5 Things We Learnt - Hull Stingrays

Thank you to Tony for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him/her so any queries you can contact him on Twitter @DISGU15ED

Five things from the Hull Stingrays. The fifth and final Gardiner conference team in my 14/15 roundup.

1> Clouts out - All coaches have their allotted time, but moving on a local legend and bringing in two rookies to head the player coaching duties in 14/15 was a big call. Think Pacha and Lauzon can hold their heads up with pride following seventh place in the league, and a great playoff run full of shocks.

2> That Quarter Final - Beating Braehead in overtime of the second leg wasn't what the bookies expected, especially after trailing 3:2 from the first leg, and an aggregate 4:2 down with 15 minutes left. Lauzon's OT winner must have been the home highlight of the year, sending the home fans away dreaming of beating the Steelers at the NIC.

3> That Semi Final - However heartbreak was ahead for the Hull fans (and everyone else in the NIC except those in Orange apparently), as Mighty Mathieu knocked in a disputed winner with just 3.8 seconds of the game remaining with Pacha sat fuming in the box. Best game of the POFW.

4>  Home fans + Away players = ? - Back at the Hull Arena. Is anyone else worried that making the players walk-out directly in front of one block of home fans on their way to the ice is a recipe for disaster? Is it really sensible to allow those fisher wives and their partners to jaw-off inches from the away team players just as they're tossed from the game?

5> Chips 'n Spice away days - Despite everything it's always nice to see the Steelers win away, and battering the flatfish faithful is always fun as we orange-out Hull.

One final thought, after checking out their website I can't see any evidence that the rink is really very versatile, so let's hope some of the 2017 City of Culture cash finds its way into the arena.

Favourite player : Carl Lauzon by a distance.

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Play-Off Finals Weekend: The Preview

Well, here we are. The Finals weekend is upon us all and this year's Final Four are known. Going to the big end of season party are Sheffield, Hull, Coventry and Belfast. Weirdly enough, the match ups could see a repeat of last season's Final although we're sure that both the Stingrays and Blaze will have a few choice words of their own about that. Can Sheffield complete a double of League and Play-Offs for the first time since 2009?

Let's look at the semi-finals, and stick our (well, Mark's proverbial one) neck on the line and try and predict a winner. Apologies to Braehead for giving them the kiss of death as regards the League title. Obviously, we aren't that good this prediction lark.

Sheffield Steelers vs Hull Stingrays: Face Off at 1pm, 4 April 2015.

By all accounts, the Steelers should win this one comfortably being League Champions and all that. However, Hull will not read into this script that you can be assured. Steelers advanced to this stage with a nervous, it has to be said, 6-5 aggregate win over a plucky Fife Flyers team that didn't want to give in at any time: Robert Dowd's strike at 32:20 in the second leg proving decisive. The defending play-off champions are many people's favourites to record back to back triumphs.

Hull themselves inflicted one of the play-offs with an overtime aggregate win over much fancied Braehead Clan. What Stingrays lack in depth, they don't certainly lack in character and they are sure to test the Champions. In 2012, a then Derek Campbell inspired Hull shocked Steelers in a remarkable quarter-final at Ice Sheffield. Question remains as such: Surely Steelers will not fail to deliver again against their Yorkshire rivals? Nine teams hope that they will.

Verdict: Hull's two line hockey might have seen off Braehead but on the biggest ice in the country, this is going to cost them. Steelers to make the Final for the second successive season, winning by at least two clear goals and in regulation too.

Coventry Blaze vs Belfast Giants: Face Off at 5pm, 4 April 2015.  

The battle of the underdogs. Both sides had a wretched league campaign, and were expected by many that they would exit the play-offs at the quarter-final stage. Yet both bounced back and have fully deserved their spot in the finals weekend. Blaze's change of fortunes under new coach Chuck Weber has been astonishing, and many are speculating that their ousting of 2013 play-off winners Nottingham has all but sounded the death knell for Corey Neilson. The return from injury of Steven Goertzen will boost their hopes massively.

Belfast were given equally tougher assignment, facing this year's Challenge Cup winners Cardiff who almost won the league in one of the tightest finishes in recent times. A slender 1-0 win in the Odyssey did nothing but expect a Cardiff win in the return back in Fortress Big Blue Tent. Just like Hull, Giants produced one of the best performances of the season to record a 7-3 road win on the night. If they can replicate this in both the semi and the Final itself, they could be skating back to Northern Ireland with a trophy.

