At look at the Weekends Action
September 6, 2010
Season eight of the Elite League faced-off at the weekend and certainly did not disappoint with some barnstorming clashes entertaining the fans with the skill and intensity on show.
There is no doubt that the Elite League received a big opening night boost with the game between Nottingham and Belfast showcasing the sport in the UK at it's best in front of the Sky TV cameras - a quality game in front of 5,313 fans whetting the appetite for the months ahead.
The action during the weekend certainly pleased the fans of Sheffield and Nottingham the most as their teams picked up maximum points with two wins. Steelers shrugged off all their pre-season issues to skate to a couple of very impressive results. Saturday night at the House of Steel saw the
visiting Cardiff Devils sent home on the wrong end of a 5-1 scoreline with Devils only breaking the shutout hopes of Steelers' Latvian goaltender Ervins Mustokovs early in the third period. The next night Steelers went one better and Mustokovs did pick up his shutout, posting 24 saves as the return of Dundee Stars to big time ice hockey fell flat as the visitors killed the game in a 4-0 opening period on the way to a final 6-0 victory.
A tough night indeed for Stars and no doubt a wakeup call but team management are well aware of the difficulties facing their squad this season and there is little doubt that when Stars find their feet they will show what they are made of.
The other side with full points are the Panthers of Nottingham, with the Sky TV clash seeing the home side taking the extra point in a thrilling shootout against Belfast after the teams had shared six goals in the previous sixty five minutes of hockey. Giants had led 2-0 early on but by early in the third period Panthers had edged ahead before a late leveler by Giants’ Brett Hemingway took the game to a scoreless overtime period.
The shootout was controversial with Jade Galbraith looking to have sealed it for the home side in round four only for ref Moray Hanson to rule the ‘goal’ out as he believed the puck had hit the crossbar as opposed to the metal bar inside the net. All turned out well for Galbraith and Panthers however as in round seven a backhand effort found the roof of Stephen Murphy’s net.
Boosted by that victory, Panthers travelled the next day to reigning league champions Coventry and in another super advert for the sport came out in top 7-4 with seven different scorers proving the depth available to player/coach Corey Neilson.
Although it’s Sheffield and Nottingham leading the way after weekend one the well fancied Belfast side added to the point they won in the shootout loss against Panthers by coming out of Wales with two more points in a hard fought 4-3 win over Cardiff, which is one of the most difficult buildings to play in for any road team. Giants game winner came in the 50th minute from Jonathan Gleed.
Players proving their worth in the opening weekend of action were:-
· Goaltender Ervins Mustokovs of Sheffield, saving 57 of 58 shots and gaining the 24 shot blanking of Dundee
· Joey Talbot of Sheffield with 2+3 in the weekend double victories
· Ashley Tait of Sheffield 2+1 as above
· Jeff Legue of Sheffield 1+3 also as above
· David-Alexandre Beauregard 2+2 for Nottingham as they saw off Belfast and Coventry
· Matt Myers 2+1 also for Nottingham in the same games
· Brett Hemingway for Belfast 2+1 in their 3-point weekend
· Mark Garside of Belfast scoring his 100th career Elite League point in all competitions with an assist on Giants’ third goal @ Nottingham on Saturday
Player of the week time now for the opening action and we must ask a player making his debut in UK ice hockey. All the way from Latvia skate forward goaltender Ervins Mustokovs of Sheffield Steelers.
