The night started with British ice hockey legends coming onto the ice with much fanfare. This included the likes of ‘Rocket’ Ron Shudra and, as quoted by the announcer at the time, “the messiah of Sheffield ice hockey”, Ken Priestley, who was met with thunderous applause. The crowd was awash with different eras of Steelers shirts, as this fixture was their retro night. In honour of that, the team played in their 1997 retro jersey.
The Steelers looked incredibly strong at the start of the first period, keeping a high level of aggression and pressure on the Giants goalkeeper, Jackson Whistle. With shots by Kevin Tancy and a good shot by Mikko Juusola before the first 10 minutes were up, the Steelers looked in prime form.
However, with the referees failing to call a foul with 10:03 left on the clock and not calling the same foul again just 9 seconds later, the Steelers fans were riled up, with one of them shouting, “if you’re wearing green, it’s all ok.” This sentiment was echoed throughout the Steelers crowd, with many believing that the officials were ignoring some Belfast Giants fouls.
The Steelers demonstrated great teamwork and possession until, with 7 minutes and 56 seconds left to go in the first period, disaster struck as Charlie Curti of the Belfast Giants was hit in the face by a puck, missing his visor and leading to him being taken off the court by paramedics.
The Steelers kept up a potent offence, but with just under three minutes to spare, the Giants’ Ara Nazarian scored with a slap shot right past the Steelers goalie, Matthew Greenfield, making the score 1-0 to the Giants.
Entering the second period, the Steelers had seemed to take their foot off the pedal as there was far less aggression on the offence. While they did manage to get a couple of good shots, the Giants goalie seemed like an impenetrable wall, saving every shot that came his way. With this great defence, the Giants capitalised on the Steelers’ lowered aggression and scored in the first three minutes of this period by their Number 70 Matthew McLeod.
This still didn’t manage to wake the Steelers up, and another three minutes later, the Giants scored again, this time at the hands of Ciaran Long.
After this, the Steelers gained their mojo back, looking a bit more aggressive and eager to catch up. They gained possession and kept it much more than the Giants did; however, they were almost unwilling to take a shot against the iron wall that was Jackson Whistle. That was till Marc-Olivier Vallerand stepped up and slotted on past him, making the score 3-1 Giants.
The Giants forward winger, Daniel Tedesco, scored again with just 34 seconds left in this period.
As the third and final period started, both teams seemed to be putting their best skates forward; however, like in the first and second periods, the Steelers had lots of possession and lots of shots, but could not get past Whistle.
With eight minutes left in the match, the Steelers’ Colton Saucerman squeezed one past Whistle, making the score 4-2 Giants.
However, with just over two minutes remaining and no more shots getting through, the Steelers changed their goalkeeper out for a forward player, leaving the Steelers goal an empty net.
This strategy seemed to work in regards to shots and possessions, as they were dominating against the Giants, but again, Whistle was not letting anything past him. With some sloppy passing by the Steelers, McLeod managed to steal the puck and with an empty net, it was lights out for the Sheffield side as he scored the last goal for the night, making the final score 5-2 to the Belfast Giants.
Post-match reaction from Steelers head coach Aaron Fox after 5-2 loss to the Giants. pic.twitter.com/wE04uQHauw
— X-Sheffield Steelers (@steelershockey) March 9, 2024
Man of the match for the Belfast Giants was, to no one’s surprise, Whistle, who gave an outstanding performance. For the Steelers, it was Marco Vallerand for his one goal and one assist.
This leaves the League standings with the Steelers still at the top of the league and the Giants at third. With them playing again on Sunday, we will see how eager the Steelers are for revenge.
Featured Image Credit: @steelershockey via X