Sublime Steelers down the Devils

Welcome to our match report from the midweek game against the Cardiff Devils.

After demolishing the Belfast Giants on Sunday, Steelers headed into Wednesday's Challenge Cup semi-final first leg against holders Cardiff at Ice Sheffield with a great deal of confidence. Zack Fitzgerald was available for selection again after finishing off a five game suspension and iced on the wing on the fourth line with Liam Kirk and Cole Shudra. Other than that, Steelers iced the same team that were in action the Giants. Cardiff were without suspended Gleason Fournier who was on the second game of two, but other than that were at full strength.

Which side would come out of the game the better ahead of next Wednesday's second leg?

The Devils had the first real chance of the game but Steelers were thankful to the crossbar to deny Joey Martin a powerplay strike as Andreas Jämtin sat a hooking minor. But given this let off, Steelers went up the other end of the ice and opened the scoring themselves shorthanded. The much maligned Tim Wallace beating Ben Bowns short side for the winger's 5th of the season. Just over a minute later the Steelers fans were celebrating again as the team went 2-0 ahead, a low one timer from the blue line by Scott Aarssen arrowed itself past Bowns after Eric Neiley and Miika Franssila had fashioned the chance. It was Scott's 3rd of the season. Yet Cardiff bounced back themselves and reduced the arrears to a single goal at 7:31 when Matt Pope fired home on a powerplay awarded for a tripping minor on Wallace.

Steelers though were unperturbed and ended the first period 3-1 ahead just over four minutes before the end of period buzzer sounded. Ben O'Connor, who scored twice against the Giants on Sunday, firing home his 13th of the season after Bowns had given up a rebound on a Mathieu Roy effort. Roy was the next to light the lamp as he put the Steelers 4-1 ahead just 1:25 after the restart when pressure eventually told on the Devils goal, Mathieu's 18th of the season. Cardiff were outshooting the Steelers but finding Ervins Mustukovs a formidable barrier and hard to breach, and as we entered the closing stages of that middle period: the Steelers scored an incredible fifth goal. Matt Marquardt was the man who got it, his 20th of the season, after a well engineered move.

More Devils pressure came in that final period as the visitors looked for a lifeline which would breathe new hope into what was becoming a very bad night at the office, but Steelers were solid as they resisted every offensive overture the Welsh side offered. Steelers only had four shots on Bowns in that same period but one of those was good enough to extend the lead to a remarkable 6-1 at 47:58. Levi Nelson scoring a 16th of the season via video review despite Devils' claims the net was off before the light came on. But you just knew Cardiff would get a second, and as Steelers temporarily switched off concentration on a powerplay: Joey Haddad netted. So Steelers go into IAW with a four goal advantage next Wednesday, will it be enough? Considering Devils are rarely beaten on home ice, it could be a tighter conclusion than it appears so far. The job is only half done.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 6 Devils 2

Steelers Scoring: Nelson 1+1, O'Connor 1+1, Matheson 0+2, Neiley 0+2, Aarssen 1+0, Roy 1+0, Wallace 1+0, Marquardt 1+0, Valdix 0+1, D,Phillips 0+1, Franssila 0+1, J.Phillips 0+1, Ronnberg 0+1.

Devils Scoring: Haddad 1+0, Pope 1+0, Morissette 0+1, Martin 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 29 Devils 40

Powerplay: Steelers 1 from 4 (25% conversion), Devils 1 from 5 (20% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 10 Devils 8

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 38 Saves (224), GAA: 2.00 (2.22), Save Percentage: 95.00% (92.90%).

Man of the Match: Ervins Mustukovs (Steelers), Joey Haddad (Devils)

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Big Match Preview: Cardiff (Home)

Welcome to our preview of the next Sheffield Steelers game.

After the demolition of the Belfast Giants on Sunday, Steelers take a sidestep in midweek as they play the first leg of their Challenge Cup semi-final against these:

It's the current leaders of the Elite League and the defending Challenge Cup holders, Andrew Lord's Cardiff Devils. However due to apparent ice availability issues, this first leg will be played at Ice Sheffield rather than in the Arena. To me personally, that dilutes the chances we have of making the Final to be played again in IAW on the first Sunday in March. And added to that, do you remember what happened the last time we played a Challenge Cup semi-final at Ice Sheffield? Yeah, we got absolutely hammered.

