Sheffield Steelers
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| Sheffield Steelers | |
 |
|
| City: | Sheffield, England |
|---|---|
| League: | Elite Ice Hockey League |
| Founded: | 1991 |
| Home Arena: | Sheffield Arena |
| Colors: | White, Teal, Orange |
| Owner(s): | Arena Sports Ltd |
| Head Coach: |  Dave Matsos |
| Captain: |  Jonathan Philips |
| Championships | |
| Regular Season Titles: | 1994–95, 1995–96, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04 |
| Autumn Cups: | 1995–96, 2000–01 |
| Challenge Cups: | 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002–03 |
| Playoff Championships: | 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2007–08 |
Sheffield Steelers are a club in British ice hockey, from Sheffield, England. They were formed in 1991 (see 1991 in sport) and play their home games at the Sheffield Arena. They are currently members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Their main (title) sponsor is Liberata. The are the current Elite League playoff champions.
Contents |
[edit] History
Ice Hockey began its return to an era of arenas and stadium size crowds with the opening of the Sheffield Arena in 1991 and the creation of the Sheffield Steelers — the ice hockey team that was to occupy the new arena. The Sheffield Arena was built as part of the city’s facilities for the staging of the World Student Games, and is a sizeable stadium originally seating 8,500 and located close to the city centre.[1] Dave Biggar was at the helm as the Marketing Director at the club and set about promoting ice hockey to a city raised on the footballing success of Sheffield United and Wednesday football clubs. Biggar had a specific target, seeking to attract children and families to the city’s new sporting Arena. As he stated in an interview in Liam Sluyter's A Game of Three Halves (Mainstream Publishing, 1998) "we were sending guys around schools. We wrote to all the schools in Sheffield and said "Bring the kids, see the Arena, sit down, experience the whole thing" ". They also began taking players to local football matches and parading them around the ground with mascots in an attempt to pull in football fans too. Another marketing ploy was to give certain players nicknames to help the crowd associate with the new (and as yet unknown) players.[citation needed]
The Steelers were named in honor of Sheffield's industrial past, much like the American football team of the same name based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the sharing of nicknames are merely a coincidence. The American football team actually predates Sheffield's team by 58 years and was already popular worldwide due to their dominance in the National Football League in the 1970's. It should be noted, however, that on a global scale, Sheffield and Pittsburgh are considered sister cities.[2]
Sheffield Steelers were the first ever fully professional ice hockey team in Great Britain, and O’Brien suggested that there was a lot of resentment from the followers of other hockey teams who saw them as a "cheque book hockey club" able to buy whoever they chose.[citation needed] Likewise, Sluyter questions the authenticity of the majority of Steelers fans in the club’s early days. Though he admitted that it was a generalisation, Sluyter suggested hockey fans of teams like Cardiff, Fife and Nottingham were ice hockey fans first and foremost, while Steelers' supporters were only Steelers fans, and knew very little of ice hockey outside of Sheffield. However, it made little difference as Sheffield began breaking several British ice hockey attendance records, and in March of that year added an extra 1,200 seats to the Arena to meet the growing demand.
Sheffield Steelers had begun their first ever season in English Division One of the British Hockey League. One year later Sheffield Steelers won promotion into the British Premier League, before going on to win this in 1995 — the last team to do so before the formation of the new British Ice Hockey Super League (ISL) that year.[citation needed]
On Sunday 3 December 2006, the Steelers played in their 1000th ever game.[3] The game was against the Basingstoke Bison at the Hallam FM Arena, for which special orange jerseys had been made for the match.[4] The Steelers lost the game 3–2[5] and the jerseys were all auctioned off at the game.
