Sheffield Steelers 6 - 0 Excel Hull Stingrays
In their poorest showing of a disappointing season so far, the Excel Hull Stingrays were tonight embarrassingly hit for six - for the fourth time this term - and shut out - for the first time this season - by Yorkshire rivals the Sheffield Steelers.
Perennially slow starters, the Stingrays were in trouble after just one minute.
A big hit from Martin Ondrej behind his own net left Sheffield defenceman Chad Huttel seeing stars and the Slovakian heading to the bin for a clear elbow. Mike Ramsey capitalising on the ensuing powerplay, rifling in off the post for the games opening goal and a 1-0 Sheffield lead.
A mid-ice mix up from Rays forwards then turned the puck over to the Steelers, and allowed Ashley Tait to tap home and double the reigning champions lead - an assist going to Lee Esders. Esders former team failing to compete in all areas at this point.
Though the Rays showed their first signs of life following the goal on 12 minutes, the Steelers relentless and clinical play afforded the visitors no time to get into the game.
A lovely team move, which started behind their own net, saw numerous pinpoint passes up the ice and was finished off in front by Neil Clark, typical of what the Steelers were doing so right and the Stingrays doing so wrong as they extended their lead to three.
Though the Rays came out and showed some fight in the second, notably as Dominic Osman dropped the gloves with Sheffield's Matt Stephenson, there was little more to be positive about heading into the final stanza three goal's down.
Still, for the first time the Stingrays forced sustained pressure on the Steelers net at the beginning of the third but failed to capitalise on their possession before, typically, the home side rushed up the ice and bagged their fourth through Tait's second of the game.
Poor positioning from captain Joshua Mizerek as the Steelers attacked once again then allowed Ramsey to bag his second of the game after Boucher had made the initial save before player-coach Ryan Finnerty completed the rout at 6-0 with a finish on a clinical break.
The Stingrays were, it goes without saying, convincingly beaten.
At the best the defence was scrambled collapsing on top of helpless netminder Boucher - who was hung out to dry - while the offence - believed to be one of the team's strong points - was unsurprisingly shut out for the first time this season, forcing shots that hit bodies in front or missed the target completely due to a lack of creativity - an all too familiar story.
Even the man advantage, which has been very good this season, failed to turn up effectively. Mid-ice collisions with team mates, miscontrolled passes and all around lack of on-ice chemistry summed up the other main areas of concern.
Naturally, there were few positives.
Derek Campbell - clearly wanting to perform well against his former side, stood out for his work rate, though most of the time this did not translate into sustained offence. Boucher couldn't have performed much better with what was at his disposal, while Jason Silverthorn and Dmitri Rodin were the best of a bad bunch up front and at the back.
It would be easy to sweep the game under the carpet as a one off because the reigning EIHL champion Steelers were the opposition. Good as they were, there are deeper problems in the Stingrays camp, most concerning of all is the lack of cohesion throughout the ranks.
More hard work and, dare it be suggested, changes, may soon be required.
Of course, a positive performance against Nottingham, albeit in the Challenge Cup, may go a distance to erasing the memory of tonight's drubbing
In their poorest showing of a disappointing season so far, the Excel Hull Stingrays were tonight embarrassingly hit for six - for the fourth time this term - and shut out - for the first time this season - by Yorkshire rivals the Sheffield Steelers.
Perennially slow starters, the Stingrays were in trouble after just one minute.
A big hit from Martin Ondrej behind his own net left Sheffield defenceman Chad Huttel seeing stars and the Slovakian heading to the bin for a clear elbow. Mike Ramsey capitalising on the ensuing powerplay, rifling in off the post for the games opening goal and a 1-0 Sheffield lead.
A mid-ice mix up from Rays forwards then turned the puck over to the Steelers, and allowed Ashley Tait to tap home and double the reigning champions lead - an assist going to Lee Esders. Esders former team failing to compete in all areas at this point.
Though the Rays showed their first signs of life following the goal on 12 minutes, the Steelers relentless and clinical play afforded the visitors no time to get into the game.
A lovely team move, which started behind their own net, saw numerous pinpoint passes up the ice and was finished off in front by Neil Clark, typical of what the Steelers were doing so right and the Stingrays doing so wrong as they extended their lead to three.
Though the Rays came out and showed some fight in the second, notably as Dominic Osman dropped the gloves with Sheffield's Matt Stephenson, there was little more to be positive about heading into the final stanza three goal's down.
Still, for the first time the Stingrays forced sustained pressure on the Steelers net at the beginning of the third but failed to capitalise on their possession before, typically, the home side rushed up the ice and bagged their fourth through Tait's second of the game.
Poor positioning from captain Joshua Mizerek as the Steelers attacked once again then allowed Ramsey to bag his second of the game after Boucher had made the initial save before player-coach Ryan Finnerty completed the rout at 6-0 with a finish on a clinical break.
The Stingrays were, it goes without saying, convincingly beaten.
At the best the defence was scrambled collapsing on top of helpless netminder Boucher - who was hung out to dry - while the offence - believed to be one of the team's strong points - was unsurprisingly shut out for the first time this season, forcing shots that hit bodies in front or missed the target completely due to a lack of creativity - an all too familiar story.
Even the man advantage, which has been very good this season, failed to turn up effectively. Mid-ice collisions with team mates, miscontrolled passes and all around lack of on-ice chemistry summed up the other main areas of concern.
Naturally, there were few positives.
Derek Campbell - clearly wanting to perform well against his former side, stood out for his work rate, though most of the time this did not translate into sustained offence. Boucher couldn't have performed much better with what was at his disposal, while Jason Silverthorn and Dmitri Rodin were the best of a bad bunch up front and at the back.
It would be easy to sweep the game under the carpet as a one off because the reigning EIHL champion Steelers were the opposition. Good as they were, there are deeper problems in the Stingrays camp, most concerning of all is the lack of cohesion throughout the ranks.
More hard work and, dare it be suggested, changes, may soon be required.
Of course, a positive performance against Nottingham, albeit in the Challenge Cup, may go a distance to erasing the memory of tonight's drubbing
Rays Rating
3
FBB Three Stars
1 - Derek Campbell (0+0)
2 - Jason Silverthorn (0+0)
3 - Christian Boucher (24 saves)