Yet when the chips are down so to speak, the Steelers can actually turn up and upset the proverbial applecart. You only have to look back at that game against the Giants for example. Nobody gave the Steelers much hope against a Giants side which had the best of the head to head record this season' but produce they did. It will be tougher against the Devils though, they are an exceptional hockey side and are as good as last season's if not better. 

Team news will see the return of Zack Fitzgerald to the line up after the American defenceman had completed a five game suspension. It means that Steelers will have seven defencemen to choose from so don't be surprised if Paul Thompson sits an import forward and pushes Mark Matheson into a forward role to put the Devils under pressure. Devils will be without offensive defenceman Gleason Fournier as he sits game two of a two game suspension but they will just carry regardless without him. They have match winners all the place so Steelers will really produce their best ever showing to overcome.

My prediction? If this had been at the Arena, I would have fancied the Steelers to take this with a two goal advantage. As it is, we are at Ice Sheffield so I think it will be a single goal win for us which will be good for team morale but will also give the Devils an advantage considering how poor our record is at IAW overall. 3-2 the score. What about you?

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Stars shot down as Steelers score eight again

Welcome to your match report from last night's game against the Dundee Stars.

After losing 3-2 in Ice Arena Wales on Saturday night, Steelers slipped down to 4th place in the Elite League table. However, on Wednesday night they entertained the Dundee Stars for the third time this season and for the second time in Ice Sheffield. Team news saw the team unchanged from the team that lost in Cardiff bar the additions of Ben O'Connor (paternity issues) and Kieran Brown. That meant that Jonas Westerling was still absent and Colton Fretter was serving game five of his six game suspension. Stars were very short benched, with coach Omar Pacha icing himself and the team also borrowed Bobby Chamberlain from Hull Pirates to add up to their numbers.

Despite their short numbers, Stars had the first shot on goal through Malcolm Gould but Ervins Mustukovs dealt with it. Steelers then killed off a Levi Nelson tripping minor before taking the lead at 4:03, good play by both Mark Matheson and Nelson set up Andreas Valdix and the Swede took full advantage to score his fourth goal of the season. Just like buses, it was 2-0 17 seconds later. Andre Deveaux taking full advantage of a loose bit of play by the visitors before finding the twine for goal number two in a Steelers uniform. Most would have expected Steelers to run riot after this burst but it was the Stars who scored the next goal, ex-Edinburgh and Manchester forward Taylor Dickin taking advantage of a screen to fire past Mustukovs.

Steelers got their heads back on it after this and netted a third just before the 13 minute mark, Liam Kirk and Robert Dowd setting up "Daddy" O'Connor for a well taken finish. It was Ben's fourth goal of the season in all competitions. The home side continued to press and it was becoming a case of Fullerton vs the Steelers as they dominated their opponents. It was 4-1 inside the opening stages of the second period, the second line again at with Nelson continuing his good run of goalscoring form. It was an even second period in terms of shots on goal, but Steelers were the ones who were taking their chances and goal number five arrived just shy of the half hour mark. Swede Andreas Jämtin netting his fourth of the season with a shot that Fullerton never saw. Then late in the period, and with Matheson sitting a tripping minor, skipper Jonathan Philips and Brady Ramsay broke 2 on 0 on Fullerton and Captain Fantastic beat the netminder to make it 6-1 even though referee Tom Pering took to GLT to be assured.

Period three saw Steelers make a goaltending change, giving Brad Day the last twenty minutes of the game and rest Mustukovs. One of the first things he had to do though was to fish the puck out of the cage at 42:12, Gould the scorer for the Stars. As the game wound down, Pacha knew he was going down to a new overall record of 0/23 and picked up a hooking minor with a shade under four minutes left. Thirty seconds after the Stars player-coach had taken his seat, he was up from it as Dowd netted on the powerplay: assisted by his ever dependable line mates. Could Steelers match their scoreline from Ice Sheffield in September? The answer was yes as goal number eight arrived with 50 seconds before the final buzzer, Scott Aarssen with his second goal in as many games.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 8 Stars 2

Steelers Scoring: Valdix 1+2, Dowd 1+2, Nelson 1+2, Deveaux 1+1, O'Connor 1+1, Aarssen 1+0, Jämtin 1+0, J.Phillips 1+0, Kirk 0+1, Ramsay 0+1, Matheson 0+1, Shudra 0+1, Marquardt 0+1.

