Less
than 24 hours after the delay ridden game at Sheffield Arena, Sheffield
Steelers and Manchester Storm faced off again – this time in the Silver Blades
Arena at Altrincham – for the second in two pre-season games: a kind of
exhibition War of the Roses encounters if you want to call it that. Unlike the
game in South Yorkshire, Manchester had no problems with the “increased
security measures” seemingly being applied at all rinks around the country. In
fact, FSB were told it was so smooth that you never noticed much difference.
Back to
the game, Steelers were still without John Armstrong and Matt Marquardt which
gave even more ice time to the promising talents that are Cole Shudra, Kieran
Brown and Liam Kirk. Brad Day was given the starters role in between the pipes,
which gave Ervins Mustukovs the night off and the Huddersfield born goalie was
to play the entire game which was a smart move from Messrs. Thompson and
Andersson. Manchester were still missing Shane Bakker, and defenceman Linden
Springer also didn’t ice. Was this a consequence of the “slew-foot” incident
involving the Canadian the night before, and Storm Head Coach Ryan Finnerty
took him out of the line-up because of it? Over to Manchester for any
explanations on that one.
Steelers
also took the opportunity to jumble up their forward lines which was also an
interesting move; but when in pre-season you can do that. A terrific
opportunity for the above mentioned youngsters to continue and impress.
It was
an intriguing first period with both teams having great chances and both
netminders keeping the opposing team out, Day as mentioned for the Steelers and
Clementè for the Storm. Zack Fitzgerald fired against the bar halfway through
the period after Mike Hammond had hit the post earlier in the game; and it
looked like the teams would go into the first period break goalless until Storm
cranked the heat up a bit more and scored twice in the final 49 seconds of the
first twenty. At 19:11, former Fife Flyer Chris Auger took advantage on a
breakaway to snap the tie. 14 seconds later, it was two when a shot from the
point by defenceman Dallas Ehrhardt (what a great hockey name that sounds every
time you say it) found its way through and between Brad’s five hole to light
the lamp again.
Steelers
knew they needed a quick response at the start of the second, and they got it
1:18 in. A bullet from Ben O’Connor into the top shelf. The goal certainly gave
the team a left as they continued to press Clementè’s goal and force the Storm
onto the back foot, hitting the post through Mark Matheson although Storm were
still hunting for a third themselves. With 33:34 played, the teams were level
thanks to another O’Connor blast that simply thundered past Clementè again into
the top corner. Storm weathered it and regained the lead at 35:42, good work
down low by former NHLer Dane Byers set up Auger and he blasted home his second
of the evening past Day.
The
insurance goal came halfway through the final period when Mike Hammond
unleashed a howitzer of his own at 50:16; leaving Day with no chance. Steelers
continued to press with Colton Fretter hitting the bar and forcing Clementè
into a series of saves which kept his team’s advantage intact. Even when Day
was pulled with two minutes to go, Steelers couldn’t light the lamp again and
it was the home side who skated away with a 4-2 win on home ice. Whilst the
result wasn’t right, the team competed well despite the reshuffling, and once
more plaudits were heading in the direction of the youngsters who again did
proud when they were on the ice.
Some statistics
from the game:
Goals:
Steelers 2 Manchester 4
Powerplay:
Steelers 0 from 3 (0% conversion), Manchester 0 from 1 (0% conversion)
Penalty Minutes: Steelers 6, Manchester 8
Man of the Match: Ben O’Connor (Steelers), Chris Auger (Manchester)
Now for
some of your post-game thoughts:
Bryan
Ibbotson: “From what I gather things need working on, but isn’t that what
pre-season is all about? Any friendly in any sport nobody gives their all. If
we went into the season without any friendlies or preparation then people could
be annoyed, we got 2 more friendlies then it starts for real. We’ll be reight
come the weekend of 9th/10th, OK maybe a player or two
short due to injury but that happens and we’ll get over it.”
Tony:
“Players seemed to lose interest, Brad was very average and would have wanted
at least one back...Valdix still our star player. Defence went wandering, bits
to put right. Seemed to mix up lines without Armstrong and Marquardt so other than
the normal Dowd-Valdix-Nelson line; the others didn’t seem to click much.”
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