Sheffield Steelers 5-4 Manchester Phoenix Play-Off Quarter Final First Leg

Both sides at full strength.

4031 saw a nice tight game of play-off hockey... or maybe not! An amazing spectacle saw the visitors come from behind to twice take the lead, only to see Sheffield regain the lead twice more and take a one goal advantage into the second leg which is played on Sunday in Altrincham.

Doug Sheppard bagged the winning goal, coolness personified getting Scott Fankhouser to make the first move before lifting the puck high. Steelers might have increased their advantage, but Fankhouser wasn't to be beaten during nearly 5 minutes of Sheffield powerplay, which included 69 seconds of 5-on-3 when Tony Hand was given an accidental high stick double minor after catching Joey Talbot, with Jeff MacMillan already sitting a high sticks penalty.

It took Talbot just 68 seconds to open the scoring, waltzing up the right to wrist home high (1:08). The rest of the opening period remained scoreless but Phoenix kept finding players behind the home defence and Jody Lehman had to produce some big saves. These included a triple save when Hand released Joe Tallari up the left from his own end. Lehman stopped the shot and the rebound, before blanking Brian Passmore's follow up.

The game blew-up before the first buzzer had been reached, when Talbot was cross-checked to prevent him getting to puck on the doorstep. When Fankhouser eventually made the save, a major scuffle saw 5 players penalised and Rod Sarich thrown out for third man in.

The middle period was filled with goals. Sheppard thought he'd squeezed the puck under Fankhouser. A minute later Manchester caught the home side cold, Hand winning a face-off on the left and Scott Basiuk rifling home from the top of the slot (21:46). Phoenix took the lead when Sean Starke's shot from left was blocked but fell nicely for Simon Mangos to net with a first-time shot from the right (27:47). With Starke sitting a high sticks minor, Dan Tessier missed badly from low on the right, but Talbot fed the puck back to him and second time he made no mistake (29:02). Brian Passmore's harsh penalty for slashing at Jody Lehman saw Talbot get in on goal and Omar Ennaffati joined him for hooking Talbot. This gave 37 seconds of 5-on-3. Talbot's shot from low on the left was saved but seconds later Jonathan Phillips rammed the puck home on the doorstep from a pass from the right (33:50).

Two more goals to come though, Luke Stauffacher broke up the ice short-handed, went right and tucked the puck away low at the near post (34:52). And Ennaffati profited when another shot from the left was blocked and fell nicely for him on the far side to blast home nearside, despite Lehman's despairing dive (37:09). With 20 seconds left in the period Tessier skated across the doorstep but put his backhanded shot low and Fankhouser made the save.

It all came good in the final period for Steelers though. From a face-off on the left Jason Hewitt put away the pieces at the second attempt (45:14). Sheppard clinched it after the defence were pre-occupied with Jeff Legue in close. Instead, the pass across the zone found the Steelers' Assistant Coach and he made no mistake. (51:34). In between, Tessier's hooking penalty saw Scott Basiuk push up to force a good stop. Three minutes later and with Tessier back in the box for boarding, Mangos was blanked by an even better stop when he seemed certain to score.

During Sheffield's extended powerplay Fankhouser made 5 saves during the 5-on-3 and another 3 in the remainder of the penalty kill.

With 20 seconds left in the game Manchester gained a face-off near the Steelers' net and called a time-out, but despite winning the face-off were unable to keep the puck and Sheffield take that one goal lead over the Pennines for the second leg on Sunday. It should be quite a game.