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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Steelers in seventh heaven in away romp

On Sunday night, the Steelers made their first Elite League visit to the Spectrum in Guildford to take on one of the EIHL new boys. Here's our match report.

After losing in such heartbreaking circumstances on Saturday at home to Cardiff, Steelers made the trip to Guildford still missing Zack Fitzgerald and Matt Marquardt. Flames had beaten Cardiff just seven days before this game, 8-4, with forward Ian Watters taking the major plaudits with a hat-trick that night. They were missing Brett Ferguson, Charles Wells and Kruise hich meant that former Coventry Blaze netminder Brian Stewart was in between the pipes. Would Steelers bounce back with a win or would the newcomers claim another scalp on their home ice?

Steelers were focused from the first puck drop, determined not to repeat the loss experienced by the Devils. This was justified as early as 1:45 into the game when the powerplay went to work. Flames Rhett Rachinski was sitting a hooking minor, and it was Robert Dowd who lit the lamp from the angle with assists to Ben O'Connor and his line mate Levi Nelson. They killed a bench minor for too many men but at 10:55 doubled their lead when giant defenceman Joonas Ronnberg barrelled his way through the Flames defence to net past Stewart even if the EIHL sheet says captain Jono. Seconds later, Brady Ramsay and Flames Andy McKinney had a tilt. Both got 5 minutes for fighting majors and an additional 10 from referee Tom Darnell for removing their helmets prior to the scrap. A hugely impressive opening twenty saw the boys score a third at 16:21, John Armstrong this time on the scoresheet with Mathieu Roy picking up the sole assist.

The second began with an early goal too. Swedish forward David Lillestrom-Karlsson finding the net for the Flames and giving his team a flicker of hope. Yet a shade over three minutes later, Steelers restored their three goal lead when Roy and Tim Wallace set up Colton Fretter on the powerplay whilst Calle Ackered sat a tripping minor. Nelson and Mikael Lidhammar both sat minors after that goal; which neither side could take advantage of before it became 5-1 at 33:56: Dowd scoring his second of the night and Nelson with his second assist of the night. Wallace sat an elbowing minor three minutes after but Steelers penalty kill saw that off and the score remained at 5-1 at the end of the second.

Just like the opening two periods, the third and final period had another early marker and it was Steelers with their sixth of the night. Brian Stewart, who was doing a decent job keeping the score below double figures, was penalised for a trip and on the resultant powerplay John Armstrong scored his fourth goal of the weekend at 41:55. Assists went to Roy (his third of the night) and O'Connor (his second). The scoring was complete at 51:47 when the fourth line came up with a goal. Ramsay and Phillips provided the helpers, Liam Kirk scoring past Stewart. All in all, a good night's work for Paul Thompson's men.

Now for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 7 Flames 1

Steelers Scoring:  Roy 0+3, Dowd 2+0, Armstrong 2+0, Ramsay 0+2, Nelson 0+2, O'Connor 0+2, Kirk 1+0, Ronnberg 1+0, Fretter 1+0, J Phillips 0+1, Wallace 0+1, Matheson 0+1.

Flames Scoring: Lillestrom-Karlsson 1+0, Dunbar 0+1, Ackered 0+1.

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 45, Flames 33

Powerplay: Steelers 3 from 6 (50% conversion), Flames 0 from 5 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes Called: Steelers 25, Flames 27

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 32 Saves (52), GAA: 1.00 (2.41), Save Percentage 97.00% (91.20%)

Man of the Match: Tim Wallace (Steelers), Ben Davies (Guildford)

Now for your thoughts:

Tina: "Some fans need to stop chirping at certain players and get behind them all now. Early days to be throwing players off a cliff."

Daniella West (Flames supporter): "It was a good game. Sheffield were the better team on the night and they fully deserved the win, and the two points."

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Freak goal steals the points for Devils

On Saturday evening in front of a crowd of 5286 in the House Of Steel, Steelers took on the current Elite League champions Cardiff Devils. It was the first match between the two sides since that epic Play-Off Final in Nottingham. 

Both sides had players missing from their ranks. Steelers were still without both Zack Fitzgerald and Matt Marquardt whilst Devils were missing offensive defenceman Drew Paris who was out with an ankle injury. Paris' absence meant that player-coach Andrew Lord and Brit Josh Batch dropped back to the blue line.

