Match Report: 20.12.2014 - Steelers v Stingrays EIHL

Saturday 20^th December 2014 – Sheffield Steelers (17-5-1) v Hull Stingrays (9-10-3) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face-off: 7pm, Elite League

Sheffield Steelers – 5
Michael Forney – 1^st
Danny Bois (2) – 1^st, 3^rd ENG
Jonathan Phillips – 2^nd
Phil Hill – 3^rd

Hull Stingrays – 2
Cory Tanaka (2) – 2^nd PP, 2^nd SHG

The first game of the Yorkshire derby weekend got underway and it was Matthew Davies who had the first chance of the night as Doyle saved from him from just in front of goal but Sheffield skated it out and Mosienko replied with a shot that bounced in front of goal and Brown had to adjust to get the save on it. Sheffield took control and was very dominate and Brown was outstanding in the early stages of the game keeping out Dowd twice but the best chance was when Fretter went down the left squared one to Roy on his right but the Steelers top point scorer could only put on against the post. Sheffield let Hull into the game a little bit more as the visitors had a bit of dominance  after some good build up play the puck fell to Jordan Mayer who had already scored a few goals past the Steelers this season but his shot went high and wide just after Doyle made a glove save off him. Jordan Knox was next to try his luck but his first shot was deflected just wide and his second shot only went as far as the leg pads of Doyle. There was some end to end action and after some hard work by the Steelers second unit the puck fell to Eddy on the blue line but his shot goes just over but then the deadlock was broken at 11:26 when O’Connor’s shot was saved by Brown from the right of goal and the puck dropped nicely as Forney finished it off into the empty net for a 1-0 lead for the league leaders. Hull soon went on the penalty kill and killed it successfully not giving much up for the home side but Sheffield would eventually score a second at 16:15 when Phil Hill who was having a great shift had already seen one shot saved before he picked up the puck and saw another shot saved but the puck bounced off the pads of Brown and Bois fired it past the beaten Brown to make it 2-0 and score his first goal for the Steelers. Hull finished the first period on the penalty killing and was unlucky not to be back in the game but Osman, Tanaka and Hervato all saw shots saved from close range and Sheffield went into the break with a 2-0 lead.

End of the 1st Period: Sheffield Steelers 2–0 Hull Stingrays

Shots on Goal: Steelers 11-9 Stingrays

Hull came into the second period looking to get back into the game and both teams were getting physical with Yorkshire bragging rights at stakes no one was giving up and 10 year Thomas laid down two big hits one after another on Towner and there was soon a coming together after Doyle made a blocker save Hay was sent into Doyle to the dislike of the Steelers player Thomas was thrown in the box for charging and Hull got to work and it didn’t take them long to put it back to 2-1 when it was Tanaka who skated his way into the Sheffield zone before firing one through the legs of Doyle at 23:38 After a boarding call on Turcotte after a hit on Fretter, Sheffield went on the man advantage with just under 12 minutes left in the period but it had the worst possible outcome when Hull levelled shorthanded at 29:00 after a poor turnover in the Hull end Tanaka broke 2v1 with Lauzon and as they exchanged passes it had Doyle beaten and Tanaka had an empty goal to score into and it was game on in the Yorkshire derby. Hull went close to taking the lead not long after when O’Connor turned the puck over and Hervato saw his shot saved which was a let off for the home side that had to up their game again. At 33:33 Sheffield took the lead again when Mosienko was in possession of the puck to the right of goal and saw his shot tipped by Jonathan Phillips past Brown to give the Steelers a 3-2 lead and that seemed to bring the home side back to life when Roy was next to be fed but his snapshot went agonisingly wide, it was Fretter who was up next as he skated round two men stick handled past another but Brown was able to make a magnificent save of the back hand of Fretter but Steelers took a 3-2 lead into the break after Hull fought back magnificently in the second.
End of the 2nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 3–2 Hull Stingrays

Shots on Goal: Steelers 13–12 Stingrays

Was a very quiet start to the third period and it took till nearly three minutes for a chance to be created and it was Doyle who made the shoulder save off Mayer then Sheffield would go on the man advantage and despite not being able to extend their lead but had control off the game and were causing plenty of problems but for the Stingrays they had Cory Tanaka who was such a bright spark all night had already scored two goals and was brilliant all game and he carried on to work hard, was very end to end stuff with Brown and Doyle keeping both teams out. Both teams missed a chance on the man advantage after some good built play by both side but couldn’t find that killer instinct with the clock ticking down Sheffield did extend their lead to 4-2 at 58:07 when Forney passed the puck to Hill in front of goal and the former Cardiff man scored his second goal in two weeks on the forehand. Into the final minute Hull pulled Brown for the extra attacker and Sheffield made them count with Danny Bois scoring his second of the night when he shot from the neutral zone into the empty net for a 5-2 lead at 58:58 which won Sheffield the match and awarded them with two valuable points to stay at the top of the table.
Shots on Goal: Steelers 10–12 Stingrays

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 5–2 Hull Stingrays

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

Sheffield - 2-1-2-0-[6]-{0/3}-34

Hull         - 0-2-0-0-[6]-{1/3}-33

Sheffield Man of the Match: #51 Danny Bois
Hull Man of the Match: #7 Cory Tanaka

Sheffield Points Round Up: - 14 Points
Cullen Eddy (0+1), Michael Forney (1+1), Jonathan Phillips (1+0), Tyler Mosienko (0+1), Dustin Kohn (0+1), Phil Hill (1+1), Mark Thomas (0+1), Danny Bois (2+0), Darrell Hay (0+1), Robert Dowd (0+1), Ben O’Connor (0+1)

Hull Points Round Up: - 5 Points

Cory Tanaka (2+0), Carl Lauzon (0+2), Matthew Davies (0+1)

Referee: #28 Jonny Liptrott

Referee:

Linesman: #38 Danny Beresford

Linesman: #45 Chris Wells

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