Stingrays add to the weekend misery for Steelers

A 5-1 defeat at the Odyssey Arena on Friday handed Belfast Giants their second regular season title. It was followed by more Steelers disappointment 24 hours later when Doug Christiansen’s team repeated their success, 5-2 winners.

It became a weekend to forget for Ryan Finnerty’s team when they went down 4-3 to Hull Stingrays on Sunday night, which means Sylvain Cloutier’s side are virtually guaranteed of finishing seventh and facing off against the Steelers in the first round of the play-offs in two weeks.

The last Yorkshire derby of the season in Hull saw a return to form for Jereme Tendler as he ended his goalscoring drought, pouncing with a shorthanded strike. Neil Clark levelled for the Steelers and that is how it stayed until the third period when a six-minute spell garnered three goals for Hull, the first from Cloutier.

Tendler grabbed his second of the night before Derek Campbell, who helped the Steelers to the regular season title last year, put the game beyond the reach of his former club.

Steelers hit back through Jeff Legue and Steve Birnstill, but there was not enough time to complete the comeback.

Despite the disappointment of Friday’s defeat in Belfast, Steelers came out hard in the second meeting on Saturday, with Colt King giving them a lead on the powerplay. But four goals in seven explosive minutes from the home side – through Craig Peacock, Jeremy Rebek, Gareth Roberts and Jon Pelle – ended Steelers’ hopes of a revenge win.

Mike Ramsay replied on the powerplay, but Peacock grabbed his second of the night to seal a 16th straight win for the Giants.

Afterwards, Finnerty said his team had finally felt the effects of playing catch-up hockey as a busy schedule hit home.

“We had the pressure of not being able to lose on any night for months as we played catch up, remember that,” said Finnerty.

“Sometimes then when you hit that wall and you lose the chance to win, as we did after the defeat (in Belfast) on Friday the dam breaks and we looked on Saturday and Sunday a tired and empty team.

“Hull had everything to play for and gave us their A-game, they deserved their win.”

IN the English Premier League, Sheffield Steeldogs had a mixed weekend, but are still in a three-way battle for the runners-up spot.

A 2-1 win over second-placed Manchester Phoenix on Saturday could not be repeated on Sunday night when they went down 4-2 at home to Swindon Wildcats.

Guildford Flames - who hold a 6-3 advantage over the Steeldogs from the first elg of the EPL Cup final - clinched the regular season title after a 4-3 win over Basingstoke Bison.

Manchester emerged pointless from a difficult weekend when they lost 5-2 at home on Sunday to fourth-placed Slough Jets, who are now level on points with the Steeldogs - with the Phoenix only two ahead with all three teams having four games to play.

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