Sheffield Steelers 0-4 Coventry Blaze

Coventry full value for this win as Sheffield are shut-out for the second time in three days and tumble to their second successive home defeat.

Sheffield missing Mike Peron, Coventry without Graham Belak.

4325 saw a game of men against boys, as Coventry muscled Sheffield out of the way, the only surprise was that it was only 4-0. The visitors were on top right from the start, Evan Cheverie (pp) and Pavol Mihalik hitting the first two inside a minute late in the opening period. Joel Poirier (pp) and a last minute marker from Dan Welch sealed the scoring.

Barrie Moore tested Jody Lehman early on, then somehow Adam Calder contrived to miss at Lehman's right post with the goalie eventually lying on the loose puck.

Steelers comfortably killed Paul Sample's holding penalty, then Kent Simpson re-directed an effort just wide as Sheffield began to apply some pressure at last.

Ron Shudra's tripping penalty was soon followed by an interference call against Cheverie. When Ashley Tait headed for the box on a slashing minor 34 seconds later, Sheffield went 4-on-3 for a minute. Dennis Maxwell blasted in and Simpson dived in for the rebound but Martin Klempa froze the puck just in time. Martin Masa fired in a loose puck from the right but again Klempa stood tall. Ron Shudra stepped out of the box as Steelers went 5-on-3 for 26 seconds, but Blaze comfortably killed the penalties. When Ashley Tait returned he lead a 2-on-1 breakaway up the ice but Jeff Hutchins couldn't reach the pass.

Relief for Sheffield didn't last long, however, Blaze taking full advantage of Stefan Sjogren's interference penalty. Barrie Moore fired in from distance and the save fell sweetly for Cheverie fire high into the net (13:28).

Tom Watkins forced a stop soon after the restart and Lehman allowed a long speculative shot from Mihalik to slip through his glove for the second (14:23).

Sheffield upped a gear and Martin Masa went in on Klempa, but the goalie made the stop.

Perhaps the game was best summed up early in the middle period. Twice Sheffield carved out good openings and twice the Blaze defence snuffed out the chances. Jason Hewitt collected his own rebound but failed to get a second shot away. The defence tidied up, then a pass to Warren Tait on the doorstep saw the attacker muscled off the puck as he attempted to connect.

Ashley Tait tested Lehman from the left wing and later on the same shift he broke down the left but this time cleverly picked out Cheverie on the blind side. Sjogren flattened Cheverie from behind for 2+10 minutes and Adam Calder was denied three times on the powerplay.

Sheffield killed that one and Lehman did well to get across his goal to blank Dan Welch's first time effort from the left, but Hewitt took an interference penalty and Blaze stretched their lead again. This time Poirier found the net after a shot from the right (34:17).

Adam Calder emerged from the penalty box early in the final period to race up the ice, but Rod Sarich got back to deflect the puck to safety. Chances were otherwise few and far between as the home side huffed and puffed and Blaze were happy to protect that shutout.

Ron Shudra might have ended it with 3 minutes remaining but Klempa's right pad turned away his first time shot. Two minutes later Neal Martin picked out Dan Welch and he went down the left to net (59:33) and complete a miserable evening for the home side.