Sheffield Steeldogs experience the highs and lows once again

The delight at enjoying a 7-3 Roses win on the road at Manchester Phoenix was tempered slightly for Greg Wood’s side by a 6-3 defeat on home ice to leaders Basingstoke Bison.

Goals from Stanislas Lascek, Andre Hirst and Ashley Calvert saw Sheffield storm into a 3-0 lead at Manchester, who eventually got on the board at 28.18 through Michal Satek.

Arnoldas Bosas restored the three-goal advantage soon after before his short-handed effort at 34.14 made it 5-1.

Stanislav Gron hit back for the hosts just before the end of the second and, when Jacob Heron scored at 45.21 a comeback all of a sudden seemed possible.

But Ben Morgan’s strike on a delayed penalty at 54.19 settled any nerves there may have been in the Steeldogs camp, before Lascek’s second of the night just over a minute later rounded off a solid performance.

Hopes were high Sheffield could repeat the triumph they enjoyed on the road against Basingstoke last month when the two met again at Ice Sheffield.

But the game was gone from the Steeldogs with less than 13 minutes on the clock after the visitors romped into a 5-0 lead.

Rene Jarolin (2), Joseph Greener, Shaun Thompson and Miroslav Vantroba all found a way past a stunned Dalibor Sedlar in the hosts goal.

The second period belonged to Sheffield, however, and they fought back to within two goals to leave the game finely poised with 20 minutes to play.

Lascek got his team on the board with the first of three powerplay goals at 25.12, before Bosas weighted in with two further efforts on the man advantage.

As the home team pushed hard to haul themselves back level, however, the game was settled in 58th minute when Matt Towalski secured the points for the visitors.