Verdict: This is going to be a close run affair between two sides who many thought would not be contesting the weekend's games. Personally I reckon it might have overtime and penalty shots written all over it or will be a goal fest. It certainly won't be dull. Giants to squeak through by the most slender margin possible.

So according to the oracle, we are in for a repeat of last season's Final. How will that pan out then? Before that, we will have Blaze and Hull contest the 3rd/4th place game which we expect Blaze will be comfortably victorious in. That will be more like an exhibition game than a serious encounter. So what of the Final? Just like last year, our crystal ball sees it going to overtime after a 1-1 regulation draw. Then an uncharacteristic error from Stephen Murphy will present Mathieu Roy with yet another point in a remarkable season and those in orange will go bananas again.

It probably won't turn out anything like the above, after all we know nothing about hockey according to some quarters. Our record on predictions is equally dismal, after all how many times have we predicted the first goalscorer correctly on the Match Night Show? Yeah, once. That shows how good we are at this. We do have one thing planned though, and that's to have a good time in Nottingham. See you there!

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Steelers Away Weekend Review at Hull and Coventry by Craig Jones

Thank you to Craig Jones for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Craig on Twitter @CraigJones29

Steelers run riot in Hull but disaster strikes in Coventry

The hockey weekend for Steelers fans began on Friday night as many of us sat at home glued to our television sets in one of those very very rare occasions where we all sat cheering on the Nottingham Panthers. Despite our well wishes, our nearest and dearest couldn't bring themselves to beat the Braehead Clan to do us a favour and left us five points behind the Clan after their 4-2 victory over the Panthers.

Onto Saturday and the first game of the weekend was a trip across to Hull to face the Stingrays, a team who had plenty to play for themselves as they looked to qualify for the playoffs. With Braehead having a night off, it was a great chance to reduce their advantage back to three points at the top of the table.

A welcome return in goal for Josh Unice put a smile on the faces of the travelling fans and hopefully with a regular import netminder back in goal the Steelers could push on and challenge the Clan. Things started well in Hull and after ten minutes and two quick goals from Colton Fretter and Ben O'Connor the Steelers had a two goal cushion. Mathieu Roy and Hull's Jordan Mayer traded goals in the space of just 40 seconds to take the Steelers lead to 3-1 at the end of the first period and it was a well-deserved lead for Gerad Adams and his players.

The Stingrays pulled a goal back in the second period through Sam Towner to make the game 3-2 but that didn't last for long as Tyler Mosienko restored the two goal lead for the Steelers and that is how the second period ended.

The third period was all about one thing, Steelers dominance and the Stingrays simply had no answer as the Steelers ran riot. The Steelers outshot the Stingrays 25-6 in the final period and got their rewards on the scoreboard. Two goals in a minute from Jeff Legue and Mike Forney took the game away from Hull to give the Steelers a 6-2 lead with 15 minutes to play. The Steelers didn't stop there, Colton Fretter, Mathieu Roy and Ben O'Connor all added their second goals of the game to take the Steelers to a 9-2 victory, embarrassing Hull in the final period as the Stingrays simply had no answer to what the Steelers were throwing at them.

With the win in Hull, Braehead's lead was cut back to three points going into Sunday's games where the Steelers travelled to Coventry and the Clan faced Fife at home. Fellow title chasers, the Cardiff Devils were also playing on Sunday, at home to the Belfast Giants.

The Steelers started very quickly in Coventry and went ahead after just over a minute with Mike Forney scoring his 36th goal of the season to give them a one goal lead. The Blaze hit back half way through the period when Derek Lee scored on the powerplay and the game was tied. That is how the first period ended, even on the ice and even on the scoreboard.

Halfway through the second period Mike Forney once again stepped up and delivered for the Steelers to give them a 2-1 lead, scoring on the powerplay. The Steelers had a little more control over the game at this stage and all looked to be going well until towards the end of the second period when the Blaze hit back once again. Jakub Sindel was the man this time and he pulled the Blaze back to tie the game for the second time as the second period drew to a close. However, we weren't done just yet, with less than a minute remaining in the second period Tyler Mosienko scored to restore the lead and the Steelers went into the dressing room after two periods leading 3-2 with a big momentum swinging goal right at the end of the second.

