Hat-trick for teenager Cole Shudra: Edinburgh Capitals 1-7 Sheffield Steelers
The 19-year-old son of Sheffield hockey legend Ron has spotted in mainly on defence this season.
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Hide AdBut injuries have seen the one-time Sheffield Rapiers kid drafted on the forward line and he responded with two middle period goals, one which levelled the game when Steelers had gone behind, and a late strike.
Steelers had won 5-1 the last time they were at bottom-of-the-league Edinburgh’s yet they went behind after two minutes when their top points-scorer Mike Cazzola engineered a move for Pavel Vorobyev to score.
Steelers struggled with Kazakh players in the Continental Cup and they couldn’t keep the 35-year-old centre off the scoreboard, shooting through Ervins Mustukovs’ legs.
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Hide AdColton Fretter and Jonas Westerling put the pressure on Murrayfield goalie Tyler Beskorowany, while Shudra and Liam Kirk were also denied.
In fact, Steelers outshot their hosts 20-5 in the opening 20 minutes but they could not profit from a Patrik Moisio - tripping minor and beat the big Canadian netminder.
Jonathan Phillips and Levi Nelson continued to look for a way back in, but it was 19-year-old Shudra who found the net - his first as a senior Steeler, with Andreas Valdix and Mark Matheson on the assists trail.
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Hide AdPaul Thompson’s troops stepped up the pressure in all sections of the pad, Ben O’Connor taking out Patrik Moisio with a hit.
Matt Marquardt then turned the match Steelers’ way.
He assisted on a go-ahead goal for Eric Neiley at 31;34.
Marquardt was then stopped on a breakaway but Sheffield still scored their third via Mathieu Roy. They had bagged a brace in 88 seconds.
Caps had the odd foray but couldn’t make a dint in the Steelers’ rearguard.
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Hide AdAnd they couldn’t prevent Shudra from collecting his second after the stuffed home a Liam Kirk rebound at 38;45 for 4-1.
Caps lost further ground at 48;36 when Marquardt scored the goal he’d been threatening.
It was now a matter of whether Steelers would try to run the score up and Marquardt jumped at the opportunity with two minutes left.
Shudra wrapped it up with his third - sealing a memorable career high he will never forget.