Excel Hull Stingrays 7-4 Sheffield Steelers
Sylvain Cloutier's Excel Hull Stingrays ended the 09/10 regular season on a high with a 7-4 victory over Yorkshire rivals the Sheffield Steelers thanks to four goals from player/coach Curtis Huppe, in the process the Rays levelled the eight game series between the two sides at four wins apiece.
As he was the previous night against Cardiff, Martins Raitums was beaten early in the game, with Matt Hubbauer netting past the Latvian just two minutes in. While the Stingrays didn't dominate the first period by any stretch, they ended it two goals up thanks to a Jason Silverthorn powerplay goal, a Lee Esders deflected goal and Huppe's first of the night, which came just 45 seconds before the first intermission.
The Steelers offensive defenceman Jonathan Zion added another goal to his impressive tally in the second, however, the Steelers indiscipline, on a night in which they took 45 penalty minutes from referee Dean Smith, cost them for a second time, Jeff Glowa the scorer of the Stingrays second powerplay goal of the night after 36 minutes to restore the home sides three goal lead. Although the Steelers would hit back once again in the 38th minute through the ever impressive Jeff Legue, the night was to belong to the Stingrays, thanks, in part, to a determined effort from the Rays assistant coach.
He would go on to net three third period goals past Green, taking his tally to four for the night and 19 for the season, and in doing so he set a new Stingrays record for goals scored in a single game. As routine as it sounds, it was not until his fourth and final goal on 55 minutes that the home support could breathe a sigh of relief and savour another victory over Sheffield.
It was by no means a poor performance from the fifth placed Steelers, however, with normal starting keeper Verner on the bench and with indiscipline rife amongst the South Yorkshire side, particularly from Joey Talbot, who was given a game miscounduct for abuse of an official, and Kevin Bolibruck, who failed to get the better of Huppe during a number of tussles and gained three penalties as a result, it was bound to be somewhat easier for the Stingrays.
Nevertheless, another victory, and a series leveller at that, against a high budget Sheffield Steelers side is not to be sniffed at, particularly going into the team's first playoff appearance. The Stingrays performance was generally good, although once again defensive frailties were evident, however, naturally the four goals from Huppe immediately stand out after a difficult season in which he has been roundly criticised.
Once goals one and two found their way home, Huppe seemed determined to go on to add goals three and four in order to make a point to his critics, and it is this side of Huppe that Sylvain Cloutier and fans alike will be praying for come next weekend. Worryingly, the Stingrays standout player this season, Konstantin Kalmikov, has failed to score in three games now and looked out of sorts this weekend, possible indicators that he is carrying some kind of injury.
With a seven days left to recover and recuperate, Kalmikov and the Stingrays face a crucial week of training ahead of their first ever playoff appearance against EIHL Champions the Coventry Blaze next weekend.
F Block Blog MOM: Curtis Huppe (4+1)
SOG: 41-32
PIM: 12-48
Cloutier's Comments: "We wanted to win but we got away from our game a bit, we got a bit lazy and gave them life to come back all night. You can’t have those bad habits. I know the guys wanted to have some fun and enjoy themselves but I said to them before the third period that we have to take care of our own end and can’t stop back-checking. But now we will work hard all week and focus on next weekend against Coventry.It's disappointing we finished bottom, but we battled for a long way. We are not the worst team in the league, I can tell you that"
