Record-Breaking Crowd Watch Hallam Win Ice Hockey Varsity 2015!

A crowd of 7731 packed into the Motorpoint Arena on Wednesday night to witness Sheffield Hallam win the Ice Hockey Varsity 2-1. The crowd was a record not only for Sheffield Varsity, but it is also the highest attendance at a Varsity Ice Hockey game outside of North America. This is fantastic record which both Sheffield Hallam and University of Sheffield should be proud of, and it created an amazing atmosphere in the arena.
This year was the 10th year that an Ice Hockey 1′s Varsity has taken place and Sheffield Hallam have now been victorious in every single one, winning last year’s game 3-0. The Ice Hockey 2′s Varsity took place last Thursday at iceSheffield with Hallam and University of Sheffield playing out a 0-0 draw though it was a very exciting game and a perfect teaser for last night’s main event.
It was a bitter-sweet affair for Hallam with it already confirmed that University of Sheffield had won Varsity overall. However, thousands still turned up to cheer the team on and they were rewarded early on as Hallam took the lead. James Woodcock, assisted by Johnjo Williamson, managed to squeeze the puck in past University of Sheffield’s goaltender to put Hallam 1-0 up within the first three minutes of the game.
This set the tone for the rest of the period and for most of it, Hallam were well on top and continuing to put pressure on University of Sheffield in their search for a second. However, Hallam were frustrated and the first period ended with Woodcock’s solitary goal the only thing separating the two teams.
Hallam’s second goal finally arrived in the second period. It came through Jordan Ho, who would go on to be voted as Hallam’s player of the match whilst the assists came courtesy of Williamson and George Bradbury. The goal came during a power-play after a University of Sheffield player was sent to the sin-bin and as has been the case for much of Varsity, the game was extremely competitive and both teams were sin-binned on several occasions.
Though Hallam always looked the stronger outfit, University of Sheffield weren’t giving up as they sought the icing on the cake to go with their overall Varsity win. They came close to getting a goal back in the second period, but Hallam survived the scare of a goalmouth scramble.
The second period ended with Hallam still holding their 2-0 lead but in the final period, University of Sheffield pulled a goal back to create a tense finish to the game. Ashton Bell was the player to unlock the Hallam defence with around 10 minutes to go.
University of Sheffield’s fans were celebrating once again moments later as they had the puck in the net for a second time. However, much to the relief and amusement of the Hallam faithful, the goal was ruled out for offside meaning Hallam’s 2-1 lead was preserved.
Despite Hallam having two players sin-binned at one point, and being 6-4 down on the ice, they managed to keep hold of that lead until the final whistle to secure the win and the Varsity point.
That meant that the final score for Sheffield Varsity 2015 was University of Sheffield 37–34 Sheffield Hallam. Hallam won the week 34-32 but it was a case of ‘So close, yet so far’ as they failed to win enough points to overturn the 5-0 lead University of Sheffield took into this week after Winter Varsity.
Hallam will look at a few results here and there which didn’t go their way and wonder what could have been if they had just a bit more luck. However, that’s taking nothing away from the brilliant effort by Team Sheffield Hallam over Varsity who pushed their opponents all the way and will be back next year to bring the Varsity trophy back where it belongs.