Fresh anguish for Sheffield Steelers as they are hammered again by Glasgow Clan

John Armstrong on the boards against Clan. Pic by Hayley Roberts

They were outgunned and out-classed to the point that Sheffield made Glasgow Clan look like an NHL franchise for 40 minutes.

Before the game, coach Tom Barrasso had underlined the importance of nullifying Clan's potency - but his words fell went unheeded as they lost 6-1..

Last month, owner Tony Smith sacked three players after a similar 6-1 hiding, now he has pretty much run out of others to release.

Two defensive howlers set the tone in the first period.

Clan, who had scored 23 more goals than Steelers in two fewer games, were gifted the puck by centreman John Armstrong.

Leading goal-poacher Brendan Connolly seized the opportunity; he picked out former Cardiff and Nottingham man Guillaume Doucet, who did the rest in just 69 seconds.

Just 25 days earlier, Clan had shut out Steelers 6-0 on their home ice. And they made it 2-0 on the night after a Ben O'Connor turnover, the third line were caught high and Clan had a three-on-one, Connolly burying the puck.

Gerard Hansen and Scott Tanski threatened further, although Steelers also upped their offensive game, Anthony DeLuca in particular, and were unfortunate not to have scored before the first hooter.

Travis Ehrhardt served notice of continuing pressure on Jackson Whistle's goal at the re-start.

His team were innovative when they had the chance - but kept it simple when it benefited them.

And they put the game out of Steelers' reach with two goals in three minutes.

Ehrhardt notched the first and then Sheffield's defensive zone coverage disappeared after a face off as Rasmus Bjerrum made it 4-0 at 31:19.

A midweek crowd of around 7,000 was deflated to the point of near-silence as they saw Glasgow skaters first to the puck on almost every occasion.

A slow line change saw Whistle beaten at his far post for number five, courtesy of the unstoppable Doucet, who then chalked up his hat-trick after waltzing around his markers.

Brad Day took over goaltending duties after 40 minutes and at least he saw Jonathan Phillips scorer a consolation goal at 44;14.