Thank
you to Craig Jones for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes
to him so any queries you can contact Craig on Twitter @CraigJones29
Steelers run riot in Hull but disaster
strikes in Coventry
The hockey
weekend for Steelers fans began on Friday night as many of us sat at home glued
to our television sets in one of those very very rare occasions where we all
sat cheering on the Nottingham Panthers. Despite our well wishes, our nearest
and dearest couldn't bring themselves to beat the Braehead Clan to do us a
favour and left us five points behind the Clan after their 4-2 victory over the
Panthers.
Onto Saturday
and the first game of the weekend was a trip across to Hull to face the
Stingrays, a team who had plenty to play for themselves as they looked to
qualify for the playoffs. With Braehead having a night off, it was a great
chance to reduce their advantage back to three points at the top of the table.
A welcome return
in goal for Josh Unice put a smile on the faces of the travelling fans and
hopefully with a regular import netminder back in goal the Steelers could push
on and challenge the Clan. Things started well in Hull and after ten minutes
and two quick goals from Colton Fretter and Ben O'Connor the Steelers had a two
goal cushion. Mathieu Roy and Hull's Jordan Mayer traded goals in the space of
just 40 seconds to take the Steelers lead to 3-1 at the end of the first period
and it was a well-deserved lead for Gerad Adams and his players.
The Stingrays
pulled a goal back in the second period through Sam Towner to make the game 3-2
but that didn't last for long as Tyler Mosienko restored the two goal lead for
the Steelers and that is how the second period ended.
The third period
was all about one thing, Steelers dominance and the Stingrays simply had no
answer as the Steelers ran riot. The Steelers outshot the Stingrays 25-6 in the
final period and got their rewards on the scoreboard. Two goals in a minute from
Jeff Legue and Mike Forney took the game away from Hull to give the Steelers a
6-2 lead with 15 minutes to play. The Steelers didn't stop there, Colton
Fretter, Mathieu Roy and Ben O'Connor all added their second goals of the game
to take the Steelers to a 9-2 victory, embarrassing Hull in the final period as
the Stingrays simply had no answer to what the Steelers were throwing at them.
With the win in
Hull, Braehead's lead was cut back to three points going into Sunday's games
where the Steelers travelled to Coventry and the Clan faced Fife at home.
Fellow title chasers, the Cardiff Devils were also playing on Sunday, at home
to the Belfast Giants.
The Steelers
started very quickly in Coventry and went ahead after just over a minute with
Mike Forney scoring his 36th goal of the season to give them a one goal lead.
The Blaze hit back half way through the period when Derek Lee scored on the
powerplay and the game was tied. That is how the first period ended, even on
the ice and even on the scoreboard.
Halfway through
the second period Mike Forney once again stepped up and delivered for the
Steelers to give them a 2-1 lead, scoring on the powerplay. The Steelers had a
little more control over the game at this stage and all looked to be going well
until towards the end of the second period when the Blaze hit back once again.
Jakub Sindel was the man this time and he pulled the Blaze back to tie the game
for the second time as the second period drew to a close. However, we weren't
done just yet, with less than a minute remaining in the second period Tyler
Mosienko scored to restore the lead and the Steelers went into the
dressing room after two periods leading 3-2 with a big momentum swinging
goal right at the end of the second.
The crucial
third period began evenly but it was the Coventry Blaze who began to take over
and halfway through the final period they got a reward for their hard work
through Steven Chalmers and the game was tied 3-3. The Blaze continued to pile
on the pressure and looked the more dangerous going into the final few minutes
of the game. With just over three minutes left in the game, disaster struck and
the Coventry Blaze found the net to take a 4-3 lead through Derek Lee, who
scored his second goal of the game. Just when the Steelers needed a quick
response the Blaze put the game to bed with a fifth goal through Jereme Tendler
leaving the Steelers two goals behind with just over two minutes left. That is
how the game ended and the Blaze took the two points on Sunday night.
Elsewhere the
Braehead Clan beat the Fife Flyers 5-2 and the Cardiff Devils beat the Belfast
Giants 3-2, both results bad for the Steelers.
The loss on
Sunday was a huge dent to title hopes and it seems the title is now Braehead's
to lose, they are five points clear and even a win on Wednesday night at Ice
Sheffield will only pull the Steelers to three points behind. If the Clan take
anything from Wednesday's game then I fear it is all over.
The one thing to
take from this weekend has to be how the Coventry Blaze have turned their
season around over the past few weeks. They are the one team I don't want the
Steelers to face in the playoffs right now and I believe the rest of the
league will be thinking the same, the Blaze are genuine dark horses for the
playoffs.
Thanks for reading guys. If you want to get involved
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comment:-
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