Sheffield 3-0 London

Steelers at full strength, Racers dress 5 fewer skaters including new forward Reine Rauhala.

2673 fans ignored the Euro qualifiers to watch this one and given results elsewhere they probably made the right choice watching an open end-to-end game.

Racers arrived late due to heavy traffic and it was over 5 minutes before Dopson had a shot to save, ironically a short-handed effort when Pinnington overpowered the Sheffield defence in their own zone. By this time Evan Lindsay was already busy in the away net.

Steelers certainly kept him busy but London kept plugging away, their never-say-die attitude tipified by young Warren Tait. His harrying created an opening for Norman Pinnington to test Dopson.

Mike Peron got the first of his two goals at 13:20, racing away down the right to fire across the London keeper. But London came right back and enjoyed 90 seconds of 5-on-3 when Dutiaume and then Bolibruk headed for the penalty box.

Bobyck skipped across the front on a short-handed break whilst Dopson had to stack the pads to blank McKinnon.

Sheffield gradually took control of the game in the middle session, doubling their lead at 33:09 when Peron bagged a powerplay goal from the left with Marc Long sitting a tripping minor.

Steelers ended the second period killing penalties but London couldn't make their advantage count and inevitably Sheffield skated away with the game in a chippy final period. Not for want of effort on London's part, however.

Adams wrapped up the scoring with the sides 4-on-4 at 58:42, firing in from low on the right.