This Month in Steelers History - April

Better late than never, here's April's history lesson.

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

APRIL 1996 (20 years ago)

The Play-Offs were completed by March of this year but that did not stop people celebrating the win.

Steelermania brought Orchard Square in the city centre to a shuddering halt. Hundreds of ice hockey fans joined Sheffield Lord Mayor Councillor David Heslop in saluting the Grand Slam champions and Steelers Captain Ron Shudra and his men were swamped by well-wishers and autograph hunters.

This was after Sheffield Steelers had returned from Wembley after completing the Grand Slam over arch rivals Nottingham Panthers.

Just a footnote: the season ended with Tony Hand scoring 180 points and Ken Priestlay scoring 88 goals, both feats are still records to this day.

APRIL 2001 (15 years ago)

Ice Hockey's Superleague appears to be attempting to hasten Steelers plunge into financial liquidation. The Grand Slam club was fined £50,000 by Superleague because of “total mis-management” at board level. For only the second time since the league's inception the Standards Committee considered a charge of “bringing discredit or harm upon another club or Superleague”.

Dave Simms the driving force behind Sheffield Steelers for 10 years wants to step down from his job as team manager. He has laid the ground for a return to the club for Mike O'Connor, possibly as general manager, to properly run the club's commercial affairs. The recruitment of O'Connor could be a significant boost to Jenkinson and partner Andy Cook's bid to the Superleague to either buy the franchise or continue it in its present form.

Martin Jenkinson and Andy Cooke, supported by new general manager Mike O'Connor were presenting their credentials to the Superleague board, hoping to be awarded the ice hockey franchise. Sheffield Steelers ice hockey was due to be shut down by a judge today, leaving a long list of unpaid bills in its wake. The company, which lurched into debts under owner Darren Brown, declined to contest a winding up order brought by VAT officials. The firm is now expected to be liquidated, with the franchise reverting back to the Superleague which wants to sell it.

Fight for Steelers turns ugly, Martin Jenkinson claimed he had “shaken hands” on a deal with the ISL and that why he and fellow investors Andy Cooke and Martin Smith had ploughed £180,000 into Steelers in the past few weeks.

And, not to leave you in suspense:

JUNE: 19th. Former Chesterfield owner Norton Lee has won the fight to run Superleague ice hockey in South Yorkshire. But the millionaire businessman and his Eye Group partners will have to fight for the right to use the name Sheffield Steelers.

Steelers’ die-hards turned out in their thousands to show support for the men who saved their club this weekend. Around 2,200 made their point in the sunshine outside Sheffield Arena at a rally called to back Andy Cooke and Martin Jenkinson and their plans to take a Steelers team into the British National League.

Steelers’ completed their four trophy Grand Slam by defeating the London Knights 2-1 in the Championship Final. It was perhaps fitting that Scott Allison should get the  game winning goal was scored on the powerplay, after just returning from an eleven match ban after his exploits in Nottingham in February. This was after Kent Simpson had levelled the scores in the second period.

APRIL 2006 (10 years ago)

First order of the day was to win the new cup. Steelers took on Coventry in the second leg and in the second minute Mike Peron showed they meant business as he scored on the powerplay. Coventry equalised in the thirty fifth minute and the no further scoring after overtime. Then it was up to Mike Peron and Kent Simpson to score to lift the cup for Sheffield.

Steelers progressed to Nottingham to face Cardiff in the semi finals. The game was a grim three hour affair, not helped by a long stoppage in the third after Brad Voth was ejected for boarding. Steelers took the lead in the first minute but it was left to Ron Shudra to decide the game with a winning penalty shot. The final was a defensive affair with Steelers fancying their chances against Newcastle. But it was not to be as David Longstaff gave Newcastle the victory.

APRIL 2011 (5 years ago)

In a game worthy of the final Steelers dominated the first part of the semi final racing into a two goal lead.

But Nottingham came back and took the lead only for Ben Simon to take the game to overtime. However, inside two minutes Robert Lachowicz scored the game winner to end a disappointing post season for Steelers.

Ben Simon has quit Sheffield Steelers two days after the end of a glorious season in which he delivered the Elite League title. The highly principled player coach felt the new salary offered to him the biggest single slice in a reduced overall player's budget left too little room for the rest of his players. Club owner Paul Regan insists the club must not bust the wage cap, as it had done at the beginning of the season, to accommodate him. Simon could not be a “special case” he said.

They then went on to sign Ryan Finnerty as their new player coach, the lighting fast appointment coming just two days after Ben Simon quit. Finnerty comes from the club owner Paul Regan's other club, Cardiff Devils although he was a fan's favourite in Sheffield for two and a half years.

