Image credit: Isriya Paireepairit
Dominant Steelers performances boost silverware hopes
The Sheffield Steelers earned back-to-back victories this weekend to reinforce their hold on the Elite League and Challenger Cup.
Both games saw dominant performances from the Steelers, where they dispatched the Nottingham Panthers and the Fife Flyers 4-1 and 5-0.
The Saturday night fixture against the Panthers saw goals from Kameron Kielly, Daniel Ciampini and Marco Valler.
However, what caught the eye of many was the performance of Cole Shudra in the absence of Niklas Nevalainen.
Shudra sealed the win with his first goal of the season late into the match.
The Sunday fixture saw the Steelers waste no time in putting the puck in the back of the net – as 20 minutes in, they had found themselves three goals up.
A productive display from Mikko Juusola saw him find the back of the net twice, as well as assisting Matt Petgrave’s early opener.
Speaking on Juusola’s performance, Coach Aaron Fox said: “He gets wheeling in the O-zone and he’s hard to stop. He’s been good up there with Watson and Nichols these past couple games.”
Footballing woes across Sheffield
These wins were not replicated across the other sporting clubs of Sheffield, with both Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday suffering losses.
Sheffield United’s poor start to the season continued after losing 2-1 to Manchester United, where despite a resilient performance a moment of brilliance from Diogo Dalot helped Manchester United earn a hard-fought win on the road.
Similarly, Sheffield Wednesday struggled, siting just above the relegation zone, they played their first match under new manager Danny Rohl and lost 1-0 to Watford.
The match saw youngster Anthony Musaba put on a stellar performance, earning Wednesday a penalty which was controversially overturned following a VAR correction.
Image Credit: Graham Hogg (Licence)
Late heartbreak for the Sharks
The B. Braun Sheffield Sharks played on Sunday too, where after a dramatic overtime period they closely lost 87-83 to the Caledonia Gladiators.
The Gladiators were clinical, continually finding themselves leading against the Sharks, but Sheffield’s never-say-die attitude throughout the match saw them continually equalize, forcing a dramatic overtime period.
The match eventually ended following Lukas Palyza’s massive overtime contributions leading to a Gladiator win.
