Opening weekend - Devils Vs Steelers

5th Sep 2012 | Posted by Simon Rafferty

This weekend the Devils open their 2012/13 campaign with a road trip to the charming house of Tin in the city of Sheffield on Saturday before playing hosts to the Steelers at home on Sunday. Both teams will be keen to draw first blood and as we've seen before every point taken against the Steelers can prove vital.

 

Looking at the Steelers team for this year it appears to be on paper fairly well balanced, with a good mixture of leadership, experience, skill, grit (Tylor) and “Team toughness”.

Upfront the Steelers Brit pack remains much the same with Lee Esders ( 2nd season) , Jonathan Phillips (7th Season) , Jason Hewitt (8th Season) and coming back from Injury, Ashley Tait all returning bolstered by the arrival of Colin Shields & Danny Wood. Joining them are returning Import Jeff Legue and new comers Stephen Goertzen, Cory Pecker, Shawn Limpright and Tylor Michel.

Looking at each of them in turn

Stephen Goertzen - the 6’1 220lb winger joins the Steelers with over 400 American league games under his belt having also played 68 NHL games in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Phoenix Coyotes and the Carolina Hurricanes.

Coach Ryan Finnerty had this to say " We have signed quality here, quality and leadership and a player still with a career ahead of him. The guy is still only 28 years of age.”

Speaking on his signing Goertzen had this to say

"This is a new challenge and one I'm excited about, I spoke long and hard with Ryan Finnerty and he made me feel very comfortable with the league and the team in Sheffield. I've heard a lot of good things about the Steelers and Sheffield as a City. I'm excited about the two years and the education with the University of Sheffield"

"I'm a hard-nosed forward; I earn respect by being a hard working player for my team. I pride myself on my all-around play, whilst I'm not known for being an overly offensive player I'm comfortable contributing points on the board”

Cory Pecker - Pecker, a 6th Round NHL pick of the Calgary Flames has recently been playing in Switzerland where in just 174 games he scored 129 goals and 316 points. Prior to that Pecker had notched up 60 goals and 142 points in 311 American league games

On the signing Ryan Finnerty had this to say "He is an offensive forward that will score and excite and he is just the kind of player we needed to bring in to help take some of the workload off Jeff Legue"

"Cory will make those players who play with him better; he will make the team better. His experience as well as his ability is a perfect fit for what we are trying to deliver here. He knows about the Steelers, he has done his homework on us as we have about him”

Pecker had this to say "I have had 5 great years over there and felt this was the right time for a change and a new challenge. I had spoken with several coaches and clubs last year and this. Sheffield seems the perfect place for me and having signed I feel I'm coming to the team at just the right time”

"I feel I am a good all-around player, sure I put up good numbers and of course I like to score goals but I also contribute elsewhere. Special teams are important and in the past I have played both power-play and penalty kill. I am sure it will take a little time to adjust to the British game but I’m looking forward to it and can't wait to get going"

Shawn Limpright – Played three years as Captain with the Las Vegas Wranglers between 2006 and 2009 before joining Steelers goalie John DeCaro in Bossier-Shreveport for 2010 -11 season.

Ryan Finnerty had this to say in the signing “I played against this guy back in the day and always kept an eye on him and how his career progressed. At first I thought he was staying in North America, then heard he was done in France, then back in the States and then the chance came up to snatch him and I took it with both hands"

“This guy has over 170 pro goals and over 1000 pro penalty minutes. His teams have made the play offs in the last seven years. He is a captain, a leader and even though he hasn’t got the resume that shows NHL and several hundred AHL games this guy is the real deal”

Tylor Michel – I know many of you will feel a sense of great betrayal here so I will say a little as possible about where Tylor has played before..

Speaking in the signing Ryan Finnerty had this to say "Michel is the perfect signing for us he compliments the other players we have signed and have lined up. He will bring energy, grit and aggression to every shift he plays.”

"The fans will love him; I'm guessing he will be their favourite. He is in every team he plays in. He was in North America, he was in Cardiff and he was last year when top scoring for his club in Sweden.”

One last and final word on the Michel signing, he’ll look stupid in Orange.

 

Jeff Legue – rounding out the import forwards is Legue returns for a 6th season with the Steelers having been the Steelers sole go to guy for the last few seasons Legue remains one to watch for the Steelers

Joining them are new to the Steelers British players

Colin Shields – 32 year old Shields has played over 230 Elite League games scoring over 120 goals and averaging 1.35 points a game during his season with Newcastle and 3 stay in Belfast. Last summer Colin left the Giants to sign for top French side Morzine.

Coach Finnerty had this to say "Colin add's us depth, add's us quality and add's us scoring. He also brings leadership and experience. At his time of life he isn't here for the ride, here is here to get the job done. He has played in North America, Europe and of course in this league as well, he has led the scoring in this league and I see no reason why he can't do it again. I look forward to working with Colin next season"

Danny Wood - 23 year was a star of the Sheffield Junior programme before heading to the United States seven years ago and even made a Steelers appearance aged 14 Wood joins the Steelers after a three year spell with the St Mary's University, Minnesota.

Wood had this to say about himself "I’m a good skater and I think a good play maker. I see the ice well. I scored well as a junior and thought that would be my game however in recent years I was used on a shutdown line where I learnt a lot about playing in both ends of the rink. I’m good defensively and have killed many penalties in recent years. I think I'm grounded and I'm ready to be a Steeler. I’m so excited and can't wait to come accrues and get started."

