Sheffield Steelers 5-1 Basingstoke Bison
Crowd 2661

Not icing : Mike Peron and Ryan Lake for Sheffield, Mike Wales, Norman Pinnington and captain Philippe Roy for Basingstoke.

Bison make it 7 losses from 7 against Sheffield this season as Sheffield go 5 wins clear at the top of the league and there are only 11 games left to play.

Bison got off to a flier when Bison's first shot of the game from Martin Filip's shot went straight through Sheffield goalie Christian Bronsard (4:02) from the right wing.

At the other end, Curtis Crucikshank was kept pretty busy with Joel Irving in particular using his size and speed to get in close. After two near misses, inevitably it was an Irving play that found Mark Dutiaume on the doorstep to lash home the equaliser (7:21).

Bison then ran into penalty problems. The first powerplay was comfortably dealt with, but Anderson got in close on the second only for Cruickshank to pad the shot away. Irving netted a high rebound but Carson had no hesitation washing out the effort for high sticks.

A third powerplay saw Dutiaume put a rebound wide and Sheffield continued to create the chances back at even strength.

No surprises when Gerad Adams extended the lead, faking Cruickshank on the doorstep before lifting the puck high (18:41).

Throughout the second period Sheffield continued to work Cruickshank, mainly with the defencemen firing in shots from the blue line but the Bison goalie was looking very solid. Sheffield gave up 82 seconds of 5-on-3 play at 34:54 when DeWaele's interference minor saw him join Irving in the penalty box. Bison failed to produce any quality chances and, back at even strength, Dutiaume skated down the left and his pass to the far post was tapped in by Joel Irving (38:20).

Joe Ciccarello forced a good stop early in the second but Sheffield raced straight down the other end and that man Joel Irving rounded out the scoring, his fifth goal in three games (43:00).

Credit to Bison for never giving up and Bronsard was the busier keeper.

Luc Chabot changed his goalie at 49:49 with Dean Skinns taking over. The youngster made 4 saves but was beaten with 37 seconds left by a crisp shot from Kirk DeWaele (59:23). Sheffield coach Mike Blaisdell followed suit but penalties delayed Davey Lawrence's opportunity until 57:15.