Devils opened the scoring at 5:39. With David Phillips serving a minor for holding, the visitors plugged away and it was Sean Bentivoglio who lit the lamp, Joey Haddad getting the sole assist. Steelers were level midway through the period, the goal caroming past Ben Bowns off a Devils skate after an initial shot from John Armstrong, who was getting a fair bit of stick from the away support (again, I wonder why?). Helpers on the goal going to Scott Aarssen and Mark Matheson. The period stayed scoreless after that with Steelers successfully negating a Cole Shudra hooking penalty.

Steelers had a powerplay in the opening minute of the second period when Justin Faryna sat a holding minor but less than 90 seconds after the penalty finished, found themselves 3-1 down. Joey Martin made it 2-1 at 23:46 when a puck sat up perfectly on his stick and the Canadian made no mistake past Mustukovs, and then 36 seconds later Matt Pope was the beneficiary and again the Devils forward made no mistake. At this point Devils were really buzzing, forcing Steelers onto the back foot and looking threatening every time they came forward. Yet just before the halfway stage of the contest, Haddad was penalised for a holding minor and on the powerplay Bowns gave up a lovely rebound from a Ben O'Connor blast to Colton Fretter who gleefully dispatched it home; Tim Wallace with the secondary assist

The third started with a bit of penalty trouble for the Steelers as first of all O'Connor picked up a tripping minor and then Wallace earned a double minor from referee Stefan Hogarth for high sticking. The first two penalties were killed and just inside the last one, Steelers were awarded a penalty shot by Hogarth when Reddick hauled back skipper Jonathan Phillips on a clear breakaway. However, Phillips saw his effort denied by Bowns low down on the glove side: Jono simply couldn't get enough height on his effort to beat the Swinton born netminder. Wallace's second penalty was killed and then Steelers got another chance on the man advantage when Matthew Myers was whistled for tripping. Only 21 seconds had elapsed of that powerplay, and Steelers were back level. Armstrong netting from an acute angle via Bowns' back and underside of the crossbar so it appeared for 3-3. O'Connor and Wallace picking up their second assists of the evening.

Both sides pushed for a winner but couldn't find it and so we went into 3 on 3 overtime. Steelers had the best of the looks but Devils were looking dangerous on the counter as the game ebbed and flowed. Then as the game looked certain to be decided on penalties, Devils grabbed the winner at 64:22. Faryna's shot hit the plexi high and then took a wicked deflection off the back of Mustukovs; trickling across the line and sending the two points down to South Wales.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 3 Devils 4

Steelers Scoring: Armstrong 2+0, Wallace 0+2, O'Connor 0+2, Fretter 1+0, Aarssen 0+1, Matheson 0+1.

Devils Scoring: Pope 1+1, Martin 1+1, Asselin 0+2, Faryna 1+0, Bentivoglio 1+0, Haddad 0+1.

Shots On Goal: Steelers 28, Devils 24

Powerplay:  Steelers 2 from 3 (67% conversion), Devils 1 from 5 (20% conversion)

Penalty Minutes Called: Steelers 10, Devils 6

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 20 saves, GAA: 3.73, Save Percentage: 83.30%

Man of the Match: John Armstrong (Steelers), Andrew Hotham (Devils)

Now for your thoughts:

Adrian Lee: "Brilliant game. OK, we lost but that could have been either team to be honest. Nothing to be ashamed of, we played really well."

Tony: "Loved it despite the head in the hands moment at the end. Great comeback again after giving up a couple. Loved 3 on 3 overtime. Keep Koivisto."

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It’s that man again!

Sunday's match report against the Panthers here for your perusal.

After a bruising encounter on Saturday against Ryan Finnerty’s Manchester Storm, Steelers returned to the House Of Steel to start their opening regular season game. The game was in the much maligned Challenge Cup and lying in wait, the dear old rivals - the Nottingham Panthers. Steelers were unchanged from Saturday night which meant absences for Zack Fitzgerald and Matt Marquardt. Panthers, who had beaten Coventry 4-3 on Saturday, were at full strength. However, they did make a change in between the pipes as Michael Garnett was given the night off and one-match Sheffield Steeler Sam Gospel got the start. Would Neilson regret the decision made?

