Fife Flyers 2 Sheffield Steelers 4 (final)

They scored two goals in 57 stunning seconds to earn a 4-2 win in the quarter final first leg at Fife Flyers. The deciding leg is at iceSheffield on January 20.

The Kirkcaldy club are top of the Gardiner Conference standings and are never easy opposition at home. But Steelers set off with a bang, Guillaume Desbiens firing in a decent shot within 10 seconds of face off. And the big winger, such a find mid-way through the season, scored after a Tyler Mosienko shot rebounded out to him, at 7;06.

They didn’t stop there - the away side piling on the pressure on home goalie David Brown. And when Fife did go on the offence, they found Sheffield hard to break down and quick to counter.

One a five-on-three penalty, Desbiens suffered a shot to the ribs but continued the shift.

Steelers were again missing injured Colton Fretter, who has scored twice against Fife in their two earlier wins over the Scots, this season. But Levi Nelson hit the bar and they seemed to put a strangle-hold on the game in the 25th minute, top scorer Mathieu Roy finishing off a Jeff Legue raid.

But Fife won a face off and Michael Dorr caught out goalie Marek Pinc, at 29.25. And within two minutes it was all square with Stephen Gunn taking advantage of some careless defending.

It had been a period of sloppiness and Flyers had expertly cashed in. Pinc just managed to grab the puck on the line as Ryan Dingle led Fife’s barrage. Having outshot Sheffield 12-6 in the middle period, Fife continued to take the initiative.

Yet they were poleaxed by two goals within a minute as Legue and Nelson won the match and gave their side a decent first leg lead.

RESULT

Tuesday 12th January

Challenge Cup Quarter-Final 1st Leg

Fife Flyers 2 Sheffield Steelers 4

FIXTURES

Wednesday 13th January

Challenge Cup Quarter Final 1st Leg

Dundee Stars v Cardiff Devils – 7.30pm

Friday 15th January

Elite League

Braehead Clan v Manchester Storm – 7.30pm

Nottingham Panthers v Belfast Giants – 7.30pm

Saturday 16th January

Elite League

Braehead Clan v Coventry Blaze – 7.00pm

Cardiff Devils v Belfast Giants – 7.00pm

Edinburgh Capitals v Manchester Storm – 5.30pm

Fife Flyers v Dundee Stars – 7.15pm

Sheffield Steelers v Nottingham Panthers – 7.00pm

Sunday 17th January

Elite League

Cardiff Devils v Sheffield Steelers – 6.00pm

Coventry Blaze v Dundee Stars – 5.15pm

Manchester Storm v Fife Flyers – 5.00pm