From The Editor's Chair: Edition 50

Welcome back to another visit to the views that come "From The Editor's Chair"; the personal views of Mark. It's a landmark edition too as this is the 50th edition of the article. Granted that the article has not been out as often as it was at the start, but I thought it would be a good idea to pen something for you. As ever the views below are not of Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey Club, it's staff and players: purely me being me.

Some of you might agree with what I am about to go on about, some won't. However, the latter doesn't concern me as I'm just speaking from my viewpoint. So here we go...

This edition will focus on the Steelers season so far, and I am going to separate it into four distinct parts for each competition. That is: the Elite League, the Continental Cup, the Challenge Cup and the Play-Offs. 

Elite League

After Cardiff had won the Elite League last season for the first time ever, and also their first domestic league title in 20 years: we had to step up and bounce back. Looking at the roster which was assembled I had quiet confidence that this was a roster that could actually be in contention for the main prize and possibly win it. It all looked bloody good on paper, but then again most things do don't they? To me, I thought the pre-season was too long in eight games in the space of four weeks. Not many NHL teams have that kind of pre-season preparation.

But what has not really helped our cause is that until recently was the horrendous inter-conference form. Up to December we had picked up just one win from the likes of playing Cardiff, Belfast and Nottingham. The fact we had garnered some many points from the cross-conference games, it was basically pinning our season up. Then after the home loss to Fife, we kinda woke up and started to put a run together with four shutouts in a row either side of Christmas. Top and bottom of it is that the league overall has been patchy/inconsistent at times and that's why we are 16 points behind the Devils going into the games against Belfast and Fife this weekend just concluded.

Conclusion: You can assume that this is why we won't be celebrating the return of the Monteith Bowl for a second successive season. If we had some form similar to that outside of our conference and also not dropped points in games we should have won, away losses at Coventry and Milton Keynes spring immediately to mind, we would be up there. It's terribly infuriating to say the least.

Continental Cup

By winning the play-offs last season, it was us who took the spot in the Continental Cup as opposed to the Belfast Giants. We entered the competition at the third round stage, which was basically the semi-final groups. The boys travelled to Rungsted, and it didn't start off too well as we were taken apart by Belarusians Yunost Minsk. But the team re-grouped and despite having a few wobbles in game two, saw off the hosts after a penalty shoot out. A winners take all game would decide the team who would make the Super Final alongside Minsk, and Steelers produced a polished performance in dig in deep and see off a physical Kurbads Riga team to progress.

The Club made a bid for the Super Final but it was in vain as Minsk were selected by the IIHF to hold it. It started off unfortunately in a familiar pattern as they were beaten comprehensively in game one. Yet in a rematch of the first game in Rungsted, Steelers pushed their hosts to the limit and took a late goal to give Minsk the points when Steelers clearly deserved something out of it. The team finished on a high though, shutting out Italians Ritten 2-0 to ensure it was their opponents who would end up bottom of the pile.

Conclusion: A decent adventure for the team who with a bit more luck, could have replicated the Panthers win in the same competition last season. To make the Super Final is no disgrace whatsoever.

Challenge Cup

The last time that the Steelers won this much maligned competition was in the final year of the ISL before it became the Elite League. Since then they have come close a few times to adding to it but always fell short. This season was no exception to the rule.

As always Steelers made it through the group stages with an impeccable record; 6 wins out of 6: seeing off the Panthers, Clan and Storm. Up next were Omar Pacha and his Dundee Stars, and Steelers continued their winning streak over the former Hull and Manchester head coach by seeing off the Taysiders 13-3 on aggregate. Standing in the way of a Final appearance were the current holders Cardiff, and it all looked rosy when Steelers took the first leg convincingly 6-2. But leg two, saw a monumental collapse...the wait continues!

Conclusion: Once more in my eyes, Steelers did the hard work but failed to finish the job off. A four goal margin should have been more than adequate to make any Final for any club but Steelers choked it. Granted their record in IAW is not great but I half expected them to at least give the Devils a much closer game there. Perhaps I'm asking too much from the team I've supported for the best part of 26 seasons. 

Play-Offs

Last season saw us win the play-offs in the most dramatic of conclusions. The excitement of it all led to me getting a nosebleed for my troubles. I looked like Zack Fitzgerald had rained endless punches on my sweet and innocent face. Levi Nelson just laughed his head off at me when I explained to him post-game that he was to blame. Well, he was.

