Steelers win spoils Blaze home opener
The home opener for the Coventry Blaze saw them entertain the Sheffield Steelers in the second of two back-to-back preseason games. Unlike the previous night, it was the Yorkshire that was to come out on top, winning 3-1 in a scrappy affair.
Coventry were without Jerramie Domish, Mike Danton and Brad Leeb who was suspended following his match penalty the night before. Sheffield on the other hand had their full squad available to them. If that wasn’t enough, the Blaze were playing their 3rd game in five nights, putting them up against it from the off.
The first period was dominated by Sheffield and they got the opening score at 5.57 with James Jorgensen, who played for Braehead, slotting neatly home on the powerplay. Sheffield being on the powerplay was the main theme of the period as Blaze continually took penalties and found themselves constantly struggling on the man disadvantage.
It was on a 5-on-3 powerplay of their own at 20.49 that Coventry would equalise through Dustin Cameron who found space in front of the goal. That was Cameron’s 4th in two nights and the Blaze forward appears to be settling in well to his new home. It proved to be the only real time that Coventry troubled backup Geoff Woolhouse who got the start in net for the Steelers.
Colin Shields regained the lead for Sheffield shortly later at 26.06; some speedy transition play and nice passing found the Scotsman with space and time to score. From here, the Blaze never looked as if they would regain the lead, despite plenty of effort. Steven Goertzen added to the lead with an insurance marker on 49.56, yet again on the powerplay and that finished the scoring.
In a pre-season game, the performance is perhaps more important than the result. Coventry can definitely be pleased with a couple of points – firstly they gave up ten powerplay opportunities to a stacked Steelers roster but only conceded two powerplay goals. 20% is about standard, maybe a little more than ideal, but 20% in one game when you’re spending practically an entire period shorthanded is tiring and keeping it going for the whole game is impressive.
Secondly, Sheffield didn’t score on the Blaze 5-on-5. They needed special teams to come in and defeat a team that had their energy levels tapped out. Steelers could rightfully argue that they played a sensible road game, kept it tight and took their opportunities when they arose. To be fair, both teams can be happy from the outcome of tonight and the weekend as a whole. Sheffield’s short pre-season is done, whereas the Blaze will be squeezing another game in on Wednesday night as the Cardiff Devils will travel to the Skydome for midweek action.