The crucial third period began evenly but it was the Coventry Blaze who began to take over and halfway through the final period they got a reward for their hard work through Steven Chalmers and the game was tied 3-3. The Blaze continued to pile on the pressure and looked the more dangerous going into the final few minutes of the game. With just over three minutes left in the game, disaster struck and the Coventry Blaze found the net to take a 4-3 lead through Derek Lee, who scored his second goal of the game. Just when the Steelers needed a quick response the Blaze put the game to bed with a fifth goal through Jereme Tendler leaving the Steelers two goals behind with just over two minutes left. That is how the game ended and the Blaze took the two points on Sunday night.

Elsewhere the Braehead Clan beat the Fife Flyers 5-2 and the Cardiff Devils beat the Belfast Giants 3-2, both results bad for the Steelers.

The loss on Sunday was a huge dent to title hopes and it seems the title is now Braehead's to lose, they are five points clear and even a win on Wednesday night at Ice Sheffield will only pull the Steelers to three points behind. If the Clan take anything from Wednesday's game then I fear it is all over.

The one thing to take from this weekend has to be how the Coventry Blaze have turned their season around over the past few weeks. They are the one team I don't want the Steelers to face in the playoffs right now and I believe the rest of the league will be thinking the same, the Blaze are genuine dark horses for the playoffs.

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Match Report: 21.12.2014 - Stingrays v Steelers EIHL

Sunday 21^st December 2014 – Hull Stingrays (9-11-3) v Sheffield Steelers (18-5-1) @ Hull Arena. Face-off: 6pm, Elite League

Hull Stingrays – 3
Omar Pacha – 2^nd PP
Eric Galbraith – 2^nd
Carl Lauzon – 3^rd

Sheffield Steelers – 4
Colton Fretter – 1^st
Mathieu Roy (2) – 1^st PP, 2^nd
Robert Dowd – 2^nd

Part two of the Yorkshire derby got underway and it was very dominate first session by the visitors as they outshot their hosts 3/1 and David Brown was outstanding as he was the night before as he would save shot after shot but he couldn’t save them all when Sheffield opened the scoring at 7:01 when Sheffield won an offensive zone face-off Baldwin fired one off the draw that was saved by Brown and Fretter picked up the rebound and shot past Brown on the backhand for a 1-0 lead. Sheffield would then gift Hull with a powerplay of their own but they was kept to the edges and long distant shots and couldn’t find a way to level the game but soon after Sheffield had their own powerplay which started off in the right fashion as the Visitors had three great opportunities to extend their lead and when Osman took a hooking call Sheffield went 5v3 for 1:20 but it didn’t take Sheffield that long to score again and it was top point scorer Mathieu Roy who fired a forehanded shot past Brown after Dowd’s shot from the blue line was rebounded out of the pads of the Hull netminder at 13:18 for a 2-0 lead for the visitors. Thomas was called for holding with four minutes left in the period and that was after a coming together on the boards in which Bois received a few punches for his trouble but Hull got to work but was kept to the edges and was struggling to find any shooting lanes but would go into the first break 2-0 down.

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

Shots on Goal: Stingrays 8–25 Steelers

Into the second period Hull made more of a game with it and didn’t lie down and let Sheffield just come at them like they did in the first period. Tanaka and Knox had early chances before Towner shot was saved by the blocker of Doyle, and the biggest chance so far for the home side fell to Knox after Davies from the left wing threw one on goal and Knox couldn’t redirect it past Doyle after the visitors killed another powerplay for the home side they extended their lead as Dowd jumped out of the box he played Mosienko to his left who’s slap shot was saved by Brown and Dowd scored the rebound from the face-off circle for a 3-0 lead at 26:31. Hull missed a golden chance when they broke 2v1 and missed a great chance into the open goal but with the home side on the man advantage Pacha was played the puck to the right of Doyle’s goal and fired his wrist shot straight through the legs of Doyle to put Hull on the board at 30:12, Hull dug in deep and brought the game within one goal at 36:33 after some lazing defending by the Steelers Eric Galbraith brought the puck down and slotted it nicely past Doyle down low and cut the Steelers lead to 3-2. It didn’t take Sheffield long to prevent the comeback when Mathieu Roy scored his second of the night at 38:27 after Roy was in front of goal and he swung at the puck which hit the pads of Brown and trickled into the back of the net for a 4-2 lead and it’s how the period ended leaving Hull with a lot of work to do in the third period.
End of the 2nd Period: Hull Stingrays 2–4 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Stingrays 13–14 Steelers

