Sheffield Steeldogs

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Sheffield Steeldogs
Sheffield Steeldogs Logo.png
City Sheffield, England
League NIHL
DivisionNational League
Founded2010
Home arena iceSheffield
Capacity: 1,500
ColorsOrange, Black & White
   
Owner(s)Tony Smith Flag of England.svg
Head coachSlava Koulikov Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
CaptainJonathan Kirk Flag of England.svg
Parent club(s) Sheffield Steelers
Website Sheffield Steeldogs
Franchise history
1996 – 2010Sheffield Scimitars
2010 – presentSheffield Steeldogs

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

Contents

History

The club came into existence during the summer of 2010 [1] as a replacement for the previous tenants of the iceSheffield rink, the Sheffield Scimitars, after the Scimitars were able to fundraise over a million pounds to revamp the team. [2]

The team have played in the English Premier Ice Hockey League from the 2010–2017 season.

After their first season in the EPL, 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 was 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 had 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 soundly beaten by league champion Guildford Flames as they did the double.

Andre Payette once again led the Steeldogs in 2012/13 but faced a big challenge to repeat the success of the previous season. With young goaltender Ben Bowns making the switch to the EIHL and an aging defence, it proved to be a difficult rebuilding process for the still inexperienced coach. Fans had hoped that Ben Bowns would be re-signed, however he switched to the EIHL becoming the starting net minder for Hull Stingrays.

Club roster 2025-26 [3]

Netminders
No.Nat.PlayerCatchesDate of birthPlace of birthAcquiredContract
32 Flag of England.svg Alex OldaleL15 December 2004 (age 20) Sheffield GBR2025 from Manchester Storm 25/26
31 Flag of England.svg Daniel CroweL3 January 2003 (age 22) Newcastle, GBR2022 from Milton Keynes Lightning 25/26
Defencemen
No.Nat.PlayerShootsDate of birthPlace of birthAcquiredContract
3 Flag of England.svg Liam SteeleR21 April 2004 (age 21) Cobham, GBR2025 from Cornell University25/26
6 Flag of England.svg Ben MorganR24 October 1987 (age 37) Sheffield, England2011 from the Manchester Phoenix 25/26
22 Flag of England.svg Oliver TurnerL19 January 2006 (age 19) England 2022 from Sheffield Scimitars/Sheffield Titans 25/26
42 Flag of England.svg Tim SmithL4 August 1988 (age 36) Sheffield, England2013 from Invicta Dynamos 25/26
90 Flag of England.svg Jonathan Kirk

Captain C'

L21 August 1995 (age 29) Maltby, England2020 from Hull Pirates 25/26
96 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg C.J. GarciaL3 February 1996 (age 29) Pickering, Ontario, Canada2025 from Manchester Storm 25/26
Forwards
No.Nat.PlayerShootsDate of birthPlace of birthAcquiredContract
5 Flag of England.svg Brady DoxeyR8 September 2000 (age 24) Chesterfield, England2019 from Sutton Sting 25/26
8 Flag of the United States.svg Walker SommerL29 April 1996 (age 29) Avon, Ohio, USA2024 from Lindau Islanders 25/26
11 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Bair GendunovR11 May 2000 (age 25) Toronto, Ontario, Canada2025 from SC Riessersee 25/26
17 Flag of England.svg Jacob Brammer L1 November 2006 (age 18) Sheffield, England2023 from Sheffield Academy U19's 25/26
20 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Jonathan PhillipsR14 July 1982 (age 43) Cardiff, Wales2023 from Sheffield Steelers 25/26
23 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Michael DaneckoR23 April 2004 (age 21) Czech Republic/England 2025 from Leeds Knights 25/26
29 Flag of England.svg Nathan RipleyL5 March 2002 (age 23) England 2024 from Coventry Blaze 25/26
68 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Flag of Hungary.svg András KéhlR2 March 2003 (age 22) England 2025 from Edson Eagles 25/26
71 Flag of England.svg Jack BrammerR7 July 2003 (age 22) Sheffield, England2022 from Malungs IF 25/26
72 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Flag of Sweden.svg Flag of Scotland.svg Ivan Björkly NordströmR20 September 2002 (age 22) Edinburgh, GBR2024 from Peterborough Phantoms 25/26
75 Flag of England.svg Ben CuttsL4 February 2006 (age 19) Nottingham, England2023 from Sheffield Steelhawks, Sheffield Titans25/26
79 Flag of England.svg Joe MatthewmanL28 February 2008 (age 17) Sheffield, England2025 from Sheffield Steelhawks, Sheffield Titans, Sheffield Scimitars25/26
98 Flag of England.svg Aiden DancerR11 February 2007 (age 18) Mansfield, England2023 from Sheffield Steelhawks, Sheffield Titans, Sheffield Scimitars25/26
Team Staff
No.Nat.NameAcquiredPositionPlace of birthJoined From
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Flag of Ukraine.svg Slava Koulikov2025 –Head Coach Yekaterinburg, RUS Peterborough Phantoms
Flag of Scotland.svg Jamie McIlroy2024 –General Manager Paisley, SCO -
Flag of England.svg Steve Weeks2023 –Director of Player Development Barnsley, England -

