Goal for Cole as Sheffield Steelers beat Nottingham Panthers again

Shudra was drafted on to the blue line to replace injured Niklas Nevalainen against Nottingham Panthers.

He responded to the task by helping Sheffield to a 4-1 victory and lashing in the final goal.

Team mate Patrick Watling has been saying for some time that Shudra, 25, has much to offer the EIHL side, after his promotion from National League status, with Leeds Knights.

“When you are in the League as a younger guy you need to play to your strengths. He has great size, great mobility and hands for how big he is,” said the forward.

“So what I tell him, I’ve told him before, he can make those plays, people are going to bounce off you.

“So you can take that extra second, develop the play and score goals.”

He said sometimes “people get in your head” when a young player emerges from the lower ranks.

But there was no sign of that when Shudra launched the puck past Rok Stojanovic with eight minutes remaining to ensure a healthy victory.

It followed other strikes from Kameron Kielly, who was also celebrating his first of the season, Daniel Ciampini and Marco Vallerand.

Hugo Roy had tied the game at 12:07 on the power play, but Sheffield’s physical defence and opportunistic offence were more than enough to ring up a second win of the season at the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham.

Coach Aaron Fox commended his side’s all-round performance in a game that saw Nottingham’s home attendance slip to 4,740, compared to their first Cup group game against Sheffield which attracted 5,279.