Ryan Finnerty believes his best chance of success as new Sheffield Steelers player coach is in retaining his top British players, yet he's been hit with an early setback over want away Rob Dowd. Dowd appears to have agreed terms with Belfast Giants.

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The Elite Report - End Of Season Awards

You had the bore fest that was the Elite League awards show; be honest how many of you enjoyed that? Having sat through one of these beforehand, I was so glad I found the bar afterwards. It's definitely as much as a snoozefest as the third/fourth place game, but don't get me started on that one.

Now it's time for the unofficial Frozen Steel awards for the 2015-16 season, purely fueled by my own decision making. Agree then fantastic; don't agree - well that's tough as my opinion here is just my own. Put the tuxedos on gentlemen, ladies glam up your poshest frocks, it's time to hand out some awards: 

BEST NETMINDER OF THE SEASON: The winner is Cardiff Devils and Swinton's number one, Ben Bowns. Bownsy has had another sensational season, his second in South Wales. In that time, he's become an international regular and GB's number one goalie. If any player in Cardiff deserved a winner's medal, Ben was one. He didn't deserved what happened in front of him in the POFW semi-final against Coventry.

BEST BRITISH DEFENCEMAN OF THE SEASON: One player for me, and I am gonna surprise you here and that's newly acquired dual national - Evan Mosey of the Nottingham Panthers. See you though I was going to say Ben O'Connor, weren't you? Dual Nationals count to this, and any other for that matter so stick that in your proverbial pipe and smoke it. Nah; seriously Mosey has been top drawer this season and Panthers fans will be delighted he's staying for another two years. I'd love him in orange!

BEST DEFENCEMAN OF THE SEASON: Ooh tough decision here, but it's going to be Andrew Hotham of Cardiff. Exceptional defenceman who is such a threat to any opponent. He's the supreme import offensive defenceman in the league at the moment, and you can see why Andrew Lord was happy to retain his services this season just gone. If Devils can retain him for a third season, expect him to put some more huge numbers next year.

BEST BRITISH FORWARD OF THE SEASON: This was a difficult decision to make as not many British forwards have a huge impact this season, all have had a season where the imports have outshone them. In fact no British forward features in the top 30 goalscorers for the league for all your stattos out there. So I'm going to plump for the first name that does, which means it's an award to David Clarke of the Panthers. If only we had him on the powerplay with that one-timer instead of stopping it...

BEST FORWARD OF THE SEASON: If I made my decision on points accumlated then I'd be going for Joey Martin of Cardiff here, but I am not. Tyler Mosienko and Levi Nelson have both had good seasons in Steelerland but I am plumping for Matt Sisca of Manchester Storm in this category. For a complete unknown, Sisca was one of the players in a Storm jersey that really impressed me and 34 goals in 61 games is some impressive feat. Only Guillaume Doucet scored more, and that was by one.

COACH OF THE SEASON: Normally this would go to the coach of the League Champions, but not here. Neither is it going to Corey "I'm going, no I'm actually staying" Neilson whom Gary Moron believes is the best in the League; he's actually the best you've ever had Gary - nothing else but. So who wins this? I'm choosing Riley Emmerson of Edinburgh Capitals here (I'm sure CapsBanterArmy will be pleased). Why? Anyone who keeps battling on with fate dealing bad luck constantly deserves this.

PANTO VILLAIN OF THE SEASON: Only one winner here folks, and he secured this award in the penultimate week of the season. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Boris Valábik of the Coventry Blaze. To say I've seen milk turn quicker than the giant Slovak is probably the nicest comment I could actually bestow on him. The sight in mid March of a lino pushing him off the ice was just pure gold. Boris picked up 346 penalty minutes (and sorry Blaze fans, if you look at the Desbiens incident: the intent is there) this season which proves this partial sentence rings true from his Elite Prospects profile, "...sometimes takes too many unnecessary penalties."   So what did he do to get 80 games in the NHL? Head scratcher that..

and finally...

COMEDY MOMENT OF THE SEASON: Looking back on the Douchebag of the Month awards I kinda handed out this season, one stands head and shoulders above them all. It's going to go to SAS and the baggage handlers at Heathrow Terminal 2. Whilst SAS were great for me during my mid-season trip to Estonia, doing everything to make sure I got my connection in Copenhagen after unexpected delays coming out of Tallinn, they were not so great for the league's premier official Tom Darnell. Collectively, they managed to mislay Tom's bag on his way back from Denmark and cause him to miss officiating on a Steelers-Panthers game. 

So there's your awards everybody. Just don't take these serious though, it really is a bit of fun and a lighthearted look at the Elite League. Seriousness will be frowned upon.