Sheffield dominated the early stages of the third period but couldn’t get another goal on the board after they wasted several decent scoring chances. Sheffield got another power play and almost scored another but Brown saved from Fretter but Eddy soon evened it up. Both teams were really having a go at each other with hit after hit being thrown in and both netminder having a great period but with the clock ticking down Hull pulled another goal back at 46:61 when Tanaka broke down the left hand side before he squared the puck to Carl Lauzon who redirected past Doyle from in front of goal and Sheffield led 4-3 going into the final three minutes of the game but Hull shot themselves in the foot and stopped any chance of getting level when Tanaka took an interference penalty and Sheffield kept their hosts camped in their zone  and didn’t give them the chance to pull Brown for an extra attacker and Sheffield saw out the game with a 4-3 victory which saw the Steelers stay top of the league at Christmas.
Shots on Goal: Stingrays 9–11 Steelers

FINAL SCORE: Hull Stingrays 3–4 Sheffield Steelers

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

Hull           - 2-2-0-0-[8]-{1/7}-30

Sheffield  - 0-2-1-0-[14]-{1/4}-50

Hull Man of the Match: #30 David Brown
Sheffield Man of the Match: #81 Ben O’Connor

Hull Points Round Up: - 8 Points
Omar Pacha (1+0), Cory Tanaka (1+1), Carl Lauzon (1+0), Brendan Jamison (0+1), Matthew Davies (0+1), Zach Hervato (0+1), Eric Galbraith (1+0)

Sheffield Points Round Up: - 12 Points

Gord Baldwin (0+2), Cullen Eddy (0+1), Michael Forney (0+2), Mathieu Roy (2+0), Danny Bois (0+1), Colton Fretter (1+0), Darrell Hay (0+1), Robert Dowd (1+1)

Referee: #26 Dean Smith

Referee:

Linesman: #30 Luke Palmer

Linesman: #36 Phil Sewell

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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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Weekend Preview - All Hail The M18!

In what is a true test of what I said last week about there being no drab weekends in the Elite League this season, along comes a home/away tilt against the team from the People's Republic of Humberside.

Having said that, our games against the Stingrays this year have been heated affairs, settled by odd goals and full of incident. I think we can expect more of the same this weekend, as they will want to put a spanner into the Steelers' works as the boys in orange look to keep their noses in front at the top of the Elite League.

Weekend Preview - Hull (EC, EL) (iceSheffield)

Just the one game this weekend for your Sheffield Steelers, as we entertain the Hull Stingrays at iceSheffield - let's not welcome them after last time.

Tonight's game has a 7:30 faceoff, not 7pm.

Match Report: 12.10.2014 - Stingrays v Steelers CC

Sunday 12^th October 2014 – Hull Stingrays (1-2-0) v Sheffield Steelers (5-1-1) @ Hull Arena. Face-off: 6pm, Challenge Cup

Hull Stingrays – 2
Jordan Mayer
Eric Galbraith

Sheffield Steelers – 3
Jason Hewitt
Michael Forney
Cullen Eddy PP

Sheffield travelled to Hull for their final challenge cup group game 3 days after beating them in Sheffield young Luke Ferrara was playing with Peterborough so Sheffield gave a debut to 16 year old Jack Dransfield but the Yorkshire derby got underway with Liam Sewell in the middle and he was to have an interesting game to say the least. It was Sheffield who started the better as Mark Thomas picked out Forney with a great cross ice pass only for Brown to get the slightest of touches to put his effort wide but it would be Sheffield who scored the first goal of the game when on 3:32 assisted by Latulippe and Eddy who both forced some good saves out of David Brown from in front of goal for Jason Hewitt to tap shoot from the right of goal to score his fourth goal of the season. Then from the restart Colton Fretter was denied by Brown after skating in front of goal and then not ten seconds later Fretter laid down a big hit on Larke against the boards which almost started a line brawl and to the disgust of the home support they wasn’t happy with the hit. Colton Fretter however would receive a two minute penalty for slashing and then five plus game penalty for boarding which would give Hull a seven minute powerplay at 5:25 Matthew Davies and Mathieu Roy also received roughing penalty’s for the coming together of the teams but Sheffield would have to play the rest of the game a man down and it will be interesting to see if the Steelers forward receives a ban in the week. Hull just wasn’t able to make the breakthrough as Doyle was in fine form as was the Sheffield penalty kill and they would kill all seven minutes to the delight of the travelling support. Both netminders would have to be on form performing some cracking saves as Hull also missed two golden opportunities from the door step which only needed the slightest touch to level the score but luck was on the visitor’s side and Sheffield would take the lead into the break.

