SIHA Round-Up 15th March 2015

Thank you to Phil Holden for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Phil on Twitter @PhilSlice

On Sunday Sabres U14 D2 maintained their 100% win record but didn’t get things their own way against a talented and hardworking Deeside Junior Dragons in an entertaining game. Leon Shaw put Sabres 1-0 up at the end of the first in a period in which they were the better team. Deeside looked like a different opposition in the second but found themselves 2-0 down after Ben O’Brien had scored a well taken goal, however Deeside’s efforts were rewarded when they pulled one back to make it 2-1 at the end of the second. Sabres gained the upper hand when Leon Shaw scored a lovely delayed penalty goal to make it 3-1 but Deeside didn’t give up and took advantage when a lapse of concentration in defence was punished by the impressive Charlie Spidgeon who made no mistake to haul Dragons back into the game. It was hard to predict which way it would go but Sabres dug deep and worked hard to ensure that it was they who secured the points with Leon Shaw unlucky not to score again when he flicked one onto the piping. A gritty performance from Sabres in an enjoyable game for the spectator but not necessarily for the Coach!

Greyhounds U16 D2 enjoyed a 9-0 success over Blackburn to maintain their 100% win record which has seen them crowned as league winners. Blackburn pushed Greyhounds all the way in the first period but two decent goals; one for Gabriel Grzibovskis & one for Jack Brain put Greyhounds in control. It was soon 3-0 when a Blackburn player went to block a shot with his skate from Nathan Price only to help the puck on its way into the net. The second period was a lot closer although a good spell from Greyhounds brought a couple of good saves from the Blackburn netminder but he couldn’t do anything to prevent Luke Allen firing in after a lovely pass from Jack Brain had created the opening to see Greyhounds in front at 4-0. A Gabriel Grzibovskis hat-trick made it four for him as well as 7-0 for Greyhounds. Nathan Prince scored a lovely short-handed goal to make it 8-0 with Thomas Cope making it 9-0 to put away his own rebound after a very good initial shot had been well saved by Blackburn’s goalie. Another impressive performance for Greyhounds who’s season just gets better & better.

The same can be said for Lasers U12 D1 who enjoyed an impressive 13-0 away win against Kingston Hull to keep them in the hunt for glory in what turned out to be a very good day for junior hockey in Sheffield.

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

SIHA Round-Up 14th March 2015

Thank you to Phil Holden for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Phil on Twitter @PhilSlice

Sheffield Spartans & Blackburn Hawks shared the spoils in a great game of ice hockey at Ice Sheffield on Saturday in NIHL North One. Spartans were the better team in the opening period and should have realistically been in front but had to be content with a 2-2 period with Ollie Barron twice putting Spartans in front only for Hawks to equalise through Adam Brittle & Chris Arnone. The second period was a little scrappy, mainly due to some awful and inconsistent refereeing on both teams but it was still end to end & as exciting as the first period. Hawks had some good spells of pressure with Brandon Stones making several good saves to keep Spartans in the game. But whereas Hawks had more chances, Spartans had the better ones and on the balance of play deserved their 4-2 lead at the end thanks to good goals scored by Shaun Wild & Nick Manning. Hawks stepped it up a gear to score early on in the third through Chris Butler. Spartans still created chances and were more than in the game but a good spell of possession and pressure on Spartans goal from Hawks reaped rewards with a determined effort to drive the puck home after Brandon Stones had made a fine save but unable to do anything about Aaron Davies popping in the rebound as there was a Hawks player lying on top of him with the goal allowed to stand. Spartans reacted positively to hit back at Hawks who always looked dangerous on the counter attack but it looked more likely a draw as the clock ticked down; however there was to be a cruel twist in the tale with just 16 seconds left of the game. Some lovely build up play had Hawks on the back foot and when Will Barron forced the puck home and the goal signalled it looked like Spartans may have inflicted Hawks first defeat of the season. The reaction of the Hawks players spoke volumes as Spartans celebrated but it was not to be has the referee then decided to wash it out for a man in the crease, doing so without consultation to harshly rob Spartans of a hard fought and valuable win. It was a poor call, it was the wrong call, one of many but obviously it had more of an impact than some of his other decisions. The last 16 seconds passed without further incident to see the final score tied at 4-4. The result & Sutton’s loss in Billingham sees Spartans move up to 4^th play-off spot, one point above Sutton who they play in their last game on the 28^th.

