Match Report: 3.1.2015 - Giants v Steelers EC/EIHL

Saturday 3^rd January 2014 – Belfast Giants (18-9-1) v Sheffield Steelers (19-7-2) @ Odyssey Arena. Face-off: 7pm, Erhardt Conference/Elite League

Belfast Giants – 6
Colin Shields – 1^st PP
Cody Brookwell – 2^nd
Darryl Lloyd – 2^nd
Ray Sawada – 2^nd
Craig Peacock – 2^nd
Mike Kompon – 3^rd

Sheffield Steelers – 3
Tyler Mosienko – 1^st
Colton Fretter – 1^st
Jason Hewitt – 2^nd

Game two of the double header got underway and Giants had the puck in the net early on but it was waved off as Sawada driven straight into Frank Doyle a decision Cullen Eddy didn’t like and dropped the gloves with the Giants forward in protection of his netminder but it was the visitors who took the lead like the night before and at 3:21 Rod Sarich had the puck in the Belfast zone to the left of Chubak and a badly taken shot bounced in front of goal and Tyler Mosienko re-directed from close range to give the Steelers a 1-0 lead. The lead didn’t last long when Legue took a high sticking penalty Giants went on the powerplay and unfortunately for the visitors Mathieu Roy blocked a shot with his ribs and as he skated off injured it left his man open to shoot and former Steeler Colin Shields fired a big slap shot from the blue line that caught Doyle out of his goal and the game was tied 1-1 at 4:26 and it was also the end of Roy’s night as he wouldn’t return to the Ice. Belfast would have a second goal ruled out when the home side were deemed to have a man in the crease as Doyle was beaten a decision I myself was unsure about but the game was still level at 1-1 until 15:53 when O’Connor played in Colton Fretter down the right as the Steelers forward snapped a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Chubak top shelf and gave the Steelers a 2-1 lead it was a sweet goal and one Fretter made look so easy but it was Sheffield who took a 2-1 lead into the break.

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

Shots on Goal: Giants 12-11 Steelers

Belfast came into the second period looking to get the game level and started getting physical as did the Steelers but at 33:46 Giants did equalise when Brookwell got his shot away and beat Doyle through traffic and before we knew it Belfast led 3-2 at 34:29 and it was Darryl Lloyd who scored from the rebound into the open goal after Doyle saved from just in front. It got even worse for the Steelers when at 35:23 despite looking offside Ray Sawada turned and shot through the five hole of Doyle and the goal was given and Belfast had a 4-2 lead after Sheffield had clearly pressed the suicide button. At 37:38 Jason Hewitt tried to stop the slide as he pulled it back to 4-3 after a nice pass from Dowd to him behind the goal the British bulldog shot on off the back of Chubak and into the goal and we had a game on again. Sheffield just couldn’t contain the champions and at 38:52 a bullet of a slap shot by Craig Peacock from the blue line went through traffic and beat Doyle and the Steelers netminder had no chance and the visitors had a mountain to climb going into the break 5-3 down after being 2-1 up.
End of the 2nd Period: Belfast Giants 5–3 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Giants 10–10 Steelers

Going into the third period it was all about the netminders and if it wasn’t for Chubak and Doyle there could have been even more goals for either side but the netminders were outstanding there was a strange incident in the third period and it was not long after Cullen Eddy had just jumped out of the box he was soon back in it when he was deemed to have elbows and the call was given by Dean Smith who in the neutral zone and Matt Thompson was behind Doyle’s goal not more than three feet away and he gave nothing and it just seemed to be the Smith show and Thompson wasn’t having a say in the matter. Giants finished the scoring off at 55:35 while on the delayed penalty for a trip Doyle made a save from in front and without any help by his Skaters the rebound was put into the open goal by Mike Kompon and Belfast had a four point weekend and the Steelers had a four game losing streak.
Shots on Goal: Giants 11–8 Steelers

FINAL SCORE: Belfast Giants 6–3 Sheffield Steelers

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

Belfast     - 1-4-1-0-[17]-{1/7}-33

Sheffield - 2-1-0-0-[23]-{0/4}-29

Belfast Man of the Match: #3 Jeff Mason
Sheffield Man of the Match: #67 Colton Fretter

Belfast Points Round Up: - 18 Points
Jeff Mason (0+2), Evan Cheverie (0+2), Ray Sawada (1+0), Mike Kompon (1+0), Colin Shields (1+0), Mark McCutcheon (0+1), Calvin Elfring (0+2), Cody Brookwell (1+1), Adam Keefe (0+2), Craig Peacock (1+1), Darryl Lloyd (1+1)

Sheffield Points Round Up: - 8 Points

Jason Hewitt (1+0), Rodney Sarich (0+1), Tyler Mosienko (1+0), Mark Thomas (0+1), Colton Fretter (1+0), Darrell Hay (0+1), Robert Dowd (0+1), Ben O’Connor (0+1)

Referee: #26 Dean Smith

Referee: #6 Matt Thompson

Linesman: #25 Andy Dalton

Linesman: #31 Ally Flockhart

Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments please get in contact with the Frozen Steel Team on this article, Facebook or via Twitter:-
@FrozenSteelBlog
@TomWalkeden
@FrozenSteelMNL
@hockeybhoy
@RatedRDG

Check out the Frozen Steel Forum

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