This Month In History - March

Thank you to Robert for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Robert on Twitter @steelersstats

MARCH 1996 (20 years ago)

This month, unusually, was to be play off time.

In the early rounds of the play offs Steelers stumbled unexpectedly in Basingstoke but two consecutive shutouts saw them demolish Fife 11-0 and Nottingham 8-0. They could afford to be shut out in Nottingham because four wins saw them progress comfortably to Wembley.

The only play off final I’ve been to and what a cracker! Steelers played Humberside Hawks in a slightly one sided semi final. The Steelers had the game sewn up early in the second as they cruised to a 4-0 lead, eventually winning 6-3.

This year, unlike last, Wembley saved its best for the final. 

Steelers were 3-0 up by the 22^nd minute through Malo, Neil and Cranston. But by the end of the second period Nottingham had tied the game up with three goals in 94 seconds. The remaining period and ten minutes of overtime remained scoreless: so it was into penalties. Eight penalties failed to separate the teams and Nottingham were buoyant after stopping Priestlay, Hand and Nemeth until up stepped Rob Wilson to blast the shot past Scott O’Connor for the winner.

MARCH 2001 (15 years ago)

Steelers would have been stripped of their newly-won league title if their players had gone on strike before Sunday's ISL regular season finale at Manchester Storm.

Steelers’ tycoon Darren Brown faces a double threat to his empire over unpaid bills. Sheffield Steelers are facing a fresh winding up order after failing to pay programme printing costs and Chesterfield FC have been reported to the Football League by Mansfield Town over £36,000 in unpaid ticket receipts.

Player Shayne McCosh met potential new owner Andy Cooke following the squad's demand for payment of £40,000 in bonuses by this afternoon, otherwise they would refuse to play at Nottingham in tonight's Play-off match. Cooke offered a deal where two bonuses would be paid today, totalling around £12,000, and two more of the same amount this Friday.

Darren Brown's dramatic decision to quit Sheffield Steelers today triggered a three-way fight for Britain's best ice hockey franchise. Rotherham car firm owner Andy Cooke was the afternoon meeting Steelers directors David Cox, David Brown and Brian Yates. The second candidate is Sid Butt of Woodhouse, who owns a meat distribution centre in Scotland. The third is a secret consortium, which could become the favourite.

Steelers secured another cup, this time The Challenge Cup, against Ayr for a record third time.

At the Odyssey Arena they defeated the Ayr Scottish Eagles 4-2 before a crowd of over 7000. Their were four scorers for Steelers Steve Carpenter,  Warren Norris opened the scoring but their was controversy surrounding Tony Hand’s disallowed goal (which would have seen Steelers down by one) but then Paul Beraldo and Rick Brebant made sure for Sheffield.

The previous Sunday Steelers had secured the league title against Manchester when a large crowd of 12000 plus saw Steelers win 5-3. They had clinched the league earlier but we could now see they finished nineteen points clear of their nearest rivals, Cardiff Devils.

The three week play off campaign was overshadowed by constant worries about wages and the Challenge Cup final being scheduled just before did not help. So it was no surprise that they got off to a shaky start, losing three games straight including conceding five without reply in Nottingham.

However, they recovered and four consecutive wins saw them through to the semi finals against Bracknell. In only Bracknell’s second outing to the play offs they drew level with Sheffield only for Rick Brebant and Steve Carpenter to end the scoring close to the end of the second period.

MARCH 2006 (10 years ago)

The end of a dismal season came on March 12^th when Steelers slumped to their nineteenth loss of the season in Coventry and thus ended the season in their lowest ever place in the table that of sixth place.

There was to be some redemption in the form of the new cup competition. Although horrifically scheduled, on the first weekend of the playoffs, Steelers played Coventry and the two sides came away with a goalless first leg.

With Dave Whistle in sole charge it seemed the Steelers had found a new lease of life as they sailed through the play offs into the semi finals of the Championships.

MARCH 2010 (5 years ago)

The Sheffield Steelers were today celebrating after being announced as 2010/11 Elite League Champions. The title run in came down to the wire, between the Steelers and fierce rivals the Cardiff Devils. Both were even on 87 points from 54 games, but Sheffield winning one more game in regulation than their counterparts was the determining factor.

Sheffield’s final two games were against the Braehead Clan who were playing in their inaugural season in the Elite League.
 

The South Yorkshire side travelled north of the border on Saturday (19^thMarch) to face the Clan at the Braehead Arena in the penultimate league game. Sheffield strolled to a 5-1 victory in a game where they didn’t even get out of second gear, preserving energy for tomorrow’s eagerly awaited rematch.
 

Only one goal separated the teams in the first period, coming courtesy of Steelers Captain Jonathan Phillips at 19:02 after some good work from linemate Rob Globke. A second period blitz from Sheffield which saw them hit four unanswered goals pretty much wrapped up the game and sealed them the two valuable points. Jeff Legue was first on target at 25:52 with his 39^thgoal of the season to give his team a 2-0 lead. Frustrations began to get the better of the hosts and their agitator Kyle Bruce finished a late hit on Steve Munn who took exception to the hit, and the pair dropped the gloves with Munn claiming the honours in a good bout.

The fight seemed to spur the Steelers on further as they fired home three more goals in the following four minutes, to put the game out of reach. Firstly, Joey Talbot netted Steelers third of the night on the powerplay at 35:05 to give the visitors some more breathing room.

Neil Clark then slotted home another powerplay marker at 38:14 after a neat pass from Rob Globke again to make it 4-0. Great Britain international Ashley Tait then rounded off the second period scoring at 39:54 with his 25^thof the season and Sheffield’s fifth of the night.

A Bobby Chaumont consolation effort in the third period for the Clan wasn’t enough to prevent Sheffield from claiming the all-important two points in their quest to land the League title.

The same two teams battled it out once again twenty-four hours later at the Sheffield Motorpoint Arena in front of a bumper crowd. Sheffield cruised to a 7-2 victory to ensure they were crowned 2010/11 Elite League Champions for the first time since the 2008/09 double-winning side.

Rod Sarich was the first on the scoresheet after he blasted home on the powerplay to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Jeff Legue doubled the Steelers lead with his 40th goal of the season after a sublime pass from linemate Joey Talbot finding Legue backdoor all alone who made no mistake in slotting the puck home.

No further scoring followed in the first period, in which Sheffield heavily outshot their opponents 13-3.  An unlikely source in Jerramie Domish netted the Steelers third goal after some good work from Derek Campbell to find Domish in space, to make it 3-0.

Neil Clark added further misery to the Clan just 39 seconds later, when he netted his 37^thgoal of the season to give Steelers a 4-0 lead. Steelers piled on further pressure and they got their just desserts when Rod Sarich netted his second of the game shorthanded to make it 5-0 to the South Yorkshire side.

Sheffield Steelers lynchpin defenceman Steve Munn netted a rare goal on the powerplay to round off the second period scoring in which the hosts outshot the visitors 18-5.

A resurgent Braehead Clan started the third period the brighter of the two teams, and former Manchester Phoenix Captain Adam Walker broke the visitors duck to give his side a glimmer of hope. Jordan Krestanovich netted the visitors second goal of the night on the powerplay to give the excellent travelling support of the Clan something to cheer about.

Their celebrations were short lived when Steve Munn fired home his second of the night at 56:46 to make it 7-2. The bumper crowd were buoyant for the final three minutes signalling the start of major celebrations.

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