Devils @ Steelers - 12/12/2014

10th Dec 2014 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

This weekend see's the Devils on the road in Sheffield. Looking at last weekend for both teams we get a picture of two teams on a winning streak..

Devils four points beating their “bogey” team the Giants twice.

Sheffield 4 points beating their “Arch rivals” and or “Biggest rivals in Yorkshire” the Panthers and.. well.. Fife.

So with both teams having a good momentum going into Fridays match up we look to be in for a cracking game (which I can’t watch as I’m at a work Christmas party…)

Saturday saw the Steelers  in action in their  100th home game against the Panthers. Steelers were unlucky to only lead by 1 at the first period break. Mike Forney converting an outstanding pass from Mathieu Roy at 18.36
Steelers doubled their advantage just 1.49 into the middle period when Colton Fretter tapped home from close range following another Roy effort.

Against the run of play the Panthers got on the board at 31.27 - Robert Farmer being given the goal after the puck rebounded off a Steelers and past Doyle.

Steelers again came out strong in the final session but it was Nottingham who tired the game at 47.26 when Max Parent combined with Farmer and Cody Wild to tie the game 2-2.

Brandon Benedict took a 2 minute boarding minor at 48.35 to give the Steelers a power-play opportunity. Robert Dowd then raised the roof on the huge 7200 crowd as he snapped a low shot blocker side to give the Steelers the 3-2 lead.

A late penalty by Culled Eddy granted the Panthers a chance to level and later still Nottingham pulled their goalie for an extra attacker.

Frank Doyle once again came to the Steelers rescue making several big stops including an incredible save off Robert Lachowicz

Final Score of Sheffield 3-2 Nottingham Panthers

Sunday  saw the Steelers on the road taking on the Fife Flyers where Mathieu Roy scored a “natural hat trick” as the Steelers swept the four game series against the Fife Flyers with a 4-1 win on Sunday evening.

Gerad Adams had this to say after the game  "What a great weekend, a huge 4 points. I couldn't be happier or more pleased with the whole team."

"Fife is a very hard place to come to. The Flyers are a very good side. We have swept them twice at home and here in Fife. That was a tough ask but we came through.”

"Tonight I thought Frank Doyle made some big saves at the start of the game. We worked ourselves into the game and then took it to the Flyers. “

"Mathieu Roy was again outstanding, he might just be the best player i have seen over here in front of the net. He takes a beating every night but he earns his rewards with his goals.”

"This has been a tough week. We have played short and come through. We will enjoy the drive back to Sheffield, have Monday off and come back to work on Tuesday ready to go again"

Final score Fife Flyers 1-4 Steelers

You can watch highlights of both these games here http://www.sheffieldsteelersihc.co.uk/the-steelers-weekend-highlights-p195219 (apologies if the commentary is Dave Simms and you don’t like that kind of thing)

Or for a thoroughly more enjoyable experience try this write up of the Devils stuffing the Giants from Hollee Accott - http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/news/hockey-world-hockey-girl-week-12/

Or this brilliant clip of Giant’s Westgarth getting hip checked into sometime next week by Devil Trevor Hendrikx.. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152949044777958 (try it on loop it gets funnier the more you watch).

Looking at the state the ones to watch for the Steelers are -

Mr “Natural Hattrick” Mathieu Roy on 20 Goals and 25 assists

Michael Forney on 22 Goals and 14 assists

Colton Fretter on 13 Goals and 22 assists

And Tyler Mosienko  (insert bad joke about “odds” here) 17 Goals and 9 assist

In nets Frank Doyle is running a  91.5% save percentage, with a 2.44 Goals against average, so is pretty darn good regardless of all the Beach balls we keep photo shopping into pictures of him.

Injury wise the Devils look to be a full strength ( touch wood) as do the Steelers aside from the departure of Jay Latulippe this week.

Details of the Steelers web cast for this game can be found here https://sheffieldsteelers.tv/

As always if you don't fancy a trip or the webcast we will be running the 'ridiculously childish and disgustingly biased' Match Night Live service for this game,as always expect name calling, slurs and bad jokes about keepers not being able to stop beach balls in epic proportions, at the usual location of http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/mnl

If you'd like to chip in with a comment or make a score prediction on the night you can contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.