Vipers, encouraged by last week's performance, started the match well, putting a lot of pressure of the Sheffield defense and net minder. Some nicely linked play saw Hannah Worthington break the deadlock, and score the only goal of the opening period. Some of the Sheffield fans were going a bit crazy in the stands, but the Vipers team remained calm and solid at the back, and distributed the puck well.

It was to be more of the same hard work and playmaking in the second period. Again, although Vipers were dominating the play, the score board seemed to be broken and was determined to display only a 1-0 margin. Just as one may have been beginning to think Vipers couldn't get a second, back-post Bernie, found herself unmarked and slotted in a rebound from Cookie, to allow Vipers to go in to the third period with a much deserved 2 goal lead.

Vipers were determined not to let the lead slip in the third, and the pressure was finally relieved when Hannah Worthington seemed to find her scoring touch. Some great passing and puck distribution from all members of the team meant that Hannah found herself in the slot area, and calmly and confidently increased Vipers' lead to 3. This gave coach JS the breathing space he desired, and brought on his young and upcoming defense(wo)man Kerry. She took her lead from her D-partners and made some nice passes, especially when Sheffield mounted their last gasp effort of pressure in the last 10 minutes of the game. This change in defensive set-up allowed Lucy, who has been deputizing quite splendidly on the blue line for the past couple of games, to return to her favoured forward position. She made the most of her time and put the puck in the back of the net. Hannah continued her scoring spree, and increased her personal tally to 4 in the game (2 consecutive hat-tricks for Hannah). Sheffield were denied several times quite beautifully in the game by Maya, between the posts, but did eventually get 1 consolation goal late on in the game.

Asked at the post-match press conference about how impressed he was with his team, JS simply brimmed from ear-to-ear. His only regret from the day was the failure to bring a sled to make the most of Sheffield’s snowy and hilly location. On a more serious note, he added that this again was a performance to remember, over a good Sheffield team. The future looks bright…well, there’s some blue sky somewhere amid all that snow! Vipers play Sheffield again in two weeks time…the winter classic series continues…can the Vipers make it 3 out of 3 against Sheffield?