This season sees the play-off quarter final structure change. Winning your conference means nothing when it comes to the seeding now as it's now a simple format: 1v8, 2v7, 3v6 and 4v5. As the standings lie, we would get the Fife Flyers if the season ended today. I can honestly see a number of changes in these final standings to happen by the final games of the season on 25th March. I also fully expect us to finish in 5th or 6th. Bold prediction indeed. Unless the Bears make a massive push and everyone else messes up, we should avoid them in the final eight. Semi-Finals are the same as last season's format, higher seed plays the lowest ranked seed left in and the two others in the other semi-final. Nothing new there.

Conclusion: Can we make it back-to-back play off wins? Head would like us to of course, my heart thinks otherwise. Our inconsistency could easily trip us up in the quarter-finals. We need to get back into the form which served us so damn well at the end of December and for the main part in January too. Do that, we won't be neutral fans in Nottingham on April 7-8. Just don't give me a double overtime game again or longer, I don't think I could take it. Once is more than enough haha!

Mark

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Continental Cup Super Final 2018: The Report

Welcome to a condensed report of all three Super Final games played in Minsk.

The tournament began on Friday, and in the opening game the hosts defeated Ritten 2-1 thanks to a couple of early first period, this meant that the Steelers were in action in the later game naturally. The game couldn't have started any worse though as Astana took the lead with less than two minutes played. Midway through the period, Steelers were given a five minute major when Astana's Ilya Kovzalov was dispatched for kneeing Robert Dowd which left the Steelers winger on crutches when he left the rink at the end of the game. Unfortunately no further scoring ensued in the game that period but Steelers suffered a further blow in the opening stages of period two as Astana scored a second.

This second period saw the Steelers have the best of it with the shot count and also with numerous powerplay opportunities; yet they couldn't find the goal that they deserved. Penalty problems hit the Steelers in the opening minute of the final period as both Andreas Jämtin and Davey Phillips picked up minor penalties within 24 seconds of each other. Alas this proved the final undoing as Astana scored on both the 5 on 3 and the 5 on 4 advantages to make it 4-0. A further powerplay strike made it 5-0 at 48:34 but the Kazahkstani netminder was denied his shutout with just over five minutes to go as Steelers got their eventual reward; Eric Neiley scoring his first goal for the Steelers and assisted by Andreas Valdix. There was no additional goals from thereafter, Steelers losing game one 5-1 and now facing a real uphill battle to win the tournament.

Game two, and a rematch with the hosts Yunost Minsk whom inflicted a 7-1 loss on the Steelers when they met in the Rungsted semi-final. Steelers were without Dowd and Miika Franssila who were both injured in the Astana game, so had to reshuffle their pack completely. Like the opening game, Steelers suffered an early blow as Minsk were on the board before three and half minutes showing on the clock. When they added a second just shy of the nine minute mark; many would have thought here we go again but Steelers bounced back to restore parity by the end of the first period thanks to a double from Mathieu Roy which was to set the stage for the rest of the game.

Minsk went ahead again in the opening stages of period two, but again Steelers refused to buckle and within 90 seconds of the Minsk third goal: they'd drawn back level thanks to a goal from Mark Matheson. The home side dominated that period in terms of shots on goal but Steelers were still in there, could they squeak the win this gutsy performance deserved? Another early goal in period three handed Minsk a 4-3 lead but Steelers again rallied to level at 4-4 with just under eight minutes left thanks to the ever talismanic Levi Nelson. The game was anyone's now and moments after Steelers had seen off a Zack Fitzgerald minor, Minsk managed to prise open the door for 5-4 with just under two and a half minutes left. Steelers pushed on but couldn't get a fifth to force overtime and a valiant performance ended in a heartbreaking loss. An absolutely heartbreaking end to a superb team showing.

The third and final game of the tournament for the Steelers came on Sunday, at noon British time as they entertained well known Italian side Ritten Renon who had pushed both Yunost and Astana close in their two games. They had taken Yunost to a penalty shootout so started the game against the Steelers one point better off than Paul Thompson's battered and bruised team. Could the Steelers make one final push and take a maximum point haul?

The game was tense as you expected and it took until nearly 15 minutes before the first penalty was called. It was against Ritten and after working their opponents for a minute or so, Steelers profited with Swede Andreas Jämtin getting the decisive touch to beat former Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick Patrick Killeen in the opposing goal. However Steelers ran into a spot of penalty trouble either side of the period break, but they were solid as a rock and denied the Italians. This spurred the team on further and they doubled the lead with just under six minute and a half minutes left in that second period. Ben O'Connor and Matt Marquardt creating the opportunity for Jonas Westerling to finish. Whatever Ritten threw at the Steelers it was repelled with interest as Steelers continued to control proceedings. In the end Steelers saw them off and shut the door on their opponents for a much deserved win and the bronze medal which could have been much, much more if bits of luck had gone the team's way.

