Tired Telford Tigers suffer defeat in overtime to Steeldogs

The Tigers, beaten 2-1 by Basingstoke Bison on Saturday, were back on their home ice Sunday – only to be edged out 6-5 by Sheffield Steeldogs.

And though they were flagging after a tough schedule, Telford increased their lead at the top of the NIHL National League back to four points thanks to Swindon Wildcats’ defeat to Raiders in Romford.

“I think we looked like a team playing their sixth game in 10 days,” said Watkins. “Despite the score at the end of the first period being 4-1 – which probably flattered us to be truthful – we made a lot of individual mistakes, didn’t manage the puck well and turned a lot of pucks over in the neutral and defensive zones. The blue lines are key areas on the ice but we lost key battles in that area, struggled to establish a solid forecheck with our top two lines working on different pages it seemed.

“We had the chance to put the game to bed but didn’t execute it unfortunately. After the run of games, fatigue plays its part for sure.”

The Tigers made a quick start to the game with a breakaway led by Jack Hopkins. He sent a cross-ice pass to Vladimir Luka, who hit a first-time shot past Dimitri Zimozdra in the Sheffield goal.

Sheffield hit back to equalise five minutes later with Ben Morgan shooting low through Day’s legs.

Tigers hit the frame of the goal twice in quick succession through Jack Hopkins and Jason Silverthorn before finally retaking the lead when Deakan Fielder won the puck and sent Brodie Jesson clear on goal to score with a cool finish.

Tigers were enraged when a late hit by Thomas Palmer on Jonathan Weaver went unpunished. Fin Howells went after Palmer and the pair dropped the gloves. Howells was given an extra penalty after for instigation but this was successfully killed off.

Soon after, Sheffield’s Alex Graham was called for tripping, giving Tigers their first power play of the evening. Austin Mitchell-King’s shot caused a scramble in front of the Sheffield goal and the puck bounced out perfectly for Bayley Harewood to chip the puck over the prone Zimozdra for Telford’s third.

Tigers rounded off the period with a fourth goal. Luka’s powerful shot was tipped by Scott McKenzie past Zimozdra, with the Sheffield netminder so angry with the goal he smashed his stick, breaking it in half.

However, Tigers lost all the momentum in the second period and were sluggish throughout the whole 20 minutes.

Sheffield’s Jason Hewitt hit the post before Andreas Valdix and then Matt Bissonnette reduced the arrears to one.

Telford were thankful to Day for stopping Lee Bonner, who had a breakaway on goal, but Tigers continued their sloppy play in the third period and, despite being on a power play, conceded a fourth to Alex Graham.

Tigers regained the lead with 10 minutes left as Harewood scored his second of the night with a terrific low shot.

Shortly after, Tigers had a glorious chance to seal the match with a penalty shot – but Luka’s effort was saved well by Zimozdra.

Sheffield pulled Zimozdra from the goal to add an extra attacker in the final 90 seconds and the tactic paid off when Bissonnette shot through Day’s legs to send the game to overtime.

Tigers almost won the game when Silverthorn’s shot was blocked on the post by Zimozdra and the Tigers’ captain was knocked to the ice behind the goal leaving him out of position, allowing Sheffield to break away. The puck was sent behind the Tigers’ net and Day lost his position while trying to save a shot, allowing Lee Haywood to tap into the empty net and win the game.