From The Editor's Chair - Edition 53

Welcome everyone to the view "From The Editor's Chair". In this particular edition, Mark looks at each of the quarter-finals. It's time for play-off hockey everybody. 

Cardiff Devils (1) v Coventry Blaze (8): For me this is the most clear cut of the match-ups and I don't think many will disagree. Whilst the Blaze, who squeaked into the final eight because of the Clan's inadequacies, have a tendency to give the Devils a game and a bit: they lack the firepower to deny the Devils a place in the final four. Devils will ultimately be too strong and should secure their place with ease.

Key Players: Joey Martin (Devils), Jordan Pietrus (Blaze)

Manchester Storm (2) v Fife Flyers (7): Storm have had an excellent season, their first under the coaching of former Steelers and Clan Head Coach Ryan Finnerty. They have ability in all areas and can play with an edge as well beat you with skill. Fife have had an equally good season themselves but if Andy Iles is still unfit then that will make Storm's chances greater as much as Jordan Marr has been a capable enough deputy.

Key Players: Mike Hammond (Storm), Chase Schaber - should Iles be unfit to play (Flyers)

Sheffield Steelers (3) v Guildford Flames (6): Steelers go into the defence of their play-off trophy in good form indeed, having won their last four games. They will have the luxury of possibly being able to sit two imports and in Eric Neiley, have a man playing red hot. Flames have acquitted themselves well in their debut EIHL season, and if they can keep leg one close then will fancy their chances for an upset. But Steelers should do it.

Key Players: Eric Neiley (Steelers), Brian Stewart (Flames)

Nottingham Panthers (4) v Belfast Giants (5): After losing their way from December onwards, Panthers have started to perform especially when news broke that this would be Corey Neilson and David Clarke's final season apiece. And in play-off hockey they're usually pretty good too. Giants can blow hot and cold too but do have enough about them to ensure there is no fairy tale finish. This one could easily go either way, too close to call.

Key Players: Alexander Mokshantsev (Panthers), Sèbastian Sylvestre (Giants)

How do you see them unfolding?

Mark

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Marquardt scorches old club as Steelers record comeback win

Welcome to our match report from Sunday's game in Coventry.

After their 3-2 home win on Saturday night against Guildford, Steelers travelled down to the Midlands to face a Coventry Blaze side that have been seriously underperformed this season so much so that there are rumblings that this could be Danny Stewart's last season as Blaze Head Coach. Steelers were unchanged from the Flames game which meant Zack Fitzgerald sat out for the second successive game as the spare import. Blaze were considerably short-benched, and iced just 12 imports. and 14 outskaters. Bare bones indeed for the Blaze.

The game was delayed to allow a large crowd in as the Blaze honoured Russ Cowley with a well deserved shirt retirement. Cowley had served the Blaze with such distinction for 14 full seasons, bar a single season in Cardiff in 2006-07, after joining them from Swindon Lynx midway through the 2001-02 campaign. The Edmonton-born player could play either defence or forward, and appeared in 711 games for the Blaze as well as 66 times from the Team GB senior team. A great servant to British Ice Hockey.

Once the ceremony had concluded, it was time to play hockey and Blaze looked like they would belie their lowly league standings and ensure the shirt retirement would be celebrated with a win as they scored just a couple of seconds before the five minute mark. Top scorer Marc-Olivier Vallerand netted it, scoring on a breakaway and finishing past Ervins Mustukovs. Just after the halfway point of that opening period, Blaze scored again: this time it was Gaelan Patterson who scored. Patterson lighting the lamp on a delayed penalty play. Both teams then hit the pipework but the opening period ended 2-0 in the Blaze's favour and deservedly so as the Steelers only had 4 shots on Kevin Nastiuk's goal.

Harsh words must have been said in the locker room but at 23:32, the Blaze had a third goal. Steelers were defending a 5 on 3 after calls for too many men on the ice and a Jonathan Phillips boarding minor. They scored on the first man advantage, that man Vallerand with his second of the game. Yet Steelers were more offensive in the middle period, outshooting their hosts. They reduced the arrears at 28:12 when a puck bounced around the Blaze zone before Eric Neiley took charge and slotted home his third in as many games and 5th of the season. Steelers' tails were up and they reduced the margin further 31:51 on the powerplay, former Blaze defenceman Ben O'Connor blasting home a one timer for his 15th of the campaign.

