Sheffield 2-1 Hull Stingrays

Both sides at full strength.

Sheffield secured the points thanks to first period markers from Jason Hewitt and Ian Manzano as Hull could only manage Justyn Schollar's reply from over 4 minutes of 5-on-3 play. Steelers Dan Tessier was ejected with 5+game for slashing late in the middle period.

4053 see Steelers close out the win with man of the match Jody Lehman and his defence made to work very hard.

The game started quietly but the first chance in the 5th minute required an excellent stop from Lehman. Glowa's shot was padded aside and Kevin Young fed the rebound across the net for Dru Burgess to shoot but somehow Lehman got across to block the shot.

Young and Sergiy Rublivsky shot from distance and then Slava Koulikov's screened shot fell for Sergiy Kharchenko but the defence blocked the shot.

Rod Sarich's high sticks penalty saw Burgess skate across the crease without getting in a shot with Lehman turning aside 4 shots from distance as the defence blocked the rebounds.

Steelers took the lead (11:45) when Shaun Sutter dumped the puck in behind the goal and the puck bounced out front to Jason Hewitt who made no mistake. This was Hewitt's second goal in successive games, after notching his first ever goal for Sheffield last Sunday on Deeside against Manchester.

Within 4 minutes Sheffield were two up, Ian Manzano pushing up down the right to first-time the puck home after a sweet passing move around the Hull net (15:10).

Both sides killed a single penalty each fairly comfortably before the first interval.

The middle session started fairly evenly, Miroslav Bielik doing well to deny Shawn Maltby after Sarich pushed up the middle and picked out his team-mate on the the left wing. Two minutes later Tessier was blanked from the same wing as Sheffield began to dominate the play.

For the visitors Lee Mitchell broke away behind the defence but Lehman turned the shot aside with his blocker, before Mark Florence took a holding penalty. Only Regan Darby tested the goalie on the man advantage.

Halfway through Lehman made stops from Koulikov and then Burgess, then Clouthier found Bielik's glove.

Phil Hill burst down the right, slammed on the brakes and picked out Mark Thomas arriving at the blue line but his shot passed narrowly wide. Then Jonathan Phillips picked out Maltby at the far post but Simon Rizk did well to intercept.

With just over 5 minutes left in the session, Tessier danced round a defender and deked the goalie only to loose his footing and collide with Bielik and the net. Ref Carson assessed a charging penalty to the forward but Hull struggled to create any openings on the powerplay. With just 6 seconds reaining before Tessier returned, a lofted pass found Glowa at the back post but Lehman made a fine stop from the quick back-handed shot.

Brett Clouthier cycled around the zone but Bielik gloved the shot high to his left. On his next shift Clouthier stepped in after a challange on Thomas to earn himself 2+2 for roughing at 38:18. Just 19 seconds later following a face-off near the Sheffield net Tessier received 5+game for slashing and at the same time Sutter receievd a cross-checking penalty, with this second penalty appearing on the clock ahead of the 5 minute major.

This left Hull with all but 19 seconds of 4 minutes continuous 5-on-3 advantage. Only Luke Young forced saves (two) as the 3 penalty killers worked hard to block the other shots before the interval.

Sutter returned to the ice without Lehman having to make another save and Clouthier returned 3 saves later, as Stingrays were unable to get any shots from close-in.

Pavel Gomenyuk took an interference call for sandwiching Maltby near the Hull goal for 4-on-4 and the home side didn't have any further shots to face until Tessier's penalty was killed.

In the 49th minute Warren Tait took a slashing penalty and 10 seconds later Darby's high clearance up the boards went out for an automatic delay of game penalty. Stingrays immediately called a timeout and with nearly 2 minutes of 5-on-3 advatage to go out, Hull at last found a way past Lehman.

2 shots from Gomenyuk and 1 from Young were saved, but from a face-off on the right, the puck broke inside and Schollar rifled home (49:52).

With just one goal in it the game should have had a tense finish, but Hull rarely looked like creating the decisive opening. With 150 seconmds remaining there was a frantic scramble around the Sheffield end as the puck ricocheted everywhere but at the net and Steelers survived.

Hull lifted their goalie with 94 seconds remaining and 30 seconds later Sutter missed a golden chance to hit the empty net from 15 feet, but Lehman didn't have a save to make.