Sutton Sting shut out the Stars

After a close finish to the previous week’s away game at Billingham, Sutton were the team with a point to prove.

Losing 4-3 away may as well be 10-0 in terms of points gained, however, coach Ian Johnson was pleased with the effort and commitment his team demonstrated coming back from 4-1 down.

Sunday’s return fixture saw Sutton icing Dmitri Zimozdra in goal.

From the start it was apparent that the Sting had plenty of energy in the tank, and looked the fresher of the two teams, and at 6.51 on the clock, Shaun Ashton scored a lovely team goal with assists from line mates, Matt Jeffcock and Richie Oliver.

At 14.18 ex-Billingham Star Adam Robinson made it 2-0, his second goal in as many games against his old club, when Colegate cycled the puck to Thomas Stuart-Dant behind the Billingham goal, which he slotted straight through to Robinson.

The second period was pretty uneventful until import forward Stuart-Dant hit another rocket to convincingly beat Watson from long range in his top left corner and the Stars fans were silenced.

Sutton decided to shut up shop in the final period and only look to hit the Stars on the counter. Although Zimozdra was clearly the busier of the two netminders, he always looked comfortable and more than capable of his first shut-out this season.

Three soft penalties for the Sting gave a huge advantage to the Stars, but they just couldn’t find an opportunity to seriously test Zimozdra as yet again the Sting penalty kill stood strong.

Two big saves from young Mark Watson for the Stars prevented any further celebrations from the home crowd.

This week the Sting play Sheffield Spartans on Saturday before a double points League/Cup home clash with Solway Sharks on Sunday.

l For Sutton Sting U14s, life in the top league has taken a turn in fortune with the last couple of games proving too difficult.

On Saturday they travelled to the Skydome in Coventry to face a Blaze side brimming with confidence and were beaten 5-0.

It was the home side who were sharpest out of the blocks at the drop of the puck and soon stamped their authority on proceedings with some big hits on a startled Sting.

With a number of England and Select players icing for the Blaze it was always going to be tough going, and the Sting tried hard to contain them to no avail.

Blaze netted five unanswered goals which left the Sutton outfit well and truly stung.

After the game coach Lee Millward said: “Our team today looked just a shadow of the team that started the season so convincingly.

“We were very poor indeed and I’m very disappointed. But all credit to the Blaze who outworked us in every department today and were worthy winners.”

On Sunday at Lammas, Sting faced title-chasing Nottingham Ice Cats in the third meeting of the teams this season, but went down 7-2.

Sting are looking to emulate the success of their near neighbours, who are a team brimming with England players and a Conference coach.

It was a hard-fought encounter, but Nottingham’s greater pedigree and better quality was always going to be tough to overcome, and it was not until the final few minutes of the third period when the Sting managed to breach Nottingham’s solid defensive line.

But with a six-goal lead, Sutton’s reply was only a consolation and, as the seconds counted down a goal from each team saw the contest end 7-2.