Stars Scoring: Gould 1+0, Dickin 1+0, Stadel 0+1, Cownie 0+1, Andersson 0+1, Hart 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 44 Stars 38

Powerplay: Steelers 1 from 3 (33% conversion), Stars 0 from 4 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 8 Stars 6

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 21 Saves (441), GAA: 1.50 (2.24), Save Percentage 95.50% (92.30%). Day 15 Saves (19), GAA: 3.00 (1.83), Save Percentage 93.80% (95.00%)

Man of the Match: Ben O'Connor (Steelers), Brian Hart (Stars)

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Big Match Preview: Dundee (Home)

Welcome to your big match preview of the next Steelers game.

It's midweek hockey, and midweek hockey at the en-suite bathroom known as Ice Sheffield for the boys as they hope to get back to winning ways in the league as we entertain these fellows:

Yes it's the return to Sheffield of the Dundee Stars, and of course that means Omar "I've got a plan for the Steelers" Pacha will be in residence. The Stars haven't had much luck against the Steelers this season as we have taken both games in regulation. Naturally we want this to continue, and extend the miserable run that Mr Pacha has against us. For the statto's out there, Pacha's overall record against us stands at 0 wins in 22 games (and that goes back to his Hull and Manchester days too) and it's a bit of an unwanted record that we bet he's not at all proud of.

The last game here in Sheffield saw the Steelers blow their visitors away in an exhilarating first period, scoring five goals without reply. It was that sublime that some people were saying it was the best first period of hockey they'd seen for a long time. That game finished 8-2 and it's conceivable that we could expect something similar on Wednesday if we start the game with intensity and have the Stars on the back foot from that first puck drop.

However, we need to play smart when on defence as Stars have a few familiar faces that could hurt us: none so than former Fife Flyer Justin Fox who recently joined Pacha's Tayside troops. Defencemen Joey DeConcilys and Riley Stadel top their scoring charts so that's another thing we need to be wary of. Mind you Mr Stadel won't want to cross Robert Dowd after the same 8-2 game, unless he likes to live life on the edge. We should have enough however to see them off.

My prediction? Steelers to go three out of three against the Stars this season, a 6-1 home win sounds good to me. How do you see it unfolding?

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Steelers shutout Clan and send them for six

Time for the match report from Sunday's game against the Clan.

After winning in overtime at Braehead on the Friday but slipping to an overtime loss in Fife on the Saturday night, Steelers played their third game in as many nights on Sunday when they hosted the Clan at Ice Sheffield. Steelers were unchanged from the team that iced against Fife, which meant a home "debut" for Andre Deveaux and also marked game three of the six match suspension for Colton Fretter. Clan, who also were playing their third in three nights, were without Craig Peacock and Adam Brace but gave the start in between the pipes to Gary Russell with Ryan Nie backing him up.

The home team were in control from the very start, forcing Russell into a number of saves and short benched Clan onto the back foot. What was a surprise though, was that it took deep into the first period for the deadlock to be broken. At 14:13, Liam Kirk produced a brilliant pass across the goal and Andreas Jämtin had the simple task of tapping the puck into the Clan goal - Mark Matheson getting the secondary assist. Two goals in the space of 31 seconds then put the game beyond all manner of doubt, and the Steelers firmly in control. At 17:09, Joonas Ronnberg marked his final appearance in a Steelers uniform with a blast from the blueline, and then at 17:40 it became 3-0 when Mathieu Roy and Matt Marquardt teed up John Armstrong for the finish.

