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| Goalmouth action from the closely fought Mayhem v Sheffield match (photo by Roksana Oniszczuk / www.instagram.com/roksana.oniszczuk/) |
Sunday 30th June – British Para Ice Hockey League: Mayhem 2 – Sheffield Steelkings 3
The Mayhem sledge team put in a battling performance against the Sheffield Steelkings in the British Para Ice Hockey league game but narrowly lost out 2-3 at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
After a tense opening phase, Sheffield took the lead on 4 minutes with a powerplay goal punishing a Mayhem hooking call. The home side fought back, however, and goals from Karl Nicholson on 10 minutes and Dean Lahan on 12 saw them leading 2-1 at the first period break.
The second period was goal-less - which is a relatively uncommon occurrence in ice hockey – leaving the Mayhem with a slender 1-goal lead heading into the third period.
The Steelkings pulled level just 90 seconds in with another powerplay goal, this time punishing a Mayhem call for “t-boning”, which is a penalty that is unique to Para Ice Hockey. This is when one player hits another player with the front of their sledge (making a “T” shape) and can be dangerous because the design of the sledges allows one sledge to ride up over another, posing an injury risk to the leg.
The closing stages of this game were played at a furious pace, with both teams pressing forward in an attempt to secure the win and the deciding goal came in the 40th minute with a strike from Sheffield player coach Jake Oakley.
The result means that the Steelkings are now clear in third place in the league table, two points ahead of the Mayhem who are in fourth.
The Sheffield second team – the SteelStings – beat Cardiff to pick up their first win of the season over the weekend and now have 2 points, the same as the Mayhem.
In ice hockey, teams on the same number of points are separated in the league table by results from games played between them. The Mayhem beat the Steelstings earlier in the season so they hold the advantage at this stage. The two teams meet again this Saturday at iceSheffield in a game that will go a long way towards deciding which team will qualify for the end of season play offs.
Following that game, the Mayhem are next at home on Sunday 28th July when they face Cardiff Huskies in their last home game of the season.
There's a round up of all of the weekend sledge hockey action HERE
And you can see up-to-date league standings, player statistics and match summary sheets for the 2024 sledge hockey season on our unofficial stats website HERE.
