Sheffield 7-4 Nottingham

Mike Peron and Brent Bobyck return for Sheffield who started with teenage goalie Davey Lawrence in goal.

5546 saw another rumbustuous local derby between these fierce rivals who finished first and second in the Elite league.

After the game Andy French of the Elite League presented Sheffield with the League Championship trophy.

Sheffield simply had too much for the visitors with Panthers having 2 players ejected whilst Mark Levers appeared to pick up a hand injury from a tumble late on.

A cautious opening saw John Craighead's powerful blast deflected out of play. Peron played the puck deep into the right corner and Mark Dutiaume bounced the defender off the puck to set up Adams on the doorstep and he opened the scoring (4:08).

Clarke and Thompson tested Lawrence but Sundberg was the busier, making 3 saves in almighty scramble in the 6th minute. Before play could restart an incident in front of the Panthers team bench saw Mikko Koivunoro ejected for spearing Joel Irving, who got a roughing penalty.

LeFebvre chased a long pass down the left, Sundberg came to play the puck and it fell to Lake who shot wide of the unguarded net. Bolibruck gave Panthers a powerplay late in the first but Anderson broke down the right and his pass inside to Dutiaume saw the Sheffield marksman round Sundberg with ease for a short-handed goal (19:13).

Panthers started the second with young Geoff Woolhouse in goal. Jinman got away down the left and his pass inside was converted by Craighead (21:14). Seconds later Peron took an interference penalty but again Dutiaume scored short-handed, jumping on a loose puck to net top left of 'House' (22:47).

With Panthers pushing forward, Cadotte and Darling clashed in front of the Sheffield net and Craighead waded in to go toe-to-toe with Darling. When the dust had settled both sides had 3 minors each with Craighead getting an automatic game misconduct for third man in.

Sheffield stretched the lead when Shudra blasted home from a face-off on the right (33:10). Moran and Lefebvre droped the gloves for double minors as the game became increasingly chippy.

Thompson hit the first of 2 powerplay strikes when Panthers went 5-on-3 for 72 seconds (38:42) after Lawrence had saved the initial shot. He poked home a rebound for the second (44:27).

Ellis (45:34) and Peron (47:48) ripped home big shots from the left wing and keep the game safe for the home side. Jinman bagged a rebound at Lawrence's right post (54:12) with Bolibruck rounding off the scoring (57:39) with another left wing shot.

And then the celebrations for the home side began.

Afterwards Mike Blaisdell claimed the difference between the sides was that Sheffield were a team whilst Nottingham had talented individuals. Captain Dion Darling echoed his remarks, stating he didn't want to lift the cup on his own as it was a team effort.And indeed the team surrounded the Montieth Bowl before lifting it together to salute the fans.