Steelers had outshot Clan 18-3 in that opening period, and also certainly laid down a marker that they were not just reliant on one player. The kids were enthusiastic as always, and showing their undoubted talents against players with much more experience. Kieran Brown was most impressive, playing with no fear whatsoever which has become staple for him whenever we have seen him in action. As it was though, the second period was scoreless but eventful nevertheless; defenceman Zack Fitzgerald picking up a 2+10 checking to the head from referee Steve Brown after an incident involving Clan's own precoicus talent Jordan Buesa.

A fourth goal had to come, and it did with 48:27 played in the game. Deveaux and Brown setting up Armstrong for his second goal of the night, and twelfth goal of the Elite League season so far. Brown's assist being just reward for an outstanding personal performance. Did the Steelers have more goals in their locker? The answer was a yes, as the fifth goal came at 50:21 on the game clock. Matt Marquardt back on the scoresheet after being set up by Mathieu Roy and Armstrong; a bit of a reversal of the third goal so to say. The scoring was finished at 53:11 when the Steelers supporters saw Deveaux score his first goal for the team albeit at the third attempt past Russell whilst Armstrong and Roy picked up their third assists of the evening; Armstrong's helper taking him to a remarkable 2+3 on the night.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 6 Clan 0

Steelers Scoring: Armstrong 2+3, Roy 0+3, Marquardt 1+1, Deveaux 1+1, Matheson 0+2, Jämtin 1+0, Ronnberg 1+0, Kirk 0+1, Brown 0+1.

Clan Scoring: Erm, nobody.

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 35 Clan 20

Powerplay: Steelers 1 from 4 (25% conversion), Clan 0 from 2 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 14 Clan 8

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 20 Saves (396), GAA: 0.00 (2.56), Save Percentage 100% (92.30%)

Man of the Match: John Armstrong (Steelers), Brendan Brooks (Clan)

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Big Match Preview - Milton Keynes (Home)

Welcome to another big match preview. Yes we know this is being uploaded less than 24 hours before the games but circumstances beyond control have dictated it. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Well after a double loss at the weekend, Steelers look to bounce back on Wednesday in another league game across the car park in Ice Sheffield. Our opposition are these fellows:

Yes it is the second of the Elite League's newcomers, Milton Keynes Lightning. Lightning arrive in Sheffield, brimming with confidence. They have had wins over Belfast, Cardiff and Braehead and to have last season's top two as scalps already is something to be proud of. Hats off to Lightning for that.

They are coached by GB Head Coach Pete Russell, so we can assume they will be very organised and prepared meticulously. Looking at their roster, they have Polish international netminder Przemyslaw Odrobny who was very well deputised by none other than former Panther Miika Wiikman when the former was injured. They also have Matt Nickerson and Jonathan Boxill who were at Belfast last year, and had spells at Fife and Nottingham respectively. There's a trio of ex-Cardiff Devils in Carl Hudson, Guillaume Doucet and Denny Kearney plus former Manchester Storm defenceman Paul Phillips; not to forget the evergreen Ashley Tait who had two successive spells here in Sheffield.

Another to seriously watch out for is the hugely talented Brit Lewis Hook.

So plenty of things to think about. We could seriously be in for a shock like the aforementioned sides above if we underestimate them, and three losses in a row will start some alarm bells ringing here in Sheffield. We don't want that, do we? Play as well as we know we can play, and the winning feeling can return and so can the smiles. It's in our own hands this destiny, carpe diem Steelers...make us smile once more!

My prediction? I'm still going to go for the same prediction I made on the podcast last week, Steelers to win 6-2 but it will be a hard fought 6-2 at that. How do you see it?

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Superb Steelers strike Stars for eight

On a Tuesday night, the Steelers played their third game in four days when they hosted Dundee Stars at Ice Sheffield. Here's the FSB match report from the game.

As it was as you have been for a few weeks for Steelers in terms of team news. Still no Zack Fitzgerald or Matt Marquardt, both sidelined at the moment. Hot prospect Kieran Brown was in the line-up as part of his arrangement with NIHL side Blackburn Hawks who are coached by former Steelers defenceman Steve Duncombe. Dundee travelled to Sheffield missing former Steelers, Panthers and Blaze forward Chris Lawrence who was out with a knee injury. Stars coach Omar Pacha said before the game that he had a plan for this game, would he be able to celebrate a victory at last against the Steelers?

