What I Have Against Jason Hewitt

I can already sense the hatred filling the internet. Hold your horses, there is method and reason to it all.

In 2010/11, the long-remembered 'Ben Simon' season, and for the 3 previous seasons of watching the Steelers, I thought Jason Hewitt was the bee's knees. An agitator, aggressive when necessary, playing his heart out week in week out, putting up the necessary points, the absolute example of what being a Sheffield Steeler was. Since then....eh.


I realise that not just Hewitt has taken a backwards step since the Simon season. Anybody who has come in since then has not been at that level, Robert Dowd hadn't been replaced until the arrival of Robert Dowd, and Nottingham and Belfast have made vast improvements to their team. Certainly, had I been writing this last June, I'd have been calling for the head of Jonathan Phillips - his form this season has been far improved and I am glad he has been kept on.

Hewitt, though, has dropped a lot in my estimation. He seems to have gone from a key piece of the deal, to essentially court jester. It seems to me like he took the British Bulldog nickname given to him by Simms to heart, and turned into a bit of a puppy. Likes to run around, bark in people's faces, and his bark definitely seems worse than his bite. His point production has dropped off, and I constantly find myself going ballistic at his decision making, taking daft penalties late in games for unnecessary reasons - being kicked out in the NIC, punching a player in the back of the head while he was crouched under referee protection in Hull, and so on.

I can see his qualities, its not like I'm completely blind to them. He is a good agitator when he's in the mood, he's good on the penalty kill, and he is absolutely committed to the cause - while researching opinions I discovered he played injured at the weekend. Hockey players are a rare breed indeed.

I just feel that if Jason wasn't British, he'd have been moved on. There seems a reluctance for teams to break up their main British core regardless of performance. And we have seen players with huge potential move on without fully realising it (Squires for one, and the evolution of Robert Farmer could have happened in orange which makes me sad).

I did wonder if it was just me that felt this way about Hewitt. I found one person who agreed with me. Step forward Simon Wright.

Jason Hewitt has been a good player to the Sheffield Steelers however in recent years he has seemed to have slipped slightly. Don't get me wrong I'm not going to completely say that he is terrible and shouldn't play hockey because in the past he has been selected for the Great Britain team and that is an achievement. He has also stayed loyal to the Steelers after having interest shown in him by Braehead and Cardiff during the 10/11 season and has hit the back of the net for them enough times, However this figure has been seem to slow down and lower within the last three seasons? Which brings me to the point that he is not as good as everyone makes him out to be he takes the credits of other players away like Phillips (consistent points for the last three years and already hit the net six times this season) or Thomas to name a few and also the fact that he can't skate backwards without crashing into another team mate is another reason why he isn't as good as everyone thinks he is. You think he would have at least some ice awareness and know where his team mates are. Also I have to say that he may be a better player if he learnt to make smart moves and control his temper twice I have seen him give penalty minutes away this season most recently at Hull after lashing out after the referees had got in between the players. This was not needed and doesn't do very well for the steelers family policy either does it if he learns to use his head a little more it may help too. Possibly the website designers for the steelers may question him as his nickname "the British bulldog" is not in inverted commas but question marks on the steelers app.

That was about it though. Hewitt received a lot of love from the Steelers Twitterverse.

@Sarah86Bailey

He's a great man very friendly off ice .. he sticks up for his team mates and scores when he wants I think he can do more 

Hewitt i think as become more physical for steelers i think if he was to improve he would help his team mates with assists 

 @benjibob1986

jus a thought but hewy & Phillips probably the best 2 players at penalty killing !!! Just a thought though .

@dawnrose007

Hewy isn't flashy on ice but gets on with the job. A great Steeler in my eyes 

@Once_Tricky

@hewy17 is gritty, loyal, committed, grinder, irritating to other players... Great in my book! Oh and a gent :-)

he has a pretty much different job these days. Our third line is a nightmare for most teams this year 

@Steelers_banter

heartbeat of the team. Hard to imagine a steelers team without @hewy17 

 @stevekath_steve

Top bloke. Excellent aggressive penalty killer. Fearless. Saw him hobbling in players lounge Sunday found out later that he played with 2 broken toes. Says it all really. Just wish he would be a little more selfish and shoot more often

@TomWalkeden

well there isnt many more people than @hewy17 who show as much passion as him. works hard and just gets on with his job 

@JaredRenshaw

@hewy17 leaves everything on the ice #grit

@rafoxy

@hewy17 is a great team player and great eye candy for the ladies. not as nice as #phillips20

@richiemuzzy

@hewy17 always gives 100% if the rest of the team show the same passion we would be top of the league 

@crosscheckuk

i'd say his stats speak for themselves. Games assists goals PIMs - he always performs year on year. #bulldog 

So I would say that Hewitt has the support of the Steelers fan base. Strangely, Hewitt is one of the few topics that the fans generally seem in agreement with. I...erm...may have incurred the wrath of the man himself too.

Hewitt:

@Once_Tricky get the feeling @FrozenSteelBlog isn't much of a fan?!

My response:

@hewy17 im more than willing to be proved wrong jason

Hewitt:

@FrozenSteelBlog I look forward to the challenge then mate

That is what I want to see. It is nothing personal. This is a professional sport, a business to some. Success is necessary on all fronts, and we need all players to be successful. I want the actual British Bulldog. The real Jason Hewitt.

Time for you to stand up Hewy.

Any comments on this?

@IAmMcCausland
@TomWalkeden
@AwkwardGinge
@FrozenSteelBlog

Cheers for reading

Liam
@IAmMcCausland