Howells’ treble keeps Tigers in playoff hunt
Autocraft Telford Tigers played a rare Saturday home game against Sheffield Steeldogs fresh from one of their best performances of the season in their last game.
Tigers beat third placed Swindon in a thrilling contest to put them firmly in control of their own destination in respect of the final playoff place. Tigers had a three point lead over nearest rivals Solway Sharks, although the Sharks had a game in hand.
Lucas Price had been handed a three game suspension after being ejected from the Swindon game for abuse of an official and was joined on the sidelines by Ross Connolly and Deakan Fielder.
Tigers started the game on the back foot and the visitors were sharper in the opening five minutes but it would be the home side who took the lead. David Thomson hit a low wrist shot from the right circle past Sheffield net minder Curtis Warburton to open the scoring.
Sheffield hit back within two minutes with some crisp passing between Jonathan Phillips and Tim Smith being finished off by Walker Sommer from close range.
Tigers regained the lead in the latter stages of the opening period. Thomson and Eric Henderson combined to send Devon Skoleski through on goal. Skoleski scored with a well placed shot to send Tigers into the break with a narrow lead.
In the opening seconds of the second period Tigers increased the lead. A Rhodes Mitchell-King stretch pass sent Fin Howells clean through on goal. Howells skated towards goal and sent a terrific back handed shot in off the bar.
Telford had a fourth goal two minutes later. Mitchell-King shot from the blue line and James Smith expertly deflected the puck past Warburton.
Sheffield hit back with a second goal shortly after. Sommer’s shot was blocked by a Tigers’ defender but fell kindly for Nathan Ripley to score.
The lead was cut further with a power play goal. Howells was called for tripping and with the man advantage, Sheffield scored a third goal. Phillips hit a shot from the slot that hit Brad Day and rolled behind him into the net.
Four minutes from the end of the period, Tigers added a fifth goal from their first power play of the night. Henderson set up Thomson who shot from the slot and hammered the puck past the static Warburton.
But Sheffield scored the final goal of the period when a rebound off Day fell to Thomas Barry to score.
With the game finally balanced at the start of the third period, the Steeldogs drew level. A poor clearance out of defence hit a Tigers’ defender and landed perfectly for Elmeri Hallfors to score.
But the goal proved the last positive for the visitors as Tigers would dominate the rest of the game. Sheffield gifted Telford a power play by having too many men on the ice. On the subsequent power play, Howells scored his second of the game with a shot that flew in off the crossbar.
Howells then completed his hat trick with another power play goal. Henderson sent a pass across the circles to Howells who was unmarked and sent a wrist shot into the open net.
With Sheffield reeling, Skoleski scored his second of the night a minute later with a well placed shot. The goal was set up by Thomson and Henderson and saw Henderson secure his fifth assist of the night and Thomson gain his sixth point of the game.
With Telford three goals ahead, they saw out the remainder of the game to seal another terrific win on home ice.
Final Score: Autocraft Telford Tigers 8 Sheffield Steeldogs 5.
Scorers: Fin Howells (3), David Thomson (2), Devon Skoleski (2) and James Smith.
Man of the match: Fin Howells.
After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “We found a way to win after getting into a strong position with a three goal lead in the second period but were guilty of mismanaging the game, poor decisions cost us and gave Sheffield a route back in when the game should be dead and buried. That element of our performance was disappointing.
"That said at 5-5 we were very clinical on our power play with some very well taken goals and we took back that three goal advantage and were able to close the game down from there.”
