Match Report: 14.2.2015 - Panthers v Steelers EC/EIHL

Saturday 14th February 2015 – Nottingham Panthers (24-10-6) v Sheffield Steelers (26-10-4) @ National Ice Centre. Face-off: 7pm, Erhardt Conference/Elite League

Nottingham Panthers – 2
Guillaume Doucet – 2nd
Greg Jacina – 3rd

Sheffield Steelers – 3
Ben O’Connor – 2nd PP
Mathieu Roy – 2nd SH
Tomas Petruska – 3rd PP

The Game got underway and it was a goalless first period but really end to end stuff as both teams had countless opportunities to take the lead but both Josh Unice and Mattias Modig were fantastic in between the pipes. There were penalties called on either side but both penalty kills were aggressive and did their job and despite it being a goalless period it was one of the best periods of hockey I’d seen all season.

End of the 1st Period: Nottingham Panthers 0–0 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Panthers 13-10 Steelers

Second period got underway and as the puck dropped the chant of “Amy Usher” rang around the arena as it did around the entire league and it sounded fantastic and was just a brilliant gesture. Panthers opened the scoring at 26:25 when Doucet was in front and managed to get a shot off and Unice made a great save but there was no defenceman there to help out and Doucet just picked up the rebound and shot into the empty net for 1-0 and during the celebrations Farmer gave Baldwin a slash who didn’t take lightly and threw a nice punch at Farmer which led to them both dropping the gloves and they both got decent hits in but was eventually broken up by the officials. Steelers levelled at 34:45 while on the man advantage Roy had a great chance to score himself but Modig saved nicely and then Roy would feed O’Connor who fired a fantastic shot top shelf and we level at 1-1. Nottingham had a powerplay with 2.03 left in the 2nd period but at 39:30 shorthanded a Nottingham mistake let in Mathieu Roy on the breakaway who beat off to Panthers and Modig came to claim the puck but changed his mind and Roy just finished nicely past Modig to give Steelers a 2-1 lead going into the break.
End of the 2nd Period: Nottingham Panthers 1–2 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Panthers 11–11 Steelers

Into the second period and Nottingham managed to score an equaliser at 47:23 when poor defending by the Steelers left Greg Jacina unmarked at the back post as O'Connor completely left his man and he was played in by Farmer and he easily finished past Unice for a 2-2 game. It was real end to end stuff, both netminders making fantastic save not always convincing but making them none the less, both teams were getting physical with each other but it was the visitors that finally found a way to win in Nottingham this season when at 56:30 on the powerplay Forney was at the top of the circle to Modig’s right before snapping a shot on goal and Tomas Petruska tipped brilliant past Modig to give the Steelers a 3-2 lead. Modig was pulled with a minute left but Steelers held on as they chased every puck doing their best keeping it away from Unice. It was a vital 2 points for the Steelers in this exciting title race.
Shots on Goal: Panthers 6–11 Steelers

FINAL SCORE: Nottingham Panthers 2–3 Sheffield Steelers

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

Nottingham  - 0-1-1-0-[15]-{0/5}-30

Sheffield        - 0-2-1-0-[15]-{2/5}-32

Nottingham Man of the Match: #26 Brandon Benedict
Sheffield Man of the Match: #15 Mathieu Roy

Nottingham Points Round Up: - 4 Points
Mike Berube (0+1), Robert Farmer (0+1), Greg Jacina (1+0), Guillaume Doucet (1+0)

Sheffield Points Round Up: - 7 Points

Cullen Eddy (0+1), Michael Forney (0+2), Mathieu Roy (1+1), Tomas Petruska (1+0), Ben O’Connor (1+0)

Referee: #27 Mike Hicks

Referee: #6 Matt Thompson

Linesman: #23 Lee Young

Linesman: #25 Andy Dalton

I'm also playing in the UK Forum All-Stars 2015 in Sheffield representing the Blue Cross for a second year in a row and any donations big or small will be appreciated and you can donate by pressing the button to the right.

Thanks for reading guys. If you want to get involved please contact us on twitter or find us on Facebook and like us and leave a comment:-

@FrozenSteelBlog

@TomWalkeden

@FrozenSteelMNL

@hockeybhoy

@RatedRDG

Check out the Frozen Steel Podcast

Check out the Frozen Steel Match Night Talk Show

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