Sheffield Steelers hammer Coventry Blaze to put themselves firmly in the frame for Challenge Cup Final

As a contest, their Challenge Cup semi-final against Coventry Blaze is effectively over at the halfway stage.

Leading 6-0 after 60 minutes, it will take an unprecedentedly awful performance from the Steelers on home ice next Wednesday for them not to make it through to the final and have a chance of recapturing the trophy they last won in Cardiff back in March 2020.

On the night, as a contest, the first leg itself was effectively over inside 20 minutes - actually, make that 17 - the Steelers getting off to a dream start through Mark Simpson with just 12 seconds on the board and then steamrollering over their hosts with four more goals before the two teams went in for the first intermission.

At the other end, Matt Greenfield was unmovable in the visitors’ net, turning away 31 shots from the Blaze.

Suffice to say, Steelers’ head coach Fox was a happy man come the final buzzer, although he insisted nothing was being taken for granted inside his locker room, with 60 minutes still to come in the tie.

“I couldn’t be happier – especially with the way we started that hockey game,” said Fox. “You could tell that the boys were relentless, on the hunt, a defence-first mindset, in concept.

"It was a great 60 minutes, obviously, but that first 20 was as good as we’ve looked in a long time - we were a different animal. Everyone was rolling, winning every battle, winning every race.

“Nothing is done, we know that, but we have put ourselves in a great spot going home next Wednesday and we know we’re 60 minutes away from playing for a trophy and that’s huge.”

In a spectacular start, Simpson got the ball rolling for the Steelers, driving down the right and exchanging passes with Daniel Ciampini before sliding the return low past Taran Kozun’s right leg.

Just under two more minutes had elapsed when the visitors doubled their lead through captain Robert Dowd, with Ciampini getting on the board in the 10th minute to make it 3-0 and prompting a Blaze timeout.

Ciampini then picked up the second of three assists on the night when he set up Scott Allen to make it 4-0 at 12.42, the misery increasing for their shell-shocked hosts just under four minutes later when Patrick Watling beat Kozun at the back post.

Coventry had their chances, but Greenfield remained solid before and after Allen doubled his tally around the halfway point when he tipped in from in front off Dominic Cormier’s shot.

Coventry had more zone time and chances in the third, but the damage had already been long done, the Steelers keeping it clean at the back-end to earn themselves a more than reasonable chance of making it to the grand finale in March.

To his credit, Coventry boss Danny Stewart gave an honest assessment of his team’s performance, while hailing the quality of the Steelers.

“This was a game where we had to be at our best,” said Stewart. “This team over there - Sheffield - is arguably the best team I have seen ever, in my time here.

“They are another level and we had to find another level to stay with them – we went the other way and we dropped a level. They brought their best and they kicked our ass.”