The Duell Report - Dissecting Tony's interview and the departure of G

I was about to go for lunch on Monday when Mitch at work dropped me a work message. "Mark, have you seen the news?" was his opening gambit. Of course I hadn't so I told him firmly in the negative. Then he sent me the link. I was like er, what the heck? In fact, I spent my lunch break wondering what I had just read and trying to make head or tail of sense of it. Then the more I thought about it, the pieces started to click and they definitely started to emerge in a clearer picture once I heard Tony's interview on BBC Radio Sheffield.

The decision has split a number of us, and that's to be expected. Let's try to explain why I think this is the right way forward. My thoughts won't please you all, but then again this is my view from my soapbox. I give you two reasons off the top of my head, but we all know there could be more.

Reason number 1: Results and Performance

Yes we won the Elite League for the first time in 4 seasons, but by gosh we were very fortunate to do so. Nobody should go and win this with 13 losses on their record; to win the league with 74 points and that amount of regulation defeats shows how bad the league was. Everyone had a freak result or two in their record and although some say it proved how competitive the EIHL was: I digress. I mean come on, Hull winning 6-1 in the NIC? That's a prime example of a freak result.

G also was out thought on numerous occasions by opposing coaches, and when you struggle to find a Plan B then it reflects in a bad performance. Two of these notable occasions came in two massive games, namely the Challenge Cup and Play-Off Finals. For 40 minutes in both games, we were given a lesson on how to play from start to finish. We had to play desperate hockey to catch up, and in both cases - fell short.

Reason number 2: The impending Under 20 team

Tony cited this has something that is happening soon, and that the job of Sheffield Steelers Head Coach has expanded beyond the original remit which G was appointed on. He feels G cannot take the team further based on the abilities he has and what Tony wants. I foresee that the new coach will probably have to have a great background in developing promising talents and making them better hockey players. So who does this mean? It's certainly not going to be Peter Russell; the GB coach; as Tony has ruled him out already. Could it be a return to the Elite for Paul Thompson? That's an interesting thought. Guess he'd have to sever his Coventry ties completely if he was appointed.

Or is it someone else? We will know before the Champions Hockey League draw takes place in Prague on 13 May. One thing I ask of you all: we have to stick together through this latest decision, and give whoever succeeds G - our backing.

Another couple of things that struck me listening to the interview was the subject of the Steeldogs connection and the steps back and forward comment. I guess I wasn't alone with this. Looking at both objectively, it seems like Tony has a plan in mind to make Sheffield the new hotbed of hockey talent. Yeah the first announcement was met with some derision from current Dogs fans on Facebook. One claimed this: "Yawn, heard it all before. Seriously would be a good idea, but would have been a good idea for the last 10 years. Still waiting." whilst another said: "They want EVERYTHING and they want it NOW!!!"

Jesus, what are they on? All Tony is wanting for Sheffield hockey to be united under one umbrella instead of the split which currently exists. We're not wanting you to turn your back on the Dogs; if you want to watch them then that's your choice but wouldn't it be good to have a bit of continuity like they do down the road from juniors to semi-pro to full time pros? That's what I reckon Tony's after. Is that too hard to stomach? I don't think it is.

Finally, the "We might have in fairness have to take one or steps back to take three or four forward" comment. This strikes me that Tony is prepared to see the new plan be a work in progress and isn't a quick fix process. After Gerad did admit after the Final that in his eyes we had "overachieved" in 2015; and the League title was a surprise when considering the last 6 weeks of the season, we played two imports down. Do you remember that? Next season I can see being a bit of transition year especially with the CHL happening too. But then again who can predict what will happen next? Nobody has all the answers, not even Tony, so just swallow your pride and keep supporting the team (whoever is in it). That's what I am doing, are you?

See you in a few weeks. Time Out called!


Mark

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Steeldogs Spotlight 16th March

Thank you to Roger Williams and Jake Oakley for their contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to them so any queries you can contact them on Twitter @SnapperJakeO and @ElGordoSteel

Steeldogs 1 Wildcats 4

After an OT loss in Peterborough on Saturday night, the Bradfield Brewery Sheffield Steeldogs took on the Swindon Wildcats. The home team played the game with Andre Payette taking a coaching role as there was a full complement of players available.

