The second leg of the semi finals began here and by the end of the night, one team would be going home after 25 days of action.
Coventry Blaze trailed 2-0 from the first leg to Nottingham Panthers and needed an improvement, not to mention goals, to get them back on track and a place in the final.
DAILY HEADLINES
- Nottingham Panthers goalie Jackson Whistle and his ‘awesome’ experience (Ice Hockey UK)
- Manchester Storm’s Matt Haywood is hoping for the edge over the Steelers (Glasgow Clan)
- Sheffield Steelers’ John Muse hails netminding deputies (British Ice Hockey)
- The new edition of The BIH Show is here, featuring all the commentators from the Elite Series (British Ice Hockey)
- We took a look at the numbers before this game (British Ice Hockey)
PRE-GAME POLL
? WHO WILL GO THROUGH? ?
? @PanthersIHC (2) ? @covblazehockey (0)
? #2021EliteSeries Semi Final 2nd Leg
?@nottinghamarena
? 7pm
? https://t.co/RhJ2ucMU0MGo on, give us a RT and see if we can get a big response to this ?
— British Ice Hockey ? (@BritIceHockey) April 28, 2021
GAME RECAP
NOTTINGHAM PANTHERS 4 COVENTRY BLAZE 1Â
(Panthers win 6-1 on aggregate)
Austin Cangelosi’s hat-trick helped Nottingham Panthers clinch a place in the final of the Elite Series as they added to Tuesday’s 2-0 win with a 4-1 success.
It caps a remarkable turnaround in form from Tim Wallace’s side, who lost four of their first five games and now head into the weekend head-to-head with either Sheffield Steelers or Manchester Storm with four straight wins and five victories in their last six.
The game was only 25 seconds only when Cangelosi found the net to increased the Panthers’ aggregate and open more of a gap to make life harder for Coventry.
Shane Owen in the Blaze net prevented further chances from Nick Dineen and Robert Lachowicz and had to fight their back, with a glimmer of hope coming after 13 minutes.
Simen Andre Edvardsen tapped the puck into the net after a chance from Luke Ferrara flew into the air away from Jackson Whistle in Nottingham’s goal, from where the Coventry man struck.
But Kevin Domingue’s back post finish restored Panthers lead near the end of the first period and it was starting to look ominous for Coventry.
Cangelosi increased Nottingham’s lead even more as Owen saved from Mark Matheson, with Owen Griffiths setting up and once more the puck was in the net.
Blaze were denied a second goal when Nicolai Bryhnisveen fired home, but a challenge from Panthers coach Tim Wallace over a possible offside was looked at and duly given to preserve the lead.
However Danny Stewart’s men were put out of their misery when Cangelosi was put through on Owen and finished to complete his hat-trick and confirm a place for Nottingham in the weekend final series.
Who they’ll play will be discovered on Thursday.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Panthers 28 Blaze 32
GOALSCORERS:
Panthers – Austin Cangelosi (00:25 – Griffiths, Dineen); Kevin Domingue (17:22 – Perlini, Talbot-Tassi); Austin Cangelosi (32:13 – Matheson, Griffiths); Austin Cangelosi (54:27 – Dineen)
Blaze – Simen Andre Edvardsen (13:00 – Ferrara, Laakkonen)
POST GAME REACTION
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