[edit] 2000–2001
In the 2000–01 campaign the Steelers completed a memorable Grand Slam, comprising the Benson & Hedges Cup, League, Challenge Cup and Playoff Titles. They managed this feat by blatantly breaking the salary cap (for which they were found guilty by the Superleague) set for all teams at the beginning of the season. The only other team to win all four trophies in one season were the Ayr Scottish Eagles who completed this feat in the 1997–98 season. The Challenge Cup Final was held in the new Odyssey Arena in Belfast in front of a full house of 7,300. Ayr were the opponents and Steelers won 4–2.
The Steelers are the only team to have won 7 trophies in the Superleague era. The teams playoff success came against the London Knights who they defeated 2–1 in a very tight game at the Nottingham Ice Centre to take the Playoff crown.
[edit] 2001–2002
After a turbulent start to the 2001–02 season, the players managed to turn things around and go on to retain the playoff title they had won the previous season. They overcame the London Knights (3–2) in the semi-final after going 0-2 down early on and beat the Manchester Storm (4–3) in the final. With time running out the Steelers were losing 2–3 before Chris Lipsett tied the game to send it to overtime. This failed to separate the teams so penalties were required. Steelers netminder, Ryan Bach, saved all five Manchester attempts whilst Brad Lauer was successful for the Steelers. This was again played at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham in front of a full house. This victory made the Steelers the only club to successfully retain the Superleague title.
[edit] 2006–2007
The 2006–07 season had highs and lows, as well as a long unbeaten run, it also included a long losing streak which had some fans questioning the Coach, Matsos. However Matsos made a very difficult decision to cut fan-favourite and enforcer Brett Clouthier to bring in Ryan Finnerty[6] who also became a fan favourite with his fiery and skillful play. Coach David Matsos completed his rookie year taking the Steelers to a fourth place finish in the league and a place in the Challenge Cup Finals.[7] Although it was an unsuccessful season in terms of silverware for the Steelers, the club made strides off-ice and broke an Elite League Attendance record against the Manchester Phoenix with an attendance of 7339.[citation needed]
[edit] 2007–2008
After a trophyless season the Sheffield Steelers looked on towards the 2007–08 season. They tied Coach David Matsos down to stay for another year, and preparation began for the new season.[8] Team Owner Bob Phillips and his wife sold their other Elite League club the Cardiff Devils in order to concentrate on building the Steelers.[9]
Matsos made a quick start in the off-season resigning his core of British Players, which were, Captain Jonathan Phillips,[10] Defenseman Mark Thomas,[11] and forwards Warren Tait[12] and Jason Hewitt.[13]
Matsos also snapped up two imports from the previous season, Goaltender Jody Lehman[14] and the coaches player of the season Ian Manzano.[15]
Rumours were that the other British Forward Phil Hill would not be returning and these rumours were almost clarified when Matsos signed top British forward Ashley Tait (brother of Warren) who had captained the Coventry Blaze in the previous season and lifted the League and Challenge Cup; as well as runners-up in the British Knockout Cup and the semi-finals of the Elite League Playoffs.[16]
The Steelers re-signed fan favourite Ryan Finnerty[17] and two days later announced the signing of Steve Munn from the Norfolk Admirals (AHL) and Munn was the first player to take advantage of the Steelers links with the Sheffield University where he will study for an MBA during his two year stay at the club.[18]
Jeff Legue was announced as a new Steelers signing,[19] shortly followed by Randy Dagenais who will be the second player to study for an MBA while at the Steelers.[20] Rod Sarich's return was confirmed[21] and Joe Talbot was revealed as a Steelers player,[22] leaving Matsos with just one spot left to fill on his roster. Jeremy Cornish was announced as the final Steelers signing on 16 July and would fit into the Steelers third line and become the club's new enforcer.[23]
On 18 July 2007 it was announced that Liberata would the club's title sponsor for the 2007–08 season.[24]
On 18 January 2008 Sheffield Steelers announced the signing of former fan favourite Dan Tessier who last season scored 99 points. Dan left Sheffield at the end of last season tho pursue a career in Germany's DEL with Duisburg Foxes but was released after only 19 games with a very poor points record of only 6 point. he then went back to Canada with the Kalamazoo K Wings of the IHL, but then asked for his contact to be terminated to join a team in England.