Prior to the Spartans game, Rapiers U16 D1 faced a potentially tricky game against Coventry Blaze who made life difficult for the Sheffield team at times. The first chance fell to Coventry on a breakaway but they couldn’t put their chance away in the 2^nd minute. Lasers went onto dominate but they didn’t pick the most of their possession or chances against an inform netminder and a stubborn defence that do deserve praise. However the netminder as eventually beaten when a brave save from a one on one breakaway saw possession fall to Sam Rodgers who calmly put his chance away to put Rapiers in front. As the clock ticked down some lovely individual skill from Sam Rodger saw him flick his shot high to leave the netminder no chance and put Rapiers in front 2-0 at the period break. Coventry started the period brightly and after both teams had good chances to score with Evan Coles making an excellent save in Sheffield’s goal, it was Blaze who did score through Daniel Mulcanny who was strong on the puck after he created space to put his chance away nicely. This lifted Coventry who was now on top of things and whilst on the powerplay they turned possession over to fire in a shot to make it 2-2 through Edgars Landsbergs. Rapiers hit back though but couldn’t find a way past Coventry’s rear-guard to be all square after two but after a scrappy start to the 3^rd, Rapiers went on to gradually dominate proceedings to run out 6-2 winners. Finlay Ulrick scored first and after some sustained pressure Aaron Lyon forced a good save from the Coventry goalie but was on hand for the second bite of the cheery to make it 4-2.  Finlay Ulrick picked up a perfectly timed & weighted pass to leave the netminder no chance and the win was rounded of by Jake Howis in the dying seconds of the game. It was tough to start with but Rapiers class told in the end in what was another good game of junior hockey.

The academy’s other senior team were also in action against their Blackburn rivals but against the Eagles in NIHL North Two. Blackburn is always a difficult place to get a result and things became a bit naughty and physical but a solid workmanlike team performance with a special mention for the unwell Josh Gent who insisted on playing to turn in an admirable performance with 5 goals & an assist. Josh aka Charles VII grabbed his hat-trick in the first period with Mikey Mawer, Nathan Britton, Callum Rawson & Paul Lofthouse getting on the score sheet with a solitary goal from Eagles through Jordan Ashington to see the score at 7-1 in Senators favour. The second period was a little tougher but Josh Gent & Nathan Britton put Sens further in front at 9-1 but another Jordan Ashington goal in the last minute pulled one back for Eagles. Harry Bolton & James Riddoch gave Eagles a little hope into the third but Josh Gent popped his 5^th one in to make it 10-4 before it all turned a bit unsavoury in the 52^nd minute with numerous penalties handed out to both teams. However the dust did settle somewhat with no real further incident for Senators to notch up another win in what has been an amazing season.

Steelhawks U18 D1 were also on the road to face Billingham and came away with an impressive 14-4 win. A Joe Colton hat-trick, a brace from Oli Simms plus one from Cole Shudra put Steelhawks in a strong position at 6-1 at the end of the first. Sheffield’s dominance continued into the second, despite a couple of Billingham goals, as Cole Shudra grabbed his hat-trick with two more goals with one apiece for Aaron Lyon, Connor Parker & Thomas James Brooke-Smith. With an 11-3 lead Steelhawks were always in command and ensured their victory by conceding just one more whilst Kyle Watson and another couple from Cole Shudra rounded off a good performance.

Scorpions U18 D2 were also in action but came unstuck against a very good & undefeated Manchester team who climbed to the top of the league after their 12-2 win at Ice Sheffield whilst Swampfrogs recorded a solid 11-3 away win against Grimsby.

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

SIHA Round-Up 7th & 8th March 2015

Thank you to Phil Holden for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Phil on Twitter @PhilSlice

