Sheffield Steelers forward Brendan Connolly admits he was knackered when he scored his big overtime winner on Saturday against Nottingham Panthers.
The 34-year-old came up trumps for Aaron Fox’s men as they came from 4-2 behind to take the two points in a hard-fought contest.
It was a big goal and he followed it up with one in Sunday’s 8-3 win over Coventry Blaze at the Skydome as well, but he recalled the moment that was probably the highlight of the weekend.
“I was so tired I was just worried about where the rebound was going to go,” Connolly told the Sheffield Star:
“I was pretty fatigued on that shift to be honest, it was late in the shift, obviously in overtime you don’t have much energy anyway.
“I just put one on net and luckily it went in. I was relieved to hear that crowd go crazy, it was awesome.
Connolly sealed a win for Steelers over Manchester Storm with an overtime goal (PHOTO: Dean Woolley)
“When you are that tired, you kind of just close your eyes, you pick your spot and you shoot it and just hope it goes in.”
Next up for Steelers is the visit of current champions, Belfast Giants, who themselves on the back of a good double win over Cardiff Devils.
One added caveat is that Connolly is a former Giants having played for them two seasons ago, with whom he won the Challenge Cup.
But he and his current team are fully aware they have quite the challenge on their hands in front of the FreeSports cameras.
He added: “They always have a good roster, obviously defending the league title, they have got a lot of high-end guys on their team.
“They have made a few changes too so they are trying to change things up and I’m sure they are going to come with a lot of energy,
“Belfast are a physical group, if you watched them play in the Champions League, they skate hard and are physical, so we have to match the intensity and let our skills take over.”