Well to be honest whatever Pacha's plan was, it went firmly out of the window as Steelers scorched into a 5-0 first period lead which basically put the game to bed after just twenty minutes play. The scoring started at 3:54 and the move started deep in Steelers defensive territory. Finnish defenceman Joonas Ronnberg passed to Ben O'Connor and he produced one of those brilliant stretch passes that found Colton Fretter in the clear and he beat Travis Fullerton five-hole. A shade under two minutes later it was 2-0, Juha Koivisto with his second Steelers goal, tipping in Mark Matheson's pass home with Ronnberg getting the secondary helper. Stars were under serious pressure, and conceded a third at 7:49. Davey Phillips found Mathieu Roy and the King of Sheffield teed up Fretter to tip in his second of the night. Incredible hockey.

The scoring didn't stop there as Steelers went on the powerplay at 13:18 when Taylor Dickin was whistled for hooking. 37 seconds into and goal number four arrived on the scene, Tim Wallace to John Armstrong and he picked out the King to score his first league goal of the season. Stars couldn't stop the bleeding and shipped a fifth before the period was out. An absolutely brilliant goal from Brady Ramsay where he found the smallest of gaps over the shoulder of Fullerton and popped the water bottle off for good measure too. Helpers going to Scott Aarssen and with his first ever point in the Elite League, Kieran Brown. What a moment for the young man!

Fretter thought he had his hat-trick at 24:47 but goal line technology denied him it and the Steelers goal number six. Stars had come out a bit more in the second and bust Mustukovs' shutout at 28:22; a nice move ending with Malcolm Gould lighting the lamp. 2:23 later and the five-goal lead was restored, Roy and Liam Kirk combined and John Armstrong with his fifth of the season past the overworked Fullerton. That was the second period scoring, and the final period started with a Stars goal. Steelers were penalised for too many men at 42:56, and eight seconds later the visitors had scored. Jimmy Jensen, who scored a hat-trick against Fife on Sunday, being the scorer. Then after Kris Inglis was whistled for a hooking minor, Stars defenceman Riley Stadel decided to repeatedly cross-check Jonas Westerling but he didn't count on Robert Dowd to take him for a dance and then downed in just three punches. Perhaps Mr Stadel might do well to learn from this.

Eighteen seconds after this wee altercation, Steelers scored a seventh. With the team on the powerplay because the initial minor from Inglis, Fretter and O'Connor teamed up and Wallace ripped one of those shots from the left circle that we've seen a few times already and it rocketed home. Brad Day entered the game for some ice-time at 47:13 as Mustukovs was given a nice rest.  The scoring was concluded with 1:40 left, O'Connor again involved with a feed to Wallace and his backhand effort produced a rebound which Westerling pouched for Steelers goal number eight of the night. Remind us of the plan again please Mr Pacha?

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 8 Stars 2

Steelers Scoring: Fretter 2+1, Roy 1+2, Wallace 1+2, O'Connor 0+3, Armstrong 1+1, Ronnberg 0+2, Ramsay 1+0, Koivisto 1+0, Westerling 1+0, Aarssen 0+1, D.Phillips 0+1, Kirk 0+1, Matheson 0+1, Brown 0+1.

Stars Scoring: Andersson 0+2, Jensen 1+0, Gould 1+0, Lévesque 0+1, Mimar 0+1.

Shots On Goal: Steelers 52, Stars 21

Powerplay: Steelers 2 from 3 (67% conversion), Stars 1 from 1 (100% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 9, Stars 13

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 15 saves (67), GAA: 2.55 (2.45) Save Percentage: 88.20% (90.50%) . Day 4 saves, GAA: 0.00, Save Percentage 100.00%

Man of the Match: Colton Fretter (Steelers), Gabriel Lévesque (Stars)

Now for some of your thoughts:

Richard J Allen: "This is a confident and capable Steelers side. Didn't have to kick up a gear tonight and just let our speed and skill do the talking."

Kim: "I feel confident watching this Steelers side. It's good to see goals from so many players. That'll be so important later in the season."

Roy Claringbold: "First period we were awesome. We took foot off gas after first period."

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