Go whistle - Five things from w/e 7th Feb

Here's the five things that @Disgu15ed learnt this week:

Photo from @Mickgta

1> Go whistle for it – in the NHL they have a rule that the play officially stops when the referee has the intention to blow, so there’s occasionally heated debates about goals being washed out when there was no whistle beforehand. However, the situation in Coventry takes this to another level, maybe it was the intention not to whistle (a new ‘Hogarth override’), as the whistle seemed to blow and yet the play continued. We need an explanation, but don’t suppose we’ll get one.

2> We got what we expected this weekend – Despite the apparent strength in their roster we’ve ended up with 7 wins from 8 against the Giants (87.5%), so another win at home wasn’t unexpected. Whereas we’re now 3 wins and 2 SO losses against the Blaze out of eight (50%), so a single point away was about ‘par’. Wouldn’t have expected those stats pre-season though.

3> Dry-spells – Goals have been pretty scarce from Roy, Mosienko, Nelson, Vestberg and Legue (our top ‘fit’ forwards). Looking at each players recent dry-spell stats then they have a combined 4 goals in their last 38 games. (1 in 9, 1 in 8, 1 in 7, 1 in 6, 0 in 10) That’s probably why we are just squeaking out our wins rather than blowing people away, and it’s just as well others are stepping-up.

4> 22 Goal thriller – Another one for the record books, as the twelve skater Manchester Strom, beat the fourteen skater Edinburg Capitals 13:9! It looked like it could be even worse for the Caps at 8:2 during the second period, but a late rally, and the introduction of the Storm back-up (a shocking 5 goals from 9 shots, which resulted in Kalemba being re-introduced) at least gave them something to cheer.

5> Panthers up, Clan down, Steelers steady, Devils stronger favourites – Think we were all glad that the Panthers beat the Clan to keep the title race tight, as even after their follow-up victory against the Stars they’ve still got too many Erdhart games left to win-out. Clan losing twice and Sheffield getting three points takes the Clan below the Steelers in my predictions. So I’m now predicting the Devils top by five points if they continue their streak – even with the conference bias – unless we can do the highly unlikely double and blow the race back open again!

One final thought is to always be on-guard at the Arena as Uncle David is always watching. If you hold hands with your boyfriend all-game, then don’t be surprised if kiss cam finds you out.

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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@FrozenSteelMNL
@hockeybhoy
@Disgu15ed

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Big Match Preview - Weekend Ahead

So after the bumps in the road, and then the amazing overtime win in the SSE Arena (I know I've got to get used to calling it this) - we go into the international break with another couple of games that simply have to be won if we are to try and mount a serious challenge for the retention of the Monteith Bowl.

 

Let's look ahead to them then:

 

 

Saturday night - Belfast (H)

 

Well we seem to have had the Giants number for the majority of the season and I am sure that Derrick Walser will be glad to see the back of us for now after tonight's game is concluded. This is the eighth and final regular season game between the two sides and it's been a bit of a lop-sided series to say the least. Six of the seven (including Tuesday's overtime win) have gone the way of Paul Thompson's men and Giants have only a 4-1 win way back in October as their sole triumph which seems to be a distant memory for the men in teal.

 

Walser will be hoping for his side to step up and be counted as he was less than happy with them following Tuesday's loss whilst PT will be hoping his side, as banged up as they are, keep the winning feeling going and try to keep those slim (come on and face it, they are slim) title dreams a flickering. Both teams needing wins for quite differing reasons it has to be said.

 

Prediction Time: This will be a quite tense encounter, and I think the goalies themselves will have a bearing on the final score. Stephen Murphy has had some stellar games in the House Of Steel previously but it's safe to say that he has not been his usual imperious self all season. Marek Pinc in the home net has improved markedly since his initial arrival and shaky start, and will be looking to shut the door on the Giants once more.

 

Steelers to win this one 3-1.

