Saturday night hockey: Destination Milton Keynes
Score: MK Lightning 9-3 Steeldogs
Never an easy place to visit, Saturday night was no exception. The Lightning got into their stride after 5:21 as Lawrence opened the scoring. Wallace was the next MK scorer on 12:22 and took that lead into the period break. 2-0
The Steeldogs came out of the traps well in the second and Morgan got the Dogs on the board on 25:01 but MK took their 2 goal lead back as Herrman netted goal number 3. Hewitt fired a shot home to bring the Dogs back within 1. The home side began to assert themselves in the final few minutes of the middle period as Gulliver scored a 4th goal and Lawrence got the 5th goal (his second of the game). 5-2
Moving into the final period, Rutkis seized an opportunity to make it 6-2, swiftly followed by Herrman with his second of the game and the Lightning’s 8th. Hewitt wasn’t for one minute giving up on the cause and scored the 3rd Dogs goal but with 5 minutes to go Rutkis then Griffin scored to make it 9-3 in favour of MK Lightning.
Sunday afternoon hockey: Home – iceSheffield
Score: Steeldogs 3-6 Swindon Wildcats
After a high scoring game north of the border last night, The Wildcats kept their scoring moving through the game. Sayers got the visitors on the board after 6:26, but the Sheffield Steeldogs worked hard to get back level on 11:33 through a Tom Palmer breakaway strike. Just 7 seconds before the end of the period, Cowley added a second goal for the Wildcats on a power play. 1-2
The second period offered up plenty of hockey action. Malasinski scored a third for the Wildcats on 29:39. After a couple of penalties on the Wildcats, the Steeldogs worked a way through the defence and Phillips took advantage of some good play by the power play unit to score the second for the Dogs. 2-3
The Steeldogs showed more grit and determination through the third period and on 47:28 Matt Bissonnette equalised for Sheffield. Bissonnette was sent to the box for a high stick and on the following power play Malasinski scored his second of the game. Late in the game on another power play, the Wildcats went further ahead through Nell and with just 7 seconds remaining Pakozdi scored an empty net goal.
A tough weekend for the Dogs, but their resilience and persistent play was there to be seen throughout both games.
With next weekend on the road – In Swindon on Saturday and Romford on Sunday – the Steeldogs will return home on December 23rd. Note the early face off time of 4:30pm. The Bees are in town for a pre Christmas match up.
Tickets available here: https://hub.steeldogs.co.uk