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

Shots on Goal: Stingrays 8-8 Steelers

So we had a very interesting first period and we had more of the same to come as it was becoming a very gritty performance by both teams. Hull would get an early chance on the man advantage but again were un-able to get on the boards as Doyle showed great reactions to dash to the right of goal to deny Davies as the puck bounced awkwardly of the glass but Hull would level the scoring on 23:!6 as Jordan Mayer assisted by Larke and Tanaka showed some clever stick handling to beat the Steelers defence and Frank Doyle at his near post and that was the Hull forwards seventh goal of the season so far after also scoring against the Steelers in midweek as well. Both teams were getting stuck in and showing the fans what they like to see passion both sides were laying down hits taking penalties and if it wasn’t for Frank Doyle and David Brown probably and should have been a few more goals in this period. It wasn’t Sheffield’s best performance in the middle session as since Fretter had been ejected from the game had struggled in the final 3^rd as Hull had seemed to get under their skins but with Hull killing a penalty with just over five minutes left Matthew Davies jumped out of the box and found himself on the breakaway to give the Stingrays the lead but Doyle had his number and denied him with the leg pads when at the other end Mathieu Roy was denied by the posts and not for the first time this week, but the Yorkshire derby would be level at 1-1 at the end of the 2^nd period and it really was anyone’s game at the moment.
End of the 2nd Period: Hull Stingrays 1–1 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Stingrays 7–7 Steelers

Third period got underway with the scores level at 1-1 with a gritty performance by both teams and we was in for more of the same after Lauzon had missed a great chance to put the home side ahead Eddy saw the puck bounce over his stick from a rebound as Baldwin shot but in the very next attack the Steelers did take the lead again on 46:52 as Mike Forney to the left of Brown skates into the face-off circle before firing his 9th of the season through the five hole of David Brown to give Sheffield a 2-1 lead and almost scored a second of the game as Baldwin threw the puck in front of goal but it was just too far for the Steelers forward to reach and Forney brought out the skills to the delight of the travelling fans before Mosienko took a hooking penalty but it would soon be levelled up as Turcotte was sent to sit down for holding and if it wasn’t for some fantastic defensive play by Thomas and Sarich the Stingrays probably would have levelled the game through Tanaka but as Mosienko jumped onto the Ice to the put the Steelers on the powerplay Cullen Eddy found himself in possession of the puck on the right before firing one hell of a rock low and hard past the right leg of Brown to put the Steelers 3-1 up on 51:56 cue the Eddy chants. But that wasn’t the end of the scoring as Hull pulled a second back on 54:35 as Eric Galbraith scored his second goal against the Steelers in a week after Carl Lauzon saw is shot padded away Galbraith finished the job tapping in from the right of Doyle’s goal. The game should have been level not long after as Cory Tanaka missed a golden opportunity in front of goal with the clock ticking down it kicked off again with another line brawl in a fashion as a Stingray went down Sewell had his hand up but both lines came together and Turcotte was laying into Roy but Eddy jumped in and dropped the gloves laying several punches on the Stingrays big man before putting him on the Ice, Both were thrown out of the game with 1:51 left as Roy was sent to the box for roughing to put Stingrays on the man advantage for the remainder of the game but as Eddy left the Ice he had his hands up in the air in front of the home support celebrating cue the Eddy chants once again but Sheffield would kill the penalty as Hull pulled Brown as well and they would take the four point weekend as well as top of the group and a game against the Dundee Stars in the quarter-finals of the cup in the new year.
Shots on Goal: Stingrays 10–12 Steelers

