The Sheffield Steelers began the defence of there elite ice hockey league title on a Saturday night at the Sheffield arena looking to become the first team in history to win 3 British league titles in a row and extend there record of most league titles to 10. The opponents were the Braehead Clan Runners up in 2015 and 3rd place in 2016 the Clan have got off to a bad start this season losing there first 6 games this season and have only 2 wins from 9 games. Robert Dowd would open the scoring for the Steelers at 3:23. The Clan would equalize at 11:34 through Corey Conwick however Mathieu Roy would put the Steelers back into the lead at 18:09 to end the period at 2-1. The 2nd period was all Sheffield's with 2 goals first from Ben O'Connor at 26:32 and Andreas Valdix at 30:50 gave the Steelers a 4-1 lead and it looked like the game was over. However once again poor defensive play gifted the Clan a way back in to the game with powerplay goals from Craig Peacock at 41:55 and Matt Beca at 45:45 however with 5 minutes to go Ben O'Connor would score his 2nd of the game to secure the 2 points for the Steelers
Final thoughts - Braehead don't look like much of a threat this season, Unless things dramatically change I think this could be Ryan Finnerty's final season as Clan coach
My man of the match - Ben O'Connor with 2 goals and 2 assists
On Sunday the Steelers beat the Manchester Storm in a challenge cup group b game once again poor defence in the 3rd period almost cost the Steelers as they went from 4-1 up with less then 5 minutes to go to all square at 4-4 the Steelers would win after a penalty shootout (3-2) to get 2 points and edge closer the booking there place in the quarter finals
