Steeldogs were without 3 defencemen in Cooper, Adams and Barry and also minus Shudra for the visit of Leeds, who had the talismatic Gospel back in goal.
A big ask in itself,but with the majority of the remaining D suffering from illness, a big test lay ahead of them.
Remarkably the dogs raced into a 3 goal lead within the first 12 minutes of the game, Sam Tremblay notching twice ( assists from Kirk, Sommer and then the returning Urick ) and Brammer ( assisted Ivan and Ulrick ).
Leeds were looking dis-jointed and the usually dependable Gospel was having a mare.
However a goal from Endicott towards the end of the period gave Leeds a huge lift.
Brown got an early marker in the 2nd period, but despite Leeds’ control of the game, they couldnt add to the score and the period ended 3-2.
With the Steeldogs starting to show signs of fatigue, coupled with the away teams blistering speed , there was only going to be one outcome in the 3rd period and a dubious slashing call on Tim Smith @ 41.42 lead to a PPG from barron.
Endicott added his 2nd of the night 24 seconds later and the Dogs had little response to this.
Further goals from Biz, Howlett and Brown saw the score end 3-7.
A very disappointing finish to the game and we can only hope for a better performance with Hull the visitors on Saturday.
Gospel, despite only facing 22 shots all game – conceding 3, was the away team M.O.M whilst Tremblay took the beers for the home team.
Lets hope the lacklustre 3rd period is down to the illness sweeping the locker room and things improve drastically for the next game.