It was not at all the best start in the book for the Steelers as they were caught out on a break at 3:26, the Meerkat himself (Robert Farmer) firing in via the crossbar and the Moose’s back and trickling over the goal line. On one of two powerplays all night, the penalty box attendants were that quiet, Steelers were given a chance to drew to level but some good defending from the Panthers saw them kill off Evan Mosey’s delay of game minor. Less than a minute after the penalty expired, Panthers were two ahead. Shalla picked up his second assist of the net to tee up defenceman Yann Sauvé, all alone in the slot on the rush, and he picked his shot sweetly - Tim Billingsley picking up the secondary helper. 53 seconds later and the misery continued, impressive Russian Alexander Mokshantsev found Mark Derlago and he did what he has done all his career: light the lamp and send the Panthers fans into chants of “Easy, easy, easy” and the Steelers fans and team looking at each other in sheer disbelief.

Needing a response and one quickly, Steelers were given a lifeline at 13:48 when Mathieu Gagnon turned the puck over in his own defensive zone following some concerted home pressure and Robert Dowd found the net. The goal lifted the team and the building as a whole, and in the final minute of the period Andreas Valdix and Scott Aarssen combined to set up a Ben O’Connor blast that ripped into the roof of the goal and end the first period having five goals. Rocked by this, Panthers restored their two goal advantage at 22:33, Steelers couldn’t clear and Shalla set up Brett Perlini for 4-2 and the helper’s third assist of a productive night as he was causing the home defence a number of problems. Yet not after the announcements for this goal had subsided when it was 4-3, home debutant Juha Koivisto set up Swede Jonas Westerling to beat Gospel. Just after the half hour, Steelers amazingly pulled it back to 4-4 when John Armstrong (who had been booed by the visiting fans in the game, wonder why that was?) pounced on a rebound and tucked it away.

Still the goals kept coming in an equally enthralling second period, and Panthers went ahead again at 34:30 when Billingsley found Mokshantsev who dazzled the almost 7000 crowd with some exceptional skill before picking his spot past Mustukovs: a goal that was just remarkable even from a Steeler perspective. A minute later, we were at 5-5. Westerling returning the favour for the impressive Koivisto and he put the biscuit away. Surprisingly we had no further goals after that, and probably had time to catch our collective breaths, and both sides searched for a winner (Panthers failing to surprisingly convert on a powerplay whilst Valdix served a holding minor) until the moment came. A perfectly weighted pass from O’Connor onto the onrushing Nelson to roof it backhand beyond Gospel. Everyone then looked at the clock, it read 59:59! You couldn’t script it, Neilson and the Panthers team (and fans) were stunned into pure despair and as usual the joke known as the fire alarm went off in the away blocks. Panthers had no time to respond, and Steelers celebrated a four-point weekend that most thought would have been nigh on impossible before the team arrived in Manchester on Saturday night. Incredible.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 6 Panthers 5

Steelers Scoring: Koivisto 1+1, O’Connor 1+1, Westerling 1+1, Aarssen 0+2, Valdix 0+2, Dowd 1+0, Nelson 1+0, Armstrong 1+0, Fretter 0+1.

Panthers Scoring: Shalla 0+3, Mokshantsev 1+1, Billingsley 0+2, Perlini 1+0, Farmer 1+0, Sauvé 1+0, Derlago 1+0, Spang 0+1.

Shots On Goal: Steelers 35, Panthers 30

Powerplay: Steelers 0 from 1 (0% conversion), Panthers 0 from 1 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes Called: Steelers 2, Panthers 2

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 25 saves (Overall: 48), GAA: 3.00 (4.00), Save Percentage: 88.50% (85.70%)

Man of the Match: Levi Nelson (Steelers), Josh Shalla (Panthers)

Now for a section of your thoughts:

Dave: “Concerned about our shot to save ratio tonight. It was entertaining but had Panthers had their goalie in and not the back-up is it a different result? Not blaming Moose, he could do nothing about a couple of them.”

Steven Reid: “Concerned how poor Ronnberg looked tonight. Impressed me up to this point.”

