The semi finals were coming to a conclusion and with Nottingham Panthers plotting against who their opponents were going to be, it was just a matter of finding out who will line up opposite them.
Manchester Storm and Sheffield Steelers played out a nine-goal thriller on Tuesday and the tie appears to be on knife edge, although Steelers lead 5-4 after the first leg.
Who will go through? Let’s find out.
DAILY HEADLINES
PRE-GAME POLL
? WHO WILL MEET THE PANTHERS? ?
? @steelershockey (5) ? @Mcr_Storm (4)
? #2021EliteSeries Semi Final 2nd Leg
?@nottinghamarena
? 7pm
? https://t.co/RhJ2ucMU0MLet’s make it a big one and RT ?
— British Ice Hockey ? (@BritIceHockey) April 29, 2021
GAME RECAP
SHEFFIELD STEELERS 6 MANCHESTER STORM 2
(Steelers win 11-6 on aggregate)
Sheffield Steelers hit Manchester Storm early to pave their way to a best of three showdown against Nottingham Panthers in this weekend’s final.
The game was finely poised at 5-4 after Tuesday’s first leg and whoever got the opening goal would set the tone for the game, with that place in the final at stake.
But it wasn’t to be for Storm as Steelers netted early and were three up by the end of the opening period to give them a lead that would be tricky for Manchester to claw back.
Adrian Saxrud-Danielsen scored on the rebound after three minutes to put them in front after Sean Bonar saved Tanner Eberle’s initial shot.
Steelers doubled the lead just before the ten minute mark when Balint Pakozdi teed up Alex Graham and the youngster delivered for his first goal of the tournament.
Eberle finished off a third, his 14th in 14 games as he tipped in a shot from Josef Mikyska and Aaron Fox’s side looked commanding as they ended the first session.
Storm switched goalies as Stephen Murphy made his first appearance of the tournament, while up the other end, Manchester got one back as Cam Critchlow tucked away a rebound on his backhand.
Minutes later, Steelers restored their three-goal lead on the night as Sondre Olden was in the right place to tap in from close range and Sheffield were 4-1 ahead, 9-5 in front on aggregate.
Josh Waller struck to open the gap even more, completing a sublime finish in at the top shelf after taking on Josef Hrabal’s pass
Storm got another back in the third period and it was clever play from Tyson Fawcett as he dipped his shoulder, opening up a gap where he successfully sent the puck into the net.
Eberle got his second of the game shorthanded with ten to go and the contest was well and truly done by this point.
Fawcett added his second and Manchester’s third shortly after, but Steelers ran two more in through Olden and Jeremy Beaudry to seal a good night’s work, setting up a Bank Holiday weekend with Tim Wallace and his Panthers team.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Steelers 32 Storm 33
GOALSCORERS:
Steelers – Adrian Saxrud-Danielsen (03:15 – Eberle, Dowd); Alex Graham (09:52 – Pakodzi, Myers); Tanner Eberle (17:28 – Mikyska, Dowd PP); Sondre Olden (27:16 – J Phillips, Connolly); Josh Waller (31:11 – Hrabal, J Phillips); Tanner Eberle (50:03 – Connolly SH); Sondre Olden (52:47 – Schulze, S Jones PP); Jeremy Beaudry (54:14 – Mikyska, A Jones)
Storm – Scott Simmonds (22:36 – Ehrhardt, Critchlow PP); Tyson Fawcett (48:31 – Ehrhardt, Critchlow PP); Tyson Fawcett (52:00 – Davies, Batch)
POST GAME REACTION
To follow
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
