2 Wins out of 2 for the Steelers This Weekend: Match Report v Fife

Sunday 1st December 2013 - Sheffield Steelers (10-7-2) v Fife Flyers (4-10-2) @ Motorpoint Arena. Face off: 5pm

Sheffield Steelers take on the Fife Flyers for the final league game of the season the the Motorpoint Arena. Fife travel to Sheffield bottom of the league and desperate for the two points after 4-2 defeat at home to Coventry on Saturday. Four point weekends is a rare thing for the Steelers and will be looking to collect one this week after a 2-1 win in Hull on Saturday and the Fife game will also be their final game for 10 days. Sheffield should be the favourites tonight but in 3 games so far this year Sheffield have a 2-1-0 against Fife and those two wins came in Kirkcaldy and the defeat came at Ice Sheffield.

The game started with Frank Doyle in goal for the Sheffield Steelers and Kevin Regan in goal for the Fife Flyers and Flyers would start the better as Doyle has to catch a puck that has rebounded up of his pads. The Flyers would take the first penalty very early on as Fulton would go for two minutes and the Steelers would have a golden opportunity as Geortzen would shoot and Fata miss hits the loose puck and Regan is able to cover it up and Flyers would kill the rest of the penalty, that was followed by some shoddy defending by Sheffield as Chad Langlais would go to clear the puck but Fulton would pick up the puck and shoot into the glove of Doyle. There was chances for both teams as well as a second power play for the Steelers but at the 11th minute of the game came an amazing moment when all the Sheffield Steelers faithful stood and applaud #11 Jeff Legue for the whole minute after scoring his 500th Elite League point the night before. the 1st period would finish 0-0 after both teams were relying on their goal tenders to keep them in it as well as a pretty physical first 20 minutes.

2nd Period got underway and Steelers would take an early penalty as Stefan Meyer would go for holding of the stick and just as Meyer came out the box Jeff Legue would force a turnover from Kevin Regan behind the goal to shoot into the empty net at 22:32 for his 501st Elite League Point. Steelers would almost get a second goal if it wasn't for Regan denying Danny Meyers who is yet to score at the Arena for Sheffield. Frank Doyle would be called up on but would stand tall. Regan wasn't having the best of games gifted Steelers their goal and struggled to even pull of a simple pass but would then save two shots in succession from Spencer, Sirianni would get called for tripping which was very harsh as it was more of a collision and Flyers would go onto level the game with a power play goal at 34:40 as Haines would fire a slap shot and Flyers would get a tip in on Doyle but it wouldn't last long at 36:29 Sirianni would be taken down in front of goal and DiCasmirro and Meyer would get the puck back to him and he would shoot of the shoulder of Regan on the delayed penalty. Flyers would get straight back on the power play as Spencer was called for interference but Steelers wouldn't let them in the zone and when they did get in the zone there would be no shooting lanes and Steelers would clear. then a great move by Geortzen gave Legue a chance for a second but just shot wide. Then with the clock ticking down on the second Fulton would skate round the net to shoot into the empty net but Doyle would dive across goal and save Fultons attempt. The 2nd period would 2-1 in the favour of the home side.

33 seconds into the start of the third period is all it took when Stefan Meyer put the puck through Regans legs after great work from Sirianni and DiCasmirro to put the Steelers 3-1 up. At 42:01 Flyers would pull a second goal back as Fulton would shoot and Stewart would get in front of Langlais and put the puck in the back of the net. with just over 10 minutes left Langlais would shoot from the blue line and after several bounces Regan would somehow get hold of it. One big point of the game of the Flyers was how bad they was in the face off circle all night as they did lose the majority of them and it allowed Sheffield to control the flow of the game and see out the game to take the win but Flyers did have one big chance to level the score the Doyle would make the save then at 59:27 Flyers would pull Regan in the attempt to level the game but wouldn't get themselves in possession of the puck in the Sheffield Zone.

