Blaze unable to match up to Steelers
“The biggest game of the season so far”. The words of Coventry Blaze coach Paul Thompson before the televised fixture between the Blaze and the Sheffield Steelers. Perhaps not the biggest as far as the reigning champions were concerned, but certainly the biggest for the resurgent Coventry if they were to prove that they were truly title contenders.
The message from the coach was somewhat different after the game. Coventry came out flat and the Steelers were in good form; a combination that does not bode well for an even matchup. The inevitable goal from Luke Fulghum opened the Sheffield account after he patiently rounded Peter Hirsch. Mike Ramsay made it 2-0 after Dave Phillips was caught out of position exposing an odd man rush. On 10.05, Jonathan Phillips increased the lead to three goals and Thompson was forced to call a time out.
That stemmed the tide for the Blaze but they were unable to breakthrough in the first period. Ramsay added a fourth halfway into the second period before Bryan Jurynec got some space in front of the Sheffield net after a rare mistake from the Steelers defence. Whilst the Blaze outshot the Steelers significantly (48 to 31), the opportunities that were given up by the Blaze were far higher percentage shots and Sheffield capitalised on them. John DeCaro was also in sparkling form turning away some good chances.
There was no score in the third period and the game closed with a 4-1 win for the Steelers. It was a good performance from Sheffield, tight defensively and dangerous in the offensive zone. The Blaze were completely the opposite, open and prone to mistakes at the back and only threatened on the attack in rare occasions. What was perhaps worse than that, Coventry appeared to be making poor decisions on the ice, lacking in urgency and in intensity for a game that was supposedly the biggest game of the season so far.
It highlighted some key points about this year’s Coventry side. They’re not a bad team. When not playing on their game – a good Sheffield side still only won 4-1. But they’re not a big game team. In games where the side have needed to step up, they’ve been found out. They appear to play well against Nottingham (currently) but not so well against the other top sides. And even Nottingham are games that the Blaze have scraped through.
Is this terminal for Coventry? No – there’s still a lot of hockey to be played and all the top sides have to play each other. In particular, Nottingham have a difficult upcoming schedule and Sheffield have a busy fixture list. Teams will drop points and Coventry have the chance, if they can get back to winning ways, to still have a say in the title race. However, next weekend’s double header against Belfast will have a lot to do with whether that will continue. Before that, Coventry are next in action on Sunday night away in Dundee.