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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Big Match Preview; Continental Cup Super Final

Welcome again to the preview of the next Steelers games.

This weekend sees the Steelers take a much needed break from domestic action as they travel out to Belarus to compete in the Super Final of the 2017-18 Continental Cup; the same trophy won by the Bears down the road last season in Italy. The reward is huge if the Steelers manage to upset the odds, a place back in the Champions Hockey League. We are clearly the underdogs in the Final, but when least expected the boys can pull it out and rip up the form book.

We start the competition at 7:00pm Belarusian time on Friday, which is three hours ahead of GMT, to face this time to start with:

Nomad Astana are the team that won the other semi-final held in Ritten, Italy and present a huge opening task for Paul Thompson's team. The team is a feeder team to Barys Astana who play in the KHL, and qualified for this season's Continental Cup by winning the end of season play-offs in the Kazakhstani League despite finishing third in the regular season. This season they are leading the league, and with an average of just 22 years old per squad member will undoubtedly be fast and quick in attack.

After the opening game we are back in action on Saturday, again at 7pm Belarusian time. The opponents on Saturday night are the hosts:

On home ice, Yunost are most people's favourites to win the tournament. They caught us incredibly cold in Rungsted and clinically dispatched us 7-1 there with Robert Dowd scoring our sole strike. Therefore we will be well versed in their systems and should know what to expect when we lock horns again on Saturday. It would be nice to exact a bit of revenge results-wise this time out and if we can get a result from this and from Friday's game then we could be in a very good position for the final game.

The final game sees Steelers play in the early game for the only time in this round robin tournament, this means a face off at 3pm Belarusian time or 12 noon GMT. We play these last of all:

It's the Italians Ritten Renon, who these days play in the Alps Hockey League as opposed to Serie A ice hockey. The game will be the first time the two sides have ever met, but Ritten do have an indirect Steelers relationship. They are the team that former Steelers and GB forward Ashley Tait had a productive spell with in 2009-10 after two seasons in Sheffield before re-joining the Steelers in 2010-11. Also at Ritten that season was Greg "Juice" Jacina who iced for the Panthers as recently as 2014-15. Depending how we have performed in the two previous games, this could be either a dead rubber game or one where a lot is at stake.

Personally I don't think we will be successful, but I'll gladly be proven wrong. Now if we had held this tournament on our own ice, then I would have been a little bit more hopeful. Finishing 3rd would be my prediction as I think we are considerably better than Ritten. Yunost are my pick to take the sandwich tray home with them. How about you?

From The Editor's Chair - Edition 47

Back again for Edition Number 47! Your principal Editor-in-Chief Mark is back with his personal thoughts. This week he plans to bring you not one article, but two. How's that for spoiling you lovely people? The subject he is going to talk about in this particular one is his recap of the Steelers Continental Cup performance.

Yes he wasn't there, work commitments denied him so, but he's here with some thoughts on how he saw it.

Well it was off to Denmark for the Steelers and over 200 fanatical supporters as they embarked on a European Tour, 2017 version. After winning the play-offs in such dramatic style in April, a game that we will never ever forget as long as we all live, Steelers were in the Continental Cup. This is the silverware that our nearest and dearest managed to win in Ritten, Italy last season. Could the Steelers make the Super Final and emulate them first of all, and also make their own second Super Final after making this stage in 2010.

Our first opponents on the Friday were Belarusian Champions Yunost Minsk. This was the second meeting of the two sides, as they met in the afore mentioned Super Final with the team from Belarus winning that one 4-1. What happened Friday was a case of Minsk being clinical in offence and the Steelers defence being ripped to shreds. The score was 6-0 by the end of the second, causing Paul Thompson to replace starting netminder Ervins Mustukovs with back up Brad Day for the final twenty and the Huddersfield born goaltender did well: only letting in one further goal and that was on a late powerplay. Steelers sole strike came from the stick of Robert Dowd with a very confident finish.

Not the best of starts, right?

