How Sheffield Steelers breezed through the Storm – by six clear goals

On Saturday they did – they were even worse.

Perhaps that’s unkind at this festive time of year, but a 9-3 defeat doesn’t sit well for them in a league that prides itself on its competitiveness.

Storm management believes Steelers’ budget is multiple times bigger than their own.

And it has certainly shown on the ice this year with Sheffield finding the net 39 times in seven cross-Pennine encounters.

It was an “embarrassing” visit to the Arena for visiting coach Matt Ginn as he watched Steelers bid farewell to 2023 with their now customary execution of his squad.

The teams meet yet again, in Altrincham, today, which probably means Ginn won’t get the tonic he hopes for to start the New Year.

In Sheffield, they were first-period lambs to the slaughter, with Sheffield powering in four early strikes.

Marco Vallerand was first off the mark, the top corner shot delivering Sheffield’s 80th of the league tournament, followed by a rebound conversion from Dominic Cormier.

Then a brace of power play goals followed from Robert Dowd (equalling Ron Shudra’s historic tally) and Daniel Ciampini, the latter a tip-in coming with three seconds left of the opening period, bringing with it certain defeat for Manchester.

Manchester replaced Canadian goalie Logan Flodell with Sheffield-born 19-year-old Alexander Oldale – a signal that seemed to say they had nothing to lose, and not much to gain.

Two more Sheffield defencemen added to their offensive tallies in the form of Kevin Tansey and Brien Diffley along with Brett Neumann, the only downside of the middle stanza being a Storm goal from Zack Phillips.

Taking a 7-1 lead into the last period ensured a relaxing watch for the 8,120 crowd.

The Orange Army could forgive a lull in the attacks on Storm, with Loren Ulett twice on target at the other end, Manchester reducing the gap briefly to 7-3, while barely celebrating.

But Ginn’s skaters were over-run again with Patrick Watling and Mark Simpson making it nine, Sheffield’s biggest tally of the season, all the goals from different scorers.