The Sheffield Steeldogs are a professional ice hockey team based at the iceSheffield complex in Sheffield, England.
History The club came into existence during the summer of 2010A New Start » News » Sheffield Scimitars Ice Hockey Club – English Premier League . Sheffieldscimitars.co.uk (2010-07-17). Retrieved on 2010-12-13. 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.A New Era for Sheffield » News » Sheffield Scimitars Ice Hockey Club – English Premier League . Sheffieldscimitars.co.uk (2010-07-03). Retrieved on 2010-12-13.
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 Source: NetmindersNo.Nat.PlayerCatchesDate of birthPlace of birthAcquiredContract32 Alex Oldale LSheffield GBR 2025 from Manchester Storm25/2631 Curtis Warburton R22 October 2001 (age 24)RotherhamGBR 2017 from Bradford Bulldogs2-way34Brady ParkerL10 July 2000 (age 25)Scottsdale, Arizona USA2025 from Clarkson University25/2688Dmitri ZimozdraL8 June 1988 (age 37)Omsk, RUS2026 from Hull Seahawks25/26
DefencemenNo.Nat.PlayerShootsDate of birthPlace of birthAcquiredContract3Liam Steele RCobham, GBR 2025 from Cornell University25/266 Ben Morgan RSheffield, England 2011 from the Manchester Phoenix25/2613David PhillipsR14 August 1987 (age 38)Hull, England2025 from Hull Seahawks25/2616 Emil OksanenLLondon, England 2025 from Kiekko-Espoo U20 Ch25/2622 Oliver Turner LEngland 2022 from Sheffield Scimitars/Sheffield Titans25/2625Oliver KnaggsL4 November 2005 (age 20)Watford, England2025 from Berkshire Bees25/2642 Tim Smith LSheffield, England 2013 from Invicta Dynamos25/2690 Jonathan Kirk CaptainC' LMaltby, England 2020 from Hull Pirates25/2695Finley WilliamsUnknown4 December 2008 (age 17)Unknown2025 from Sheffield Scimitars3-way(with Sheffield Scimitars and Sheffield Steelhawks) 96 C.J. Garcia LPickering, Ontario, Canada 2025 from Manchester Storm25/26
ForwardsNo.Nat.PlayerDate of birthPlace of birthShootsAcquiredContract5 Brady DoxeyChesterfield, EnglandR 2019 from Sutton Sting25/268 Walker SommerAvon, Ohio, USAL 2024 from Lindau Islanders25/2611 Bair GendunovToronto, Ontario, CanadaR 2025 from SC Riessersee25/2615 Joe MatthewmanSheffield, EnglandL 2025 from Sheffield Scimitars, Sheffield Titans, Sheffield Steelhawks U18's25/2617 Jacob BrammerSheffield, EnglandL 2023 from Sheffield Academy U19's25/2620 Jonathan Phillips Cardiff, Wales R 2023 from Sheffield Steelers25/2623 Michael DaneckoCzech Republic/EnglandR 2025 from Leeds Knights25/2627Cole Shudra11 August 1998 (age 27)Rotherham, EnglandL2023 from Leeds Knights2-way29 Nathan RipleyEnglandL 2024 from Coventry Blaze25/2637Kyle Watson17 August 2000 (age 25)Wakefield, EnglandR2025 from Trine Thunder2-way46Bailey Yates31 December 2007 (age 18)Lanarkshire, ScotlandR2025 from Utah Outliers25/2668 András KéhlEnglandR 2025 from Edson Eagles25/2672 Ivan Björkly NordströmEdinburgh, GBR R 2024 from Peterborough Phantoms25/2691 Joonas LarinmaaTurku, Finland L 2025 from JoKP, TUTO Hockey25/2695Joe Lynch2 June 2006 (age 19)Kirkcaldy, ScotlandL2025 from Fife Flyers2-way Team StaffNo.Nat.NameAcquiredPositionPlace of birthJoined fromSlava Koulikov2025 –Head CoachYekaterinburg, RUS Peterborough PhantomsJamie McIlroy2024 –General ManagerPaisley, SCO -Steve Weeks2023 –Director of Player DevelopmentBarnsley, England -
2022-23 Outgoing + OutgoingNo.Nat.PlayerShootsDate of birthPlace of birthLeaving For72 Charlie HenryLNottingham, EnglandNo team, NIHL74 Lee BonnerLHull, EnglandHull Seahawks, NIHL12 Jordan BuesaLTroon, GBRGlasgow Clan, EIHL
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
External links Sheffield Steeldogs Official Website