Giants Close In On Coventry With Win In Sheffield

Posted on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 2:17 am

A real crowd pleaser in Sheffield as the teams accounted for 11 goals and 108 penalty minutes, with the LBM Belfast Giants moving within a single point of league leaders Coventry as they won by the odd goal with Colin Shields firing home the winner with less than five minutes remaining.
 
The Steelers now slump back to next from bottom in the standings following this their second loss in two nights against the Giants, with the Belfast side now having renewed title aspirations with two huge games in Coventry still to come.
 
Six goals were shared in a wide open first period. Jeff Legue shot Steelers ahead at 5.53 on the powerplay but Pat Bateman levelled at 11.24 also on the powerplay. Two more powerplay counters for Steelers came from Joey Talbot at 12.53 and Scott Basiuk at 15.33 for a 3-1 home lead before yet another powerplay goal, this time for Giants and from Jeff Szwez at 17.33 and the first even handed strike of the night from Evan Cheverie at 19.20 saw the scoreline at 3-3.
 
Steelers Mike Sgroi and Giants Sean McMorrow had the crowd on their feet with not one but two second period bouts but it was the home side ahead again with their powerplay goal number four from Talbot at 23.44. Back came the visitors and Tim Cook levelled at 27.43 before Steelers lost Robert Farmer to a 2+5+Game and Bateman (26th) had Giants ahead for the first time at 39.54 with a powerplay counter.
 
Steelers were quickly back on terms in the third period with Legue scoring their only 5 on 5 counter of the game at 45.05 but it was EIHL top points scorer Shields who came up with the final answer, scoring the winner at 55.11 to give Steve Thornton’s men the vital two points. 

Final Score: Sheffield Steelers 5-6 LBM Belfast Giants
 
Period Scores: 3-3, 1-2, 1-1
Penalty Mins: She 73 – Bel 35
Powerplay: She 4/8 – Bel 3/7
Shots On: Andrew Verner 26 – Stephen Murphy 26
Referee: Matt Thompson