University of Sheffield cruised to a 10-3 victory over Sheffield Hallam in a dominant varsity finale, controlling the game from the first face-off until the final buzzer.
First Period
The team in black and gold opened the scoring just over a minute into the game, with Sebastian Shillito winning the puck back after his shot was saved by Hallam’s goaltender, Jack Cameron. Shillito laid it back to Josh Fall, who passed it in to Justin Dennison for a clean shot into the net.
Two minutes later, Will Szollosy added another goal, assisted by Sam Parkin, giving UoS an early 2-0 lead.
Hallam responded in a matter of seconds with a goal from Max Hirst, after he won the puck in the neutral zone and played a lovely one-two with Hamish Diedrichs to split the opposition’s defence.
But Uni of regained control when Dennison struck again at just over nine minutes in, assisted by Shillito and Noah Owen.
The first period also saw key penalties, including a two-minute holding call for Uni of’s Lewis Miles. Even with one less player on the ice, Uni of managed to score a short-handed goal at 11:29 by Fall, assisted by Emil Oksanen.
Two more penalties were given before the end of the first 20. Hallam’s Matt Ryan received two minutes for tripping – just as the opposition went back to full-strength. Fall was sent to the box for the same amount of time for slashing.
Score at the end of the period: UOS 4 – 1 SHU
Second Period
The second period saw the University of Sheffield continue to control the play. Oksanen scored twice in quick succession, extending the lead to 6-1.
Uni of’s next goal was disallowed, yet it didn’t seem to interrupt the flow as Parkin added another at 34 minutes 25, assisted again by Saunders and Szollosy.
Dennison completed his hat trick at 39:44, assisted by Fall and Shillito, cementing UOS’s commanding position.
Score at the end of the period: UOS 8 – 1 SHU
Third Period
In the third period, UOS maintained pressure, with Owen scoring near the 44-minute mark, assisted by Miles and Saunders.
Hallam managed to find two goals. Ben Crowther won the puck back from behind their net, passing it up the rink to Kai Gennoe, who took it around the black and gold defence to bury it past the goalie.
Before their third goal, a fight broke out. After a four-player pile-up on the edge of the rink behind Hallam’s back line, Diedrichs came out with the puck before Dennison came crashing into him. Both players dropped gloves, swinging at each other as the officials came in to break it up, resulting in both receiving a five-minute penalty for fighting. Fall was also given two minutes in the box for cross-checking, with all this drama happening with a little over seven minutes left of the game.
A power-play finish from Finley Wall in white and maroon at 54:52 is what gave Hallam their final goal of the match.
Uni of closed with a tenth goal from Oliver Holburns with a minute left on the clock, assisted by Parkin, sealing a 10-3 victory.
The victory gave the University of Sheffield their third ice hockey final win in four years. With tickets selling out in eight minutes, the black and gold supporters were out in force to cheer the team on.
Historically, Sheffield Hallam holds the most varsity wins with 16-3, but the recent Uni of victories show the momentum may be swinging the opposite way.
All eyes now turn to next year – the twentieth Varsity meeting. With the ice hockey finale set for St Patrick’s Day, 17 March 2027, we cannot wait to see what goes down!
Post-game thoughts
Josh Humphreys, University of Sheffield’s Captain, spoke to Forge Press after the match. He said: “We outworked them – outplayed them. I said at the start we had the skill to beat them, and the work rate was what we needed. That’s what got us the win tonight.
“We’ve got a good core group of players, so for at least the next two-to-three years, we’ve got a very strong and solid team. With the intake it looks like we’re getting recently, I can’t see any reason why we can’t carry on winning the way we are.
“Every one of them (his team) had an outstanding game. They all worked hard for the entirety of it. I can’t ask any more from them . There’s people limping out of here because of how much effort they put into that game, so I’m really proud of every single one of them.”
Justin Dennison, hat-trick hero and the University of Sheffield’s Player of the Match, said: “The game in general was amazing. We came into it as the favourites, but it’s always scary with varsity. People have lost being favourites in the past, and I thought we brought it every single period. Everyone really played well out there.
“The score difference was big, it happens in hockey. You get a few goals ahead, and you tend to run away with it, and I think that’s all that happened today. They’re not a bad team by any means. They had some good chances, but we were just better.
“They (his teammates) did amazing. I was lucky to get some goals in, but they just landed on my stick. It could’ve been anyone. None of my goals were that pretty, it was more the assists. Everyone played really well, and as a team, we did amazing.”
Michael Szollsy, University of Sheffield’s and Sheffield Bears’ head coach, said: “It went pretty much to plan in the first period. We got a nice big lead, and then we got a bit lucky. One of their best net-minders, one of the best in the club that we’ve seen, broke his hand on the weekend, and then their players were getting injured. So it was really hard for them anyway after we executed the plan so well in the first.
“They never stopped fighting, so total credit to them. But we did it how we wanted to do it. Historically, a lot of the top players have gone to Hallam, and right now we are really blessed at Uni with this really core group that we’ve just been playing on our (Sheffield Bears) A team.”
REWATCH THE FULL STREAM ON FORGE TV HERE.
