Sheffield Steelers 7-2 Hull Stingrays

Sheffield without Shawn Maltby (hernia op), Regan Darby (hernia) and Shaun Sutter (shoulder). New signings Vezio Sacratini and Agostini Casale unable to ice as their ITC cards have not been released by the Italian Federation who are demanding payments for both players. Bosman ruling - what Bosman ruling? Hull missing James DeMone and icing back-up netminder Tom Chamberlain throughout.

2810 saw Sheffield return to second place with this comfortable win as Hull failed to get enough quality shots on the Sheffield net. Indeed Sheffield changed their netminder halfway through (30:02) with the score at 5-1 to give back-up Davey Lawrence a rare outing. Nikolai Ladygin beat him with a powerplay strike from the right (39:49). With Mark Thomas sitting a high sticks penalty in the final period, Cole Byers hit the near post from the left wing, then Anton Butochnov fired home but the effort was disallowed as Hull had a forward in the goal crease.

Ryan Finnerty (2+2) and Dan tessier (1+4) lead the way as Sheffield racked up a host of pretty goals. Shane Johnson squeezed home a powerplay opener at the back post (4:22) with Cole Byers sitting a hooking penalty. After Rod Sarich hauled down Jeff Glowa, the Hull forward levelled from the penalty shot (6:34), sending Jody Lehman the wrong way and wrapping the puck home behind him with consumate ease.

Some smart passing saw Anton Butochnov pick out Sergiy Rublivsky close-in beyond the far post, but Rublivsky put his chance wide. Sergiy Kharchenko hit a bullet from the left straight at Lehman and those 2 misses proved costly when Scott Ricci rifled home from low on the right (11:44) after Phil Hill's initial shot was deflected wide. The goal of the game proved the winner, Tessier's cross-ice pass picking out Finnerty arriving down the right and a sweet first-time shot nestled in the net (14:46). Nikolai Ladygin was sitting a checking from behind penalty at the time and Stingrays coach Rick Strachan called a time-out after that goal.

Almost immediately after the restart, Johnson was picked out in acres of space on the left. He pushed up but Chamberlain made a big save. But he couldn't stop Sarich flicking the puck home at close-range (18:11) after another sweet passing move.

The middle period belonged almost entirely to the home side. Tessier roofed a 5th goal from close-in(25:35), Hill put the puck the wrong side of the post at the back door and twice Hull killed penalties after hauling down Sheffield forwards before they could shoot.

But Hull tied the period with Paul Moran sitting a slashing penalty, Glowa's cross-ice pass from the left corner picking out Ladygin who netted high across Lawrence.

Hull started to apply some pressure early in the final period but again put a chance wide from close-in, this time Slava Koulikov intelligently returning the puck across the face of the goal only for Butochnov to miss his opportunity.

Steelers survived Thomas' high sticks penalty, with the help of a bit of luck, and added another when Dave Phillips also took a high sticks minor. This time Finnerty was the man at the back post firing home (50:45).

Jonathan Phillips wrapped up the scoring with a speculative shot from the left (53:54).