The top two sides in British ice hockey went head-to-head on Wednesday night in a dramatic nine-goal thriller at the Sheffield Arena.
Table toppers Coventry Blaze took on the in form Sheffield Steelers, who sat in second place, in what would be the Elite League title decider.
In a tight match the Steelers mistakes proved costly as they missed the chance to close the gap and handed the Blaze their third league title in four years.
The fans had turned out in force for a game that had been rightly billed as Sheffield’s biggest of the season. And it didn’t disappoint.
It wasn’t long before the tremendous home support had something to shout about as an early power play gave the Steelers an quick advantage through Jeff Legue’s fantastic top corner effort.
The goal gave Sheffield confidence and they pressed forward in numbers.
However the Blaze pulled level towards the end of the first period when ace marksman Adam Calder hit the puck home to set things up nicely going into the second.
Despite conceding the Steelers dominated through a mixture of incisive attacking and commanding defending.
The Steelers couldn’t break the deadlock and soon paid for missing a succession of power plays as the Elite League’s top scorer Calder netted to give Coventry the lead.
After a drab period – one that resulted in the missus pleading for us to leave - the third certainly didn’t disappoint and even got her on her feet.
A mere two minutes into the final period a quick fire double from the Blaze seemingly wrapped up the game and the title.
A power play by Sylvain Cloutier followed by an even-handed goal from Danny Stewart caught the Steelers napping to give the on fire Blaze a healthy lead.
Coventry almost went further ahead seeing a speculative effort rebound off the bar before the Steelers raced forward to give themselves a lifeline.
Doug Sheppard’s controversial goal brought his side back into it after he upended Canadian keeper Trevor Koenig before placing the puck home to set-up a nail-biting finale.
However whilst the Steelers goal was being analysed by my esteemed colleagues at Sky Sports behind me, Coventry broke forward and Calder scored once again with a five-hole for his 50th of the season.
The Steelers seemed dead and buried at 5-2 with just nine minutes left on the clock but their fans soon burst into life once more as a KC Timmins own goal and an absolute belter by Steve Munn gave them a lifeline.
Sheffield Arena was bouncing as the fans pushed the Steelers on to find the elusive equaliser that would take the game to sudden death.
Despite a valiant effort the Steelers the seconds ran down and the final buzzer signalled the end of a tough game along with any remaining title ambitions.
“The Blaze are six points clear now and pretty much have the title now” said Dave Simms, the Steelers press officer and Sky Sports commentator, after the game.
“We’ve done outstandingly well to comeback into the race for the league, winning 14 out of the last 15 games, but those two quick goals at the start of third period really hurt us.
“I couldn’t fault our work ethic but the difference really was the power plays.
“Credit to Coventry they have been top of the league since September and now we must focus fully on the playoffs.”
After a great game of ice hockey, which even the missus eventually enjoyed, the intrepid Steelers finally lost out in both the match and the league to a Blaze side who proved too hot to handle.
By Simon Peach