The Steeldogs had lots of the early pressure but didn't give GB net minder Lyle any real work. Disappointingly Harding beat Sedlar with a tame effort at 4.17. Persistence from Elliott saw the puck go past Lyle but Ref Boardman had blown his whistle milliseconds before. A great shift from Hirst yielded three hits and gave Squires a shooting chance that somehow didn't go in. The teams left the ice for their break after 20 minutes with Swindon going in a goal to the good.

In the second period The Dogs generated more decent opportunities in the early stages but as in the first, it was the visitors who found the twine as some snappy passing between Malasinski and Hoog saw the former score at 23.28. Sheffield had an extended session of 5 on 3 play but the power play struggled to create the killer chances and Lyle swallowed up anything that did get through. Roles then reversed and the Wildcats had the two man advantage. They were kept out by a couple of stunning Sedlar saves but Harding fired past him as the last penalty ticked down, putting the visitors up by 3 goals to nil. It summed up the Steeldogs night when Korhon finally earned a penalty shot after being dragged back but after sending the puck a little too far in front, a Lyle poke-check denied the #27.

The final period felt like everyone was just going through the motions and even at half speed Swindon extended their lead with Nell firing the puck home. With Lyle's shutout looking increasingly likely, Ozolins took another skate down the wing and somehow squeezed one past the Cats future coach at 52.07.

The game ended with a 4-1 win for Swindon on a night when the Steeldogs struggled to establish any kind of hold on the game. Man of the Match beers were awarded to Adam Harding for Swindon and Lubomir Korhon for the Steeldogs.

The final league game of the season is next weekend in Bracknell and the league campaign will be put to bed. Attention then turns to Operation Coventry 2015 when we will be preparing to play our home Play-Off Quarter Final on Friday 27th March, face-off 8pm. Keep up to date on the website and social media for news leading up to the game.

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Steeldogs Spotlight 2nd March

Thank you to Roger Williams and Jake Oakley for their contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to them so any queries you can contact them on Twitter @SnapperJakeO and @ElGordoSteel

Steeldogs 5 Bracknell Bees 1

Steeldogs bounce back against Bees

The Bradfield Brewery Sheffield Steeldogs returned to iceSheffield on Sunday 1st March hoping to gain the valuable points in their quest for 7th place in the league. Their opponents were basement club the Bracknell Bees. The Steeldogs were missing Callum Pattison (serving suspension) from the line-up. The starting net minders were Sedlar and Mettam.

Both teams wanted to get off to a good start in this game, the Steeldogs coming out the quicker of the two teams. The Bees gave up the first penalty of the game as Strycek sat for tripping, Ozolins dangled and beat Mettam for a power play opener at 7.12. The home team looked to show their authority in this first 20 minutes and kept the puck well, skated with confidence and worked as a team to keep the Bees away from Sedlar as much as possible. With Bees on the man advantage, Sedlar threw a quick glove to deny Antonov. Then came the first incident of the game. Hubacek and Duncombe had a tangle and the Czech took offence and slashed The Dogs defenceman. This led to both dropping the gloves and a brief exchange of fists. With them both sat down, Galazzi and Payette found themselves in the face- off circle and as soon as the puck dropped, so did their gloves. These two had more of a scrap with good punches thrown.

The 2nd period started with the combatants in the box and the game settled into a pattern of trading forays forward into the offensive zones but not always getting the shot off to test the net minders. On 39.03 some determined skating from Tom Squires opened up a shooting lane and although his shot wasn't powerful it squeaked through Mettam's defences to give Sheffield a 2-0 lead. As the clock ran down, Haywood and Hubacek got caught up in the corner and there was a small gathering to exchange opinions. Duncombe stepped in to support his defensive partner and was judged to be 3rd man in, so was given a game penalty. Both Haywood and Hubacek received roughing calls.