Spartans left it late on Saturday night in NIHL North One to claim a valuable victory over Manchester Minotaurs in their pursuit of a play-off spot. In an open & end to end first period there was very little to choose between the two teams but Spartans went into the first break 1-0 up after Ollie Barron had scored. It was harsh on Minotaurs but they hit back to take the lead through Tom Gilbert & Max Drakeley and you couldn’t argue that it was deserved. Spartans called a time out and swapped netminders with Andy Bagshaw taking over from Brandon Stones.  This had the desired effect with a positive response from Spartans who were soon level with an unstoppable shot from Jonathan Kirk.  Spartans enjoyed some good possession and chances, most notably from Ollie Barron and Stuart Brittle who were both unfortunate not to score. Into the third and a fumbled save from a speculative shot from Jared Dickinson put Minotaurs in front to look the more likely winners as the final period progressed but out of nothing Ollie Barron scored a nice goal after being set up by Stuart Brittle on 56.43. Things were soon to get worse for Manchester when Elliott Knell & Ollie Barron combined to set up Stuart Brittle to score an amazing goal as he fired the puck between the post and netminder Fox to put Spartans 4-3 in front timed 57.29. Spartans regained possession from the face-off to see Andy Turner make a lovely pass to Shaun Wild who exploited the space he had made for himself to show great skill to fire in an unstoppable shot for another good goal, this one timed 57.53. Minotaurs frustrations boiled over with roughing penalties against both teams along with Minotaurs netminder Fox being thrown out for 3^rd man in. With no back up netminder there was a delay whilst Mikey Gilbert dressed to go in goal for the last couple of minutes with the delay taking the sting out of the game to eventually finish with a Spartans win.

In NIHL Two Senators travelled to Humberside on Sunday to face Hull who can be tricky customers on home ice but a confident & competent 60 minutes from the Sens saw them ease to an 8-1 victory. Credit to Hull though, they ensured Sens had to be on their game which they were and in the end were simply too good for Hull. Sergevs Jegorovs & Paul Lofthouse goals put Senators 2-0 up after the first and their patience was further rewarded when Nathan Britton & Tom Humphries made it 4-0 at the end of the second. Tom Humphries netted again to make it 5-0 before Hull pulled one back through Jordan Fisher. Sens found another gear from that point and their class showed with goals from Arran Bell, Josh Gent & Sergevs Jegorovs to ensure victory. Jamie Lewis was awarded Man of the Match for Senators, one of many notable performances from a sound team effort.

It was a good day on Sunday all round for our SIHA teams as Steelhawks U18 D1 enjoyed a 3-2 road win in Whitley Bay whilst Scorpions U18 D2 enjoyed success away to Blackburn with a credible 8-1 win.

A great weekend for the academy with all our teams in action securing wins. It’s a busy weekend ahead with numerous teams in action at Ice Sheffield so keep an eye out for the forthcoming preview that will be posted sometime soon.

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

SIHA Round-Up 28th February & 1st March 2015

Thank you to Phillip Holden for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Phil on Twitter @PhilSlice

The starting point for this week’s SIHA round up has to be with Sheffield Senators who confirmed their promotion to NIHL North One with an emphatic 21-0 victory over Bradford Bulldogs at Ice Sheffield on Sunday. The outcome was never in doubt as Bradford were simply no match for Senators on the day in a one sided game. Tom Humphries grabbed five, Nathan Britton hit four with hat-tricks for Sergevs Jegorovs & Callum Rawson. Josh Gent scored twice with one apiece for Joel Aheran, Alex Jones & Tom “Lovejoy” Robjohns with arguably the best goal of the game scored by Cam King who showed a great deal of skill to put away his effort after picking up on a perfectly weighted and timed pass from Stevie Jegorovs. There will have been one or two sore heads come Monday morning, for which I can vouch for myself, as Sens celebrated a fantastic achievement.

Our other senior team, Sheffield Spartans pushed themselves back into serious play-off contention with a solid performance to win 6-3 which sees them now two points behind Sutton Sting with just 3 games left. It was far from the perfect performance but it was more than good enough to beat a spirited Manchester Minotaurs and in fairness should have been by a far greater margin but it was more about the win than anything else at this stage of the season. Cole Shudra had put Spartans in front only for Minotaurs to equalise with one second left of the period. Spartans dominated the second to be 5-2 in front with goals from Stuart Brittle, Shaun Wild, Stevie Weeks & Ollie Barron. A brief rally from Minotaurs saw them pull one back before a late Stuart Brittle goal sealed a deserved 6-3 victory.

Prior to the Spartans game Swampfrogs U12 D2 played out an entertaining game against Blackburn whom they got the better of to win 6-4. Swampfrogs enjoyed the better of things early on and deserved to take the lead with a debut goal for Alex Evans. Blackburn hit back but was fortunate to equalise when the puck deflected off a skate to leave the Sheffield netminder stranded. There was nothing lucky about Blackburn’s second goal after Jake Holding finished off some lovely play to put them in front but Swampfrogs pulled level after Archie Grayson’s shot had been well saved but Tyler Fletcher was on hand to pick up the rebound to equalise.