FINAL SCORE: Sheffield Steelers 3-2 Fife Flyers

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Sheffield -    0-2-1-[8]-{0/3}-33
Fife        -    0-1-1-[8]-{1/3}-23

So Sheffield would take the four point weekend even though it was in two different competitions and would improve to 11-7-2 in the Elite League and the defeat would keep Fife Flyers bottom of the league on 4-11-2 with 10 Points but with 3 games in hand on the Edinburgh Capitals on 13 points. Steelers now have 10 days off before facing the Edinburgh Capitals at Ice Sheffield on the 11th and next up for Fife is the Hull Stingrays at home.

Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments get in contact with the Frozen Steel team via Twitter at:-

@IAmMcCausland

@Tom Walkeden

@AwkwardGinge

@FrozenSteelBlog

 or Email the team at frozen.steel.91@gmail.com

Tom

@Tomwalkeden

Arena Shows Its Versatility...Sorry...Liam's First Trip To Hull

Last Saturday saw me make my first ever trip to the new UK capital of culture, and my first time at the Most Versatile Venue, as the Steelers took on the Stingrays in Challenge Cup action.

The game...well it was exactly what it was: a game with not much at stake, played professionally (for the most part) with a solid performance from the Steelers resulting in a 2-1 win. There were a couple of on-ice issues, but I will address them later in the week - with no game this week, I can stretch my thoughts out a bit more.

I want to focus on the off-ice stuff.

The trip to the Hull Ice Arena was, for me, truly a reminder of how the other half live.

Apart from last month's trip into the cesspit, I haven't taken in an away game since an Edinburgh double-header when Coach Christiansen was in charge of the Caps. So between the Arena, the NIC, and even Ice Sheffield (which for a small rink is very fancy), I've very much been spoilt with top-of-the-range facilities, good ice (mostly), full view seating and the arena experience (video screens, light shows, quality PA system - even if the guy behind it isn't up to much). Saturday was a reminder of how much hockey is a minority sport here.

I forget from being a fan of an arena team that the small rinks, the vending machines, the player benches and changing rooms being on the same aisles as the fans walk on are the norms in Britain. Stepping foot in the most versatile venue on Saturday took me back instantly to my trip to Murrayfield. And then I remembered that this is ultimately the norm for British ice hockey - Cardiff still play in a tent, for example.

There seemed to be a bit of jibing from some of the Sheffield fans - the height of the light rigs, the way you could pretty much walk onto the home bench, but for me it allowed for an intimacy that you don't get with the bigger clubs - especially noted by the Steelers players bumping fists with Steelers fans who had made their way round the rink at the end of the game - and that you definitely do not get in my other sport of football.

It's also a sign that the sport is not going to grow in the UK unless we discover a good few oligarchs. Even an arena the size of Hull's could not sell out, even with reduced ticket prices, with a strong following from the away team. I understand that teams have to live within their means, but it seems like its always going to be a case of the big clubs will thrive while the little ones simply exist - the success of Dundee being the exception to the rule at present.

Certainly, there seems to be a "its not broken, don't fix it" approach to UK hockey right now. "its working, its bobbing along, don't try to change things because at least we're not falling apart." But should we just accept that? When we could be so much more, why aren't we pushing for it? Football started on empty fields and became a multi-million pound business. Why can't UK hockey, if not reach NHL level, certainly become as successful and as quality as some of our European neighbours?

Weekend Roundup - 1st December 2013

RESULTS

Friday 29th November

(EL) Dundee Stars 3-0 Coventry Blaze

Saturday 30th November

(EL) Fife Flyers 2-4 Coventry Blaze

(EL/GC) Braehead Clan 4-5 Edinburgh Capitals (AOT)

(EL/EC) Cardiff Devils 5-0 Nottingham Panthers

(CC) Hull Stingrays 1-2 Sheffield Steelers

Sunday 1st December

(EL) Edinburgh Capitals 5-4 Coventry Blaze (AOT)