The dominance continued in the third period as Steelers started to force the Blaze back whilst repelling any home threats. With about seven and half minutes to go, parity was restored. Some quality play from Colton Fretter behind Nastiuk's goal saw him tee up Matt Marquardt who gleefully took advantage and net his 23rd goal of the season. Coventry were hanging on and were thankful to Nastiuk to allow the game to go overtime and gain a point as Steelers pressed for a winner. However in overtime Blaze seemed rejuvenated and had the best chances, yet Steelers managed to score that all important game winner with their first shot in that extra period. Mathieu Roy setting up his buddy Marquardt to break his old team's hearts for goal number 24 of the season. What a comeback!

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Blaze 3 Steelers 4

Steelers Scoring: Marquardt 2+0, Westerling 0+2, Neiley 1+0, O'Connor 1+0, Valdix 0+1, Roy 0+1, Wallace 0+1, Fretter 0+1, Nelson 0+1.

Blaze Scoring: Vallerand 2+0, Patterson 1+0, Pietrus 0+1, Robinson 0+1, Venus 0+1. 

Shots On Goal:  Blaze 35 Steelers 42

Powerplay: Steelers 1 from 6 (17% conversion), Blaze 1 from 4 (25% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 10 Blaze 14

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 32 Saves (1134), GAA: 2.88 (2.34), Save Percentage: 91.40% (91.70%).

Man of the Match: Mark Matheson (Steelers), Marc-Olivier Vallerand (Blaze)

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Big Match Preview: Guildford and Coventry

Welcome to the preview of the next Steelers match action.

After a mixed bag weekend and then a home win, as expected, against Edinburgh Capitals: Steelers face teams at different ends of the Elite League as they look to finish the season in as high as possible. It all begins Saturday night when we host the following:

Welcome back the Guildford Flames and Geoff Walker. Guildford will be hoping to complete a six day double and share the series with the Steelers should they take the points with them on Saturday. They're a good skating team who have a variety of matchwinners in their roster so to expect a convincing home win would be very foolish indeed. It could be a tight affair and it might need overtime or penalties to resolve it. 

Guildford lie in an impressive sixth place in the league standings at the moment, a point behind the Steelers, and come into the House Of Steel on the back of a 5-2 loss to champions-elect Cardiff. A solid 60 minute home performance is what is required.

After Saturday, Steelers go on the road again and visit a team in the bottom reaches of the Elite League standings:

A trip to Paul Thompson's old stomping ground, the Sky Dome in Coventry. If you thought Steelers had been frighteningly inconsistent, then that's small beer compared to the Blaze. Despite having one of the league's top scorers in Marc-Olivier Vallerand and an impressive goalie in Kevin Nastiuk, Blaze have once more infuriated their supporters with a season that sees them currently logged in 10th place and six points off the final play-off spot.

Danny Stewart's second season behind the bench has mirrored his first, and the Canadian is under some serious pressure to keep his job if comments coming out of the Blaze support is deemed true. There are also reports that the Blaze hierarchy are allegedly alienating the fan base with attitudes and making offers to season ticket holders to buy out their season tickets because they don't want them there. Of course, this is pure speculation as we are not Blaze fans but some of the things seen on social media sound like the Blaze camp isn't a happy one. And we thought we had issues...

My predictions? I can see a four point weekend for the Steelers. A 5-2 home win against the Flames and a 3-2 overtime win in Coventry. What do you think?

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Steelers extinguish Blaze for a home win

Welcome to the match report from Sunday's game at home to the Coventry Blaze.

After being dismantled by Milton Keynes Lightning on the Saturday, Steelers looked to redeem themselves when they entertained Coventry Blaze at the House Of Steel on Sunday evening. From the side that lost in Buckinghamshire, Steelers were without Brady Ramsay after the centre picked up a knock from that game. However, there was a return for Levi Nelson who missed that game which meant the second line was reunited. Blaze were very short benched as they were without Ryan Dingle and Gustav Ahnelov whilst still looking for a replacement for Garrett Ladd. 

The home side started the game with a lot more intensity than they showed at Milton Keynes and with some commitment in front of a crowd of over 6500. The tone was set as early as 6:16 when Andreas Jämtin was the unfortunate recipient of a late hit by Blaze defenceman Dax Lauwers. Zack Fitzgerald took exception to it, and made the Blaze man accountable for his actions. Remarkably when it came to the penalties, referee Schmejkal awarded both players 17 penalty minutes each, Fitzgerald getting a 2+10 for instigation which was a strange decision. It spurred Steelers on though, and they opened the scoring 21 seconds later when Andreas Valdix skated down the left before dishing a perfect pass to Robert Dowd to net from close range: Nelson getting the second helper. 

