By Xanthe Boursier-Gazzard

The Bristol Honda Pitbulls took on the Sheffield Steeldogs last night in their annual ‘Air the Bear’ game, falling to a 4-2 defeat as the visitors took the lead in the third period to finalise the score.

The home side was without defenseman Tanner Butler due to a two-game suspension; however, they saw the return of Reece Cochrane to the lineup for the evening.

The Pitbulls battled for possession in the opening minutes, taking the puck back and forth into their offensive zone, with an early initial shot coming from Bayley Harewood that was deflected off the edge of the posts. The puck was retained from here as Cam Hamill made the pass to Nick Pryce, who was able to slide a shot to the side of Ben Norton, airing the bears and opening the scoring. The Steeldogs reciprocated this just minutes later with Ivan Bjorkly-Nordstrom getting the breakaway and pushing the puck backdoor to equalise. Despite this, the home team was able to bounce back as Ewan Hill squeezed a shot past Norton to regain a lead at the end of the first twenty minutes.

The second period saw the Steeldogs equalise early on following shots from Hill and Harewood that couldn’t find the back of the net. Walker Sommer led the rush and delivered the puck past Nappier to get the only goal this period. Following this, the Pitbulls were faced with a slashing call on Nick Pryce; however, they were able to kill the penalty and deny the Steeldogs of taking a lead in the second.

The Steeldogs proved to have a greater dominance of puck possession in the final period, with Elmeri Hallfors putting them ahead five minutes in by launching the puck through the pads of Nappier, lighting the lamp. Nathan Ripley faced a two-minute call for hooking, which allowed the Pitbulls to have their chance on the power play; despite this, none of the attempted shots could make it past Norton. The Steeldogs had one left in them before the final buzzer as Sommer gained the puck and went one-on-one with Nappier, sniping a shot past his reach, leaving the away team to take the 4-2 win.

Man of the Match for the visitors went to Walker Sommer and to netminder Tommy Nappier for your Bristol Honda Pitbulls.

Image : Pete Fears