Steelers stay in pole position

Photo: Dean Woolley

Sheffield Steelers stayed in charge at the top of the Premier Sports Elite League with a three-goal home win against Manchester Storm in the first of two games at the Utilita Arena this weekend.

Marc-Olivier Vallerand slotted home John Armstrong's feed in close with 71 seconds played with the goal being given after video review. However, Storm hit straight back when Jared Vanwormer beat Brust on his side's third attempt in the slot to tie the game at 2:05. Justin Hodgman was left in too much to allow him to put the hosts back ahead at 4:08, with Tommaso Traversa finishing form Tanner Eberle's feed at 18:29 to give the Steelers a two-goal advantage.

James Downie entered the net for the Storm at the beginning of second, and he helped keep period two scoreless for well over ten minutes. Vojta Polák extended the Steelers' lead to 4-1 12:47 into period two, but a well-taken Dallas Ehrhardt powerplay wrist shot brought the Storm back to within two with 75 seconds left in the period. Manchester couldn't hold that scoreline until the break, however, and when Kevin Schulze scored with 19 seconds left to play in the middle frame the visitors' hopes of a comeback were made all the more difficult.

There were no goals in the final period as the Steelers recorded their twentieth win of the season from 31 games played.