Steelers make the long road trip worthwhile

ROAD trips to Scotland on a Sunday are rarely regarded as the most enticing prospect for those Elite League teams who reside a long way south of the border.
fighting talk: Sheffield Steelers Zack Fitzgerald tussles with Nottingham Panthers Mathieu Gagnon on Saturday. Picture: dean  woolley.fighting talk: Sheffield Steelers Zack Fitzgerald tussles with Nottingham Panthers Mathieu Gagnon on Saturday. Picture: dean  woolley.
fighting talk: Sheffield Steelers Zack Fitzgerald tussles with Nottingham Panthers Mathieu Gagnon on Saturday. Picture: dean woolley.

No offence is intended towards any of the four welcoming hosts currently competing in the UK’s top-flight, it’s just that 6-7 hour bus trips are far from ideal preparation for the kind of high-octane, intense 60-minute on-ice encounter that awaits.

But at least Sheffield Steelers’ latest trip home from Scotland proved to be a pleasant one, a 5-2 win over the Dundee Stars the product of a solid performance that was also enough to get them a point in a 4-3 defeat to Nottingham Panthers on home ice the previous evening.

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If Paul Thompson’s team had managed to land a four-point weekend, nobody could really have argued against it, but a three-point haul will still be viewed as a productive weekend’s work for the Steelers.

Last night’s win on Tayside came courtesy of goals from Swedish duo Andreas Jamtin and Andreas Valdix, along with strikes from ‘apprentices’ Cole Shudra and Liam Kirk, with a Rob Dowd effort thrown in for good measure.

Jamtin, in only his second weekend of action for the South Yorkshire club, was justly rewarded for his industrious performances over four nights when he opened the scoring on Tayside with a sixth-minute powerplay effort.

Valdix doubled the advantage early in the second before Shudra made it 3-0 on the powerplay.

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The visitors allowed Dundee back in to make it a one-goal game through strikes from Joey de Concilys and Brian Hart, but Dowd’s response in the 51st minute settled any nerves, with Kirk ensuring two points just over three minutes later.

On Saturday, Steelers posted a fifth-minute lead through Tim Wallace, but were 3-1 adrift early in the second after Panthers strikes from Robert Farmer, Yann Sauve and Tim Billingsley.

Matt Marquardt pounced at 37.34 to give the hosts a lifeline, something they made the most of when Mathieu Roy tipped in Colton Fretter’s shot with less than two minutes remaining.

A frantic but goalless three-on-three overtime followed, with the extra point eventually going to the visitors after Mark Derlago was the only one of six to find the net in the subsequent shoot-out.