Joey: “Impressed with Aarssen and Koivisto. Solid displays offensively from all our lines, fans were excellent as well even at 3-0 down. 4 point weekend 😊”

Pete Watson: “Sluggish start then took control. 3^rd line were very good: Wallace, Westerling (should have been Man of the Match) and Koivisto looked very lively.”

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Storm-y encounter sees Steelers record welcome win

Last night Steelers opened their Challenge Cup campaign with an away trip to Manchester. Here's the match report.

It was the first game of the season, and what a game to begin with: A War Of The Roses encounter in Altrincham. Steelers had picked up many injuries over the last few weeks or so, and a lot of game decisions were made prior to Saturday’s game. As it was, Steelers were just two imports down in Matt Marquardt and Zack Fitzgerald as Mathieu Roy, Colton Fretter and Levi Nelson were deemed fit to play much to the delight of the visiting support. Thompson also decided on a five-man defence to deal with the tenacity of Ryan Finnerty’s men. As for their team news, they were only missing centre Shane Bakker.

The game itself was a typical hard one with Storm relying upon a lot of physical play whilst Steelers relied on their speed and skill; a contrast of two teams. After an end to end start, it was the Steelers who took the lead with just over five minutes left in the first period. Storm defenceman Paul Swindlehurst was in the box for slashing, and 27 seconds on the powerplay left Mathieu Roy scored his trademark tip ins past Clementè: assists to O’Connor and Fretter. Just over a minute later the powerplay clicked again (not something we normally say) for goal number two. As Storm captain Jay Rosehill sat a roughing minor, Roy and Tim Wallace set up Fretter and the boys went 2-0 ahead: a lead they would hold onto after 20 minutes play.

What Finnerty said to his men at the period break, certainly was listened to as they played with more physicality for the rest of the game. However, Steelers were to extend their lead to three at 27:49 thanks to Robbie Dowd scoring and some brilliant set up play by Joonas Ronnberg and captain Jono. New signing Juha Koivisto was equally making a good impression only after arriving yesterday. Storm needed a goal to haul themselves back into it and got two in less than two minutes to make it a one goal game by the 32-minute mark; Erdhardt and Trenz both lighting the lamp. Shortly after this the fun began and at one stage, the penalty boxes were kinda like “standing room only please”. Wallace and Matt Stanisz had a good tilt then Ciaran Long unloaded on Fretter when the latter was far from interested in a scrap.

Requiring some kind of focus, Steelers restored their two goal advantage in the final minute of the second. Matt Bissonnette was penalised for a hooking infraction and within six seconds of the powerplay starting; we’d scored. Andreas Valdix the man with the goal, helpers to Nelson and Jonas Westerling. Early in the third, we had a couple more powerplay sniffs but on the second of them Chris Auger (I had warned about him in my preview) broke away to beat Moose shorthanded. Game back on and so it ebbed and flowed each way until Roy (announced apparently as Ramsay) restored the two-goal advantage at 53:24. The icing on the cake came at 57:39, Westerling’s first as a Steeler (exhibition games don’t count in official records) with a brilliant goal. That goal took the wind out of the proverbial sails for the Storm and the game finished with a 6-3 road win for the boys.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Steelers 6 Storm 3

Individual tallies: Steelers – Roy 2+1, Fretter 1+2, Westerling 1+1, O’Connor 0+2, Dowd 1+0, Valdix 1+0, Phllips 0+1, Wallace 0+1, Matheson 0+1, Ronnberg 0+1, Nelson 0+1. Storm – Auger 1+1, Byers 0+2, Trenz 1+0, Erdhardt 1+0, Moffat 0+1, Hanson 0+1.

Shots On Goal: Steelers 29, Storm 26

Powerplay: Steelers 3 from 9 (33.3% conversion), Storm 0 from 4 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes Called: Steelers 22, Storm 32

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 23 saves, GAA: 3.00, Save Percentage: 88.50%

Man of the Match: Robert Dowd (Steelers), Dane Byers (Storm)

Now for your thoughts: 

Kim Chapman: “Massive character win for us. They were just out to hurt us. Skill took the win. Proud of the lads.”

Luke: “Great performance. I thought we were in for a 0-point weekend. We need to just get a bit more focus.”

Adrian Lee: “Fantastic from the off. Worked hard and skated fast, good accurate passing…a solid performance that defied expectations.”

 

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