Sheffield Steelers 3-1 Basingstoke Bison

Sheffield ice Michael Bowman and Les Millie.

Sheffield stretched their winning home run to 8 as they recorded their third straight victory against an injury ravaged Bison side.

2197 fans were kept waiting for half an hour as Basingstoke were held up en route and perhaps unsurprisingly Sheffield dominated the opening period. More of a suprise was that Steelers only managed the one goal from 17 shots, Joe Ciccarello poking home the puck after Jeff Christian's inital shot trickled towards the net (4:35).

The game was a personal triumph for Christian who netted the other two Sheffield goals and deservedly took his side's MoM award. He revealed on a radio phone-in earlier this week that he almost signed for Basingstoke before agreeing terms with Sheffield.

Bison's MoM went to captain Shawn Maltby, who cleverly outwitted Jayme Platt at the back post (55:30) to give his side some reward for their efforts. Maltby had blazed wide from the same position ten minutes earlier, and was also blanked from 8 feet in the final period as Basingstoke fought to get something from this one.

Mike Peron and Owen Walter took that a little too literally, dropping the gloves for double minors a-piece.

Credit to Basingstoke who never opted for a negative game despite their injuries and they were always willing to take the game to the home side. However they could do little about either goal from Christian.

The first arrived with Sheffield youngster Greg Wood (who has signed for Bison) sitting a penalty for slashing. Gerad Adams fired in from the blue line and Christian used his strength to deflect the puck home from in front of the net (25:36).

Christian made the game safe 45 seconds into the final period, lashing a pass home first time in some style.

Bison get a chance for quick revenge as the sides meet in Basingstoke next Saturday and will hope some of those 7 injured players return.