On Defence Rod Sarich ( 8th Season), Matt Stephenson ( 2nd Season) & Mark Thomas ( 7th Season) return bolstered by the addition of James Jorgensen from the Braehead Clan, Danny Meyers from the Panthers ( Corey really dropped a clanger here) and Drew Fata from Italian club Asiago.
Looking of the new additions in turn

James Jorgensen -Joined the Clan last season after spending two seasons in the Central League with Bossier-Sherveport and Witchita Thunder. Prior to this he played two seasons in the East Coast league after finishing his University career at Ferris State. In his first year in the Elite league he scored 15 goals and 47 points in for the Clan.

Speaking on the signing Finnerty had this to say "From the first time we played against Braehead last season, he became a target, I found him hard to play against defensively as did the rest of our team. He is smooth, good on the puck and takes no prisoners in front of goal. I'm excited to sign him, he is hungry to win and just the kind of player we needed to bring to this club"

"I want our D to be bigger, stronger and meaner and in Jorgensen this is the first of those that fit the bill"

Danny Meyers – In a 6 year career in Nottingham Danny Meyers made over 300 appearances for the Panthers scoring 93 points. Meyers captained the Nottingham Panthers to back to back challenge cup and play off doubles culminating with the Panthers play-off success in March when beating the Cardiff Devils.

"When the summer started we didn't think we had a chance of bringing Danny here but things change and we moved quickly to secure what I believe is the best British D man in the Elite League. Signing Danny makes us better in many areas, we are firstly just better, we are deeper and we will run 6 quality D men next season, we are more experienced and we have more leadership.”

For me the Panthers dropped the ball here and really messed up letting more than arguably one of the best British D men go.

Drew Fata - Canadian-born Drew Fata joins the Steelers from Asiago in Italy where he put 14 points, including three goals, in 42 appearances , prior to this he had a short spell with Sparta Sarpsborg after moving on from the AHL, chiefly with Bridgeport but also notable spells with Binghamton Senators and Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. His time at Bridgeport also yielded eight NHL appearances for the New York Islanders.

Fata is on a two-year deal which I’d expect to see him finish and will be studying with the University of Sheffield having enrolled on a degree course there.

Coach Finnerty had this to say “We have size and strength as well as offensive talent and quarter-backs for the power play. Having six men means we can have D-pairings playing together and match them against other teams as we see best."

“I think Drew compliments the other players we have on the blue line and I really think he is a perfect fit for us.”

Speaking in the press on his D Finnerty had this to say

"In Sarich and Jorgensen we have two great puck carrying D men who create offence and control a power-play. In Stephenson, Meyers and Thomas we have three committed and quality players who block shots, make plays and play hard every night."

In goal the Steelers see the return of John "Some of the goals we let in last year stunned me" DeCaro who faced over 1700 shots in his first season in Sheffield ending with a save percentage of just over 92% and a goals against average of 2.56.

At the end of the season DeCaro confirmed he would be leaving the club and moving to Norway and the Steelers PR machine basically trashed him hence the addition of "Some of the goals we let in last year stunned me" however having a change of heart he returns to Yorkshire and is again the best thing since ever.. Apparently?

In his second season as Coach and first as Bench Coach Ryan Finnerty had these words to say

“There is so much more to coaching a team than coaching a team”

For me the Steeler look a good team and will give the Devils a run for their money every time we play them. The key Strengths of the team in my eyes being their Defence which looks solid and has a great level of experience, the British core of their team which has been together for years now and the quality they’ve brought in upfront with proven goal scoring talent.

If I had to pick some "weakness" to highlight its DeCaro all the way, even their own PR team slated him after last season. Also and this could prove to not be a factor as he might make the transition well but the relative inexperience of Finnerty as a coach who is beings his first season on the bench.

Coming into this weekend’s games the Devils complete their pre-season warm up games on Wednesday against the Blaze so will hopefully be coming into the weekend injury free and off the back of a win.

While the Steelers who played the Blaze played twice last weekend will come in well rested it seems.

Looking at these two games briefly despite a third period comeback the Sheffield Steelers went down 4-3 at home to the Coventry Blaze on Saturday evening.

Steelers largely dominated the first period however it was the Blaze that took the lead with Dustin Cameron netting in the 15th minute. The Steelers drew level when Drew Fata scored some 3 minutes later to send the sides in level after the first break.

The middle session started with a bang as Steve Goertzen put the Steelers ahead just 20 seconds in. Then the Blaze took over as Cameron hit two in under three minutes to have the Blaze ahead 3-2 and complete his hat trick. With Shawn Limpright in the penalty box the Blaze power-play struck and Captain Shea Gutherie netter for the Blaze 4th goal to end the period 4-2 ahead.

Colin Shields reduced the deficit for the Steelers to just one goal 3 minutes into the final period but couldn’t find another goal to equalize, despite pulling goalie DeCaro in the final moments.

The Steelers then “bounced back” from Saturday's defeat to defeat a depleted and seemingly ill-disciplined Coventry Blaze beating them on their own ice on Sunday night 1-3.

Both Steve Goertzen and Colin Shields scored again for the Steelers to close out the game, after Jim Jorgenson had netted first for Ryan Finnerty's side.

If you’re not going up to Sheffield on Saturday and can’t make it to the tent on Sunday never as always well be running the “Childish and amazingly Biased” Match Night Live service for these games, at the usual location of http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/mnl if you'd like to help out by texting updates (we’d be happy to hear from you) or chip in with some comments on the night please contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com.

For details of upcoming away travel with Red Army Travel you can get all the information here http://the-inferno.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6212