On March 12th the Sheffield Steelers announced that they had secured head coach Dave Matsos to a 2 year contract extension which would keep him at the club until at least the end of the 2010 season.
The Sheffield Steelers won the Elite League Playoff Championship after beating the Coventry Blaze 2-0 in the final with goals from Johnathan Phillips and Dan Tessier. The Steelers beat Manchester Phoenix 5-4 and drew 4-4 in the Quarter Finals to win 9-5 on aggregate. The Steelers then beat the Cardiff Devils in the Semi Final 2-1 before progressing to the final.
[edit] 2008–2009
After winning the Playoff trophy in April; Dave Matsos started his recruitment for the coming season with the goal of winning the league title. Captain Johnathan Phillips was first to put pen to paper on a new contract for the coming season, which will be his third with the club. This signing was followed by the announcement of the return of Ryan Finnerty, as well as confirmation of Steve Munn and Randy Dagenais returning to complete their 2nd year of 2 year deals, as well as their University Course.
Rumours were circulating that Jody Lehmann would not be offered a new contract, and that the Steelers were looking at bringing Christian Bronsard back to the club for his second stint.
On the 6th of May the Steelers announced British Defenceman Mark Thomas had signed a new 1 year contract, this would be the first of two announcements for the Steelers in this week. The second announcement was announced on Thursday and it was Assistant Player/Coach Doug Sheppard who was announced as the returnee after signing a new 1 year deal.
The club announced they had started contract negotiations with Goaltender Jody Lehmann about a return but had set him a deadline for his answer. A few days later it was announced Jeff Legue would be the latest of last years team to sign a new deal.
Goaltender news arrived, but not on the starting goalie front, it was announced by the club that backup goaltender David Lawrence would not be returning, instead he would be signing for a team in the English Premier League in order to gain a place as a starting goaltender.
Matsos continued his resignings and the club announced Jason Hewitt had signed to return for the 08/09 season. On the same day the Sheffield Star published an article stating that Robert Dowd had signed a full time contract with the Steelers from the Sheffield Scimitars, after playing 14 games for the club last term.
The club later confirmed that Jody Lehman would return to Sheffield for another season, tasked with the job of bringing the league trophy back to Sheffield.
The Sheffield Star reported that a return for Joey Talbot was looking less likely after contract negotiations were stalling, and later reported that a return for Dan Tessier, was also unlikely. Rod Sarich was also subject to rumours that he would not be returning, However Radio Sheffield were reporting he had resigned, and the paperwork was just being completed before an official announcement was made.
The announcement of top scorer Joey Talbot returning to the club was announced on the same day the club announced Dan Tessier would not be returning to the club. Joey Talbot was the clubs top scorer in the previous season racking up 39 goals and 36 assists for a total of 75 points. Dan Tessier had previously returned for his second spell at the Sheffield club and the previous season it was announced he would be present for the 2008/2009 season, however the club had decided to go in a different direction, which was expected to be in the size department.
A day later the club confirmed Ian Manzano would also leave the club as they looked for some more strength and grit in the defence department. Coach Dave Matsos stated the league was shifting towards more size again and this led to his decision to release Manzano.
