Steelers back on track in Cup with double delight

After losing their first Group B game 5-3 at Cardiff Devils last time out, Paul Thompson’s team posted a near-perfect riposte.

First they won 4-0 on the road at their head coach’s former club, Coventry Blaze on Saturday night, before exacting some harsh revenge on their South Wales rivals back on home ice with an emphatic 8-1 victory at Sheffield Arena.

Last night’s game was effectively resolved before the first period break, with the Steelers plundering four unanswered goals.

Mathieu Roy was first to strike with just 1.08 on the clock before Jace Coyle doubling the advantage at 12.50.

Jeff Legue then extended the advantage to three beating Ben Bowns with a tidy finish in front at 13.12.

It became 4-0 with 21 seconds of the period remaining when Levi Nelson showed equally good hands pulling a nice move before beating the Cardiff netminder for 4-0 at 19.39.

Cardiff player-coach Andrew Lord reduced the deficit at 24.02, but Robert Dowd restored the four-goal lead 18 seconds later.

It became 6-1 just 46 seconds later when Roy scored his second of the night on the powerplay after being nicely set up by Colton Fretter.

No more goals came until the game was just over six minutes into the third period with Tyler Mosienko compounding the Devils misery. Roy completed his hat-trick at 57.46.

On Saturday, Mosienko (12.50), Fretter (23.30), Roy (41.28) and Nelson (59.27) were the Steelers’ goal-scorers.

It marked a winning return to the SkyDome Arena for Thompson, who coached Coventry for more than 13 years, winning four Elite League titles and numerous other trophies – including the treble in 2005.