So now we know just who awaits either of these teams in this weekend’s final series and there’s no doubt Tim Wallace will be keeping a watchful eye on who his next opponents will be.
The tie is finely poised at 5-4 for Steelers and despite their narrow advantage, could go either way in the next 60 minutes, with that carrot dangling of a best of three showdown with Nottingham Panthers.
These numbers won’t give any kind of indicator, but they do make it interesting.
24
Number of days out injured Sheffield Steelers goalie John Muse was until his return for Tuesday’s first leg after going off in their first game back on 3rd April.
7
Number of years since Manchester Storm coach Ryan Finnerty coached a team in a play-off semi final, taking Braehead Clan to the final four in 2014. They lost to Sheffield Steelers in the semi final.
Also number of shots by Max Fortier, who wears Storm’s number 7 jersey, in Tuesday’s first leg game, scoring three of them to complete his hat-trick.
Number of points scored by Fortier in games against Steelers (5+2) and Sheffield’s Tanner Eberle (2+5) in games between the clubs
2
Sheffield Steelers have lost both their ‘home’ games to Manchester Storm in the Elite Series so far
Max Fortier has five goals against Steelers including a hat-trick in Tuesdays first leg (PHOTO: Mark Ferriss)
16
Number of assists by Sheffield Steelers forward Josef Mikyska in the competition, tied with Coventry Blaze’s Mike Hammond and the most in the Elite Series
10
Number of faceoffs won by Storm’s Jacob Lundell Noer in Tuesday’s game, but he lost five of them in the game too
41
Total number of goals shared between these two clubs in their Elite Series meetings throughout the competition, where they’ve played each other five times. Steelers have 22 goals while Storm have found the net 19 times.
11
There have been 11 powerplay goals in this fixture so far – just over two per game on average