[edit] Current roster
As of 13th May, 2008, 2008-09 EIHL season
| Goaltenders | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Player | Catches | Acquired | Place of Birth | |
| 34 | |
Jody Lehman | L | 2005 | North Battleford, SK, Canada |
| 37 | |
Dan Green | L | 2008 | Leamington Spar, England |
| Defencemen | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Player | Shoots | Acquired | Place of Birth | ||
| 12 | |
Randy Dagenais | L | 2007 | Valrita,ON, Canada | |
| 25 | |
Steve Munn | L | 2007 | North Battleford, SK, Canada | |
| 44 | |
Mark Thomas | L | 2005 | Stockport, England | |
| Forwards | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Player | Shoots | Position | Acquired | Place of Birth | |
| 10 | |
Ryan Finnerty | R | C | 2007 | Lethbridge, AB, Canada |
| 11 | |
Jeff Legue | L | C | 2007 | Cornwall, ON, Canada |
| 12 | |
Rob Dowd | L | C | 2008 | Billingham, England |
| 17 | |
Jason Hewitt | R | RW | 2005 | Manchester, England |
| 20 | |
Jonathan Phillips - C | R | LW | 2006 | Cardiff, Wales |
| 21 | |
Ashley Tait - A | R | RW | 2007 | Toronto, ON, Canada |
| 28 | |
Doug Sheppard | R | RW | 2007 | Georgetown, ON, Canada |
| 36 | |
Joey Talbot | R | RW | 2007 | Wahnapitae, ON, Canada |
[edit] Honoured members
The Steelers have retired the numbers of four players.[25] Ronnie Wood's number 7 and Tim Cranston's number 4 have been retired. Tony Hand's number 16 and Ken Priestlay's number 9 were retired on 21 January 2003 at a challenge match against the Dundee Stars.[26]
Six people who have been associated with the Steelers have been inducted to the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.[27] Alex Dampier, who coached the Steelers from January 1993 to the end of the 1997–98 season, was inducted in 1995 and Mike Blaisdell, who coached and occasionally iced for the Steelers between 1999 and 2004, was inducted in 2004. On the player front, Chris Kelland was inducted in 2002, Rick Brebant in 2004, Paul Adey in 2006, and the most recent ex-player to be inducted was Scott Neil in 2007.
The Steelers started their own Hall of Fame in 2005 in which honoured members are voted for by the fans. There are two Hall of Fames: The Players Hall of Fame[28] and the Backroom Staff Hall of Fame.[29] Ken Priestlay, Tommy Plommer, Scott Allison and Tim Cranston were inducted to the Players Hall of Fame in 2005 and Ron Shudra and Mike Blaisdell were inducted in 2006. David Simms, responsible for Press and Media at the club, and Andy Akers, Equipment Manager, were inducted to the Backroom Staff Hall of Fame in 2006 and Mike O'Connor, General Manager, was inducted in 2007.
[edit] Honours and awards
- 1995–96, 2000–01
- Ed Courtenay – 1999–00
- David Longstaff – 2000–01
- Joel Laing – 2002–03
- Mike Blaisdell – 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04
The Ice Hockey Annual Trophy (Leading British points scorer)
- Tony Hand – 1998–99
First Team All-Star
- 1994–95 – Martin McKay
- 1995–96 – Wayne Cowley, Tony Hand, Ken Priestlay
- 1997–98 – Ed Courtenay
- 1998–99 – Ed Courtenay
- 1999–00 – Ed Courtenay
- 2000–01 – Shayne McCosh, David Longstaff
- 2002–03 – Joel Laing, Marc Laniel
- 2003–04 – Dion Darling, Kevin Bolibruck, Mark Dutiaume
- 2006–07 – Dan Tessier
Second Team All-Star
- 1999–00 – Shayne McCosh, Teeder Wynne
- 2000–01 – Adam Smith
- 2001–02 – Scott Allison
- 2002–03 – Dion Darling, Rhett Gordon
- 2003–04 – Erik Anderson
- 2005–06 – Mark Dutiaume
- 2007–08 – Rod Sarich
[edit] Grand slam winning teams
The Steelers have won the Grand Slam of all available trophies twice in their history. In the 1995–96 season they won the Benson & Hedges Cup, the league championship and the playoffs. In the 2000–01 season they won the Benson & Hedges Cup, the Challenge Cup, the league championship and the playoffs. The players who played for the Steelers those seasons were:
[edit] 1995–96 team
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[edit] 2000–01 teamGoaltenders Defenders Forwards
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[edit] Season-by-season record
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For more details on this topic, see Sheffield Steelers seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
| Season | League | GP | W | L | T | OTL | Pts | GF | GA | Final League Position |
| 1991–92 | English League Division 1 | 32 | 27 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 55 | 378 | 163 | 2nd |
| 1992–93 | British League Division 1 | 32 | 22 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 48 | 300 | 186 | 2nd |
| 1993–94 | British League Premier Division | 44 | 28 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 55† | 313 | 198 | 3rd† |