 

 

Sunday night - Coventry (A)

 

For the second Sunday in succession, Steelers make the trip down to Warwickshire to face the team that currently is proving a bit of a nemesis of sorts, the Coventry Blaze. Ever since the game just before Christmas, the Blaze have won every single encounter and seriously put a dent in the Steelers season. Surely Sunday night will see some kind of redemption? Or is it going to be heartbreak again for Thommo in the arena where he had so much success in the late 90s and early 2000s?

 

The behemoth known as Stewart again faces us in opposition, and we have to get into his head early doors and not allow him to settle down into "the zone". If we do the latter, then our chances of a win there drastically start to diminish. Vigilant defending on the blue line is also needed as the Blaze have offence which can hurt you if chances are offered up, Jordan Pietrus and Cale Tanaka will be handful for us to deal with. I'm still not convinced by their blue line, it does still look suspect if you start to put it under pressure.

 

Prediction Time: It's about time we won again in the SkyDome, and we can ill afford another reverse against the Blaze. A loss here again is not to be considered, we have to go there and take the 2 points home with us. I know for sure that Crosby's would have taken a small fortune off me last Sunday if I had been in residence. Only a road win will suffice...

 

Steelers to edge this one, 2-1 in overtime.

 

 

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:-

@FrozenSteelBlog

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This Month In History - February

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

FEBRUARY 1996 (20 years ago)

Steelers Alex Dampier persuaded David Longstaff to join them on loan to the end of the season.

Sheffield Steelers went into their game with Cardiff Devils (their closest rivals) in mid February knowing a win would set them up for the title and Ken Priestlay blasted four past Stevie Lyle in a 34 minute spell to ensure this. When Newcastle held Steelers to a draw in late February they had gone on a streak of ten straight wins which saw them within two points off the title. Then in front of a packed house of over 9000 Sheffield Steelers claimed the league and part two of The Grand Slam, beating Nottingham 7-2.

During this period they scored 55 goals conceding 23 with 8 wins and just one tie.

FEBRUARY 2001 (15 years ago)

Friday February 9^th, an infamous day in ice hockey.

Some of most explosive scenes of violence seen in British ice hockey for years wrecked Steelers latest bid to confirm new ownership of the league title last night. Steelers were leading Nottingham 3-1 when aggro broke out on the ice. Barry Nieckar, whose blind side punch concussed Scott Allison, after he (Allison) appeared to cross check Dennis Vial in the side of the head. Vial looked groggy and slipped to the ice as Niecker continued to pound him, the officials declining to step in. Seconds later, Steelers cleared their bench, storming into the middle of the ice, Panthers bench followed suit and every player then took a sparring partner. Like a man possessed Scott Allison climbed over the penalty box plexiglass to join in. At one stage it looked as if Vial butted Nieckar. As a side show Scott Metcalfe beat up Chris Baxter and Adam Smith did the same to David Struch. A glass pane was smashed alongside the Steelers bench, slightly injuring a girl fan. Nottingham goalie Jordon Willis later described the scene as "ridiculous, dangerous, barbaric". It could lead to hefty suspensions for the main protagonists, including both coaches for failing to control their benches. When the dust settled, Steelers lost their poise along with their goaltender, and the match, and the chance to win the league on the night. 

video
 
Record Ban: Allison out for 14 games and fined £850. Vial out for 6 matches and fined £750, Coach Blaisdell get 2 matches, and £500 fine after Friday's violent scenes at Nottingham Panthers.

Five cars rented for Steelers players and staff were the subject of repossession action, while the championship stars were training. The latest embarrassment for owner Darren Brown came when a debt-collecting agent representing a car hire company arrived at the Arena stadium. Now the players, who say they continue to play only if they are paid on time, have decided to hit back at their management.

Steelers’ players have discussed a fresh strike plan aimed at turning up the heat on owner Darren Brown. But they decided against going ahead with a playing boycott after an angry confrontation with their team manager and coach. Sheffield captain Dennis Vial says the “feud” between players and ownership should end. "We should just sit down and talk this out. On pay and bonuses, all the players want is what they deserve, no more. We need to get on and play hockey".

