Sheffield v Nottingham - 100th meeting

Photo from http://www.sheffieldsteelersihc.co.uk/

The Sheffield Steelers and the Nottingham Panthers are arguably the country's two most successful teams and there is no love lost between the two. The Steelers, formed in 1991, were the first fully professional ice hockey club in Great Britain and, at the time of formation, were seen by many as a „cheque book club“, using their big budgets and marketing plots to recruit new players and fans alike. Nottingham on the other hand are seen as the „old guard“. Formed in 1946, the Panthers are the only team to of participated in a season where an English championship has been contested and have won consecutive Challenge Cups since 2009.

Steelers hold the better record between these two great foes, with the Yorkshire side winning 66 of the games and 28 and 5 draws. With both Sheffield and Nottingham looking to battle it out with Belfast for this season's league title this game could prove to be crucial come the end of the season.

Sheffield came out the victors on Saturday night, claiming a 3-2 win at the Motorpoint Arena, thus knocking Nottingham off the top of the standings.

Michael Forney gave the home side the lead 18 minutes into the first period with assists going to Mathieu Roy and Cullen Eddy.

Steelers came out in the second period playing just as strong as they had in the first and doubled their lead after 21 minutes through the same line. Roy racked up another match point, this time with an assist for a Colton Fretter goal.

Robert Farmer pulled the defecit back to 1 ten minutes later and the Nottingham Panthers come back was on.

Going into the third it was clear that a bif final period was required from the visitors and within the first 10 minutes it was all square thanks to Max Parent.

Steelers went back in front just two minutes later through a power play goal by Rob Dowd. It would stay that way till the end despite a number of chances for the Panthers, but they were unable to convert any.

The two rivals could meet once again the Challenge Cup semi-final should both teams beat their quarter-final opponents.

Devils win two in-a-row against Belfast Giants

Another contender for the Elite League this year, the Belfast Giants fell to a second defeat in as many nights against the Cardiff Devils on Sunday, losing out 5-3. Cardiff led from early on, but with the game tied at 3 a piece going into the final period the reigning champions will be frustrated they failed to take anything from this game.

The 4-1 loss on Saturday followed by the 5-3 defeat on Sunday evening mens that Cardiff  have leapfrogged the Giants into fourth position.

There was some positivity to take from the weekend for the Northern Irish side, as Colin Shields' goal on Saturday saw him become the Giants' all-time top scorer.

Other scores:

Saturday 6th December:
Hull 5-3 Coventry
Sheffield 3-2 Nottingham
Dundee 2-3 Edinburgh
Cardiff 4-1 Belfast
Braehead 2-1 Fife

Sunday 7th December:
Coventry 3-4 Nottingham
Edinburgh 3-2 Dundee
Cardiff 5-3 Belfast
Braehead 6-4 Hull
Fife 1-4 Sheffield

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