The 3rd period got underway and a more determined Bees team came at the Steeldogs from the off. The visitors had chances on Sedlar’s goal, but the Czech keeper was up to the task and kept them off the scoreboard until the Dogs lost the puck in the Bees zone; Towalski broke away, shrugging off the attentions of Morgan and roofed the puck past Sedlar at 47.38. With the Bees rallying the Steeldogs needed a goal to stop their momentum and when Mettam parried a Haywood blast, Tom Squires took two attempts to make it 3-1. The Steeldogs had Mettam’s goal in their sights now and Andy Hirst made it certain with goal number 4 on a night when he hadn't otherwise had much good luck. The Bees looked keen for the final buzzer but Ashley Calvert scored number 5 to rub salt into their wounds.

The game finished with a 5-1 home win and a confidence booster for the Steeldogs. The Man of the Match awards went to Harvey Stead of Bracknell and Tom Squires of Sheffield.

Our next home game is on Sunday 15th March, it’s going to be a KIDS GO FREE game. It will be our last league home game of the season, so let’s fill the Pound and cheer the team on their way to the Play Offs.‪#‎OperationCoventry2015

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Steeldogs Spotlight 25th February

Thank you to Roger Williams and Jake Oakley for their contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to them so any queries you can contact them on Twitter @SnapperJakeO and @ElGordoSteel

MK Lightning 3 Steeldogs 1

The Bradfield Brewery Sheffield Steeldogs played their 2nd away fixture of the weekend on Sunday when they visited Milton Keynes to take on the Lightning. The team travelled without banned Pattison, Brownley and the injured Duncombe.

MK got off to a blistering start, on the first shift with Cownie shooting the puck into the roof of the net. The Steeldogs were stunned and played nervously. Minutes later Lee Haywood tried to catch a puck and missed letting Kostourek in on an easy 1 on 1, he didn’t need as second chance. The Steeldogs were 2 – 0 down within 5 minutes. With 10.30 gone Payette and Wiggins had a stand up fight, Andre landing the better punches. Both players were sent for a 5 minute cool down. The Steeldogs worked to get back into the game. There were a few hearts in mouth moments for the Sheffield supporters, highlighted when Sedlar robbed Cownie following a panic.

The second period was more competitive. One or two defensive errors went unpunished with Sedlar was pulling off another world beating save on a 2 on 0, Cownie had an absolute gilt edged chance with loads of time on a breakaway but once again Sedlar saved. MK created several opportunities that could have had the puck in the net. The Steeldogs had more chances too, Ozolins skating through, Korhon taking shots but Wall was matching them all. McPherson took offence to a hit from Elliott and chased him down for a fight. During this middle period Ben Morgan took a puck to the face and skated from the action to be stitched up.

In the third period of the game the Steeldogs certainly came out with the bit between their teeth and their determination and pressure paid off when on 44.59 Ozolins capitalised on some good work to get the Dogs on the scoreboard. The team started to gain momentum and Korhon, Ozolins, Wood all had good opportunities, supported by their line mates. Gibson was filling in defence for Morgan until he returned to the game sporting his injury. The home team kept the visitors at bay until Hook sprang free after the Dogs lost an offensive zone face-off and tore through to make it 3-1. A determined MK team made sure this was the final score.

After the game Andre Payette had this to say:

"We battled hard last night in Basingstoke, we then hit road works and didn't get back till 3am and then we were back at it today, back on the road. The first five minutes cost us the game, after that it was a 1-1 game, I think Lubo hit five posts, Ozi hit four.

“The guys worked hard but without Duncs and then Morgs got injured so you're down two D and having to put a forward on D. We outshot them but we just didn't score the goals we needed. Dali did a great job to keep us in the game but score one goal and you're not going to win.

“We’ll get back to work on Tuesday; we need a home game as it’s been a long road trip without any bounces. We are at home against Bracknell on Sunday and we need our crowd there, we need people behind us. We need a real positive night against Bracknell; the guys are working their tails off so please get behind them. We are still not out of this 7th place battle".

Steeldogs vs Bees, Sunday March 1st, 5.30 face-off, iceSheffield

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The Walkeden Review - Legue Returns to the Steelers

We all thought it was the end of an Era during the summer when Jeff Legue decided to leave to join the Steeldogs well it turned out we was wrong when on the evening of Tuesday 23^rd December 2014 it was announced by the Elite League leaders that Top all time point scorer in the EIHL era Jeff Legue had re-signed for them till the end of the 2015/16 season.

