Sheffield Steelers power their way past Fife Flyers to pull clear at top of Elite League standings

SHEFFIELD STEELERS bounced back from their Challenge Cup disappointment by beating Fife Flyers 5-2 on home ice to go three points clear at the top of the Elite League regular season standings.
By Phil Harrison
Published 24th Oct 2021, 22:08 BST
GETTING AHEAD: Anthony DeLuca puts Sheffield Steelers 2-1 up against Fife Flyers at Sheffield Arena on Sunday night. Picture: Dean Woolley/EIHL.GETTING AHEAD: Anthony DeLuca puts Sheffield Steelers 2-1 up against Fife Flyers at Sheffield Arena on Sunday night. Picture: Dean Woolley/EIHL.
GETTING AHEAD: Anthony DeLuca puts Sheffield Steelers 2-1 up against Fife Flyers at Sheffield Arena on Sunday night. Picture: Dean Woolley/EIHL.

A 3-2 defeat to arch-rivals Nottingham Panthers – regardless of the competition or importance – is always going to sting but Aaron Fox’s team posted the perfect response to that setback in the group phase of the trophy they lifetd last year, although they left it late to pull clear of last night’s visitors.

In the end, it was a comfortable win, and fully deserved given they outshot their opponents 38-19 on the night at Sheffield Arena, the Steelers breaking the deadlock at 17.19 through Robert Dowd, only for Craig Peacock to level just over a minute later.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Only three minutes remained in the second period before the Steelers got themselves ahead again, this time through Anthony DeLuca.

Jonathan Phillips battles for possession around the back of the Fife flyers net. Picture courtesy of Dean Woolley/EIHL.Jonathan Phillips battles for possession around the back of the Fife flyers net. Picture courtesy of Dean Woolley/EIHL.
Jonathan Phillips battles for possession around the back of the Fife flyers net. Picture courtesy of Dean Woolley/EIHL.

But then Fife ran into penalty trouble in the third, the Steelers firing in three power play goals in the space of six minutes, Evan Mosey making it 3-1 at 43.58 before Martin Latal and Marc-Olivier Vallerand got in on the act.

Matthew Carter responded with a power play strike for the visitors at 55.29, but the Steelers were already home and dry, much to the delight of their head coach.

“I liked our game, all 60 of it to be fair,” said Fox. “We got off to a great start but their goalie, Shane Owen, played an outstanding game I felt.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“But then after two periods, we’re still only one ahead and you start to worry that you’re only one shot away from a tied game and then our power play showed up which was good because it hasn’t been great lately and they managed to score three tonight.”

In the NIHL National, both Leeds Knights and Sheffield Steeldogs saw their unbeaten starts to the regular league season ended.

Both remain joint-top of the standings, however, alongside Milton Keynes and Raiders.

On Saturday, Leeds extended their winning run to three games with a 3-2 victory at Swindon Wildcats after a shoot-out.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But the Wiltshire team gained swift revenge at Elland Road, heading back home on the back of a 4-3 win.

The Steeldogs followed up Friday’s 3-1 win at home to Telford Tigers with a 4-3 win over Bees IHCat, also Ice Sheffield, 24 hours later.

But the Bees also gained early revenge when they bounced back in style with a 6-3 win last night.

Related topics:Sheffield SteelersNottingham PanthersFife FlyersBeesFife

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.