Ice Hockey: Steelers see Capitals game as the acid test of their season

Published on Friday 13 November 2009 09:08

ROCK-BOTTOM Sheffield Steelers upped the stakes for the visit of Edinburgh Capitals tomorrow in the Challenge Cup and admitted: "This is a must-win."

The reigning Elite League and Play-Off champions currently prop up the league table with eight points from 14 games.

But the club's general manager, Mike O'Connor, father of Capitals' defenceman Ben O'Connor, believes his misfiring team could gain a massive lift by avoiding defeat against Doug Christiansen's men and thereby qualifying for the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup

The clubs also square up in Edinburgh on Sunday in the Elite League and both camps see the double-header as pivotal to their season.

O'Connor admitted: "It is tough times right now and there isn't a soul here happy. The one thing we must do though is get behind the guys on Saturday. The Challenge Cup is a massive event for us. We have a chance to make the semi-finals and who knows what will happen from there.

"We need a confidence boost as a team and as a club and the fans need something to smile about as well."

If Sheffield go through in the Challenge Cup then they play arch rivals Nottingham Panthers who thrashed the South Yorkshire team 6-3 before a crowd of 7,000 in Nottingham last weekend.

Of course, Nottingham edged Capitals 4-3 on Tuesday in a televised league clash at Murrayfield which is screened tonight (11pm Sky Extra) and then repeated tomorrow.

O'Connor added: "If we go through we will play Nottingham and, after the weekend, I think we all agree that we owe them one. How nice would it be to knock them out. Saturday has become so crucial. I hope the fans will realise that we are trying to resolve the problems we are having and come and support us."

Sheffield will be out for revenge after Capitals beat them 6-2 when they last met in the Challenge Cup at Murrayfield on 27 October. The local paper, The Sheffield Star, described Dave Matsos' team as "a laughing stock" after that reverse.

It's against that background that Capitals traveland the Murrayfield men have concerns of their own. They need to arrest a worrying slump which has seen them win only one of their last five games.

Skipper Martin Cingel again sits out following a lower body injury and Sheffield will no doubt focus on Capitals' habit of making costly mistakes, a point Simon Lambert stressed following defeats at Hull Stingrays and at home to Nottingham.

They say a week is a long time in politics and it is also a long time in ice hockey. The 26-year-old Canadian was on a high after being voted Player of the Week by the Elite League last week, but his mood is a little different now because Lambert knows how crucial this weekend is. He stressed that Capitals will not be taking tomorrow's game lightly or saving themselves for Sunday's crucial league clash.

Quebec-born Lambert, who set up two of Capitals' goals in Tuesday's defeat, said: "We've beaten Sheffield twice and we can do it again. Our goal is to be a .500 hockey team (to win at least the same number of games as they lose] but we must cut out mistakes. We pushed Nottingham hard on Tuesday and they are the top team in this league.

"We competed hard but finished with nothing and so we have to play hard again on Saturday to set us up for Sunday. It is a long season but we have to put points on the board. Everything is so tight in this league. We played really well in the first period against Nottingham and went ahead 1-0 but we had a bad second period and they went ahead 3-1.

"We battled back but made mistakes during the game and they cost us. Mistakes in only a few shifts can really cost you in this league and you have got to play hard for 60 minutes.

"It was the same at Hull on Saturday. We made mistakes and it cost us and we have to get better. Everybody is to working hard and everybody must continue to work every shift. We need to battle for every puck, we need to battle in the corners and to give it 100 per cent every time we go on the ice – it is the only way.

"We can't play well for 95 per cent of the time and badly for five per cent because that costs you in this league as teams are so closely matched."