Thanks for reading guys. If you want to get involved please contact us on Twitter or find us on Facebook and like us and leave a comment:-

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Steelers 2016: Player By Player (Part One)

Well I've done my detailed analysis of the Championship winning season. Now it's time to analyse the players that were involved in orange that made the season what it is. I was going to add a grade between A+ (which is absolutely amazeballs) and E (which would have represented absolute pish) but I've thought I won't bother with that. These views are mine, and mine alone so if you don't agree then that's your prerogative.

Welcome to Part One: This covers the netminders and defencemen.

NETMINDERS

Tyler Plante - Came with the high grade pedigree and at the right age to become a starter between the pipes for years to come. Started off with a bang, recording a shutout in his first game in Steelers colours (pre-season against the Clan) and continued to turn in solid goaltending until unfortunately injured against Cardiff at the start of November. Recovered but found himself out in the cold as Thommo went with Pinč so left to join DEL2 side Löwen Frankfurt; thereby not letting us see him at his very best.

Brad Day - Signed with a few raised eyebrows, the Huddersfield native arrived as back up to Plante and latterly Pinč. Didn’t come with a reputation of being Geoff Woolhouse standard if people judged him on his Steeldogs statistics last season, but by golly did he prove them wrong. Whenever he was called upon, Brad became “Big Show Brad” and let nobody down at the Club. Will continue to develop given the chances, and has to be on the retained list for 2016-17.

Marek Pinč - Initially brought in as Plante’s injury cover but ended up getting the starter’s gig for the remainder of the title winning season. It has to be said his start was unauspicious to say the least, a win on his dèbut against Dundee and then conceding 14 in the next two on the road to Edinburgh and Braehead meaning a few thought we had signed a dud Czech (pardon the pun). But he grew in confidence and in the run-in was excellent. Can’t see him coming back, but he played an integral role in the back to back triumphs. 

DEFENCEMEN

Ben O’Connor - The team’s Premier Brit defenceman came back from the World Championships with a growing reputation. Partnered strangely with newcomer Jace Coyle, Ben was as offensive as ever which sometimes left Coyle exposed at the back end when the former lost possession and turned the puck over. However, Ben chipped in with a few crucial goals at the business end of the season and started the move that saw Tyler Mosienko net that all important first goal in Fife on the final day. Can only get better, but for how long before he leaves these shores again?

Jace Coyle - The former Chicago Blackhawks draft pick was picked up from Thommo’s old side Åalborg Pirates in the summer, and came with the expectation of a young and exciting defenseman who would provide an alternative to Ben O’Connor. Whilst he didn’t match O’Connor in terms of points tally, Jace scored ten goals in his first season on these shores. Had slight tendencies to make the odd mistake here and there but was a good acquisition in the end. Whether he comes back for a second season; we wait and see.

Zack Fitzgerald - Many thought what were Steelers doing when we picked up this guy from Braehead where he had spent more times in the penalty box or in the stands than actually playing the game on the ice. But what a signing he became. From his first game, he had us all adoring him and he became the ultimate fan favourite: the one that the kids wanted to be with. Brilliant on the ice, save for some daft penalties here and there, and the perfect team ambassador off it. He’s here for two more seasons and I for one, am so proud he is. Hockey needs characters, this man is one.

Cullen Eddy - Partnered with his old Adirondack buddy Zack, he was the other half of the Steelers “Bash Brothers”. Played a different role under Thompson to that what Gerad Adams gave him the previous season but still carried it out with good effect. He’s now finished his initial two year contract which he was signed under, and at the age of just 27: has probably his best years ahead of him. Will he remain here or look to a new challenge in Europe for 2017? Has served the Club well, and proved to be a popular team player with team-mates and fans alike.

Russ Moyer - Signed as the experienced new head on the recommendation of Jody Lehman no less, Russ played a role not too dissimilar to that which Darrell Hay did in 2014-15. That being quiet and very much under the radar. Not known for his scoring, the delight on his face when he broke his goalscoring duck was a sight to behold. He is probably coming to the end of a good career, and at the age of 33 is also probably not on the possible returnees for next year. Still he did us a decent job, and we are thankful for his efforts.

Rod Sarich - A few raised eyebrows were cast from some supporters when Roddy was returning, believing the veteran was past his best. However the one of the best import offensive defencemen of the EIHL has rounded his game out and become a steadying influence on the Steelers blue line. Let’s not forget he missed a whole season and had that kidney scare too. Rod quietly goes about his business and has proved to be a more useful player and versatile too. Will he continue next season, or will he hang those skates up? Either way he’s been a loyal servant to us, and who can argue with that.

Part Two to follow...

Thanks for reading guys. If you want to get involved please contact us on twitter or find us on Facebook and like us and leave a comment:-

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