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| Mayhem face off v Sheffield B (Photo by Roksana Oniszczuk) |
Saturday 25th July 2026 – BPIHL Match #15 - Mayhem 0 – Sheffield Steelkings B 4
The Mayhem sledge
team slumped to a frustrating 0-4 defeat at home to the Sheffield Steelkings B
team (the “Stings”) in their final home game of the 2026 British Para Ice
Hockey League season at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday.
The Widnes–based
outfit had beaten the Stings in Sheffield 1-3 three weeks ago but it had been a
hard game and this return match always had the potential to be a sticky
fixture. The Mayhem had a number of
regular players missing from their line-up on Saturday and found themselves up
against a Stings team who were on fine form.
The game was
actually very close in early stages with opportunities for both sides but
Sheffield took the lead on 7 minutes with a goal from experienced Dutch player
Jurrian Raa, who is playing his first season in the BPIHL this year.
The score remained
at a very close 0-1 at the first period break and the second period was even
tighter and played out goal-less.
The Mayhem had
plenty of puck possession but were unable to make the most of their chances in
front of goal when they came - and their task became much harder 6 minutes into
the third period when Jurrian Raa scored his second goal of the game to double
the Stings’ advantage.
Things got even
worse three minutes later when, with the Mayhem goal under considerable
pressure and surrounded by a melee of players, netminder Dan Hartshorn was
assessed a penalty for “throwing equipment“ (ie: his stick... ) as he attempted
to keep the Stings’ attack at bay.
Because this infringement
prevented a clear goal scoring opportunity, a penalty shot was awarded and
Jurrian Raa duly dispatched this to round off his hat-trick.
As the game entered
its final two minutes, there was yet more drama as Sheffield picked up their
first penalty of the game, handing the Mayhem a late powerplay opportunity.
The Stings called a
time out at the same time and then promptly raced up the other end to score a
short-handed fourth goal. The goalscorer – Stings Player Coach Jake Oakley -
then picked up a delaying the game penalty straight from the face off, leaving
the Mayhem to play with a 5 on 3 advantage for the rest of the game.
Unfortunately, they
weren’t able to make the extra players count and force a late consolation goal
so the score remained 0-4 at the final buzzer.
To his credit,
Bryan Hackworth in the Sheffield goal put in an impressive performance and was
rewarded with a 14-shot shut-out while Hartshorn performed his usual heroics
for the Mayhem to keep the score down, stopping 20 of the 24 shots that he
faced.
Felicity Gregory was the Mayhem MVP against Sheffield
(Photo by Roksana Oniszczuk)
The Most Valuable
Player (MVP) awards were presented by Off-Ice Official and press writer Paul
Breeze and went to John Oakley for Sheffield and Felicity Gregory for the
Mayhem.
The other game of the weekend saw the Sheffield
Steelkings A team secure the 2026 British Para Ice Hockey League title after a
1-5 victory away at Cardiff Huskies. There are still a number of games to play
in the regular season schedule but the Steelkings’ perfect record of 6 wins
from their 6 games means that they cannot now be overtaken on points and
celebrate their second championship win in a row, and third overall.
The Mayhem now have
several weeks to regroup and prepare for their last game of the league season
when they travel to play the Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday 30th
August.
A win in that game
would secure the Mayhem a place in the end of season Play Offs, although the
matter may well be decided before then depending on results between other
teams.
Manchester Mayhem official website: www.manchestermayhem.co.uk
For more information about the British Para Ice Hockey League, check out the official website at www.paraicehockey.co.uk