Steelers poured forward for a second and got it at 8:28. With former Steeler Luke Ferrara off for hooking, the home powerplay went to work and a terrific shot from the right circle from Valdix sent the water bottle flying: Dowd and Nelson assisting. However, it clearly enraged Blaze netminder Kevin Nastiuk who complained about a possible man in the crease call to the referee but Schmejkal obviously saw nothing wrong and awarded the goal. Less than a minute later and it became 3-0, Tim Wallace pulled Nastiuk out of position and Colton Fretter tapped home one of the easiest goals he'll score all season long. Blaze called a time out then to try to stem the bleeding and to be honest it got them a foothold in the game, leading scorer Marc-Olivier Vallerand scoring on a break after he managed to outwit Ervins Mustukovs in a duel.

Remarkably that was all the scoring done with and all inside 17:14, but there was still plenty of other things going off in an occasional heated affair. Kevin Noble almost scored a second for the Blaze when he shot wide moments after exiting the box on a holding minor. Jonas Westerling was clearly sticked in the face just after Noble's effort, but it went unpunished. Then almost through the final period, Blaze's Danick Paquette tangled with Fretter and as he was being escorted towards the penalty box: he clearly pushed the linesman out of the way and got a game misconduct for his troubles. That should surely get some kind of ban. Nastiuk was pulled with 2:40 left, having kept Blaze in it with some excellent saves prior, but Steelers stood firm: none more so than Fitzgerald who took a nasty puck to the jaw with less than a minute and half left which caused the tough defenceman to end up at hospital. A much welcome win after a serious bump in the road the night before.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 3 Blaze 1

Steelers Scoring: Valdix 1+1, Dowd 1+1, Nelson 0+2, Fretter 1+0, Jämtin 0+1, O'Connor 0+1.

Blaze Scoring: Vallerand 1+0, Robinson 0+1, Courchaine 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 31 Blaze 24

Powerplay: Steelers 1 from 5 (20% conversion), Blaze 0 from 4 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 27 Blaze 49

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 23 Saves (486), GAA: 1.00 (2.43), Save Percentage 95.80% (91.50%)

Man of the Match: Jonas Westerling (Steelers), Kevin Nastiuk (Blaze)

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Big Match Preview: Milton Keynes and Coventry

Welcome once more everybody for the preview of this weekend's action for the Steelers.

After the European Tour to the land of bacon and the Little Mermaid, also known as Denmark and Copenhagen respectively, it's time to get back to the bread and butter of Elite League for the Steelers. They currently lie in fourth place in the League standings, five points behind the leaders who are those Bears from down the M1. However, with hockey being the way it acts, that could easily change at the click of some fingers. There's no reason to actually panic.

This weekend is another testing one though with games that we could easily come unstuck with.

Saturday night and the Steelers are on the road, it's a visit to this place:

It's our first visit to Buckinghamshire, or Concrete Cow City aka Milton Keynes in the Elite League ever. Our last visit there was way back in 1996 in the final season of the then British Premier League; the following season was the initial season of the BISL. Back then the Lightning were known as the Milton Keynes Kings for whom a certain stripey played a single game for in 1998-99. No names but he does spend a lot of time out of the country with work and officiating if that helps.

Yet both games in Milton Keynes in 1995-96 ended in draws. A high scoring 8-8 followed by a 3-3. Our record overall there in all games is a very impressive 7-0-2. So by rights, the form book should point to a road win for the Steelers. As you know, it means naff all. Lightning pushed us to a 4-3 win at Ice Sheffield earlier in the season and are coached by GB coach Peter Russell. They have experienced EIHL players in former Panthers netminder Miika Wiikman and former Cardiff Devils Carl Hudson, Guillaume Doucet and Denny Kearney. Impressive Lewis Hook is a hot prospect reckoned to a GB internationalist sooner rather than later. Oh and there's also Matt Nickerson...

After Saturday, the House of Steel welcomes back the European heroes for the first time since they went on their Danish crusade. Our opponents are this merry bunch:

Yes it's the Coventry Blaze. We can admit for sure that this is a bit of a better team than last season's but then again that team flattered to deceive. The roster has seen a number of changes, obviously Matt Marquardt's move here is well known but no longer at Coventry are Brian Stewart (Guildford), Robin Bergman (Rungsted), cousins Almeida and Syner (back in North America) and Russ Cowley (retired) to name some departures. However, they are still as inconsistent as always and can turn in one great performance followed by one absolute shocker.

