VIDEO: Payette hands Steeldogs faint hopes of comeback

Playing in there first-ever final, the Dogs never recovered from a nightmare start which saw them go 4-0 down as well as losing top goalscorer Janis Ozolins for the night after just six minutes on a contentious high-sticking call.

But a stirring fight back - which should have garnered more goals - means there is still hope for the underdogs when the two meet again in Guildford in a fortnight, but only just.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Payette. “When you start the game (effectively) 4-0 down it’s always going to be tough. I’ll be the first one to give my team a rough time when they don’t win but they busted their butts off tonight and I’m proud of every one of them.

“We are still in it - if we can go down there and win each period we can still do it. An early goal for us will change everything.”

On the Ozolins penalty, which saw the Steeldogs concede two goals on the subsequent five-minute kill, Payette was far from convinced.

“It was a terrible call,“ he said. “I just think it’s so unfortunate because we worked so hard to get here and it just kind of got taken away from us - the ref didn’t have to give him five and a game.

“It wasn’t only a case of taking a five-minute major (early in the first period), we also lost our best player. Janis has got 49 goals this year and without him it’s always going to be a battle.

“We lost to the most skilled team in the league, but I still think we’ve got the best team in the league.”

As you would hope from such an occasion, the first leg was played out in a cracking atmosphere generated by both sets of fans in a healthy 1,000-strong crowd.

The home section soon fell silent though when Sheffield-born Matt Towe put the visitors ahead at 2.40.

Then, at 6.38, came the defining moment of the game when Ozolins was thrown out on a five-minute plus game penalty for high sticks which left a Guildford player down on the ice.

Whether it was accidental or not, the damage to the home side was done and, against one of the best powerplays in the league, the Steeldogs were always going to struggle to kill off the subsequent five-minute penalty. and, 13 seconds in, so it proved when Nathan Rempel doubled the Flames’ lead.

David Savage made further use of the man advantage for the visitors at 10.05 before, with the Steeldogs eventually back to full strength, Jozef Kohut increased the agony for the home side at 11.40.

Not surprisingly, the turn of events left the home crowd subdued, but by the end of the period they had found their voice again after their team fought back to halve the deficit.

The fightback was led by a player-coach Payette, who fired home on the turn to give his side a powerplay goal at 18.24. With three seconds remaining in the period, Pavel Gomeniuk’s left-handed shot took a deflection on the way into the net past back-up netminder James Hadfield.

Steeldogs rode the momentum and enjoyed the better of the chances after the restart with Greg Wood, Edgars Bebris and Chris Sykes all going close. At the other end Ben Bowns had to be at his sharpest to twice deny David Longstaff.

But he was powerless to stop Guildford going further ahead - somewhat against the run of play - when the puck broke kindly to Greg Chambers 10 yards out, with the former GB international firing home at 35.53 for his team’s third powerplay goal of the night.

Again Hadfield was the busier of the two netminders in the third but, again, Steeldogs couldn’t find a way through and they were made to pay when the Flames restored their four-goal lead through Ben Campbell at 55.09.

Payette cut the visitors lead to three again when he grabbed his second of the night - again on the powerplay - at 57.50.

That goal could yet prove crucial and hands his team slim hopes of turning this final around when the two teams meet again in Guildford in two weeks’ time.