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Crunch time for Steelers
Well ladies and gentlemen this weekend starts the beginning of crunch time in the Elite league for the Sheffield Steelers. A month that can make or break our season. We currently are 3rd, 6 points behind leaders Belfast with 4 games in hand. This weekend we play Belfast in a double header in their barn. It is our biggest weekend of the season where we must prove that been named champions elect at the start of the season counts for nothing and Belfast have to earn the title. Then in a months time we have another double header against the Panthers at home boxing day and at the NIC a day later.
If this current Steelers team are to join the illustrious list of league winning sides for me they need to come out of these 4 games with even points. If they were to win all 4 games and earn decent results in the other games in December then they would be in the drivers seat. However we have some other very big fixtures in December to go with the double headers. We meet Braehead and then Coventry twice at home. With road games in Cardiff, Hull and Newcastle. None of these are easy games. Even the games in Hull and Newcastle which could be must wins if we struggle in Belfast. It is quite frankly our toughest month in the calendar.
Can the Steelers handle the pressure? In my opinion yes. We are pretty much back at full strength with only Jon Phillips on the shelf and young squires in his place. So who will be the difference makers for us during this time? who will make or break our season? Well i think in the real big games you have to look no further than Ashley Tait. I don't know if there has being a better big game player in the Elite league era. Despite his age he is still in the very top bracket of British players. You know the group with Clarke, Shields and Weaver in it. The group of 5 or 6 guys who are as good as nearly any import when they are at their best. Now they say you can't argue with facts so here is one for you. 3 Elite league Championships, 3 Playoff Championships and 2 challenge cups. That's 8 major trophies in just 7 seasons of Elite league history. Check out Winner in the dictionary you just may see a picture of Ashley Tait. Along that thread of winners is where we do have an edge on Nottingham and Belfast. We probably do have more guys who have won before and won plenty. However I have a real good feeling about Neil Clark. He has come into this team and slotted in perfectly with Simon and Globke and for the first time in a while we have a genuine power forward who can hit, play and skate well. Plus he will fight if he has too. On the back end I have to go with Domish. He is our best defender right now. He has settled in at the arena and his form of late has put him amongst the best d-men in the league in my mind. Last year he looked like a good player on a average team this year he looks like a very good player on a team in title contention and that's not always an easy transition to make.
Going back to the games against the Giants and the Panthers for my money our best route to success is to just shut them down. Offense is the bread and butter for both those teams. The 2 games we have won against Nottingham were tight low scoring games so why not try and go back to that. The game we lost against Belfast was more of a gun fight than a hockey game. Both sides focused on out scoring the other and we lost. So its pretty simple out defender your opponents and take your chances and you will get the win. Now where have I come across that before. Oh yeah its how Dave Matsos lead us to 3 major titles! I only bring that up because i heard someone complaining about Matsos at the Hull game the other week. People have a short memory at times and while last year was awful for the most part the guy did a great job of turning our team around in his first 3 seasons.
0-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
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5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
