Hull Stingrays 1-3 Sheffield Steelers
In contrast to the niggly, hard fought 4-2 defeat exactly two weeks ago, the Hull Stingrays were tonight again beaten by two goals by Yorkshire rivals the Sheffield Steelers in an altogether different contest with goals in each period giving their South Yorkshire counterparts a narrow victory.
Having handed Dmitri Rodin his second debut in Cardiff, Jeff Smith returned to the line-up in place of Slovakian defenceman Martin Ondrej while a debut was handed to Sheffield born defenceman Brett Chapman.
The last time these two sides met, the game quickly spiraled out of control in an enjoyable, up-tempo but bordering on dirty clash. A lot of this frustration may have stem from Steelers enforcer Chris Frank refusing, on a number of occasions, to drop the gloves with Rays enforcer Ryan Hand.
Hand - clearly, again, up for the challenge from the off - gave Frank no choice on this occasion. Offering the Steelers man the fight prior to the opening face-off, and then again when the puck was dropped, he eventually dropped the gloves with the Canadian 17 seconds in, with the pair providing an entertaining duel which Hand edged - taking an instigator penalty for his insistence - and which energised the opening period.
With that out of the way, and the Steelers unsuccessful on the ensuing man advantage, the game took an all too familiar tone with the intensity and physicality of a playoff game. That intensity unfortunately didn't convert into free-flowing hockey - with the shot count just 5-3 in the Steelers favour after one period - but, nevertheless, made for an entertaining start to the game for both sets of fans.
Aside from a lovely move from centre-ice between Janis Ozolins, Cale Tanaka and Matty Davies - which eventually saw Steelers keeper John DeCaro deny the Rays close in - the home side appeared to struggle to test the Steelers going forward - an recurring theme throughout the game.
The Steelers on the other hand took the lead through a pinpoint finish in-off the pipework from forward Tylor Michel on the powerplay, giving them a 1-0 first period lead.
The intensity level of the game plummeted from playoff hockey to low-key regular season hockey in the second period with all the animosity from the previous game and previous period seemingly forgotten.
Jereme Tendler - who had seven goals in four games heading in to the fixture - was the presented with a huge chance, all-alone in front for the home side on the powerplay only for DeCaro to stonewall him.
Ryan Finnerty's side then doubled their lead on 28.09, sapping the energy out of the Hull Arena as Shawn Limpwright luckily deflecting home a Mark Thomas slapshot past Ben Bowns with his shin pad.
The Rays struggled to maintain offensive pressure in the Steelers zone throughout the game but eventually upped their offensive game enough to force this in the third period - firing 19 shots on the visitors net.
Jonathan Phillips completed the Steelers scoring for the night on 46.42 for a 3-0 lead after which the Steelers seemed shut down their offence for the night - focusing all their efforts on snuffing out any comeback from the Stingrays.
The intensity and atmosphere understandably dropped further following Sheffield's third goal, however, in-form Tendler managed to scramble home a consolation goal through DeCaro's five-hole on 53.49 on the powerplay for his eighth goal in five games.
Sylvain Cloutier's side - who were all game long led by the determination and hard work of Jason Silverthorn and seemed reliant on a goal from Tendler - plied further pressure on the Steelers - who were now passing through the motions - but couldn't force a second goal past a resolute Sheffield defence with DeCaro in particularly good form.
As has been the case during the last month or so, the effort and much of the commitment was once again forthcoming. Likewise, during their last five defeats - which have all been by one or two goals - there is a fine line between no points and two points in this season's Elite League and that is a line the Rays, unfortunately, can't consistently cross.
Still, the Rays have five points from five games and now face a run of, somewhat, more favourable fixtures with six out of their next seven games this month coming against Gardiner Conference sides.
In contrast to the niggly, hard fought 4-2 defeat exactly two weeks ago, the Hull Stingrays were tonight again beaten by two goals by Yorkshire rivals the Sheffield Steelers in an altogether different contest with goals in each period giving their South Yorkshire counterparts a narrow victory.
Having handed Dmitri Rodin his second debut in Cardiff, Jeff Smith returned to the line-up in place of Slovakian defenceman Martin Ondrej while a debut was handed to Sheffield born defenceman Brett Chapman.
The last time these two sides met, the game quickly spiraled out of control in an enjoyable, up-tempo but bordering on dirty clash. A lot of this frustration may have stem from Steelers enforcer Chris Frank refusing, on a number of occasions, to drop the gloves with Rays enforcer Ryan Hand.
Hand - clearly, again, up for the challenge from the off - gave Frank no choice on this occasion. Offering the Steelers man the fight prior to the opening face-off, and then again when the puck was dropped, he eventually dropped the gloves with the Canadian 17 seconds in, with the pair providing an entertaining duel which Hand edged - taking an instigator penalty for his insistence - and which energised the opening period.
With that out of the way, and the Steelers unsuccessful on the ensuing man advantage, the game took an all too familiar tone with the intensity and physicality of a playoff game. That intensity unfortunately didn't convert into free-flowing hockey - with the shot count just 5-3 in the Steelers favour after one period - but, nevertheless, made for an entertaining start to the game for both sets of fans.
Aside from a lovely move from centre-ice between Janis Ozolins, Cale Tanaka and Matty Davies - which eventually saw Steelers keeper John DeCaro deny the Rays close in - the home side appeared to struggle to test the Steelers going forward - an recurring theme throughout the game.
The Steelers on the other hand took the lead through a pinpoint finish in-off the pipework from forward Tylor Michel on the powerplay, giving them a 1-0 first period lead.
The intensity level of the game plummeted from playoff hockey to low-key regular season hockey in the second period with all the animosity from the previous game and previous period seemingly forgotten.
Jereme Tendler - who had seven goals in four games heading in to the fixture - was the presented with a huge chance, all-alone in front for the home side on the powerplay only for DeCaro to stonewall him.
Ryan Finnerty's side then doubled their lead on 28.09, sapping the energy out of the Hull Arena as Shawn Limpwright luckily deflecting home a Mark Thomas slapshot past Ben Bowns with his shin pad.
The Rays struggled to maintain offensive pressure in the Steelers zone throughout the game but eventually upped their offensive game enough to force this in the third period - firing 19 shots on the visitors net.
Jonathan Phillips completed the Steelers scoring for the night on 46.42 for a 3-0 lead after which the Steelers seemed shut down their offence for the night - focusing all their efforts on snuffing out any comeback from the Stingrays.
The intensity and atmosphere understandably dropped further following Sheffield's third goal, however, in-form Tendler managed to scramble home a consolation goal through DeCaro's five-hole on 53.49 on the powerplay for his eighth goal in five games.
Sylvain Cloutier's side - who were all game long led by the determination and hard work of Jason Silverthorn and seemed reliant on a goal from Tendler - plied further pressure on the Steelers - who were now passing through the motions - but couldn't force a second goal past a resolute Sheffield defence with DeCaro in particularly good form.
As has been the case during the last month or so, the effort and much of the commitment was once again forthcoming. Likewise, during their last five defeats - which have all been by one or two goals - there is a fine line between no points and two points in this season's Elite League and that is a line the Rays, unfortunately, can't consistently cross.
Still, the Rays have five points from five games and now face a run of, somewhat, more favourable fixtures with six out of their next seven games this month coming against Gardiner Conference sides.
FBB Three Stars
1. Jason Silverthorn
2. Jereme Tendler
3. Ryan Hand
