All eyes were on the NIC in Nottingham for the first meeting of the season between the hometown Panthers and their arch rivals the Sheffield Steelers. A sell out crowd was on to see the Steelers take a three goal lead before Myers and Werner brought the Panthers back to within one with 2 minutes to go.
The Panthers couldn’t get the equaliser and Sheffield’s Ashley Tait became the Elite League’s all time leading points scorer with game winning goal.
That game was however marred by an innocent appearing to involve some of the Nottingham Panthers fans and the Sheffield Steelers bench with bottles, water and beer apparently being tossed on both sides so expect an official comment by the league during the week.
Elsewhere in the Elite League the Fife Flyers notched up another 5 goal win when they beat the Dundee Stars. It leaves the Flyers with an unbeaten challenge cup record and have started the season with only a single loss. The understrength Coventry Blaze also continued their good start as they beat the Cardiff Devils in overtime, which leaves the Devils winless in 4 games.
The Hull Stingrays were the nights over winners as they hit 4 goals in the final period to beat the Edinburgh Capitals. A hat trick from Dominic Osman help the Stingrays to the victory but they will have some defensive worries after conceding 3 goals on 26 shots.
English Premier League
In the EPL the win of the night came from the Bracknell Bees. The Bees made the long trip to Ice Sheffield to meet the highly fancied Steeldogs but the Berkshire outfit showed that they have improved from last season and picked up their first win in Sheffield since January 2010. There was a big win as well for the MK Lightning as they put 8 past the Manchester Phoenix. The Slough Jets also made it a 4 point weekend after winning on Friday Night they beat a spirited Telford side. The Basingstoke Bison also continued their 100% start to the season as they put in a dominating display to beat the Peterborough Phantoms.
Results
Elite League
Hull Stingrays 6 Edinburgh Captials 3 @ Hull Arena
Coventry Blaze 2 Cardiff Devils 1 OT @ Skydome Arena
Nottingham Panthers 2 Sheffield Steelers 3 @ National Ice Centre
Fife Flyers 5 Dundee Stars 2 @ Fife Ice Arena
English Premier League
Milton Keynes 8 Manchester Phoenix 2 @ Planet Ice Milton Keynes
Slough Jets 5 Telford Tigers 3 @ Absolute Ice
Basingstoke Bison 4 Peterborough Phantoms 0 @ Basingstoke Arena
Sheffield Steeldogs 2 Bracknell Bees 3 @Ice Sheffield
NIHL North Cup (East)
Sutton Sting 2-3 Billingham Stars @Ice Sheffield
NIHL North Division 1
Trafford Metroes 4 Sheffield Spartans 6 @ Altrincham Ice Dome
Solways Sharks 6 Coventry Blaze NIHL 2 @Dumfries Ice Bowl
NIHL North Division 2
Blackburn Eagles 0 Nottingham Lions 7 @ Blackburn Arena
NIHL South Division 1
Cardiff Devils NIHL 12 Streatham Redskins 3 @ Cardiff Devils Ice Rink
Bracknell Hornets 2 Chelmsford Chieftains 7 @ JNL
NIHL South Division 2
Lee Valley Lions 1-4 Cardiff Devils NIHL @ Lee Valley Ice Rink
Peterborough Islanders 3-4 Chelmsford Warriors @ Planet Ice Peterborough
Romford Fury 5-6 Slough Jets NIHL
Scottish National League
Kilmarnock Storm 2 Solway Sharks SNL 9
Aberdeen Lynx 4 Dundee Tigers 4
Dundee Comets 4 North Ayrshire Wild 7
-Neil Tucker
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