The Walkeden Review - Throwback Thursday 11.01.2014

Hey Guys welcome to another throwback article this time I’m choosing an old game that took place between the Sheffield Steelers and the Coventry Blaze, Hope you enjoy it!

Saturday 11^th January 2014 – Sheffield Steelers v Coventry Blaze @ Motorpoint Arena. Face-off: 7pm, Erhardt Conference/Elite League

Sheffield Steelers – 5
Gord Baldwin (2)
Steven Goertzen
Tim Spencer
Robert Dowd

Coventry Blaze - 4
Kenny Kallstrom
Michael Devin
Shea Guthrie
Adam Henrich

With the Steelers on a good run and the Blaze struggling for points this was turning out to be a must win for the Coventry with the playoffs getting ever closer, Robert Dowd took an early penalty and Blaze would have their first power play of the night and they was looking to get going fast as Frank Doyle was forced into making some early saves but Blaze would score the first goal of the night while on the power play at 2:39 with Olson screening Doyle Kenny Kallstrom would fire one from the blue line. Some fantastic defending by Egener prevented Goertzen levelling the score from the right hash mark, Michael Henrich almost made it 2-0 soon after 1 on 1 with Doyle but the Steelers goalie made the same comfortably. With the Blaze on the power play again the visitors would make it 2-0 on 7:49 as Michael Devin would fire a one timer from the blue line past Doyle and not even a minute later Shea Guthrie made it 3-0 as the Blaze forward go into the Sheffield and forced Doyle into making the first move to fire into the roof of the net and what a first 8 and a half minutes it had been so far for the Coventry Blaze. The Steelers third line was out trying to make something happen but couldn’t beat Zacharias after a good opportunity in front of goal by Hewitt; Stefan Meyer was also making Zacharias work as he can’t get his re-direct past the Blaze netminder. Sheffield would get their first power play of the night as Jeff Legue receives a cross check by Egener and straight of the face-off Sheffield were trying to get on goal but struggled to set-up as they was going up against the best penalty kill in the league but Sheffield would get a 5 on 3 chance and on 17:40 Steelers would pull a goal back as Dowd would win the face-off and Legue would play to Baldwin to rip a slap shot past Zacharias and then not even a minute later still on the power play Sheffield would find themselves down by 1 goal as Goertzen would be played down the right and he skated into the zone in front of goal and slipped the puck past Zacharias for a real captains goal leading by example. Sheffield had a great chance to equalise as Stefan Meyer was all alone next to Zacharias but the Blaze netminder made a great save and Coventry take a 1 goal lead into the break.
End of the 1^st Period: Sheffield Steelers 2–3 Coventry Blaze

Sheffield would start the period on the power play but wouldn’t be able to find an equaliser and Blaze would very quickly end up on their own power play as there is plenty of pushing and shoving in front of Doyle’s goal. It was a much more improved penalty kill than the first period. With 14 minutes left in the period Tim Spencer had a great chance to level the scores but Zacharias somehow saved when Spencer had the majority of the goal to aim for. At the mid-way point of the period Sheffield had Blaze camped in their zone with the 2^nd line Dowd especially skating well looking for an outlet but Ginand blocked the best opportunity. But Sheffield would carry on pressing and a great pass from DiCasmirro would find Sirianni but wouldn’t be able to slot the puck past Zacharias which would be followed by a melee between Meyer and Olsson. Adam Henrich had a good opportunity to score a fourth for the Blaze but Doyle would save from just in front. After a goal fest that was the first period no one would be able to add to the score line despite several power play opportunities for both teams and Coventry would have a one goal lead going into the third period.
End of the 2^nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 2–3 Coventry Blaze

Third Period got underway with the Steelers looking to find an equaliser as quick as possible but the first couple of minutes were extremely scrappy and neither team could get any real offence going as they were both just cancelling each other out. With Shea Guthrie in the box and the Steelers on the power play Sirianni rounded the goal and put the puck into Zacharias before Tim Spencer poked it under the netminder and into the goal for the equaliser just 4 minutes into the third period and that truly made it game on. Soon after Coventry had a big chance to go back ahead as a Blaze forward had the whole goal to choose from but Sheffield managed to somehow clear the zone. Coventry would take the lead again though on 46:38 as Michael Henrich would fire a slap shot from the blue line it would get caught up in the skates of his brother Adam Henrich before he taped it into the open goal, Doyle stood no chance as he had already came to the top of his crease to save the initial shot. The third period was very much end to end with both sides having chances at either end but Sheffield were having large amounts of possession in the Blaze zone giving Mike Zacharias plenty to think about. A few poor defensive errors almost let in Coventry to extend their lead but Frank Doyle made himself big and made sure he had them covered. With 3:23 left in the third period Sheffield found themselves on the power play again with Ryan Ginand in the box for slashing, Jeff Legue has possession of the puck on the blue line and fires one on goal and Gord Baldwin manages to tip it past Zacharias for the equaliser which made it a multi-goal game for the defencemen and a fourth power play goal of the game for the Steelers (When was the last time we could say that). Neither team could find anyway to find a winner so the game went into overtime which meant 4v4.
End of the 3^rd Period: Sheffield Steelers 4-4 Coventry Blaze

Overtime started and there was an early worry for Sheffield as Frank Doyle took a skate to the head off Shea Guthrie but he shook it off and was able to continue playing, first real chance fell to the Steelers as Langlais shot one against the post as Legue was trying to screen Zacharias. Two minutes left in overtime it had been all Sheffield so far without Coventry worrying Doyle at all. With the clock ticking down and Dustin Kohn in possession of the puck in between the circles he played Dowd who skated from zone to zone on the delayed penalty all the way in front of Zacharias before nicely firing low past the Coventry netminder for the game winner on 63:19 to end a fantastic game of Hockey.
Final Score: Sheffield Steelers 5–4 Coventry Blaze OT

Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments please get in contact with the Frozen Steel Team on this article, Facebook or via Twitter:-
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The Walkeden Review - Throwback Thursday 19.10.2005

Hi everyone welcome to the first throwback article where I’m going to look at an old game and I don’t know why I picked this one!