Over 24 hours fast forward, and Steelers were into game two and the late game of the day as they played the tournament hosts Rungsted Seier Capital. When I saw the score show as 3-0 early in the second period, I could have been forgiven to think it was all deja vu from the previous game. Once more Steelers had shipped three goals without reply to an opponent, and twice in as many days. But cometh the moment, cometh a man on a mission. Having being harshly penalised for a hook, Matt Marquardt was like a man possessed. He literally hauled the Steelers back into the hockey game, assisting on the opening two strikes. Dowd's second in as many nights made it 3-3 and parity restored but with the teams looking set for a 3-3 score after two, Marquardt's former Coventry team-mate Robin Bergman restored the Danes' lead.

But the Steelers didn't panic at all. They kept pressing and with less than six minutes left Levi Nelson scored his second of the game to tie it up again, this time at 4-4. More chances followed, and Marquardt was unlucky not to win the game in the five minute overtime period with a shot that clanged against the pipework. However in the resultant shootout, he was not to be denied with a superb penalty shot that gave the goalie no chance whatsoever. Under pressure Swede Jonas Westerling added to his goal in the game with an equally well taken effort, and Mustukovs shut the door on the home shooters: securing the win with a save in the fourth round.

This set up a winner takes all final game on Sunday lunchtime against Latvians Kurbads Riga. Knowing what they needed to do, Steelers set out to attack and put their opponents on the back foot. However, the game exploded into life just shy of the ten minute when the experienced Martins Cipulis was ejected on a 5+Game call for boarding Nelson which looked nasty but the talismanic winger was ruled OK to carry after a spot of treatment. This gave Steelers a major powerplay and just over a minute into it, Westerling cut in and fired home a shot that just arrowed itself into the net. A minute later though, Kurbads levelled matters when Gatis Gricinskis held off Mark Matheson to steer the puck home shorthanded. Again the Steelers didn't panic and with more powerplay time left scored twice through Mathieu Roy and Nelson.

However, the Latvians didn't go away quietly despite the absence of a key player. With Scott Aarssen off for slashing, the Kurbads powerplay went to work and from the blue line former Cardiff Devil Martins Gipters found the net with Mustukovs unable to stop it.  More player clashes happened as the game came to a first period, Westerling notably taking exception to a questionable bit of play on his team-mate. In the second period, it seemed like a back to the walls job but it was definitely that in the third as Kurbads piled on the pressure. Andre Deveaux was the victim of a clear glove to the eye in the final ten minutes which the officials only saw as roughing and gave the Steelers forward a coincidental minor plus an extra two. Staggering. Steelers were putting it all on the line as they resolutely defended this margin and with 67 seconds faced a late powerplay when Nelson picked up a high sticking decision against him. By this time Kurbads had sacrificed their goalie for an extra attacker so it was a 6 on 4 powerplay. But still Steelers refused to succumb and with just four seconds left, Ben O'Connor sealed the deal and a place in the Super Final with an empty netter from deep inside his own defensive zone.

So after the heavy loss on the Friday, Steelers had bounced back to secure a place in the Super Final where they will face Yunost again, Kazakhstan side Nomad Astana and Italian side Ritten Renon at a venue yet to be decided. Steelers owner Tony Smith has said that the Club would love to host it which would be a great occasion if we do. But that's in the hands of the IIHF and we will probably know soon if we have been successful or not. In the end, it did prove to be Danish delight for Paul Thompson's men but not without a bump in the road. Attention now goes back to the bread and butter of the league. This season is certainly proving to be an interesting one already as we enter the end of November.

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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Big Match Preview: Continental Cup Special

Welcome to a special "Big Match Preview" for the weekend ahead.

As you aware this weekend is Continental Cup weekend with the boys in Denmark. The mission is to finish in the top two of the group so we can qualify for the Super Final in January at a venue to be decided at the moment. Our opponents this weekend are the following teams:

 Kurbads Riga (Latvia)

Rungsted Seier Capital (Denmark)

Yunost Minsk (Belarus)

Let's now look at each of these clubs in a little bit more depth.

Kurbads Riga: Kurbads are one the lesser known teams in Riga, but originally started off life when they were formed in 1996 in the city of Ogre before moving to the capital pretty recently. They have one Latvian championship to their name which was won last season and this has allowed them to compete in this season's competition. They qualified for this stage by means of winning their qualifier with a 100 per cent record beating GKS Tychy whom Coventry played in the same competition in 2015-16. 

