Sheffield Steelers come up short as they crash out of Challenge Cup at Cardiff Devils

The holders took a two-goal lead to South Wales on Wednesday but were edged out 7-6 overall after the Devils ran out deserved 4-1 winners at the Vindico Arena.

The Steelers came close to levelling the tie, out-shooting the hosts 2-to-1 in the third period, but the damage had been done earlier in the evening after Pete Russell’s team had hauled themselves level inside the first 20 minutes.

They then established a 4-0 lead on the night and even though Mitchell Balmas struck a reply with more than 12 minutes remaining, that was as close as the Steelers got.

“We talked about not giving them any life early doors,” said a deflated Fox. “We know this is a momentum building and once they get the crowd behind them, they can kind of take over a hockey game and their team can build off that.

“That fourth goal hurt us a lot coming off the end of a power play and then I thought we started playing desperate hockey - but it was just too little, too late for us.

“If we’d had another four or five minutes of that hockey game, we’d probably have found the back of the net.

“But the reality is we probably did enough last week to be up by more than two goals in that game, I think we outshot Cardiff 48-16 and to only come down here with a two-goal lead after how well we played up there maybe ended up costing us tonight.

“This is one of the trophies that you set a goal for and so you’re going to be disappointed after losing this game, especially the way we did - but it’s something we’ve just got to live with here and manage.”

After riding out the anticipated early storm from the Devils, the Steelers looked to have settled into the second leg well before the first goal came from a mistake on the edge of the Cardiff zone.

Mark Simpson won the face-off in the left circle, but Joona Huttula slipped and allowed Cole Sanford to break free before going five-hole on Matt Greenfield.

The tie was level one minute before the end of the period, when Josh McDonald’s speculative throw on net flew through traffic and past the unsighted Greenfield.

Patrick Watling had a good chance for the Steelers when he fired just wide in the 24th minute but the Devils got themselves ahead for the first time overall just after the halfway mark when Zach O'Brien found space before firing through traffic to make it 3-0.

Marc-Olivier Vallerand came close to levelling in the 39th minute but couldn’t quite steer the puck home before the Steelers had another opportunity when finding themselves with a power play 46 seconds into the third.

But moments after it expired, the Devils got themselves two in front, Joey Martin allowed all the time in the world to guide the puck home at 42.52 from in front after good work by Josh Batch to find him from behind the net.

The Steelers rallied, Balmas firing a fierce shot through traffic to make it a one-goal game at 47.25.

The Steelers continued to press and had to be grateful to Greenfield for making two point-blank saves while, at the other end, Balmas couldn’t quite connect quickly enough with a bobbling puck when the net was open.

Afterwards, Russell felt his team deserved to go through to a final where they will meet either Belfast Giants or Nottingham Panthers, their tie concluded next Wednesday.

“I thought we did enough, I thought we deserved it,” said Russell.

“We beat a fantastic hockey team, they are a great hockey team. They were amazing last year and they are still a good hockey team this year and this is a massive, massive result for our hockey club.”