Para ice hockey: Sheffield Steelkings complete the double

They completed the domestic double with hat-tricks from club chairman Jake Oakley and Matt Clarkson along with a brace from Matt Woollias.If there were any nerves ahead of playing the final – the club’s first – on home ice they were diminished early as the Steelkings built up a three goal first period lead through two Clarkson strikes, both assisted by Oakley, and one from Woollias.Tyler Christopher was always a dangerous spark for Cardiff, and he provided a warning shot that Cardiff were not to be battered aside, forcing a save from Bryan Hackworth in the Steelkings goal in the dying seconds of the period.The first of Oakley’s trio was the only score in the second frame, although the Steelkings enjoyed periods of dominance and forced several stops from Gareth Rees in the Huskies net. Once again Christopher threatened to score for Caridff in the closing stages of the half as his effort forced a goalmouth scramble in which the Steelkings were saved by the buzzer to end the period.Clarkson completed his hat-trick before Christopher did get his finals goal early in the third period, taking advantage of an accidental collision between two Steelkings defenders to race onto a pass from Jonathan LeGalloudec and lift the puck past Hackworth.Oakley soon restored the Steelkings five goal lead and the Steelkings closed out the scoring with a quick fire double, with both Woollias and Oakley scoring with powerful efforts from the right-hand side of the Huskies goal.The Steelkings qualified for Sunday’s final with a 10-2 win over the Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday. Clarkson had opened the scoring inside four minute, before a powerful top-corner blast from Scotty Turner levelled the scores. The Steelkings responded in force with three more Clarkson goals and a first Steelkings goal for Rachel Rawson before Callum Shakespeare prodded home from close-range to pull one back for the Phantoms.There were still five more Steelkings goals; two for Woollias, one for Clarkson and for Barry Grayson who fired home a rebound after a sweeping Steelkings counter-attack and another first ever goal for Matthew Franklin who fired home in the near top corner from a breakaway down the left-hand side of the Peterborough defence.Cardiff beat a depleted Manchester Mayhem 9-1 to setup the final encounter with the Steelkings. The Mayhem defeated the Phantoms 7-3 in the third-place playoff.Oakley said, “I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of this team. It's taken a lot of blood, sweat, tears and hard work to get this far and every single player has worked so hard to get where we are now. I'm so happy for everyone at the club, for what we've achieved in five years and especially in the last twelve months.