2013/14 Sheffield Steelers – Season Preview
After a long summer of head coaching changes, overseas excursions and blockbuster signings the dust can finally settle on a dynamic off-season for the Sheffield Steelers. With all just about said and done, the votes counted, and the results verified, one thing can now be said for sure…the Steelers are stacked. Indeed, all eyes in the EIHL will be on South Yorkshire this year, as the Steelers look to reap the rewards of an expensive close season, and get avenge a heartbreaking early exit from last year’s playoffs five long months ago.
The first and possibly most important addition the Steelers made was that of new Head Coach Doug Christiansen in April. Christiansen brings with him a pedigree of EIHL success, including the championship he won at the helm of the Belfast Giants in 2012, and a reputation that saw him take charge of the Great Britain national side in July. Christiansen though faces perhaps the toughest challenge of his coaching career in the coming campaign, having assembled a side that, on paper, looks to be one of the most explosive squads the EIHL has seen in years, but which comes with a ‘championship or bust’ stipulation. If last year’s early exit for the Steelers, failing to make the finals weekend in Nottingham, was a disappointment, then anything less than an Elite League win this year will surely put Christiansen and his free spending, big promising colleagues at odds with the Sheffield faithful. That being said, not for a long time have the Steelers been in such strong a position to meet their lofty expectations.
On the offensive end in particular, several skaters with huge reputations and bags of talent have landed in Sheffield looking to make Ice Sheffield (and occasionally the Motorpoint Arena) a fortress of attacking, positive Hockey.
In May, the Steelers introduced a man who, quite frankly, needs no introduction to British Hockey fans or to Doug Christiansen, Robert Dowd. Dowd rejoins the Steelers having left to play for Christiansen in Belfast in 2011, before spending last season applying his trade in Sweden. Dowd, arguably the most celebrated active home grown British talent in the game, has been received like a long lost brother by Steelers fans, and will look to recreate some of the success that saw him become both one of the best British forwards in recent memory, and a Sheffield crowd favourite during his double championship winning stint in Sheffield from 2006-2011.
For a few weeks it looked as though Dowd would be joined on the first line by Ryan Menei, the talented Canadian who led the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League in scoring last season. With Menei poised to become one of the EIHL’s most exciting players over night, the unthinkable happened and he pulled out of his contract with the Steelers in early August, citing family reasons.
While the loss of Menei was undoubtedly a huge setback for Christiansen in building his squad, it wasn’t long before more new faces were unveiled. Maxime Lacroix joins the Steelers off the back of scoring 40 points in 40 games for Odense in the Danish Elite League, bringing with him experience and success in both Europe and North America, having registered almost 120 American Hockey League games. Lacroix cited the style of play Doug Christiansen is looking to implement as a major influence in his decision to sign, with Christiansen’s more free flowing, North American system appealing to the centre, who was often played out of position on the wing in Denmark.
As well as Lacroix’s experience, the Steelers added yet more North American talent in the shape of Stefan Meyer who comes to Sheffield with 20 NHL and 387 AHL appearances to his name. In Meyer the Steelers get a versatile forward who, whilst not the most prolific goal scorer, brings a range of abilities up and down the ice with an elite reputation for killing penalties and for his hard work.
It won’t just be free flowing North American talent joining the Steelers this season though, as Christiansen also announced the signing of talented forward Aaron Nell. As fans of the British game will know, Nell bagged 115 points for the EPIHL’s Swindon Wildcats in 2012-13, and, having earned his Great Britain debut over the summer, looks set to become the next home grown talent to take the EIHL by storm.
Nell and his fellow scoring forwards will be bolstered by the addition of self proclaimed ‘tough guy’ winger Tim Spencer. Spencer joins the team fresh from an AHL career in which he established himself as a bruiser and a fighter always looking to create havoc in and around the opposition net. Despite this reputation though he and his new head coach have agreed Spencer will be valuable to the team as skilled on the puck player as well as spending much of games ‘in the faces’ of opposition players.
The new signings join an already potent collection of forwards including last year’s top scorer Jeff Legue, who has signed a brand new deal, the decorated if ageing Jason Hewitt, Jonathon Phillips and Steven Goertzen who has struggled with injuries over the summer.
And so it’s easy to see where the expectations put upon this Steelers side for 2013-14 have come from, with the forward group being boosted, goals galore will be expected in Sheffield this season, but on the defensive end too the Steelers have made key additions.
Frank Doyle will replace John DeCaro in the net having joined from Italian side HC Fassa in July, whilst the Steelers made a further big splash by signing defenseman Dustin Kohn to a two year deal. In Kohn the Steelers get NHL and AHL experience as well as a versatile defender with the ability to score points one minute and shut down an opposition attacker the next. Kohn will be joined on the blue line by defenders Gord Baldwin and Chad Langlais. Baldwin joins the Steelers on recommendation from forward Steven Goertzen, who he played with in the Czech league, meanwhile Langlais has followed Christiansen from Belfast. The Steelers have retained Drew Fata and the experienced Danny Meyers and Mark Thomas to ensure their defensive grouping is just as accomplished as their forward pack.
The Steelers then will go into 2013-14 with no shortage of aces in their pocket and likely a big target on their back. The problem, if you can call it that, for head coach Doug Christiansen will not be a shortage of talent but finding ways of using that talent efficiently and effectively to get results and reach the heights expected. That’s not to say the lofty expectations will be the only challenges faced by the Steelers this season, with the Erhardt Conference as strong as ever, and intriguing subplots running right through the EIHL, there will no easy games in Sheffield in 2013-14, starting with as tough a test as there is hosting Nottingham on the 8th September.
The Steelers have used the close season to make signings that ensure this squad is ready to win big and win now, something that the fans and much of the rest of the EIHL expect them to do. Such a strategy comes with its risks though, as Sheffield will go into most games this season with everything to lose and the expectation of victory. Even so, this has not been a summer of happy go lucky cash splashing. Christiansen has spent money, but on quality, proven and experienced players who, together, make the Steelers an early favourite to win it all in the EIHL this year.