy bad tempered affair with a succession of minor penalties. First Payette on a roughing call, minutes later Calvert and Luke Ferrara on boarding and roughing calls respectively. The game settled for a while with both teams skating well and making chances which the net minders were stopping with confidence. Peterborough had a short 5 on 3 power play as both Calvert and Morgan sat in the penalty box but did not capitalise on that opportunity.
Then the talking point of the first period came when Apelis took Gibson into the board at pace and Referee Miller sent the Phantom for an early shower with a Match penalty for Boarding at 17.58. Moments later Jeff Legue was through on goal, taking a wrap around the net but Hutchinson brought him down and the Steeldogs were then in receipt of a 5 on 3 themselves. The buzzer went and there were words exchanged on the ice. Tom Norton was given a 10 minute misconduct for abuse on the 20 minute mark.
The 2nd period got underway and the Steeldogs started well. At 22.06 Greg Wood beautifully redirected the puck home to open the scoring on a 5 on 3, assisted Legue and Korhon.
Soon after a mix up in the Dogs blue line gave Weldon a 1 on 1 but Sedlar spread himself and denied the Phantoms shooter. The lead didn’t last long and on 24.19 Peterborough levelled, Baranyk beating Sedlar with a back hander from close range on the power play. The home team responded well to the equaliser and got into their stride. 5 minutes of good work were rewarded when Legue stopped and double faked a sprawling Auzins on a pass from Wood. With confidence growing Korhon burst into the Phantoms zone and found Squires who had ghosted in at the back post to score his 12th of the year.
With the Steeldogs taking charge of the game the Phantoms called their time out. The 2nd period still had 2 minutes left in it when Korhon again proved to be a nightmare for the Phantoms. His skating left the defence flat footed, he made an inch perfect pass to Hirst, who fired in from the slot 38.01. A 4-1 score line at the end of 40 minutes reflected a hard working performance by the home team.
On the first attack of the final session Wood beat Auzins but his shot pinged off the post. A Phantoms power play failed and as the 2 minutes ran out Sheffield had a 3 on 1 but Gibson fired direct at the netminder. Ex-Dog Bebris then beat Sedlar only to hear the clang of the post. With the visitor’s spirits fading, Jeff Legue drove a stake through their hearts as he danced in and beat Auzins, making it 5-1 to the home team. At 49.33 Baranyk scored but no one realised (that's not meant to be funny...no one cheered, no one knew a goal had been scored). There was no mystery about the next goal as another Korhon super skate dragged Auzins out of position to give Hirst another gilt edged chance that he fired home.
The game finished with a convincing 6-2 score line to the Steeldogs. Man of the Match for the Phantoms was presented to Jason Buckman. Jeff Legue earned the beers with his performance for the Steeldogs. A spirited team performance, from Sedlar making the saves, to the defence who dealt with Peterborough’s forwards right through to the forward lines who added the points to their tallies (Wood, Korhon and Legue each having a 3 point night). A 4 point weekend, 11 goals scored, 4 goals conceded from 2 big wins.
Next weekend is a home double header. First up Telford Tigers on Saturday (7.30) and then the Brit Pack are back on Sunday (5.30) so come along to see Hirst, Day, Brownley, Barry and Shudra take on the Billingham Stars.
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