Steelers stay top of EIHL
Sheffield Steelers maintained their good run of form this weekend, winning both their games against Coventry and Cardiff respectively. Sheffield find themselves sitting pretty at the top of the Elite Ice Hockey League thanks to the two wins, with a point difference between them and second place Braehead.
The Steelers hosted the Cardiff Devils at the
Motor Point Arena on Friday night and it didn't take long for the hosts to find
the back of the net. Just over five gones into the game and he league's leading
scorer, Mathieu Roy, scored his 21st goal so far in this year's
campaign. Sheffield started the strongest as they applied all the pressure on
Cardiff. With just under two minutes remaining of the first period play was
stopped by the officials due to Devils defenceman Andrew Hotham was hit in the
face by a deflected puck. Hotham would not return to the ice for the rest of
the game. Sheffield went on to score two goals in the space of 30 seconds in
the second period. The first coming from Robert Dowd and then Phil Hill scored
against his former team to make it 3-0.
Cardiff would go on to get a consolation, but
that's all it would be. Devils pulled Ben Bowns from the net for an extra
attacker but it was too little too late and Sheffield scored to end the game
4-1.
The league leaders faced a trip to Coventry on
Sunday night and they would maint their number 1 spot with a comprehensive 4-2
win over the Blaze.
The Steelers went into the first break 1-0 ahead through Tyler
Mosienko’s seventh-minute powerplay strike.
Coventry levelled through former Steelers captain Steven Goertzen’s
23rd-minute powerplay strike and went ahead just after the halfway point
through Ryan O’Marra.
But two goals in less than two minutes from Robert Dowd and Rod Sarich
edged Steelers ahead once again before the second break, with the win being
sealed by a third period powerplay strike from Mike Forney
Coupled with a 6-5 overtime defeat for title rivals Braehead Clan in
Cardiff Devils, it was enough to put Steelers one point clear at the top.
Other scores:
Friday 12th December
Sheffield 4-1 Cardiff
Saturday 13th December
Edinburgh 3-2 Coventry
Hull 3-2 Belfast
Fife 2-8 Braehead
Sunday 14th December
Nottingham 3-6 Belfast
Coventry 2-4 Sheffield
Edinburgh 5-6 Fife
Cardiff 6-5 Braehead