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| Mayhem netminder Daniel Hartshorn makes a save against Sheffield (Photo by Roksana Oniszczuk) |
Saturday 2nd August 2025 – British Para Ice Hockey League: Mayhem 4 – Sheffield Steelkings 5
The Mayhem sledge team put in a brave and battling performance against recently crowned champions Sheffield Steelkings in their last home game of the British Para Ice Hockey League season but narrowly lost out 4-5 at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday.
This was a very entertaining game to watch and the result remained in doubt until the very last seconds. While a defeat is always disappointing, to put the performance in perspective, the Steelkings had only conceded 4 goals in total in their previous 7 league games.
The game started badly for the Mayhem as the Steelkings opened the scoring after just 37 seconds. 35 seconds later it was 0-2 to the champions and things were looking rather grim.
Luckily the Mayhem were able to steady the ship at that point, tighten up their defence and put a few plays together of their own.
Sheffield eventually extended their lead to three goals in the 10th minute but the Mayhem fought back with a brace of well taken strikes from Karl Nicholson on 12 minutes and 14 minutes to bring the score to 2-3 at the first period break.
Just 48 seconds into the second period it was all level as Anthony Booth fired in a superb equaliser for the Mayhem. The home team were on top for much of the second period and put the Sheffield goal under considerable pressure.
Unfortunately, they were not able to find the back of the net again and Sheffield eventually scored on 24 minutes to retake the lead. That completed the scoring for the second period and left the score at a very close 3-4 at the second interval.
The third period was also very tense and closely contested. Sheffield edged further ahead with a goal on 35 minutes but the Mayhem hit back just 30 seconds later to reduce the deficit back to one single goal, with Karl Nicholson rounding off his hat-trick.
The last ten minutes were agonisingly nail-biting as both teams had their chances but were unable to make any of them count.
Mayhem netminder Daniel Hartshorn pulled off some very brave saves - some from point blank range - to keep his team in the game and both sides battled away until the last second.
The game ended in a 4-5 victory for Sheffield but the Mayhem’s tally of 4 was the most goals that the Steelkings had conceded in a match all season.
The MVP awards went to Kirsty van der Poll for Sheffield and team captain Mark Colquitt for the Mayhem
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| Mayhem captain Mark Colquitt was MVP against Sheffield (Photo by Roksana Oniszczuk) |
The Mayhem actually suffered two defeats last week – the one against Sheffield on the ice and another off it.
The home game against Peterborough Phantoms that had been scheduled for 19th July and had to be cancelled due to technical problems at the Widnes rink will not now be rearranged and has been awarded as a 0-5 forfeit win to the Phantoms.
Both teams have players who are going to represent Great Britain at the Women’s World Championships later in the month and there were no suitable dates before then for the game to be re-arranged.
In the meantime, the Mayhem travel down to Peterborough this Saturday 9th August to play the Phantoms in what will be the last league game for both teams.
Following the forfeit win, Peterborough are now second in the BPIHL table – overtaking Cardiff Huskies who have already completed all their games - and will finish as runners up irrespective of Saturday’s result .
The Mayhem will finish the regular season in 4th place, which means that they qualify for the end of season play offs, which will be held at Lee Valley Ice Centre over the weekend of 13th and 14th September.