Wednesday 19^th October 2005 – Sheffield Steelers v Edinburgh Capitals @ Motorpoint Arena. Face-off: 7.30pm, Challenge Cup

Sheffield Steelers - 9
Warren Tait
Mike Peron
Dan Ceman (2)
Martin Masa (2)
Jonas Lennartsson (2)
Andrew Luciuk

Edinburgh Capitals - 0

The game I picked first was a home game against the Edinburgh Capitals at the Arena on Wednesday 19^th October 2005 when we had to beat the Caps by at least 10 goals to progress in the Challenge Cup, this game also saw the return of Tony Hand to Sheffield.

The Steelers were in their Teal Green Jerseys and the Capitals were in their Blue with red shoulders jersey. Lehmann was in goal for the Steelers and Martin Kucera was in goal for the Capitals. The game showed Rod Sarich in the team who is obviously still in this year’s team but I must say the guy looks younger. Mr Shudra also still in the D.

Sheffield started the game the better of the two and was looking to get going fast as they need to win by at least 10 goals to get into the semi-finals, the first big chance of the game fell to Masa as he was on the breakaway but tried to make Kucera make the first move but couldn’t get it past the knee pads. Steelers got the first powerplay of the night and wow Sarich had some pace back then as he skated into the zone before firing a one timer from the blue line straight into the body of Kucera, It really was all Steelers during the first period Lehman didn’t have much to do other than playing the puck at times when the Capitals had cleared down the Ice, Kucera was seeing plenty of rubber as Steelers was finding options through Shudra, Masa, Simpson along with the third line playing had and Warren Tait was unlucky not to open the scoring mid-way through the period. Sheffield finally opened the scoring on with 3:55 left in the 1^st period when Warren Tait forced a save out of Kucera but it rebounded back of his stick to open the scoring at 1-0. It was very quickly 2-0 as Simpson shot from the point and forced a rebound out of Kucera and Peron drove the net to lift the wrist shot into the back of the net. Not even a meeting later it should have been 3-0 as Simpson walked in but couldn’t beat the pads of Kucera. But Sheffield went into the 1^st break 2-0 up needing another 8 goals to progress after a very one sided period with Kucera keeping the Capitals in the game.
End of the 1^st Period: Sheffield Steelers 2-0 Edinburgh Capitals

Sheffield started the second period with their 1^st line out to get going fast, even when the Capitals tried to create some offence they would soon lose the puck before they had the opportunity to have a shot on Lehman’s goal. Sheffield didn’t change their approach they carried on pushing up high leaving one D man back on his own because of the amount of goals we needed so we was taking a lot of risks. Danny Ceman would make it 3-0 on 23:59 as Masa somehow picked Ceman out who went top corner and Kucera had no chance with that one. Edinburgh had a great chance to pull one back but the puck went over the stick of the Capital forward with Lehman scrambling to get to the other side of the net. With the Steelers on the delayed penalty Tony hand thought he touched the puck but Masa was found all alone at the back door by assisted by Kent Simpson for his fourth assist of the night so far to tap in for 4-0. Capitals finally created some offence after McPherson forced a great glove save out Lehman that was just after Regan Kelly laid a big hit on Capital’s Lisabeth. With the Steelers on the power play on 33:35 Kucera tried to make the save of Masa but with a loose puck Jonas Lennartsson scored his first Steelers goal to make it 5-0. Capitals did have a golden opportunity with Jim Vickers in possession all alone at the back Jody Lehman stole what should have been a certain goal with 5 minutes left in the second period. With the clock ticking down on the second period Sheffield carried on pressing and just couldn’t break through and would take a 5-0 lead into the third period needing no less than another 5 goals at least.
End of the 2^nd Period: Sheffield Steelers 5-0 Edinburgh Capitals

The third period almost started in perfect fashion but with Kucera out of his goal Simpson couldn’t finish into the open goal, of the very next face-off thought the Steelers made it 6-0 49 seconds into the third period Peron played a backhanded pass for Andrew Luciuk to re-direct past Kucera. Lennartsson then went onto score his second of the night just a couple of minutes later assisted by Simpson for his sixth assist of the night Lennartsson was on the breakaway and put it through the five hole of Kucera to make it 7-0 with just under 17 minutes remaining it was very possible and then a strange thing David Lawrence replaced Jody Lehman in between the pipes as Lehman had an equipment problem but would soon return. Peron had a great chance for an eight as he was brought down in front of Kucera but nothing is given to the disbelief of Mike Peron but the Steelers got back on it looking for that 8^th goal. Kent Simpson then had a shot cleared of the line to his frustration but he had still been racking up the points as he had already assisted six out of the seven goals. With under 5 minutes remaining Martin Masa skates into the zone and fired a thunderbolt of a back hand past Kucera, it would very quickly be 9-0 with some tick tack passing it left Dan Ceman to shoot into the open goal and it left the Steelers needing 1 more goal with 4 minutes to play. But it would be one goal too many as the Steelers would fall a goal short, they through everything they had at Kucera including pulling Lehman for the extra forward but would unfortunately go out of the challenge cup but was a fantastic effort by the Steelers.

Final Score: Sheffield Steelers 9-0 Edinburgh Capitals

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Tom
@TomWalkeden
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