Swampfrogs enjoyed a productive second period to keep Blackburn out and put themselves in control at 5-2 up going into the final period. Sam Parkin finished nicely making it 3-2 with a lovely individual goal from Ethan Jones, flicking his shot high into the roof of the net to make it 4-2. Some great build up play set up a chance for Liam Watson who made no mistake to make it 5-2.

Credit to Blackburn they fought to get back into the game with two decent goals although the second being a 5 on 3 powerplay goal but it was still a well worked goal. It wasn’t enough however to get past Swampfrogs who added to their tally with another superb goal, this time put away by Michael Danecko to make it 6-4 to Swampfrogs in what was a good game of hockey.

Elsewhere on Saturday Scorpions U18 D2 enjoyed a 6-2 home win over Solihull Barons whilst Greyhounds U16 D2 maintained their 100% win record with a fine away victory in Deeside.

Special mention for Samurai U10 and their cross ice challenge games, with two teams facing Whitley Bay/Bradford as well as a talented Billingham team in some great games which were clearly enjoyed by all who took part or watched.

On Sunday Steelhawks U18 D1 were staring defeat in the face at Ice Sheffield against Bradford being 5-1 down, a mixture of good finishing and questionable defending the main factors but they showed great spirit and determination to pull it back to 5-5 and were sniffing two points when Bradford countered to nick it in the final minute to secure a 6-5 win in another good game of junior hockey.

Sabres U14 D2 travelled to Humberside for a potentially tricky match against Kingston but the table topping Sabres were in fine form to record a 9-1 win in a game that was at times closer than the score may suggest.

Greyhounds U16 D2 are in midweek action down at Ice Sheffield on Thursday as they look to maintain their 100 % win record against Nottingham at 7.20pm. Hopefully there will be a report from the game as well as the usual preview of the weekend’s action some time Friday…#allsheffield

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

SIHA Round-Up 21st & 22nd February 2015

Thank you to Phillip Holden for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Phil on Twitter @PhilSlice

Midweek action for Rapiers U16 D1 saw them overcome Sutton 2-1 in a close game where Sting pushed Rapiers all the way. Archie Gamwell had cancelled out Rapiers opener scored by Finlay Ulrick but the Sheffield team secured the points with an unassisted Kyle Watson goal. This result followed on from a great performance on Sunday when they won 14-1 up in Whitley Bay to see them now sitting on top of the table, tied on points with second placed Bradford but having a better head to head record and three points in front of third placed Nottingham; with a game in hand on both those teams with Sutton now 7 points behind in fourth.

A Sunday  5-2 win for Stormers U14 D1 on Humberside over Kingston saw them cement their place at the top of their table although second placed Bradford, who are trailing by three points, have played two games less.

Last Saturday saw a mixed bag of results for SIHA teams, both for the juniors and seniors. Senators took a huge step forward to sealing their automatic promotion to the Moralee Conference with a solid 13-2 away win at Bradford Bulldogs with two goals apiece for Josh Gent, Joe Colton, Stevie Jegorovs,  Nathan Britton & Tom Humphries with Mikey Mawer, Paul Lofthouse & Rudy Molnar getting in on the act with a goal apiece too. That result sees Sens needing just one more win to seal promotion to the Moralee in which Spartans suffered a disappointing 4-1 loss in what was a scrappy game up in Dumfries against Solway Sharks. From being 2-0 down in a fiery and somewhat bad tempered first period, Spartans gave a good account of themselves but only had a Tom Parkinson goal to show for their efforts to go into the final period 3-1 down. Sharks slowly took control of the final period as Spartans seemed to run out of ideas as the clock ticked down with Solway adding a fourth late on which was a little harsh but it can’t be argued that Sharks deserved their win.

Swampfrogs U12 D2 enjoyed a 5-2 road win in Solihull which would have made the kebabs taste that much sweeter whilst Scorpions U18 D2 faced the ridiculous scenario of having to travel to Widnes for a “Sheffield” derby against Steeldogs Academy. Despite a spirited performance against a better team Scorpions eventually lost 6-0.