Play to our strengths, we are able to beat them convincingly although Kevin Nastiuk is in some eyes (mine included): an upgrade on that behemoth known as Brian whose meltdowns were the stuff of comedy gold. Perhaps he should form a double act with Omar Pacha...

My predictions? Steelers to edge the Milton Keynes game 3-2 after overtime, then to see off the Blaze rather comfortably back in S9 by 5-2. I'll take a four point weekend but it might have to be a bit a battle in the trenches to get it especially in MK and if Wiikman is on form.

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Struggling Steelers suffer in Sky Dome

Our match report from Sunday night's game in the Sky Dome, Coventry.

In the second of back to back games against Steelers travelled to the Midlands to face the Blaze. Blaze had recorded a crushing 8-2 defeat on the Steelers when the two sides faced off in pre-season but this was to be the first league meeting of the two sides in Coventry this season. Steelers iced the same roster as Saturday night, still missing Scott Aarssen and Jonas Westerling to injury but didn't dress Kieran Brown. In opposition, Blaze were unchanged from Saturday which meant another game on the sidelines for Garrett Ladd.

Both teams started off testing each other, but it was the home side who broke the deadlock at 6:27. Experienced former DEL forward Adam Courchaine getting the vital touch on a shot from the point to beat Mustukovs for his first goal in Blaze colours. About a minute and half later, Blaze were two ahead. This time it was French-Canadian Marc-Olivier Vallerand with his team leading fifth goal of the season; Brett Robinson and Czech defenceman Vojtech Kloz credited with the helpers. Before the ten minute mark was reached Steelers again found themselves three goals adrift for the third time this season already. Ben Lake scoring the goal and forcing Paul Thompson into an early time out call.

Luck was certainly favouring the Blaze as shortly after they killed a Vallerand slashing minor, Matt Marquardt hit the post twice against his old team. However, the opening twenty ended with the home side still 3-0 ahead. The Blaze continued to press and outshoot the Steelers but it took them until 34:23 to score their fourth of the night. Danick Paquette scoring it whilst Ben O'Connor took a seat, for the second time that period, with a delay of the game penalty on his record. It all got too much for Levi Nelson as the second period closed out, the forward picking up a ten minute misconduct for a few choice words in the direction of Mr Schmejkal.

Steelers were given a chance on their second powerplay in the final period but when it ain't going right then it ain't going right at all. Blaze rubbing salt into a very open wound thanks to former Fife Flyer Ryan Dingle scoring a shorthanded effort on that said man advantage. However, the travelling Steelers fans did manage to see Kevin Nastiuk's shutout bid broken at 54:20; when John Armstrong bagged his league leading eighth of the season: skipper Jonathan Phillips and Marquardt being given the assists. But that was as good as it was on the night, Steelers comfortably outshot and beaten and back to the drawing board ahead of Saturday's massive away trip to the NIC to face the Panthers.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Blaze 5 Steelers 1 

Steelers Scoring: Armstrong 1+0, J.Phillips 0+1, Marquardt 0+1.

Blaze Scoring: Courchaine 1+1, Paquette 1+1, Patterson 0+2, Lake 1+0, Dingle 1+0, Vallerand 1+0, Ahnelov 0+1, Robinson 0+1, Kloz 0+1, Bebris 0+1.

Shots On Goal: Blaze 53 Steelers 32

Powerplay: Blaze 1 from 5 (20% conversion), Steelers 0 from 2 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Blaze 4 Steelers 20

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 48 Saves (244 overall), GAA: 5.00 (2.69), Save Percentage 90.60% (92.10%)

Man of the Match: Danick Paquette (Blaze), Mark Matheson (Steelers)

Now for some of your thoughts:

Robert Newbolt: "Pretty boring. No offence to speak of. Never looked like pulling goals back."

Richard J Allen: "The scoreline actually flattered us tonight."

Marvin Burke: "Offensively we aren't creating many chances. Getting penned in our own zone for long periods and it's hurting us a lot."

David Briddon: "Get him out."

Nathan: "Chose NFL tonight instead of hockey. Best choice I've made all season and one I can see being made again. Once again awful. Thompson out!"

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