2022-23 Outgoing

Outgoing
No.Nat.PlayerShootsDate of birthPlace of birthLeaving For
72 Flag of England.svg Charlie HenryL5 February 2005 (age 20) Nottingham, England No team, NIHL
74 Flag of England.svg Lee BonnerL5 March 1997 (age 28) Hull, England Hull Seahawks, NIHL
12 Flag of England.svg Jordan BuesaL16 October 2000 (age 24) Troon, GBR Glasgow Clan, EIHL

[4]

2017/18 Season

League

This is the first season that the Sheffield Steeldogs were to participate in the National Ice Hockey League North conference, the Moralee Conference. The season started with player coach Ben Morgan assembling his team and completing the roster with a mix of youth, speed, experience and skill, with the majority of players being a 'home grown player' and being from the Sheffield area. Lewis Bell was named the club's captain at the start of the season with the assistants being Tim Smith and Ashley Calvert.

The first game of the season was away to the last league champions on the former English Premier League, the Telford Tigers. It saw the Steeldogs set the tempo for the season by taking the Tigers to overtime and just falling short in the final period. The dogs would then go unbeaten in the next 11 league games. Andrew Hirst reached a personal milestone in this time by scoring his 100th goal for the Steeldogs in a win against the Billingham Stars on 23 September 2017.

Steeldogs first trip to Blackburn proved to be a thrilling game. The Hawks would take an early lead in the game and it would take the Dogs 59 minutes of the game to score their first goal, Ashley Calvert getting the equaliser in the last minute of regulation. The game then went to overtime when a penalty shot was awarded to the dogs, Milan Kolena scoring the penalty shot and winning the frantic game.

26 November would see the second meeting of the season between the Steeldogs and Hull Pirates, but the first meeting in the league between the sides. The contest that took place in Hull saw the Pirates take the points and hand the Steeldogs their first defeat in the league in regular time.

The Dogs would go December unbeaten and in January would only lose once, to Telford Tigers in a 1-0 loss at home.

February's league campaign would start off slow with a loss away to Whitley Bay. This loss was following a home and away fixture against the Pirates on Friday and Saturday, the Sunday game showed the Steeldogs concede 3 goals in the final period against a Warriors team playing their only game of the weekend. The Steeldogs would win the remaining of their games in February and leave them on top of the Moralee Conference.

March left the Steeldogs with 4 games remaining in the league, Hull Pirates had a game in hand on the Dogs and were only 1 point behind the Dogs in the league. Following 2 wins for the dogs and 3 wins for the Pirates, one of these against 3rd place Telford, the league came down to the final weekend with 2 games against Hull. Both games were a must win for the Dogs, 1 victory for the Pirates would see them take the league. Saturdays game would see the forth shutout in a row for Dmitri Zimozdra as the Dogs would win 1-0. Sundays game was a much more open affair with a 6-4 win for the Dogs which saw them win the league in Hull's rink.

National Cup

The majority of games in December and early January were for the National Cup against Peterborough Phantoms and Hull Pirates. Within this group the Steeldogs managed to win 3 games and lost 4 in regulation and 1 in overtime. This was enough to see the Steeldogs prevail onto the next stage of the cup with the help of some adjusted points between the final Hull and Peterborough game.

The next stage saw the Dogs come up against close rivals Hull in the semi-finals of the cup. The games were a home and away fixture with an aggregate score between the 2 games.

The first game took place in Sheffield and saw the Dogs win 3-2. The Dogs then managed to increase the aggregate score away in Hull and win the overall fixture by winning 3-1, winning the overall competition 6-3 and advancing onto the National Cup final against Swindon Wildcats.

Autumn Cup

The Steeldogs would bail out of the Autumn Cup throughout September and October against Basingstoke Bison and Peterborough Phantoms.

References

  1. A New Start » News » Sheffield Scimitars Ice Hockey Club – English Premier League Archived 5 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine . Sheffieldscimitars.co.uk (2010-07-17). Retrieved on 2010-12-13.
  2. A New Era for Sheffield » News » Sheffield Scimitars Ice Hockey Club – English Premier League Archived 5 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine . Sheffieldscimitars.co.uk (2010-07-03). Retrieved on 2010-12-13.
  3. "Sheffield Steeldogs - Elite Prospects". www.eliteprospects.com.
  4. "Team".