Report by North Derbyshire Radio’s Dylan Pick
Photo Credit – Rebecca Bibbs
The Sheffield Steelers suffered a 3-2 Overtime loss, their first of the season, against the Cardiff Devils in their second Challenge Cup game of the weekend.
They headed down to the Welsh capital after a fantastic victory at home on the opening night against the Guildford Flames.
Cardiff came into the match 1-0 after starting off their campaign victorious on the road against the Nottingham Panthers 6-3 following a high scoring third period, much like the Steelers vs the Flames.
A lot has been said about the Devils side being built around physicality and being a pest, and this was put on full display tonight, especially without their more technical skaters like Joey Martin and Kohen Olishefski.
Sheffield started off strong with a big chance in the opening 20 seconds but it was the hosts who scored first getting a two on one, Josh MacDonald playing a perfect sauce pass to Cole Sanford who tucked it past Eamon McAdam.
Two minutes into the second period the Steelers fell victim to another odd-man-rush, this one started off with the fantastic pass from the Devils Netminder Christian Stoever.
The trio of Riley Brandt, Cedric Lacroix and Ben Davies then linked up to double the Welsh side’s lead, Davies putting the final piece of the play together for the goal.
After a flat start to the second period Sheffield found some rhythm on their first powerplay as Dominic Cormier threaded the needle perfectly to go bar down and pull one back.
Only 43 seconds into the third period things went back to equal terms as Mitchell Blamas tipped a pass from Stephen Harper past Stoever.
As the game went on the feistiness and pace off the came went away as neither side wanted to give an inch in what was a tight game.
Steelers captain Robert Dowd would receive a two minute minor for hooking in the final 90 seconds, leaving the Devils with 30 seconds on the man advantage going into overtime.
The late penalty only came to harm the visitors as on the death of Dowd’s minor Brandon Estes was found alone on the left side to put the winner past McAdam in his first game for the Steelers.
Talking to the Cardiff Devils after the game, Steelers Head Coach Aaron Fox said “I thought our group showed a ton of character in the last 30 minutes”
He would also go on to give a lot of credit to his side’s special teams.
Three points taken in the opening weekend of the 2025/26 season for the Steelers, a positive start to their cup campaign.
Up next they have another cup double, first on the road against their main rivals the Nottingham Panthers on Saturday night, then back home on Sunday to face the Manchester Storm.
