Hat-tricks from Matt Clarkson and debutant Matt Woollias helped Sheffield Steelkings to a 7-4 triumph over the table topping Manchester Mayhem in Altrincham on Sunday.

They lead 2-1 after a first period in which they had Manchester pegged inside their own zone for extended periods; Clarkson and club Chairman Jake Oakley scoring either side of Karl Nicholson’s tally for Manchester. The period was played at a furious tempo as the Steelkings cycled the puck with pace and fluidity, whereas Manchester looked dangerous on the break.

The second half was a scrappier affair and Manchester exerted more pressure of their own but Woollias gave Sheffield a 3-1 lead on a break-away effort on 25:47.

Manchester stormed back into the game to tie it up 3-3 by the start of the third period. The first came with 2:58 remaining in the second as Nicholson swept home a rebound from the centre of the Steelkings zone and then Anthony Booth took advantage of a break-away to level things up with 11:37 left to play.

Sheffield had to go and win the game again and did so. Woollias struck his second and third goals with 6:52 and 5:15 to play – the latter a back-post tap-in from a Clarkson cross, before Clarkson made the score 6-3, firing across goal into the top left corner of the net inside the final two minutes.

There was a late trading of goals in the final eighty seconds as Manchester struck back again through their own hat-trick hero Nicholson, before Clarkson secured the victory and earned his own hat-trick with a long-range effort with 31 seconds to play.

“I’m one very proud coach right now!” said Oakley afterwards, “We had a plan and together took down a great team. Everyone played their part and we got that result as a team.”

We play our first home game of the season this Sunday vs. the Peterborough Phantoms at IceSheffield at 16:15.

Written by Mike Rhodes
Photographs by Simon Gill and Anne Fotheringham

Matt Clarkson struck twice and Jake Oakley once as the Sheffield Steelkings Para Ice Hockey club began their league campaign with a 3-1 away win over the Cardiff Huskies on Saturday.

The Steelkings had to soak up a lot of early Cardiff pressure, but took the lead towards the end of the first period when Clarkson’s speculative effort from inside his own half found its way under the Huskies goaltender. They then had to rely on their own goalie Bryan Hackworth to make some key saves as the Huskies looked for an immediate response.

Sheffield grew into the game as it went on and doubled their lead in the second period. Clarkson was put through on goal by Oakley and again he finished under the goaltender from the inside right hash for his second of the game.

In the third period, Oakley got free of a defender to set up a one-on-one with the Cardiff netminder, and whilst his first shot was high, the puck bounced back off the backboards for him to bundle home his own rebound.

The Steelkings had to see out a late penalty for too many men on the ice but came good on the penalty kill, only for Cardiff to strike a late consolation as Russ Wiley fired in a rebound at close range.

Oakley said, “I’m really proud of everyone. All the players worked hard for each other and gave what they could and I’d like to thank the off-ice staff for all their efforts too.
We had to deal with a lot of pressure from Cardiff and they’re a very good side. It feels great to get our season off to a winning start.”

With the British Para Ice Hockey League adapting a 5 point system, the Steelkings earned 4.5 points for Saturday’s result: 2 points for winning the game, 1 point each for winning the first two periods 1-0, and 0.5 points for tying the third period 1-1.
The Huskies take the 0.5 points for the tied third period.

The Steelkings travel to Manchester next Sunday to face the Mayhem with a 16:15 face-off at Planet Ice Rink Altrincham.

Written by Mike Rhodes

As we start to turn our attentions towards the 2019 season, we are proud to announce we have another returning sponsor for 2019! Once again we welcome back 19eleven to the Steelkings family!

We are very grateful for the continued support of the Steelkings and para ice hockey here in Sheffield!

As we start to turn our attentions towards the 2019 season, we are proud to announce that Irwin Mitchell will be returning to the Steelkings family once again!

We are very grateful for Irwin Mitchell continued support of the Steelkings and para ice hockey here in Sheffield!

As we start to turn our attentions towards the 2019 season, we are proud to announce that AMG Superalloys will be returning to the Steelkings family once again!

We are very grateful for AMG’s continued support of the Steelkings and para ice hockey here in Sheffield!

We have some exciting news for you, on February 10th we are welcoming Para Ice Hockey HCCA Dahu 63 to Sheffield for a game between our two clubs!!!

HCCA Dahu (from Clermont-Ferrand, FRANCE) will travel to Sheffield to face the Steelkings in a full length game in just under THREE WEEKS TIME!

‘Team Elf’ found themselves the winners of the Sheffield Steelkings Para Ice Hockey Club’s first ever Winter Blast game with a late goal securing a 2-1 victory over ‘Team Santa’

The teams were made up of players from the Steelkings who decided to put on a free Christmas exhibition game as a thank you to the public for their support over the last year.

The Sheffield Steelkings won a National Lottery Award in September thanks to public support and to say thank you, put on this exhibition game.

The Steelkings were also joined by a very special guest on the evening, Sheffield strongman, Phil ‘Titanium’ Roberts who was on hand for the ceremonial puck drop before the game started and to award the Player of the Game awards at the end too.

A dominant first period by Team Elf saw many chances saved but the team, couldn’t find their way past Bryan Hackworth in the Team Santa’s goal. Both teams had chances but it was Team Elf who came the closest.

The tough and physical contest saw both sides battling hard, much to the crowds excitement.

The first period came and went and would end scoreless.

The game remained tied for over half of the second period too and saw Team Santa pushing harder to try and take back some control of the game.

Goalie changes half way through the game saw Warren Hewett replace Bryan in the Santa goal and sledge hockey newbie, Tom Wilton replace Gary Whiteley in the Elf goal.
Shortly after the goalie changes the game really started to heat up. The hits became bigger as both teams desire to win started to become obvious.

A long clearance by defenceman John Oakley caught Warren by surprise and he allowed the puck to hit his goalie pads and bounce out to a surging Barry Grayson who slotted it into the back of the net to give Team Elf the lead.

This was a blow that would take the wind out of the sails of Team Santa.

The score would remain 1-0 going into the third period. Following a team talk in the period break Team Santa came out strong and continued to push back in an attempt to tie the game.

Their pressure was rewarded when Wayne Plummer passed the puck to Matthew Franklin who was racing down the left wing and fired a shot straight past Tom Wilton in the Elf goal.

The game was now tied and would see the crowd getting closer to the edge of their seats.

The score would stay tied at 1-1 until just a couple of minutes from the end. With under two minutes left on the clock Jake Oakley raced through the Santa team to pounce on a loose puck.

The shot went hard and high on the Santa goal but was spectacularly saved by Warren Hewitt to make up for his earlier blunder.
With a flash of the glove Warren scooped the puck to the corner for the game to remain tied.

Unfortunately for Team Santa, Rachel Paget was following the play down the left wing and played the puck back across to Jake Oakley who had circled to be front of the goal once again.

Hewett wasn’t able to save the second shot by Oakley who released another hard and high shot for goal number two.

This goal would prove to be the game winner and would see Team Elf win the first ever Winter Blast game 2-1.