(EL) Sheffield Steelers 3-2 Fife Flyers

(EL/CC) Dundee Stars 1-4 Belfast Giants

(EL/CC/EC) Nottingham Panthers 3-2 Cardiff Devils

(EL/GC) Hull Stingrays 4-3 Braehead Clan (APS)

STANDINGS

Elite League

Belfast Giants - Pl 20 - 31 Pts

Dundee Stars - Pl 20 - 25 Pts

Braehead Clan - Pl 17 - 25 Pts

Sheffield Steelers - Pl 20 - 24 Pts

Coventry Blaze - Pl 19 - 23 Pts

Nottingham Panthers - Pl 17 - 22 Pts

Cardiff Devils - Pl 19 - 15 Pts

Hull Stingrays - Pl 17 - 13 Pts

Edinburgh Capitals - Pl 20 - 13 Pts

Fife Flyers - Pl 17 - 10 Pts

Erhardt Conference

BG - Pl 14 - 21 Pts

SS - Pl 10 - 11 Pts

CB - Pl 9 - 9 Pts

NP - Pl 7 - 7 Pts

CD - Pl 10 - 6 Pts

Gardiner Conference

BC - Pl 11 - 15 Pts

DS - Pl 9 - 14 Pts

HS - Pl 10 - 11 Pts

EC - Pl 11 - 7 Pts

FF - Pl 5 - 2 Pts

Challenge Cup

(Bold indicates confirmed position, Italics indicates eliminated)

Group A

BS - Pl 7 - 12 Pts

DS - Pl 8 - 10 Pts

FF - Pl 7 - 8 Pts

BC - Pl 8 - 6 Pts

EC - Pl 8 - 3 Pts

Group B

NP - Pl 8 - 16 Pts

CD - Pl 8 - 10 Pts

SS - Pl 8 - 10 Pts

HS - Pl 8 - 3 Pts

CB - Pl 8 - 3 Pts

Confirmed Challenge Cup Quarter Finals

Belfast Giants vs Hull Stingrays

Nottingham Panthers vs Braehead Clan

Sheffield Steelers vs Fife Flyers - Sunday 1st December

Hello folks. This is my first blog with Frozen Steel. I'd like to take a moment to thank Liam for asking me to join in with this. Hopefully I can contribute in some capacity.

For my first blog I'm going to talk about tonight's game against the Fife Flyers in which Steelers came out with a 3-2 victory, on a Sunday!

I thought that throughout the game it was a very even contest and Fife can feel rather unlucky not to have got at least a point out of the game.

There wasn't much action in the first period but Fife looked the more dangerous side of the two coming forward, which was reflected in the shout count at the end of the period, 9-6 in favour of the visitors. They caused a couple of hairy moments for the Steelers. Thankfully, Frank Doyle was big in goal yet again and made a couple of good saves when bailing out his defense.

The only real notable part of the first period came in the 11th minute when whilst the Steelers were on a powerplay, the arena crowd stood and applauded for a solid minute in honour of Jeff Legue, who had scored his 500th EIHL point the night before in Hull. In doing so, he became the 5th player to achieve the landmark in EIHL history. Congratulations Jeff.

Early into the second period the deadlock between the two sides was broken. The puck was dumped in by the Steelers, who were just finishing killing a penalty, and Legue went in on the forecheck to put pressure on the Flyers netminder who had gone behind his goal to retrieve the puck. Regan fired the puck straight into Legue and the puck fell nicely in his favour behind the goal, before he brought the puck in front and put it into the open goal. It was an absolute gift for Legue and the Steelers and it turned out to be a costly mistake by the Flyers netminder.

At the halfway point of the game the two teams were very evenly matched with the scoreline at 1-0 to the Steelers.

A few minutes later Regan had to make a couple of big saves as the Steelers had some offensive zone pressure but it was shortly after that in which a rather soft penalty was given against Sirianni for tripping. The Flyers however weren't complaining and they capitalised on it. Some nice passing play led to the puck ending up on the stick of Haines who fired it past Doyle to even the scores at 1-1.

