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Sheffield special teams costly for Phoenix

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Two powerplay and a shorthanded goal gave the Sheffield Steelers a commanding edge over the Manchester Phoenix on Sunday night in the final game of the playoff qualifiers. Victory in Belfast on Saturday had already ensured Phoenix will play in the Finals next weekend and their opponents in the second semi-final next Saturday will be the Nottingham Panthers.

Phoenix were well in Sunday’s game until Steelers captain Dion Darling struck on an 18th minute powerplay. Second period strikes from Mike Peron (33rd minute powerplay) and Brent Bobyck (shorthanded in the 35th minute) gave the Phoenix a mountain to climb having lost the services of Mark Bultje at the end of the first period with a slight groin strain. Steelers cemented their victory in the 55th minute as Bobyck deflected a shot past Dave Clancy who played the final nine minutes in order to give Jayme Platt a deserved rest.

Phoenix coach Paul Heavey commented, “It’s disappointing to lose tonight as we’ve been on a bit of a roll since qualifying for the playoffs. The travelling this weekend hasn’t helped, but we can’t use that as an excuse tonight. A couple of weeks ago, we would have been glad just to be here, but now we need to focus on next Saturday’s game against the Panthers.”

Phoenix haven’t beaten Nottingham this season and Heavey noted, “The guys feel we owe ourselves a result against them and we’ll certainly be working on a game plan to give us the best possible chance. We’ll rest up and try to heal some of our injuries this week, it would be nice to have a full bench next weekend. We’ll be playing in their backyard and they have some very good players and we will be the underdogs for sure – I don’t mind that label in the slightest. There was once an underdog called David who took on someone called Goliath and he got the result against all the odds, we’ll go into Nottingham with that kind of attitude.”