| 1994–95 | British League Premier Division | 44 | 35 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 74 | 334 | 183 | 1st |
| 1995–96 | British League Premier Division | 36 | 27 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 59 | 268 | 122 | 1st |
| 1996–97 | Ice Hockey Superleague | 44 | 27 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 60 | 168 | 127 | 2nd |
| 1997–98 | Ice Hockey Superleague | 44 | 20 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 50 | 169 | 163 | 6th |
| 1998–99 | Ice Hockey Superleague | 42 | 17 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 40 | 135 | 141 | 6th |
| 1999–00 | Ice Hockey Superleague | 42 | 24 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 52 | 188 | 155 | 2nd |
| 2000–01 | Ice Hockey Superleague | 48 | 35 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 104‡ | 162 | 115 | 1st |
| 2001–02 | Ice Hockey Superleague | 48 | 18 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 48 | 138 | 144 | 3rd |
| 2002–03 | Ice Hockey Superleague | 32 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 42 | 162 | 115 | 1st†† |
| 2003–04 | Elite Ice Hockey League | 56 | 44 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 92 | 214 | 106 | 1st |
| 2004–05 | Elite Ice Hockey League | 50 | 25 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 58 | 118 | 110 | 5th |
| 2005–06 | Elite Ice Hockey League | 42 | 15 | 19 | 6 | 2 | 38 | 105 | 135 | 6th |
| 2006–07 | Elite Ice Hockey League | 54 | 30 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 68 | 163 | 154 | 4th |
| 2007–08 | Elite Ice Hockey League | 54 | 38 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 78 | 190 | 129 | 2nd |
- †Finished second with 60 points. However, five points were deducted for breaking the wage cap[citation needed]
- ‡Three points were awarded for a win in the 2000–01 season
- ††Five team league
[edit] Notes
- ^ Sheffield Arena (2007). Directions to the Sheffield Arena Sheffield. sheffieldarena.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- ^ Sister Cities International
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2006). 1000th Game Fast Approaches. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2006). Special Game Shirt for Sunday. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2006). Steelers Go Down to the Bison on their 1,000th Night. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). All Change at the Steelers. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Britich Ice Hockey.co.uk (2007). Elite Ice Hockey League - 2006/07. britishicehockey.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Matsos Pledges to the Steelers. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ The Sheffield Star (2007). Steelers chief sells Devils. thestar.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Steelers Captain Phillips Back for Another Year. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Steelers Re-Sign Lehman and Thomas. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Warren Tait Signs For Another Year. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Hewitt Signs for Another Year. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Steelers Re-Sign Lehman and Thomas. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Manzano Signs. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Ashley Tait is a STEELER. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Ryan Finnerty Signs for the Steelers Once Agaian. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Steelers New Signing is Steve Munn. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Legue Confirmed as Latest Signing. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). The New Steeler is Randy Dagenais. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Sarich Back to Win a Championship. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Joe Talbot Signs for the Steelers. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Jeremy Cornish Signs for the Steelers. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). Liberata are the Title Sponsors of the Steelers. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.
- ^ Sheffield Steelers (2007). History. sheffieldsteelers.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- ^ Stuart Hughes (18 December 2002). Sheffield to honour Steelers stars. BBC Sport Online. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- ^ Ice Hockey Journalists UK (2007). Hall of Fame. ihjuk.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- ^ J. P. Smith. Players Hall Of Fame. Sheffield Steelers Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- ^ J. P. Smith. Backroom Staff Hall Of Fame. Sheffield Steelers Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