Steelers clinched the league title on Sunday February 11^th, two days after the Nottingham debacle, with a 6-1 win in London. Average crowds of almost 6,000 watched these league encounters.

FEBRUARY 2006 (10 years ago)

Dennis Maxwell's short lived career at The Star Sheffield Steelers has ended; he flies home to America on Thursday. The parting of the ways was inevitable after the Canadian criticised Steelers owner Bob Phillips in The Star last Saturday for demoting him from his unofficial role as player-coach.

February was a particularly dismal month with Steelers winning just one game and that was in the Ice Hockey Cup. They were shut out no less than three times and scored only fifteen goals.

FEBRUARY 2011 (5 years ago)

Possibly the title-defining moment came in Cardiff in the middle of February.

The month previously, Sheffield had got pole position in the League as Cardiff’s record-breaking run of twenty two games came to an end. Back to back games, against their nearest rivals, saw Steelers run out eventual winners in an overtime game which was settled by a rare strike from Mark Thomas.  This was after Scott Matzka had equalised a Jeff Legue goal to tie the game at 4-4 and send it to overtime. 

The next night, at the Arena, Steelers saw off Cardiff 5-2 with Robert Dowd getting two goals with Jeff Legue getting the game winning goal. Coach Ben Simon said afterwards “A lot of guys stepped up this weekend, but the hard work has to continue”.

Jeff Legue was scoring at over a goal a game by this time and he scored seven overall in February.

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:-

@FrozenSteelBlog

@FrozenSteelMNL

@hockeybhoy

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Soapbox Eleven - It's Double losses, Semi-final dates & Conferences this week

Here’s our eleventh week’s Frozen Steel blog fan view on four or five hot topic items. It’s time to get on your soapboxes people! 

Contributors this week are: Mark Duell, Robert Newbolt, Tony (your editor) and Phil Beddoe.

The normal starting point –Without dropping too many F-bombs, what’s your hot topic item from the EIHL this week?

Mark - It is an Edinburgh Caps thing for me. As much as I am amazed at Chubak's stat against Cardiff in the BBT; I'm going for Riley Emmerson's commitment to his club's cause. The man played a period and half with a broken arm! What a warrior. Hats off the big fella!

Phil - I'd be worried if I were DOPS as they've had a couple of bans reduced on appeal now which raises a big question for me - Does this lessen DOPS authority and their efforts to improve safety when multi-game bans start getting reduced to just one game with players then knowing they may get off comparatively easy for something on appeal?  A better explanation of why a ban is reduced on appeal would also be good to see as DOPS explain their decisions in the videos Seth does but we don't always get given reasons for the changes the appeals panel make.

Robert - The issue of the Challenge Cup. The three F’s (Farse,Fiasco,Fail) Time to re-think or scrap it.

Tony – Excluding the issues covered below I think it’s the continued fall-out in Edinburgh. With another forward leaving and Emmo injured, then their season that started with so much promise, and the heady heights of fourth in the table, seems to be destined for the usual basement bottom finish. Huge disappointment for most fan’s ‘second club’.

After a double defeat by Coventry, are the Steelers now out of title contention?

Phil - It ain't over till it's over!  Although we are now relying on Clan and Devils dropping points if we are to stand a chance.

Mark - I think so sadly, we seriously need both Cardiff and the Clan to collapse big time to allow us to retain the title. But then again, we were in this position last season weren't we? With the injuries still in the stands, it's harder this time and is gonna see us fall short.

Tony – If we have to rely on Brad in net, then we’re probably out of it. Even with a first draw n/m we are relying on Clan choking (again) against their in-conference foes, and the Devils having a barren period (which they must do at some stage this year surely). However, extrapolating the table based on results so far suggest we only need a couple of unexpected wins in the run-in to catch up the lost ground.

