Steelers suffer title setback

It was the perfect road game by the Giants in Sunday's delayed faceoff, as they restricted the Steelers to a paltry 17 shots on Stephen Murphy. The Sheffield side started the game slowly, being outshot 13-4 in the first period, but they went into the break with the lead, as Luke Fulghum fired home in the 11th minute to give the Steelers the lead. Former Sheffield player Robert Dowd tied the game early in the second period, before the teams traded goals in the second half of the period, Colt King scoring for the Steelers, and Jeff Mason for the Giants. The third period was always going to be a close one, but it was the Giants who took the game away in the opening minutes of the third, as Jon Pelle and new signing Mike Hoffman scored within 35 seconds of each other to give the game to the Steelers. John DeCaro made 40 saves for Sheffield, but it wasn't enough to get the win, and the Giants took home a huge two points.

Other games around the EIHL:

The Blaze had a message to send after being humiliated last weekend by the Nottingham Panthers, and they took the sting out of the Stingrays tale at the Hull Arena. The Blaze went 4/9 on the powerplay as the Stingrays kept taking penalties, and the star of the show was Owen Fussey, who scored a hatrick for the Blaze. Coventry scored three times in the final five minutes of the third, and then scored two in the 23rd minute to leave the score at 5-0 at the 22:29 mark. Peter Nylander scored his first and second goals for the Blaze in a three point effort, and both Shea Guthrie and Mike McLean had three assists for the Blaze. 

The story of the week for the Devils has been the announcement that veteran forward and former captain Brad Voth's retirement, and they looked out of sorts as they made their way across the Irish Sea to face the Giants, in what doubled up as the second leg of the Challenge Cup final. Stuart MacRae scored 39 seconds into the opening period, but from then on out it was the Giants who dominated proceedings. Three of the four Giants goals came on the powerplay, as Jon Pelle, Craig Peacock, Robert Dowd and Aaron Clarke lit the lamp for the Northern Irish side, who picked up a vital two points, and will also advance to the Challenge Cup final, where they will face the Nottingham Panthers.

The Steelers rounded off a miserable weekend for the Stingrays, who were shutout comfortably at the Motorpoint Arena. The Stingrays actually outshot the Steelers, but backup netminder Geoff Woolhouse stopped all thirty of the shots he faced, as well as adding an assist on Luke Fulghum's empty net goal with 21 seconds to go. Matt Stephenson opened the scoring in the 5th minute, which was the only goal of the first period, and with 47 seconds left in the second, Jeff Legue scored his 24th of the season.

A David Clarke hatrick was just the ticket for the Panthers, who kept their hold on second place with a comfortable victory against the Stars. The Panthers scored three times in the first period through Jordan Fox, Matt Francis and David Clarke, before Lepine scored in the second, and Clarke scored twice in the third period to round out the Panthers scoring. Jarrett Konkle and John Dolan got the goals for the Stars, who struggled to contend with the superior quality that the Panthers have in their lineup. 

The Blaze made it a four point weekend as they comfortably defeated the Flyers at the Coventry Skydome. The Flyers were outshot 49-29 by a Blaze side desperate to keep up their challenge for fourth place, and were once again led by Owen Fussey, who had two goals and one assist to complete a six point weekend. The Flyers took the lead in the first period as Toms Hartmanis capitalised on a piece of good play by former Blaze forward Frantisek Bakrlik, but the Blaze took control of the game from that point. Russell Cowley celebrated his testimonial week by scoring only his 2nd goal of the season at the 18 minute mark, before Jonathan Weaver scored a powerplay goal in the second period. The Blaze blew away the Flyers in the final frame, as a goal by Greg Owen and a pair from Owen Fussey put the Flyers to bed.

It was a thriller at the Big Blue Tent, as the fans were treated to one of the games of the season between two promising teams. It was the Jade Galbraith show for the Clan, as the leagues leading scorer led from the front and scored twice and picked up an assist in the first period as the Clan jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first. However, the Devils regained their composure, and after reducing the deficit to two in the second through a Jeff Pierce goal, scored in 43rd, 46th and 49th minute to take the lead away from the Clan. The momentum was firmly in the Devils direction, and the Clan were struggling to stay in the game, but in the final minute, with the goalie pulled, Jade Galbraith scored the goal that would send the game to overtime; his third of the game. After an overtime frame which the Devils dominating, forcing Jaakko Suomalainen to make eight saves, the game would go to a shootout. Kenton Smith scored in the first round for the Devils, and then Jordan Krestanovich in the second round for the Clan. Both sides missed in the third round, so the game went to sudden death penalty shots, and it was, of course, Jade Galbraith who scored the winning penalty shot for the Clan, rounding off a 3+1 performance.

In a battle of the basement teams, it was the Dundee Stars who leapfrogged the Flyers off of the foot of the table as they put in a solid performance on home ice. The Stars blew away the Flyers in the first minute, as A.J McLean scored 18 seconds in, and Jarrett Konkle scored 38 seconds later to give the Stars a solid lead early into the game. Former Stars player-coach Dan Ceman scored in the 8th minute for the Flyers. The second period was also dominated by the Stars, as they scored a further three times to take the game away from the Kirkcaldy side, before scoring once more in the final period. Jeff Hutchins had four assists for the Stars, whilst player-coach Brent Hughes had a pair of goals. 

 

Advanced player search