Big Match Preview: Nottingham and Cardiff

Welcome to the preview of this weekend's Steelers games.

After suffering a reverse in their only game last weekend, Steelers head in the final three weeks of the season mathematically sure of their play-off quarter final spot. They, however, face a couple of games in their own Erhardt Conference this weekend. This starts tonight (Saturday) with a road trip to the following:

Yes it's a trip down the M1 to face those equally underperforming Bears. Going into December, Corey Neilson's men looked well placed to be challenging for their first title since that treble winning season of 2013. But in typical Panther fashion, they fell away dramatically and currently lie in a very disappointing 7th place in the league standings. It's been like the Steelers, a season of inconsistency.

Steelers have had a good record in the NIC for once this season, and will be hoping that continues. Jonas Westerling, who scored a hat-trick in the last game there, is apparently back in contention for a starting berth which if proven will mean that someone will have to sit out. Who that is remains to be seen, will it be Fitzy again? Panthers have had a topsy turvy week prior, losing at home to Dundee and then winning against Milton Keynes. Anything could happen tonight.

After the game in the NIC, Steelers are back in action on the Sunday and on home ice. The visitors to the House of Steel are none other than the following:

A smarting Cardiff Devils roll into the Steel City, looking to get some points as they inch closer to a back to back title triumph. We could have a repeat of last season in that Cardiff could clinch the title if they have expected beaten the Caps in IAW whilst Fife have taken the points off Manchester, and Storm also slip up on Sunday against the Clan who need the points for different reasons.

Cardiff of course are beatable, just ask Adam Keefe and his Belfast Giants who upset the majority of the crowd watching the Challenge Cup Final in IAW last Sunday. Can Steelers repeat the dose and delay those Welsh celebrations for a more few days. It will be a hard task but with the Steelers this season, again anything could happen.

My predictions? Steelers to win in the NIC again, going 3-2 after overtime here. Cardiff to take the game in the House of Steel though, 4-2 is my call. What about you?

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Steelers suffer a Clan collapse

Welcome to our match report from Saturday's away game at Braehead Clan.

Steelers only had a single game to play this weekend due to the 2018 Challenge Cup Final taking place on the Sunday. The fixture saw the team travel to the West of Scotland to face an underperforming Braehead Clan for the final time in regular season action. It was also the chance for the team to complete a clean sweep over John Tripp's men. Team news saw the Steelers welcome back key British forward Robert Dowd after a spell out injured which left Jonas Westerling and John Armstrong as the Club's only injured players whilst Kieran Brown was on NIHL duty with Blackburn. Clan didn't have a larger bench as the Steelers but featured former Steelers Christoffer Bjorklund and Matt Haywood in their line-up.

Apologies for the short write-up in advance by the way, we've based on what we could get from any social media interaction we could obtain...

The first period was a scoreless affair, but Steelers were keeping Ryan Nie in the home cage busy as they had 14 shots on him whilst Ervins Mustukovs faced 10 from the Clan offence in opposition. That first goal was as always going to prove crucial and it was the Clan who managed it with defenceman Landon Oslanski lighting the lamp just before the 29 minute mark in the game. Steelers were still outshooting the Clan but fell further behind at 30:39 when Clan player-assistant coach Brendan Brooks netted from close range. An uphill faced Paul Thompson's men but they were given a lifeline at 34:36 when Miika Franssila scored his third goal of the season after some excellent work Captain Fantastic Jonathan Phillips.

One goal in it as the teams entered a third period, could the Steelers come back and take the points away from Renfrewshire? Two goals in the early stages of this period made it still possible but alas for the Steelers; these were shared. Big defenceman Craig Cescon put the Clan 3-1 to the good at 43:37 but 53 seconds saw it reduced to a one goal game again when Ben O'Connor and Davey Phillips combined to set up Eric Neiley for the American's 6th of the season. Was there to be final twist? The answer eventually proved to be no as Clan scored twice in the 63 seconds, both within 16 seconds of each other. Former Belfast Giant Craig Peacock scored number four and then with Mustukovs sacrificed, Adam Brace slotted the insurance goal into the vacant cage. Two points which the team should have, squandered and a tale of the season again left laid bare.

Time for the statistics:

Goals: Clan 5 Steelers 2

Steelers Scoring: Franssila 1+0, Neiley 1+0, D.Phillips 0+1, J.Phillips 0+1, O'Connor 0+1.

Clan Scoring: Cescon 1+2, Brace 1+1, Oslanski 1+0, Brooks 1+0, Peacock 1+0, Haywood 0+1, Hämäläinen 0+1, Doty 0+1, Nie 0+1. 

Shots On Goal:  Steelers 42 Clan 30 

Powerplay: Steelers 0 from 3 (0% conversion), Clan 0 from 6 (0% conversion)

Penalty Minutes called: Steelers 14 Clan 8

Steelers Goaltender Stats: Mustukovs 25 Saves (1227), GAA: 4.06 (2.35), Save Percentage: 86.20% (91.70%).

Man of the Match: Ben O'Connor (Steelers), Craig Cescon (Clan)

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Big Match Preview: Braehead (Away)

Welcome to our latest Sheffield Steelers match preview.

Tomorrow night, Saturday, sees the Steelers travel North of the Border to play their only game of the weekend. Yes, the Steelers have just a single game to play. They travel to the West Coast of Scotland to face the following:

Yes it's the Purple Army, the Braehead Clan. Despite the inclement weather this week, Clan have confirmed that the game will go ahead. It also Steelers the chance to complete a clean sweep over their hosts as they won every single game this season against a Clan roster that has underachieved massively this season compared to some seasons beforehand.