The scoreline didn't last long though. A couple of minutes later the Steelers were back in front. A great piece of puck handling in the Flyers zone by Sirianni allowed him to get free. As he was about to shoot he was pulled down and up went Darnell's arm ready to signal a penalty, however, the Flyers failed to touch the puck and Meyer was able to tip the puck back to Sirianni who wasted no time in firing it over Regan's glove and into the back of the net. A nice finish from Sirianni who looks like he is starting to find his scoring touch again.

The scoreline remained that way for the rest of the period so the Steelers went into the break 2-1 up.

On the first shift of the third and final period the Steelers extended their lead. Some good work behind the net led to Meyer getting a shot off on goal from an acute angle and the puck seemed to go in off Regan and over the line. The scoreline however did flatter the Steelers who had struggled most of the night defensively and it wasn't long before Fife got themselves back into the game.

Steelers had struggled all night the clear the zone efficiently and they eventually got punished. After a couple of attempts to get the puck out of the zone, which eventually happened by a couple of feet, the puck was back in the Steelers zone. A nice feed by Fulton from near the boards was tipped in by Stewart who was driving the net.

After that, the game opened up and the play started to go end to end. This seemed to favour the Flyers more who had more speed about them. Doyle again having to make a couple of good stops to stop the score being tied up at 3 a piece.

Into the last few minutes of the game it looked like the Flyers were just starting to run out of steam in chasing the game. This made it easier for the Steelers to see the game out and seal a much needed 3-2 victory.

Personally speaking, overall I thought that the Flyers gave a very good account of themselves. They looked dangerous going forward. The only time they looked a little unsure was whenever they had the puck behind their own goal. They certainly aren't a 10th place team in my eyes.

As for the Steelers, it was good to finally see a Sunday win again. The defense looked a bit shaky at times and struggled to clear the zone well all night long. The faceoff stats I would think were rather one sided as we seemed to struggle in the faceoff circle all night. Doyle played very well indeed. The other notable stand out for me was Meyer who worked very hard all night and would have been my personal choice for Man of the Match. I don't know who actually got the awards for either side.

That's it from me. I hope you've enjoyed the read.

If you'd like to ask us anything or get in touch with us, then feel free to do so on our respective Twitter accounts.

@IAmMcCausland
@TomWalkeden
@AwkwardGinge
@FrozenSteelBlog

Cheers!

Alan
@AwkwardGinge

Hull v Sheffield in Final Challenge Cup Game: Match Report

Saturday 30th November 2013 - Hull Stringrays (1-5-1) v Sheffield Steelers (4-3-0) @ Hull Arena. Face off: 6.30pm

Having already qualified the next round of the Challenge Cup the Steelers are the only team with anything to play for as Hull can only and will only finish fourth but Sheffield have got the chance to finish 2nd as Cardiff and Nottingham go head to head in their final group game on Sunday as its Coventry who will finish bottom and not progress through to the next round. Hull and Sheffield have already met this season in the Challenge Cup and that ended in a 4-3 victory for the Steelers at Ice Sheffield but Sheffield fans will be looking for a bit more of a comfortable win against their local rivals. The key players to watch for the Stingrays is Jereme Tendler who is extremely dangerous confront of goal and their starting goaltender Ben Bowns who on his day is an outstanding goaltender. The key players for the Steelers in this game will most definatly be forward Jeff Legue who needs just a goal or an assist to make it 500 points in Elite League competition and as Stefan Meyer has returned to the line up after injury I would definatly say he's another to keep an eye on.