As the season draws ever closer to its conclusion, despite our mixed bag of results this weekend it’s good to see so many SIHA teams chasing success for which everybody involved with SIHA deserves praise and credit…long may it continue too!

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

SIHA Round-Up 14th & 15th February 2015

Thank you to Phillip Holden for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Phil on Twitter @PhilSlice

SIHA tasted success last Saturday with three cracking league wins which started with Lasers U12 D1 winning 22-1 in Sutton which leaves them four points clear at the top of their table but having played more games than second placed Bradford who are the closest rivals with Nottingham 8 points behind in 3rd. Stormers U14 D1 secured a great 13-0 victory over Coventry to go top of their table whilst sticking with the U14’s, Sabres D2 came from behind twice to beat rivals Nottingham 4-3 which sees them clear at the top of their table and with games in hand on the teams below them…all in all a very good day at the office for our junior teams.

On Sunday, Spartans put in a credible performance and pushed Blackburn all the way only to lose out 6-2 which saw Hawks crowned NIHL Moralee Champions. The score line gives a disjointed view of the game in which Spartans were the better team in the first period and could have been more than 1-0 up after Will Barron scored for Spartans. Into the second and Ollie Barron made it 2-0 before Adam Brittle pulled one back from nothing for Hawks. With their tails up they scored a quick fire second through Jared Owen which it’s arguable that we should have done better with. Spartans hit back and were very unfortunate not to take the lead but some superb defence kept us out before Adam Brittle scored a great goal to give Hawks the edge. A short-handed goal with 10 seconds left, a good goal too, from Dan Makriel gave Hawks a massive advantage going into the final period 4-2 up. It was a little harsh on Spartans but they continued to battle away but yet another good goal, another one for Adam Brittle basically sealed the game as Hawks played out the period well to head them towards victory. Spartans ensured they had to work for it though and deserve credit for the way they played but on the night they lacked that extra bit of class that Hawks had who pooped a late one in with 3 seconds left on the clock through Chris Arnone to make it 6-2.

It was however another good day for our junior teams with Rapiers U16 D1 who impressively beat Manchester 27-0 at Ice Sheffield. This result sees Rapiers cement their position in third just one point behind Nottingham & two points behind leaders Bradford but Rapiers have two and three games in had on their respective opponents.  Steelhawks U18 D1 got back to winning ways with a hard fought 5-3 win over Kingston to be now well clear of their opponents to sit 3^rd in their table.

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

SIHA Round-Up 8th February 2015

Thank you to Phillip Holden for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Phil on Twitter @PhilSlice

With Spartans looking to bounce back from the disappointing outcome of their game against Sutton Sting the previous night they faced an uphill struggle after finding themselves 2-0 down at the end of the first period against Billingham Stars. In what was a lack lustre affair Stars were gifted their first goal through basic errors made on Spartans part with Chris Sykes on hand to take advantage on 9.27. Things got worse for Spartans when shortly after Michael Elder scored to make it 2-0, goal timed 11.13.

The second period continued where the first left off which was frustratingly disappointing as Stars weren’t at their best but it is also fair to say that they didn’t have to be with Spartans looking a bit flat at times. Stars increased their advantage with another Michael Elder goal, a powerplay goal timed 34.44 which they probably deserved. The final period did see Spartans come out fighting and they worked hard and created some decent chances but Billingham were well organised and with a three goal lead weren’t in any mood to surrender the game although Spartans gave them something to think about when Elliott Knell finished his chance nicely after a lovely set up from Stuart Brittle on 56.25. Despite their late rally Spartans couldn’t pull it back and although Billingham fully deserved their win it could have been oh so different if Spartans had played with the same tempo in the first two periods. As it was, they didn’t and suffered another loss as a consequence.

Steelhawks U18 D1 travelled to Bradford but had to be content with a point. Two Oli Simms goals had cancelled out Bradford’s early opener who equalised with a quick fire goal early in the second. Olli grabbed his hat-trick goal to put Steelhawks in front but Bradford equalised once again to make it 3-3 just 21 seconds later. They were to soon take the lead but another Oli Simms goal squared it up again at 4-4. Bradford then went on to take the lead before Sheffield hit back to go back in front through Cole Shudra & Joe Colton but Bradford weren’t to be outdone and equalised to make it 6-6 which was also the final score.

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