With less than twenty games left to play, the Elite League’s title fight is crystallising.
The Belfast Giants remain in pole position, winning twice in Round 22 to take their record on the season to 27-5-4 and maintain their four-point cushion over the Cardiff Devils.
The Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers have six- and seven-point deficits to overturn, as the intensity ramps up in the final weeks of the campaign.
Welcome to Around the Rinks: our daily summary of every Elite League team’s post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Sunday, 8 February
Sheffield Steelers 9-0 Dundee Stars
Kyle Watson, Sheffield Steelers (Image: Dean Woolley)
Carter Beston-Will, Sheffield Steelers:
I think we played a really good game and buried our chances. There were some things that we got away from in the second period, but we’re not going to complain too much after a nine-nothing game.
Marc LeFebvre, Dundee Stars:
Plain and simple: we got our asses kicked. We had a spell in the second period when we created some opportunities, but I feel sorry for our goalies. We left him out to dry tonight and it’s not acceptable how we performed. It was a bad weekend overall. Last week, I felt that we’d maybe turned the tide by taking five of six points, but it’s back to the same old bad habits.
Fife Flyers 2-4 Cardiff Devils
Jamie Russell, Fife Flyers:
It’s a real tough game to play: we got in at five o’clock in the morning to face a team that didn’t play yesterday and has flown up and had a nice team meal. I thought our compete level last night was outstanding and it was the same again tonight. Great job by Shane Owen: he gave us a chance to win. I thought we played with really good structure this weekend, we’ve just got to bury some of our chances.
Paul Thompson, Cardiff Devils:
I thought we controlled most of the game. Fife were trying to provoke, trying to get us to bite, but we know — in this building — that we didn’t want to bring any energy into the stands because that can change games. It got out of control at the end when we scored our empty netter, but I’m pleased with our road win.
Coventry Blaze 4-5 Belfast Giants (Overtime)
Grayson Constable, Coventry Blaze (Image: Scott Wiggins)
Kevin Moore, Coventry Blaze:
I thought our start was probably our best 25 minutes of the year, but the next 15 minutes was not the gameplan. Letting a team like Belfast grab momentum, especially with how they’re relentless offensively, wasn’t positive for us. Like everything with us, there’s a lot of really good things we can learn from in a vacuum. But there’s also a lot of negatives we can learn from. At this time of the year, it’s positive that we’ve got the point in overtime.
Adam Keefe, Belfast Giants:
Obviously, we were up against the hottest team in the league and they certainly showed it in period one and to start period two. They really took it to us and it was one of the biggest beatings I’ve seen us take in the first 25 minutes. I thought [the third line] sparked something in us and from that point on I thought we deserved to come back and win that game. Credit to Coventry, they are competing for everything and they’re playing with confidence. They rested [Mat] Robson tonight, which had an impact, but this is a big two points for us. We’re trying to focus on the league with one eye on the cup, and I think it’s the other way around for Coventry. It is what it is, but our end goal is to win everything.
Guildford Flames 4-3 Manchester Storm (Overtime)
Paul Dixon, Guildford Flames:
What a rollercoaster! I nearly went home after the first period, but I’m glad I didn’t!
Joking aside, our first period wasn’t great. It was really ugly, but credit to the group for rising to the challenge. I really liked our second and third periods, which is my frustration. We’re up and down in games, we just need to find that level of consistency. They deserve a lot of credit for coming back from three down. We don’t have a team who quit and hopefully we can build on that going forward.
Cam Critchlow, Manchester Storm:
I liked our start, I thought we had a great first period. We were looking for a response from last night and the guys provided that. We’ve had a busy week, being up in Scotland on Wednesday, and that isn’t an excuse. We’re going through it right now, but we have to work our way through it. We’ve got to keep pushing forward and sticking together.
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