Sheffield Steeldogs

Sheffield Steeldogs
Title Sponsor	Bradfield Brewery
League	English Premier Ice Hockey League
Founded	2010
History	Sheffield Steeldogs 2009–present Sheffield Scimitars 2002–2009
Arena	iceSheffield
Capacity	1,500
City	Sheffield, England
Team Colours	White, Blue,
Owners	Ali Cree Robin Grayson
Director of Hockey	Ron Shudra
General Manager	Paula Grayson
Head Coach	Greg Wood
Team Captain	Ben Morgan

The Sheffield Steeldogs are a semi professional ice hockey team, based at the iceSheffield complex in Sheffield, England.

History

The club came into existence during the summer of 2001 as a replacement for the previous tenants of the iceSheffield rink, the Sheffield Scimitars, after the Scimitars were able to fundraise over a million dollars to revamp the team.

The team have played in the English Premier Ice Hockey League from the 2005–2006 season until the present day.

After their second season in the EPL as Sheffield Steeldogs, the team achieved a playoff semi-final berth with an 8th-placed finish. The team started the 2011/12 season under the stewardship of Andre Payette, a Canadian forward who is known for his physical presence on the ice rather than his scoring touch, and many in British Ice Hockey had predicted that Sheffield would struggle to a bottom-three finish. Payette’s team, made up predominantly of local players and a small band of Eastern European imports, excelled during the 2011/12 season, pulling off several shock wins, including a win against fierce rivals Manchester Phoenix, a strong 3:1 win against Slough Jets and a fantastic 2:0 away shutout at MK Lightning. The Steeldogs have mixed physical hockey with attacking flare to fire their way to a solid top-5 spot and dispelled any notions of a ‘goon hockey’ tag by achieving a semi-final place against Milton Keynes Lightning (Sheffield Steeldogs won the first leg 1:0 at Ice Sheffield).

The Steeldogs went on to finish third in the league after hinting at a title challenge. A two-goal victory of the Basingstoke Bison in their playoff quarter final led to their first appearance at the playoff finals in Coventry. There the Steeldogs met archrivals the Manchester Phoenix in an epic battle that was decided on penalty shots in favour of the Lancashire outfit. The Steeldogs also reached the EPL cup final but were beaten by league champion Guildford Flames as they did the double.

Andre Payette will once again lead the Steeldogs in 2012 but faces a big challenge to repeat the success of last season. With young goaltender Ben Bowns making the switch to the EIHL and an aging defence, it will be a difficult rebuilding process for the still inexperienced coach. Fans had hoped that Ben Bowns would be

Steeldogs’ star players include Janis Ozolins, Ben Morgan, Tom Squires, Lubomir Korhon and Dalibor Sedlar

External links

• Sheffield Steeldogs Official Website