Sheffield Steelers 4-2 Hull Stingrays
The Hull Stingrays tonight returned to Ice Sheffield to take on the Steelers for the first time since their massive EIHL Playoff Quarter Final Second Leg victory last season but fell by four goals to two to their Yorkshire rivals in their sixth fixture of this season's Challenge Cup campaign.
The Steelers started back up Geoff Woolhouse in place of number one John DeCaro and he turned away all seven Stingrays shots in the first allowing Jeff Legue to give the home side a 1-0 lead having fired nine shots on Sheffield-born Ben Bowns.
A worrying sight then followed as Brit Andy Ward was stretched off the ice following a check to the head from the Steelers NHL signing Tom Sestito. Rays enforcer Ryan Hand stepped in immediately following the high hit and dropped the gloves with the American enforcer. Sestito was then thrown out with a match penalty for the high hit and Hand also received a ten minute fighting misconduct having instigating the fight.
The status of Ward is unclear at this point, however, reports from Ice Sheffield suggested an ambulance was called for the head injury sustained on the high hit.
The hit understandably riled Sylvain Cloutier's side and Hand, Jeff Smith, Dominic Osman and Cale Tanaka would all take roughing penalties before the 60 minutes was up. The Steelers doubled their lead after ten minutes through GB forward Colin Shields before the Stingrays final notched their first goal of the game.
A goalscorer, if somewhat fortuitously, in the historical Playoff Semi-Final victory, Matty Davies netted another marker at Ice Sheffield to pull one back for the Rays shorthanded after 16 minutes.
Despite being outshot 26-12 in the first two periods, Janis Ozolins - who has been a revelation in the EIHL as he was in the EPL - then leveled the scores for the Stingrays on his old Sheffield Steeldogs stomping ground two minutes into the final stanza with his third goal in two games and ninth of the year.
The home side then broke the miniature come back through defenceman Matt Stephenson - who bagged what turned out to be the game winning goal on 53.02 before Rod Sarich added a fourth in the closing stages.
The defeat leaves the Stingrays on three points from six games and still desperate for points from their final two Challenge Cup fixtures - which come at home to the Coventry Blaze and away to the Cardiff Devils - to qualify for the Quarter Final stage of the competition.
The Hull Stingrays tonight returned to Ice Sheffield to take on the Steelers for the first time since their massive EIHL Playoff Quarter Final Second Leg victory last season but fell by four goals to two to their Yorkshire rivals in their sixth fixture of this season's Challenge Cup campaign.
The Steelers started back up Geoff Woolhouse in place of number one John DeCaro and he turned away all seven Stingrays shots in the first allowing Jeff Legue to give the home side a 1-0 lead having fired nine shots on Sheffield-born Ben Bowns.
A worrying sight then followed as Brit Andy Ward was stretched off the ice following a check to the head from the Steelers NHL signing Tom Sestito. Rays enforcer Ryan Hand stepped in immediately following the high hit and dropped the gloves with the American enforcer. Sestito was then thrown out with a match penalty for the high hit and Hand also received a ten minute fighting misconduct having instigating the fight.
The status of Ward is unclear at this point, however, reports from Ice Sheffield suggested an ambulance was called for the head injury sustained on the high hit.
The hit understandably riled Sylvain Cloutier's side and Hand, Jeff Smith, Dominic Osman and Cale Tanaka would all take roughing penalties before the 60 minutes was up. The Steelers doubled their lead after ten minutes through GB forward Colin Shields before the Stingrays final notched their first goal of the game.
A goalscorer, if somewhat fortuitously, in the historical Playoff Semi-Final victory, Matty Davies netted another marker at Ice Sheffield to pull one back for the Rays shorthanded after 16 minutes.
Despite being outshot 26-12 in the first two periods, Janis Ozolins - who has been a revelation in the EIHL as he was in the EPL - then leveled the scores for the Stingrays on his old Sheffield Steeldogs stomping ground two minutes into the final stanza with his third goal in two games and ninth of the year.
The home side then broke the miniature come back through defenceman Matt Stephenson - who bagged what turned out to be the game winning goal on 53.02 before Rod Sarich added a fourth in the closing stages.
The defeat leaves the Stingrays on three points from six games and still desperate for points from their final two Challenge Cup fixtures - which come at home to the Coventry Blaze and away to the Cardiff Devils - to qualify for the Quarter Final stage of the competition.
