Steelers made to suffer on opening Cup night

PAUL THOMPSON was left to rue his side's inability to stay out the penalty box as their Continental Cup campaign started with a 7-1 defeat to Yunost Minsk in Denmark.
Over but not quite out: Sheffield Steelers Levi Nelson tumbles through mid-air close to the Yunost Minsk net. Picture: dean woolleyOver but not quite out: Sheffield Steelers Levi Nelson tumbles through mid-air close to the Yunost Minsk net. Picture: dean woolley
Over but not quite out: Sheffield Steelers Levi Nelson tumbles through mid-air close to the Yunost Minsk net. Picture: dean woolley

Despite the nightmare start, the Steelers can still qualify for the final round of the competition in January if they win their next two games.

But after finding themselves 3-0 down at the end of the first period, it was always going to be an uphill battle to close the gap on their Belarussian opponents.

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Four of Minsk’s goals came on the powerplay, much to Thompson’s frustration, although the former GB head coach remained confident his team could bounce back in their final two group games against hosts Rungsted tonight and Kurbads Riga tomorrow.

“Every team I’ve taken into these kind of competitions, every single team, whether it be club or national, we talk about discipline and making sure we don’t take anything stupid.

“We took three or four minors tonight and we’re not going to get success if we continue like that.

“We talked about staying out of the penalty box but they scored four powerplay goals.

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“There were too many easy goals tonight, but I think 5-on-5 we matched them. This was a hard lesson, a kick up the backside and it hurt us.

“Some of our guys had good nights, some didn’t, but I got the response I wanted in the third and we know we’ve got to win the next two games to have a chance of making it through to the final.”

The Steelers found themselves 1-0 down through Alexander Kogalev with just 80 seconds on the clock, Minsk doubling their lead just over six minutes later thanks to Nikita Mitskevich.

A tripping call on Colton Fretter was costly in the 14th minute when Viktor Turkin made the subsequent powerplay count. Konstantin Zakharov then made it 4-0 early in the second, before Pavel Razvadovski added another powerplay strike at 29.08. Marek Slovak made it 6-0 – again on the powerplay – at 39.06.

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With Brad Day replacing Ervins Mustukovs in the Steelers’ net, Mathieu Roy reduced the deficit at 51.28 on the powerplay, but the Belarussians had the final say through Turkin’s second of the night when enjoying a 5-on-3 powerplay with just 31 seconds remaining.

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