Devils Vs Steelers - Double header

27th Sep 2013 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

This weekend the Devils take on the Steelers home on Saturday and away on Sunday in the Challenge Cup. The Steelers seemed to have the Devils measure last season winning the series 6  - 4 . The Steelers have been having a rough run of it so far this season and much like the Devils will be looking for two wins this weekend to get some momentum going.

There was a fair bit of change at the Steelers over the Summer including the replacement of head coach Ryan Finnerty with Ex Giants coach Doug Christiansen you can check out the Chasing Dragons rather good season preview for the Steelers here http://chasingthedragons.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/ten-teams-ten-days-6-sheffield-steelers/

Last weekend saw the Steelers in action twice starting off on Saturday in the Challenge cup against local rivals the Nottingham Panthers who came into Sheffield with a strong track record having only lost there once in the last seven and twice in the last thirteen.

The visitors opened the scoring with a goal from Steven Goertzen at 10.02. However, the hosts went on to hit three without reply to take a two goal lead into the second period. A powerplay goal from David Clarke at 13.08 powerplay got them on level terms. This was quickly followed by a strike by Matt Francis at 14.58. Then at 18.36 Brandon Benedict added their third marker.

The Steelers reduced the deficit to a one goal game as Maxime Lacroix was on target at 27.37.  However Chris Capraro netted the only other goal of the second period to give the home side back their two goal advantage at 38.31.

Back came the visitors as Lacroix netted his second of the game with a shorthanded goal at 41.03. That was as close as they were to get as Capraro got his second at 49.50 and then at 55.20 Robert Lachowicz netted. A powerplay goal from Leigh Salters at 57.55 completed the scoring to give the Panthers the win.

Final Score Nottingham Panthers 7 – 3  Sheffield Steelers

Last Sunday saw the Steelers take on former Coach Ryan Finnerty’s tea the Braehead Clan in a  see-saw encounter which saw the  Clan grab the extra point in a shootout.

A long weekend of travel did not seem to have affected the visitors as they skated to a 2-0 lead in the opening session. A powerplay counter by Scott Aarssen at 12.58 and a strike by Shane Lust at 18.00 saw Clan in charge.

Steelers got back into the game at 26.34 when Jeff Legue was on target but Clan went two ahead again at 31.29 with Lust scoring his second of the game. From that point on in the period it was Steelers in the ascendancy however and they tied the game with goals by Robert Dowd at 35.25 and Dustin Kohn with 56 seconds remaining.

Steelers continued where they left off and hit the front with a third straight goal at 45.22, this one on the powerplay from Stefan Meyer but Clan were not finished and at 50.29 it was Macias on target with what turned out to be the final goal in regulation.

Overtime failed to produce a winner but in the shootout it was McGrane and Goldie who counted for Clan with neither Legue or Dowd able to pass Kyle Jones in the visitors cage.

Sheffield Steelers 4 - 5  Braehead Clan  (After Penalty Shootout)

Christiansen expressed his “bitter disappointment” at the result but added: “We’ll get there.”

Ones to watch for the Steelers are Stefan Meyer on 5 goals and 4 assists and Jeff Legue 4 Goals and 1 assist we would of included forward Maxime Lacroix  the Steelers top scorer on 7 goals and 2 assists  but he’s out injured for at least the next few months with a broken ankle.

The Star broke news of the seriousness of Lacroix’s injury to Christiansen after the loss to Braehead Clan. The coach said on video at thestar.co.uk: “I am incredibly sorry to hear that for him personally and very sorry from a hockey club point of view but we have to have a mentality of the next man in. People have to step in but he’s clearly been our leading offensive player and no doubt we are going to miss him.”

Christiansen said others had stepped up to the plate in Lacroix’s absence, caused by a check at Nottingham on Saturday. He identified Rob Dowd and Rylan Galiardi as two players who had not played as well as he’d hoped until impressive performances on Sunday. Asked about the new defensive propramme at the club, in the light of 11 conceded goals, the coach said all systems were being re-evaluated.

Sheffield Steelers head coach Doug Christiansen has moved quickly to sign reinforcements ahead of this weekends Challenge Cup double header against Cardiff Devils.

The Steelers have signed 29 year old Finnish forward Ilpo Salmivirta on a month contract.

"Ilpo is an offensive player that we are bringing in on a one month contract that gives us the option of keeping him in the end" said Christiansen. "He is a proven winner and an All-Star. He has consistently put up numbers in France playing on championship teams. I am expecting him to add skill to our line-up. He will be in the line-up this weekend against the Cardiff Devils."

In Nets Frank Doyle seems to be having a howler behind the “ Hybrid Swarm Defence” with a “save” percentage so far this season of just 84.6% 

We will be running the “ridiculously childish and disgustingly biased” Match Night Live service for this game, expect name calling, slurs and one eyed bias in epic proportions, at the usual location of http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/mnl

On Saturday we’ll be updating you live from the Inferno “News desk” at the rink thanks to the great guys at Analysis Technologies. If you’d like to chip in with a comment or make a score prediction you can contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.

Also if you can't make it down on Saturday nd you don't want to miss any of the action and reading the game isn’t enough you can get the game with commentary from Brent Pope on Devils live TV here  http://www.cardiffdevils.com/ for a jolly reasonable £8.