The 1st Period started with a twenty minute delay to face off as their was broke plexi glass at the Steelers end of warm ups. the game started with Ben Bowns and Frank Doyle in goal for their respected team. The Sheffield Steelers didn't take long to get going when DeCasmirro would win the opening face off and Sirianni would be allowed to skate through and force a top save out of Bowns after just 10 seconds, Sheffield would continue to press with Bowns just padding a Geortzen shot wide as well as Stefan Meyer not being able to put away a DeCasmirro rebound it was looking like it was going to be one of the games for Ben Bowns. Sheffield would take the 1st penalty of the night when DeCasmirro would go for hooking and it wouldn't take long for Hull to punish them when at 7:54 Carl Lauzon after being set up by Cloutier and Doucet would fire a fierce slap shot from the left hand side to give Hull the lead. Steelers again got back on the front foot when Bowns would make several saves one of Sirianni who was 1 on 1 at the time, after that Frank Doyle was called up on having to catch several pucks to keep Hull out again. At 13:24 Sheffield's Jonathan Phillips was called for "Hooking" which was confusing as it looked like Phillips was the one having his stick held, Sheffield would kill the penalty and again both sides would be prevented from scoring at either end and the 1st period would finish 1-0 to the home side.

2nd Period started and Frank Doyle had to be on best form as shot rebounded up of his pads and he had to be their to glove it away but not long later he was soon caught out of his net when he wondered behind the goal to collect a loose puck but a wayward pass for Hull would end up back at their own net minder. At 26:57 Nate Decasmirro would play to S. Meyer who would feed Sirianni at the blue line and fire a great slap shot past the very impressive Ben Bowns to level the scores. Ben Bowns wouldn't let that effect him as Legue played in Geortzen who tried to deke round Bowns and shoot into the open net but Bowns would some how get it into his glove. Stingrays would go back on the power play as Stefan Meyer was sent for cross checking after several top saves from Doyle he was almost caught out but Baldwin put himself in the way to get a block on the puck and push it out to the blue line and Drew Fata would steal and have his breakaway shot saved. Steelers would finally get their first power play chance and would have opportunity's to sore but S. Meyer and Geortzen couldn't tip the puck in the right direction. There would be a bit of handbags as Tim Spencer and Sylvain Cloutier were going at each other and Spencer would put him on the floor and they would both go for 2 minutes for delay of the game at 37:30 and when they both got out the box Cloutier would get hold of the puck and Spencer went in straight away for the check. Second Period finishes all square.

3rd Period started at a very fast pace as Steelers would get 3 shots away within 10 seconds in which Bowns who had been outstanding all night saved them all. But at 41:13 the moment all Sheffield fans had been waiting for Jeff Legue's 500th Point in Elite League Competition as he would tee up Drew Fata who sent his trademark Slap shot past Ben Bowns to give Sheffield the lead. It would be Frank Doyle's turn to prevent a goal scoring opportunity as he would have to stop Tendler from the face off circle. the game would quietened down but would be a big moment as Hewitt who had been outstanding all night skated round the goal and Nell would have his shot saved on the door step and both would be trying to get the loose puck and Hewitt would be launched into the goal by Stingrays Jamie Chilcott would eventually get 5+game as Hewitt would get 2 minutes for roughing as he was trying to go for Chilcott after the cross check so they went 4 on 4 hockey and Doyle would safe a bouncing puck and Sheffield would clear of the line. A 3 minute power play would follow and Bowns would continue with his outstanding performance and wouldn't allow them in anymore as the clock ticked down. Mike Bolton would go to replace Ben Bowns in between the pipes for the final 90 seconds in which he would face one shot and would save it.

FINAL SCORE: Hull Stingrays 1-2 Sheffield Steelers

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-[PIM]-{PP}-S)
Hull        -  1-0-0-[54]-{1/3}-26
Sheffield - 0-1-1-[12]-{0/3}-43

That would be the end of Hull and Sheffields cup campaign until the knockout stages in the new year as Hull would finish in 4th as 1-6-1 and it looked like Sheffield will finish in 3rd as 5-3-0 as Nottingham and Cardiff play their final group game on Sunday. Drew Fata would pick up the Man of the Match award for Sheffield after his Game Winning Goal and Matthew Davies would be rewarded with Hulls. Hull take on Braehead Clan in Hull on Sunday and Sheffield host the Fife Flyers at the Motorpoint Arena.

Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments get in contact via Twitter or Email me at Tomwalkeden@gmail.com

Tom
@TomWalkeden