Robert - Only Steelers supporters gave them a chance before this weekend but what with the gap at the top increasing and Braehead’s run in (they play Edinburgh and Manchester twice each still) even I can’t see a way back for Sheffield.

From the outside what are your thoughts on the CC semi-final date / venue situation?

Phil - Well that created a lot of fuss didn't it!  A poorly worded EIHL release from earlier last year didn't help with the confusion amongst fans either.  I guess in the end Panthers claimed their NIC date was the only one they could get ice-time for and with them having the choice of leg due to the draw it didn't leave Steelers with much of a choice when it came to our own dates.  At least we did have Ice Sheffield to fall-back on when the Arena couldn't give us ice for the game but it does make me wonder what both teams would have done if we didn't have the use of Ice Sheffield.

Tony – Rather proves that we can’t ever contemplate an extended play-off series to ever be organised at short notice doesn’t it. Even the normally unflappable Okey was ranting about the Panthers and how we would return that ‘favour’ in this week’s programme notes.

Mark - Steelers blaming Panthers, Panthers fans blaming us. It's the fans who are suffering here for petty bickering. With nothing on at arena apparently on 23/2; why are we playing at IS then? What's done is done but it's the latest embarrassing situation for the EIHL. Let battle commence!

Robert - There was much talk about this, but leaving aside the slip-up that the EIHL have made regarding home and away ties, it seems there is much more to this than we are being told. It is noticeable that Nottingham have made no official statement to attempt to counter the remarks of Dave Simms. This in itself leads me to believe there was some truth in what he said.

And finally, as we contemplate the requirement for a league title * footnote, should we now scrap the conferences?

Robert - The conference system as a whole is a good idea, as it is much easier for teams and fans to  travel. However I, and I suspect the league, feel it is in need of tweaking. Either swapping Belfast with Manchester (this would be easier for Irish ferry travel) or having three points for Cross-conference games. I think the latter may be unwieldy and a simple swap may be best. It would also help the new club Manchester to grow because their attendances should grow significantly.

Mark - Yes. The league is not strong enough to have conferences like this. One big league is the only answer for a 10 strong team. You need at least 20 teams to make conferences work correctly I think, and that will never happen. Perhaps a financial subsidy for travel costs to the lesser Scottish teams will help soften the financial blow if we go back to one big league. But changes need to be made.

Phil - If the conferences are here to stay no matter what in order to keep some of the teams in business then I quite like @We_Are_Steelers idea of making it 3pts for a cross conference win (compared with 2pts for a win in conference) as it makes those lesser played games more valuable and might even increase their attendances meaning more revenue for the clubs too.

Tony – No I don’t think we need to scrap them, as it seems to work well financially for almost everyone, but tweaks are needed as we need a fair and un-biased scoring system for the main competition. Maybe combine this change with different a different Cup system in the first half which is played mainly in-conference, and a league played nationwide?

That’s all folks. Hope you enjoyed reading our thoughts, and we’d love you to get involved too. Help set the agenda for next week with your questions, or even better get involved and give your views as one of the panel.

We would love different views and different participants each week. Please contact Mark @frozensteelblog or Tony @Disgu15ed, or find us at the game. 

Brief Bios of those panellists you’ve just been listening to in the series so far :

• Alan is @frozensteelmnl for match night updates and @AwkwardGinge for everything else. Has been watching Hockey for many years, and given half a chance will regale you with tales of the London Knights. Catch him on the Breaking the Ice podcast too.
• Bethan represents the younger end of the fan base, after being dragged along to her first Steelers game in 2007 and has loved the team ever since. Follow her on Twitter at @bethan_4
• Eric is a season ticket holder and can be found shouting encouragement to our players and scorn at the zebras alongside three generations of his family in block 115. Views can be found @greenbunch257
• Mark is one of the main men behind the Frozen Steel blog, being the Editor and Podcast pundit, and has watched the club since its inception. Find him at @hockeybhoy
• Phil has been a fan since watching the final game of the London Racers at the Sheffield Arena back in 2005 and has adopted block 106 as his second home. He now wishes he had listened to Elliott Hall and had started watching earlier! Find him on @pbeeodd
• Richard is the big man with the big drum who until recently was to be found leading both the Rock the Block choir and his family in 218. Now looking for a new block to call home, his views, and invites to come join you, can be directed to @CaVaLiEr666
• Robert is chief architect of steelers-stats.co.uk, the go-to guy for Steelers history from days gone by, and the man behind one of the big White House spotlights! Robert is @steelersstats.
• Tony has been watching the Steelers on and off since Tony Hand arrived, and has been a regular for the last eight years or so. Enjoys contributing to the blog with his weekly five things and can be found @Disgu15ed