Notable names in their roster include Marcis Zembergs, Martins Gipters and Toms Hartmanis who both had spells in the Elite League with Edinburgh, Cardiff and the much missed Newcastle Vipers respectively. They also have Deivids Sarkanis who made a handful of starts for the Panthers last season. There's plenty of experience in the roster with Janis Spurkts, Juris Stals and Martins Cipulis who possess nearly 400 international appearances between them.

Rungsted Seier Capital: Hosts of the tournament. They are the oldest team in this tournament in terms of longevity; having been formed as far back as January 1941 as Rungsted Ice Hockey Club. They have won their nation's league title three times in their history but have to go back to 2001-02 for their last success in this; when they were known as Rungsted Cobras. They were renamed to their current guise as of 2015-16 and like the Steelers are well placed in their domestic league so far.

Names we can recognise are Robin Bergman who was at Coventry last season, a player whom Blaze coach Danny Stewart was apparently loathe to lose. Bergman scored 17 goals and 41 points overall in 59 games for them. They also have experienced defenceman Mike Verance on their blue line, who appeared in 22 NHL games and has over 400 AHL games on his resume. Former Blaze defenceman Erik Hjalmarsson is their assistant coach.

Yunost Minsk: The young breed of this group, formed in 2003 but a very very successful hockey club. Yunost have already won the Belarusian league seven times in their short history and also possess the same amount of wins in the play-offs. They will be a team we will really need to watch for if this is the case. Although they won the league title last season, defeat by Neman Grodno meant their opponents qualified for the CHL and Minsk had to settle for a place in this.

Experienced centre Daniel Corso will be a player we will have to watch. The 39 year old is in his fourth season in Minsk, and has 77 NHL and 300 plus AHL games under his belt. Ukrainian Andrei Mikhnov, who can play either centre or wing, will also be one we need to keep an eye on as he notched 85 points in 52 games last season.

My prediction? If we play like we know we're capable of and stay out of the penalty box then we can make the top two. It's that simple.

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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Panthers in Europe

It was just under a week ago when the biggest and best rivalry in the Elite League took place when the Sheffield Steelers and the Nottingham Panthers played in a double header with Steelers taking the points on the Saturday at the Motorpoint Arena after a 5-3 victory before Panthers took their revenge the following day in Nottingham 6-1 in the NIC, both games were without incident and left so many talking points, However this weekend rivalries are put a side as Nottingham go to Italy to represent the UK in the 3rd round of the Continental Cup after successfully making it through round 2 in Nottingham back in October.

Panthers leave for Italy (Image Courtesy of Nottingham Panthers

As I understand Nottingham left for Italy this morning with a full roster including previously injured Craig Kowalski and Eric Werner who will be assessed before the game the only player I know hasn't travelled is Bob Wren who broke his leg.

Nottingham begin their Italy weekend on Friday when they take on Russian side Toros Neftekamsk at 4pm UK time, I think this is one of three games that Nottingham has the best chance of picking points up and to do well in the Continental Cup as Steelers found out the hard way a few years is that it really helps to start with a win. For Nottingham to do especially well on this trip it would help if first choice netminder Craig Kowalski is fit enough to play as he gives his team the opportunity to win every time he's on his game. I'll go for a Nottingham Panthers victory on Friday to kick them off in style.

Saturday see the Panthers hit the Ice in their second game of the tournament against Yertis Pavlodar who play in the top flight of the Kazakhstan Hockey Championship. This game gets going at 4pm UK time and I think its a game where Nottingham will have their first real test and will be a one goal game decided in regulation if not without the help of overtime and penalty shots. If Nottingham are to get past Yertis they need to hope Kowalski or Conway is on form and the likes of Francis, Clarke, Lachowicz, Benedict and Lee also need to be on their best form, Yertis is a winnable game for Panthers but are both respectively good teams but my prediction is for Pavlodar to edge it in Overtime.

Nottingham finish their Italian trip against the hosts HC Asiago at 7.30pm UK time, If Nottingham are to advance this is a must win game as I expect Asiago to have won both of their previous games and top the standings on 4 points, it will be a big team effort but I honestly think Corey Neilson has the squad capable of doing well this weekend but has to to control Henley after his outburst last weekend and use him smartly to bully the likes of Asiago's top liners. Asiago are a much improved squad from the team that beat the Steelers after Penalty shots back in 2011/2012.

I'd like to wish the Nottingham Panthers the best of luck for this weekend and hope they do British Ice Hockey proud.

Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments get in contact via Twitter or Email me at Tomwalkeden@gmail.com

Tom

@TomWalkeden