I think I speak for a lot of fans when I say welcome home Jeff. Jeff will also not being wearing his usual #11 shirt as it is now back in the rafters after it was retired in honour of Tommy Plommer but Jeff has taken on the #12 shirt as his son was born in the 12^th month. Now for the question what line will Jeff play on? For me I can’t see Gerad breaking up our top two lines as they have major chemistry and are just outstanding so that leaves Legue joining the third line and what an improvement he makes to it and that’s not taking away how well they have done over the last few weeks but on a personal note a massive upgrade on Latulippe as the former Devils man just never turned out to be the player he was in Cardiff. I can see Jeff jumping on the power play unit though alongside Sarich maybe! As let’s be honest we all know what them two can do together especially on the man advantage. But we will find out on Friday as Legue makes his debut in the Boxing Day showdown with them down the road the Nottingham Panthers before the Steelers travel to Nottingham on Saturday.

Gerad had this to say about the re-signing of Jeff (From the Steelers website) “I Couldn’t be happier, Jeff Legue knows what it is to be Steeler. He knows how to win and what is expected from players here. The whole club just got a lot better today.”

Jeff had this to say himself (From the Steelers website) “This is a great opportunity for me to come back to the Steeler sand help contribute to a push for a championship. Chances like that don’t come around often, especially at this stage of my career.”

So far in a Steelers jersey since his debut in 2007 Jeff has played in 448 games scoring 551 points getting a massive 240 goals and a further 311 assists. So far this season while playing for the Steeldogs in the EPL Legue has played in a total of 20 games scoring 32 points (20+12) and he’ll look to continue his scoring form as well as add to his Steelers total this coming Friday. So get along to the Arena for the crunch game to which will be an almost near sell out and the first chance to welcome Jeff home.

So once again Jeff welcome home!

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Steeldogs Spotlight

The Bradfield Brewery Sheffield Steeldogs welcomed Andre Payette back to the bench as they took on the Swindon Wildcats in a Saturday Night home game.

The first period started at a good pace, with the puck being moved by the teams from end to end although neither team made the net minders earn their keep in the early exchanges. In the middle of the session a minor disagreement between Elliott and Harding led to a period of 4 on 4 which helped open up the game with Korhon having two chances to beat Lyle in quick succession. The game switched up a gear from here and both net minders found themselves called on to make some crucial saves as the forwards began to chip away in the defensive zones. The opening goal of the game came at 19.02 when a puck thrown from the corner went in off Lewis Bell's skate and was credited to Aaron Nell. The Steeldogs were unfortunate to go in at the break, trailing by a single goal.

The second period got underway and the Steeldogs gave a statement of intent early, getting into the Wildcats zone and creating pressure. This was finally rewarded on 39.28 when Steeldogs’ forwards really clicked as Ashley Calvert set Cam Brownley up to beat Lyle at the back post on a feed from Ben Morgan. With the period nearly over, Tom Squires skated smoothly in from the right wing and pulled a move that seemed to fox Lyle but the puck ultimately spun away from the goal. The honours were even at the end of 40 minutes.

The final period started with pace and intensity from both sides and Harding scored at 41.44 after neat work down low which pulled Sedlar out of position. The Steeldogs kept at it but a minute later an odd man break led to Nell dispatching his own rebound off Sedlar to increase the lead to 3-1. Swindon began to shut up shop, as the Steeldogs found it harder and harder to break through the defence and create clear chances. The clock was ticking down and with 2.09 left Malasinski fired home on the power play to end the game as a contest. At the following restart, Pattison and Moore dropped the gloves and both got 2+2 for roughing. On 59:12 Swindon poured salt on Sheffield's wounds with Malasinski scoring his second of the game, making it a 5-1 final score.

Stevie Lyle took the Man of the Match honours for Swindon, with a display of solid net minding, making some game winning saves. Craig Elliott was awarded the Sheffield Steeldogs Man of the Match beers, a solid performance as he continues his return from injury.

We have a double header away weekend coming up, where we lock horns with Swindon Wildcats again and the Bracknell Bees on Sunday. Back at ice Sheffield on Sunday December 7th versus the Guildford Flames.

Pics by @SnapperJakeO

Words @ElGordoSteel

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