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:-
@FrozenSteelBlog
@FrozenSteelMNL
@hockeybhoy
@Disgu15ed

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Or Email the team at frozen.steel.91@gmail.com

Five things I learnt this week - Blazing Failures w/e 31 Jan

Photo from @MickGTA

Here's my weekly five things for w/e 31 January - If you've got any feedback please contact me on @Disgu15ed

1. Blazing failures – After just one point this week-end, we’ve only got 50% of the available points against Coventry this year. Add that to a 50% record against Edinburgh, and that leaves us way below expectations against the 8^th and 10^th placed teams. That’s 5 or 6 points dropped compared to previous year’s results (We’re 33 W & 10 L against the Blaze in last five years), and that’s almost exactly how many points we are off top place. Those are the result that we will look back on with the most regret.
2. Worse than the Clan in the Erdhart – The Clan have 20 points from 16 cross-conference games, a 62.5% point haul. That’s significantly better than Steelers 54%, Panthers and Giants 50% and Blaze 45%, so there’s a good argument to support a claim that the Clan are rightfully in the top two. Flip-side is that bizarrely the Steelers, Giants & Panthers all have better records in the Erdhart than the Clan, as although they can beat all of us Erdhart teams, they just can’t beat Fife this year, so go figure that one!
3. Devils march on – It’s going to be close, but if we extrapolate the current results then the Devils just nudge the Clan even including the in-built conference bias – but by just one point! If we average out the conference bias, then the Devils win more comfortably, and the Steelers finish second. Either way it’s so close that a couple of extraordinary results in the last dozen or so games could swing it.
4. CC Semi-final – I think the Panthers inherited the right to the second leg when their ball (or was it a puck) got drawn from the M&S carrier bag a few months ago, but don’t I remember times where we gave that up when the Panthers claimed they couldn’t get ice-time? If we didn’t have Ice Sheffield then the only time we had to hold the home leg was this week directly after the Belfast away game, and with travel, and very little notice to sell 8,000+ tickets that wasn’t a decent option. So we’re stuck with a small capacity rink for a big game. We won’t all get into IS to support the boys, and Nottingham won’t get many tickets for their away fans, we lose out on gate money, and I’m struggling to see a winner except for GM the GM.
5. CHL Final – Is anyone still watching this except me? In case it has slipped your attention, the Frolunda Indians who breezed past the Steelers in the group stages, made it all the way to the final where they will face the Finnish side Karpat Oulu. One leg final on the 9^th of February.

  

One final thought for those of you wishing we had a 5 or 7 game play-off series. Does our in-ability to arrange a satisfactory CC Semi-final give us tangible proof that we couldn’t realistically arrange this type of short-notice series? I don’t think we could hold onto provisional bookings without significant arena deposits, and of course if One-Direction wanted that date then we’d be thrown out pronto anyway, so logistically it’s a non-starter for me. Although it’s odd in a hockey context I prefer the league format anyway, as every game counts, and you can’t have a game off if you want to win the bowl. It’s no good just getting hot for the play-offs, we want to watch good hockey all year.

 

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:-
@FrozenSteelBlog
@FrozenSteelMNL
@hockeybhoy
@Disgu15ed

Check out the Frozen Steel Podcast


Or Email the team at frozen.steel.91@gmail.com