FINAL SCORE: Hull Stingrays 2–3 Sheffield Steelers

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

Hull          - 0-1-1-0-[37]-{0/4}-25

Sheffield - 1-0-2-0-[82]-{1/4}-27

Hull Man of the Match: #26 Matthew Davies
Sheffield Man of the Match: #15 Mathieu Roy

Hull Points Round Up:- 6 Points
Cory Tanaka (0+1), Carl Lauzon (0+1), Brendan Jamison (0+1), Matt Larke (0+1), Eric Galbraith (1+0), Jordan Mayer (1+0)

Sheffield Points Round Up:- 9 Points

Cullen Eddy (1+1), Michael Forney (1+0), Mathieu Roy (0+1), Jason Hewitt (1+0), Jay Latulippe (0+1), Rodney Sarich (0+1), Mark Thomas (0+1), Darrell Hay (0+1)

Referee: #34 Liam Sewell

Referee:

Linesman: #36 Phil Sewell

Linesman: #30 Luke Palmer

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Tom
@TomWalkeden
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Weekend Preview - Blaze (H) Stingrays (A) CC Wrapup Weekend

This weekend sees the Steelers complete their Challenge Cup group stage fixtures, and while qualification is all but assured, at least two points from the weekend would be nice just to see us safe.

Saturday sees the return of Steven Goertzen (along with Ashley Tait and Marc Lefebvre) to the arena for the first time since setting up the winner for Drew Fata in the Playoff final, while Sunday sees us travel to the Most Versatile Venue for the return game from Wednesday night.

Match Report: 8.10.2014 - Steelers v Stingrays CC

Wednesday 8^th October 2014 – Sheffield Steelers (3-1-1) v Hull Stingrays (1-0-0) @ Ice Sheffield. Face-off: 7:30pm, Challenge Cup

Sheffield Steelers – 6
Mathieu Roy SH
Luke Ferrara
Gord Baldwin
Michael Forney PP
Tyler Mosienko
Jason Hewitt

Hull Stingrays – 3
Eric Galbraith
Jordan Mayer
Matt Larke

The game got underway and it was a quiet opening until Kohn was given two minutes for hooking which gifted Hull with an early power play but it worked against them as Sheffield won the face-off in their own zone and it would be Forney who picked up the loose puck and skated with the puck into the Hull zone before playing a backhanded pass to Mathieu Roy who nicely placed the puck past the blocker of David Brown to give Sheffield a 1-0 lead on 3:47. Hull wouldn’t create much on the rest of the power play and Sheffield wouldn’t be ahead for long when on 6:29 Jordan Mayer would have possession of the puck from behind the Sheffield goal and he would pass to Eric Galbraith who would fire a one timer from inside the face-off circle pass Doyle to level the game, a goal the Sheffield netminder wasn’t happy with but then just 30 seconds later Sheffield would come again and it would be a first Sheffield Steelers goal for Luke Ferrara as he would pick up the puck of Hewitt from inside the left face-off circle before firing a wrist shot on goal that would bounce up and go in of the shaft of Brown’s stick. Sheffield would have a lot of the puck but there would still be chances for the likes of Cory Tanaka who forced a good save out of Doyle but Sheffield couldn’t figure at Brown again as Fretter showed some great stick handling before putting his shot against the blocker of Brown and before that Roy threw one in front of goal but it was just too fare for Forney to get a tip on it. Cullen Eddy almost had his head in his hands as he almost tipped Turcotte’s shot past his own netminder but Frank Doyle had hold of it in the pads, Frank Doyle was soon busy again though as Carl Lauzon was trying to get his team going but Frank Doyle’s blocker was too fast for the Hull forward. With just over two minutes left in the period Hull was called for too many men and it put Sheffield on the power play and if it wasn’t for Brown the game could have been out of sight but he made several saves including a save from just in front of Roy’s back hand before Mosienko fired a wrist shot of the pipes but it would only be a 2-1 lead that Sheffield would take into the break.

