Sheffield Steelers 5-1 Basingstoke Bison

Sheffield at full strength, Basingstoke without Nicky Watts.

3216 observed a minute's silence to remember those killed in Madrid early this week and then saw this open skating game, never particularly physical, with both sides icing a full bench.

Bison started their British back-up goalie Dean Skinns and he was kept busy throughout the first but didn't look like being beaten as his defence ensured nobody got in on the rebounds.

Among a host of chances, Irving fanned in front of the right post from a great pass and twice burst through down the left, but Skinns turned the efforts aside comfortably.

At the other end Ciccarello was shooting with venom. After seven minutes he shot into Bronsard's pads from the right and the goalie seemed relieved the puck hadn't squeezed through. Just over two minutes later he hit a bullet from the same position and although Bronsard gloved it top left the force knocked him off his feet.

When Roy went for interference, Skinns made three stops on the penalty kill. Then Adams objected to Moria obstructing his progress and the pair went for roughing and holding respectively.

Bison took full advantage of the extra space as Schueller's long pass released Ciccarello up the middle and his blistering shot beat Bronsard (17:14). Inside a minute Widauer low on the left found the blocker nearside.

Basingstoke produced the early pressure in the second period, Filip and Hurley both testing Bronsard with Hutchinson finding his range from the point. However the save of the game came from Skinns on 24 minutes as Peron drove the net but was blanked going right.

Steelers were increasingly causing problems as the minutes ticked away. Skinns did well to deny screened point shots from Lake and DeWaele. Then Peron fed Dutiaume mid-slot and his first time effort was padded away low to the goalie's left. Another couple of minutes and the same combination produced the equaliser. Dutiaume skated in from the right, slammed the brakes on, then picked his spot (32:49).

Three minutes later a trade-mark Ron Shudra slapshot from the right point screamed into the far top corner (35:58) and Sheffield fans began to breathe easily once again.

A minute into the final session, Bronsard got across to glove Moria's back-door shot but the rest of the game was one-way traffic to the Bison net.

Adams took a high sticks penalty in the Bison zone and although Basingstoke had plenty of pressure, Bronsard didn't have a save to make.

Adams killed the game with a pair of goals 45 seconds apart (50:06 and 50:51), both from close-in with the netminder having little chance. Skinns did well to stop any further scoring as Sheffield camped around the Bison net. But Lake used his speed to take the puck round the back and got back in position to bury the puck from 4 feet (58:36) to round off the scoring.

Lake's Grandad attending on his 70th birthday must have been pleased and presented the Man of the Match awards at the end of the game.