Steelers primed to defy Devils: Ice hockey

Sheffield Steelers are in good heart for next weekend's Superleague Championship semi-final against Cardiff Devils. The Steelers wrapped up their play-off campaign on Sunday night with a comfortable 7-2 win over Basingstoke Bison.

The Steelers play in the first semi-final, attempting to prevent the league champions taking another step towards the double, while in the second, Benson and Hedges Cup winners, Nottingham Panthers, take on Ayr Scottish Eagles, the Superleague new boys.

On Sunday, the Steelers never looked back after establishing an early 4-0 lead over Basingstoke.

The only drama of the weekend was at Ayr, where victory for Newcastle Cobras would have given them the Eagles' place in the semi-finals. Three goals in 12 minutes of the first period settled Ayr and despite Cobras coming back to just 5-3 down with 15 minutes to go, Eagles never looked less than able and won 6-4.

The next day, however, Ayr slipped to a 4-3 defeat at Manchester Storm who had yet to win a point. A Nynex crowd of over 10,000 saw Storm's season end in the right way thanks to goals from Mike Morin, David Smith, Martin Smith and Brad Turner.

In the Premier League play-offs there were away wins for Swindon Ice Lords and Guildford Flames. Swindon, the league champions, came from behind to beat Kingston Hawks 5-1, while Guildford's 8-7 win at Telford Tigers was a thriller. Normal time and overtime failed to separate the sides so the game went to a penalty shoot-out, which Fred Perlini eventually settled in Guildford's favour after Telford had twice missed.