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

Shots on Goal: Steelers 16-9 Stingrays

Second period got underway and Sheffield had lost Mark Thomas as the Steelers defenceman had gone to hospital for an x-ray on his hand after taking a puck in the 1^st period. It was a poor period by the home side as Hull was much of the better side and almost had an early goal if it wasn’t for a fantastic save by Frank Doyle as Lauzon had Doyle beaten with him laid on the ice and he played to Chartrain who had all the goal to aim at but Doyle managed to cover the puck in his body but then not long after that on 23:10 Jordan Mayer received the puck in the neutral zone and with his solo effort skated into the Sheffield zone beating two Steelers players before firing a nicely taken wrist shot under the arm of Doyle to level the score at 2-2. Hull continued to work had as Cory Tanaka stole the puck of the stick of Colton Fretter but wasn’t able to get a shot away on goal, Hull would then hit the post after Yan Turcotte who was probably luck to not be in the box fired a shot against the pipes, Hull captain Matt Davies was next to try his luck but his shot was blocked by Hay, Sheffield did have a powerplay attempt but didn’t create much in offence and with the 2^nd period coming to an end and on 39:10 Hull took the lead after Mayer fired a shot on goal from the top of the face-off circle only for Matt Larke to deflect past the leg of Doyle but Sheffield were unlucky not to go into the break level at 3-3 but 5 seconds left on the clock David Brown performed a fantastic save off a re-direct off Ferrara which landed straight in the glove of the Hull netminder.
End of the 2nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 2–3 Hull Stingrays

Shots on Goal: Steelers 8–9 Stingrays

Sheffield came into the third period hoping to turn up after a poor second session and that’s what happened it was a third period dominated by the home side and David Brown was called upon 3 times to keep out the Steelers but it was fourth time a charm when on 43:52 Gord Baldwin skated from zone to zone beating 3 Hull players before firing a backhanded shot past the glove of David Brown to level the score at 3-3.  The Steelers continued to come at the Stingrays feeling confident and seemed to be shooting on sight  and Sheffield would be given a 5 on 3 powerplay for 1:51 with Mayer in the box for hooking Sheffield from the face-off shot on Brown’s goal but he decided to knock the goal of his moorings and not for the first time in the game and it was a decision Darnel didn’t like and a call that David Brown was extremely upset with but it didn’t take the Steelers long to make it count when Fretter skates into the zone and set up Forney in between the circles to fire the puck past Brown to give the Steelers a 4-3 lead on 49:23. There would be more Sheffield dominating and would also see another powerplay for the home side but Brown didn’t have much to deal with the best opportunity probably fell to Cory Tanaka but he was all alone and Frank Doyle came out to poke the puck of his stick the scoring wasn’t finished yet though when on 54:30 Jonathan Phillips played the puck to Tyler Mosienko who used Turcotte as a shield and fired the puck under the glove of David Brown to put the Steelers 5-3 up and keep his average of a point a game going. Hull were trying to get back into the game when Mayer forced a good body save out of Doyle, Hull then called a time-out but it didn’t help them when on 56:11 the British bulldog finished the scoring when Luke Ferrara passed to Phil Hill who skated around the goal and played a back handed pass through his legs for Jason Hewitt to tap it in from 2 inches, that would be the end of the scoring and it would be an important two points for the Steelers who moved 3 points clear in the group standings.
Shots on Goal: Steelers 16–3 Stingrays

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 6–3 Hull Stingrays

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

Sheffield - 2-0-4-0-[2]-{1/5}-40

Hull         - 1-2-0-0-[10]-{0/1}-21

Sheffield Man of the Match: #29 Luke Ferrara
Hull Man of the Match: #7 Cory Tanaka

Sheffield Points Round Up: - 14 Points
Gord Baldwin (1+0), Michael Forney (1+1), Mathieu Roy (1+0), Jason Hewitt (1+1), Jay Latulippe (0+1), Jonathan Phillips (0+1), Tyler Mosienko (1+0), Phil Hill (0+2), Luke Ferrara (1+1), Colton Fretter (0+1)

Hull Points Round Up: - 9 Points

Cory Tanaka (0+3), Matt Larke (1+0), C.J. Chartrain (0+1), Eric Galbraith (1+0), Jordan Mayer (1+2)

Referee: #9 Tom Darnell

Referee:

Linesman: #14 James Kavanagh

Linesman: #30 Luke Palmer

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
@CausyFSB
@TomWalkeden
@FrozenSteelMNL
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Let's Go Steelers!

Tom
@TomWalkeden
(Follow me on Twitter for Live Updates on Games)