John Tripp's men lie in that all-important 8th place in the league standings, which if they somehow hold onto will see them into the post-season play off quarter-finals. However, Coventry and Dundee are both close by to take advantage of the Clan potentially slipping up. Steelers will be looking for a win themselves to finish as high as possible in the final standings; third placed Belfast are only three points ahead of Paul Thompson's team who also have a match in hand on the Northern Irish side. It could be an intriguing duel ahead in Renfrewshire.

My prediction? Steelers to continue their good form over the Clan this season, a 5-2 away sounds good. How do you see it unfolding?

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Hockey Soapbox - Season 3 Week 21 - Defeat and then a demolition

Welcome to this week's Hockey Soapbox.

On the panel this week are your Editor Mark, plus contributions from Eric, Fay, Nathan and George. What's on their respective minds this week? Read on and find out..

1. Five Words On Saturday

Lost against a good side

GWG Should Not Have Stood

Saturday night controversy in Belfast

Was Tom Darnell to blame?

Everyone talking about refs again

2. Five Words On Sunday

Win Against Severely Depleted Flyers

A rout versus injured opponents

Good win, weakened Fife team.

Dominant against short benched Fife

Beat a short handed side

3. Does Brad Day need to leave the Steelers to improve as a netminder?

Eric: I don’t think Brad does need to leave, No! 

Brad is a cracking back up net minder and he has never let us down. If he moves I feel he would get more ice time, yes! But saying that he would still be a back up netminder if he stayed in the EIHL.

The only way he will get the ice time is if he moves down. Now I don’t think he wants that. No he needs to stay and hope coach Thompson does give him more ice against cross conference teams. So I suppose it’s a rock or a hard place for him. Hope coach does realise he is capable against cross conference and plays him or play lower league hockey. Either way not good for the guy.

Fay: Whilst Moose is here, yes. I don’t know the system and whatever but there’s times where I’ve felt it would be a great opportunity to get a full game in and he isn’t used.
Mark: I don't want to sound cruel to the guy, but yes. Brad has obviously learnt more in his time here and has developed into a good solid back-up. However, if he wants to progress further then he needs regular ice time elsewhere. But with the absence of the EPL these days; where will he get it? He's too good for the NIHL but not for a starters role in the EIHL so he is at a bit of a crossroads. If I was him, I'd have a good hard think over the summer.
George: Brad could certainly do with a move to an EPL side, as there is no way he will start over moose. Moose is too high in terms of his ability. Brad needs confidence. Without confidence you underperform. He would fit in with someone like the Steeldogs. We need a more consistent back up.
Nathan: Yes he does. Brad obviously has talent and is an able back up but throwing him on for 10 minutes when the team is 7 or 8 up is one thing, he needs ice time and he ain’t gonna get it here. Why did he not play all the game vs Caps? I personally don’t believe he’s good enough to be a starter, not in the EIHL anyway. Drop down a level to the NIHL and he’ll be more than capable. He’s going to ask himself the question, “Do I want to play or am I happy being the door opener for the rest of my career?”

4. Was pre-season too long this season?

Fay: No, I like a good stretch of friendlies to trial lines etc.
Mark: For me, it was. Granted it helped the team gel more and used to each other's style of play when you overhaul a lot of the imports. But I just felt it was 2 or 3 games too much. Six games would be the maximum pre-season games I'd play.
George: Not really. They are athletes at the end of the day. Playing through fatigue is part and parcel of sport.
Nathan: Far too long. 2-4 games is more than enough. Use the early games in the pointless Challenge Cup to tinker with lines and get up to speed.
Eric: I said it earlier in the season. Playing 8 pre season games, I think it was, was 2 to many. In fact Smith said at the fan forum that with hindsight the management also believed it was too many, and that the plan for next season is to reduce the number of games.

5. Are the CHL and Continental Cup just distractions?

Mark: They're good if you make progress but if you do then you possibly run into a fixture pile up and end up playing 3 games a week towards the end of the season. That's not good if you're chasing domestic silverware. 
George: We don’t do well in Europe, so yes.
Nathan: For me they are yes. We have no realistic chance of winning the CHL and while it’s nice to see these superior European teams at the arena it pales into insignificance whilst counting the cost of injuries etc and the Continental Cup is just a dinner plate.
Eric: Advocated it for years, these forays were misguided, some would say that playing a better stamp of team is good. I disagree...

I said the same last season and the season before. The cons (injuries, expenditure, longer season, more games, whipping boys at this level etc.) far outweigh the pros. Nottingham and us have found that out, these forays have not been followed up with success in the league.

Fay: Love the European away trips, I think with the additional games it’s tough on teams. Distraction probably the wrong word for it but it’s definitely a challenge to try and be successful in these cups whilst competing domestically too.

6. Who is the most improved player this season?
Eric: That’s a tough question. I don’t think I can name one of the current rosta that has improved consistently! Bad, I know, but this team has consistently be inconsistent. My opinion, the inconstancy of this team is born from the inconsistency of all the players..
Fay: I think when we brought Jämtin in, he made a great partnership with Wallace especially on the PK. But most improved I’d say are Kirk/Shudra/Brown now they’re getting the ice time they deserve. Think back to when Shudra was getting put on D and how we felt about it, compared to his performance now.
Mark: I would say Liam Kirk, given the increased ice time he's showing how good he really is. Definitely on course in my eyes to be the first Brit to be drafted into the NHL since Shieldsy was by the Flyers in 2000.
George: Liam Kirk. Started with no confidence and is ending it with nearly 20 points. Get him drafted.
Nathan: Probably Scott Aarssen for me. I don’t think he’s all that to be honest but I’m struggling to think of anyone else. Shudra perhaps? Once the greatest coach in the universe actually started playing him in his correct position.

And that's the Soapbox for this week. Join us for more next time.

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:-

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Check out Breaking The Ice Available to listen and download on iTunes and SoundCloud.

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