Steeldogs remain in EPL title mix

Andre Payette’s team came back from being 5-2 down at home to Bracknell Bees on Saturday, to eventually run out 6-5 winners after a shoot-out, with captain Greg Wood slotting home the crucial penalty.

Despite showing great resilience in turning around a seemingly hopeless situation in front of their own fans at Ice Sheffield, Steeldogs - who have had Chris Sykes and Andrew Hirst both confirmed as part of the Great Britain Under-20s squad - couldn’t repeat the feat on Sunday night when they went down 5-2 at bottom club Peterborough Phantoms.

On Saturday, there was nothing to choose between the two teams at the end of the first period with Pavel Gomeniuk and then Wood cancelling out goals for the Bees from Matt Ford and Peter Jasik.

Bracknell owned the second period and went in three goals ahead after power play strikes from Alex Barker and Jasik were followed by a short-handed effort from Lukas Smittal.

But Janis Ozolins clicked for the home side in the third and was on hand twice, along with a second goal from Wood, to ensure overtime and then penalties were needed to separate the two teams, with the Steeldogs’ captain proving to be the crucial difference.

In Peterborough, Sheffield-born James Spurr was on hand to give the struggling Phantoms an early lead against his hometown team when he found a way past Ben Bowns at 3.45.

That is how it stayed until the 23rd minute when Ozolins levelled for the visitors. But two goals in two minutes handed the home side an advantage they never let slip, James Ferrara and Chris Allen finding the net.

Ozolins made it a one-goal game in the 26th minute, but two third-period strikes from Luke Ferrara, the first at 44.38 and the second an empty net strike in the final minute, saw the Steeldogs return home to South Yorkshire empty-handed, although Peterborough remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

Leaders Slough stretched their lead at the top to three points over the Steeldogs when they followed up a 6-2 home win over Peterborough with a 5-4 win at Bracknell.

Guildford are in third, one point behind Sheffield, having recovered from a 3-2 shoot-out defeat in Basingstoke to thump defending league champions Manchester Phoenix 9-4 on home ice on Sunday night.

Manchester are currently languishing in sixth place, with Basingstoke one place below them. With only seven points separating the top seven sides it continues to offer the promise of being the most competitive EPL season in quite some time.