So we're almost at the halfway point of the season. What's people's current thoughts?
My thoughts are as follows:
Being the number 1 CC seed is a positive and whilst we don't appear to be playing well at the moment, we are still comfortably in the title race. I'm also pleased with the signing of Heard and am pleased to see how Kelly is improving month by month. Also, both goalies are doing well, certainly compared to last season. McAdam is a great 1b goalie at this level.
I do have a major concern that we just haven't played well all season, other than the odd game here or there. I'm not sure I've seen a complete quality 60 minute performance from this team yet, perhaps the same can be said for our main title rivals? Both Nottingham and Cardiff have lost games over the Christmas period. Belfast being the main beneficiary's so far, after their poor start.
For me, we need at least two more quality players if we want to win some silverware this season, as currently we appear to have fallen well off the quality required. That would mean letting a couple of players go. As arm chair coach, I would be advising, Gentile, Harper and possibly Dougherty to look for new clubs, none of those three have impressed me. Tansey would also be back on D, we are far better with him at the back for me.
Fox doesn't have any credit left in the bank for me and a very possible 2nd trophyless season in a row, is not really acceptable for the Sheffield Steelers. Pressure and calls for his replacement will become more prevalent if we continue on our current poor run of form. I can easily see Fife beating us in our next home game, IF we play like we have done for the last 3 games.
Let's hope that 2026 brings an upturn in both form, consistency and ultimately brings some silverware! Hopefully Watling will soon be up to speed too.
Finally, and this is not the Steelers fault, I've been very disappointed in the standard of hockey in the EIHL in general this season. Yes, any team can beat any team on any given night, but the quality of hockey on show is the worst I've seen in many, many years. I guess club's budget's must be much less than of previous years.
Half Way Through The Season - Half Term Report
Moderator: Mods
-
Jayboy
- Site Admin
- Posts: 2521
- Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2020 9:43 am
- Location: Chesterfield
- Has Liked: 77 times
- Been Liked: 684 times
- Contact:
I am just on the side of positive at the moment but only just, Steelers team don't have a god given right to win everything or indeed anything, but as fans we do expect us to be up there challenging in all competitions,which so far we are. That however will change really quick if the current trend is allowed to continue and we let slip the work ethic and values that we need to challenge.
I think the major issues are glaringly obvious to most fans and probably Fox to.. the forwards we have are just not good enough in many areas especially the face off battles and speed and passing transition through the neutral zone, both of which good teams excel at.. far to many times we've got an advantage with a face off in the offencive zone that we just gift it back to the opposition,especially on the power play.. we are only allowed 20 import players in total in any given season. We started with 17 full roster imports and we brought in Watling and Heard. That means we have 1 space left and finding a single stand out player we need mid season is gong to be near impossible.
So realistically Fox needs to bang a few heads and get the group of players we now have playing so poorly playing 1 or 2 levels above what they are currently playing.
I am always hopeful something changes and we step up, and maybe some players are playing through injuries we have no clue about. But the stark reality is that unless we reverse the trend quickly, starting Saturday, the title challenge will be over, with slim chances in the CC and the playoffs. For me the number one priority is to correct the poor face off stats and to me the players we have playing centre and consistently losing that battle against better players are just not good enough. And before you know it we are all talking about next season and how we fix a poor season. So then the subject turns to better recruitment. A whole new topic on that question.
I think the major issues are glaringly obvious to most fans and probably Fox to.. the forwards we have are just not good enough in many areas especially the face off battles and speed and passing transition through the neutral zone, both of which good teams excel at.. far to many times we've got an advantage with a face off in the offencive zone that we just gift it back to the opposition,especially on the power play.. we are only allowed 20 import players in total in any given season. We started with 17 full roster imports and we brought in Watling and Heard. That means we have 1 space left and finding a single stand out player we need mid season is gong to be near impossible.
So realistically Fox needs to bang a few heads and get the group of players we now have playing so poorly playing 1 or 2 levels above what they are currently playing.
I am always hopeful something changes and we step up, and maybe some players are playing through injuries we have no clue about. But the stark reality is that unless we reverse the trend quickly, starting Saturday, the title challenge will be over, with slim chances in the CC and the playoffs. For me the number one priority is to correct the poor face off stats and to me the players we have playing centre and consistently losing that battle against better players are just not good enough. And before you know it we are all talking about next season and how we fix a poor season. So then the subject turns to better recruitment. A whole new topic on that question.
-
mark
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3385
- Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2020 10:05 pm
- Has Liked: 48 times
- Been Liked: 432 times
The frustrating part is that we have seen the level they are capable of, this is not a squad that has no realistic chance of a trophy, they are good enough, just not producing the required standards consistently.
-
greeny
- Veteran
- Posts: 882
- Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2023 10:09 pm
- Has Liked: 79 times
- Been Liked: 131 times
Fox HAS been a great coach for steelers and gave us what we wanted a grand slam season but that is now in the past and its time to move on .As a fan i dont want to see the same old faces year in/out, i want to see new coaches with new ideas,,, new players, new systems etc. These might be succesful or not but if im seeing entertaining games on the ice then im happy to keep purchasing my season tickets,,,,, this season i have really had to push myself to come to the arena after 30yr,,, just too bland and too soft and no characters in the team. But as daft as it sounds we could still win everything or nothing this year as the league overall is poor so everything still up for grabs,,,,, moan over
-
Doom
- Veteran
- Posts: 1523
- Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2020 7:18 am
- Has Liked: 109 times
- Been Liked: 838 times
If this thread was a couple of weeks ago I would have said we weren't playing particularly well, but were finding ways to grind out wins.
That of course has changed now. We're still not playing well, but now we're also getting the negative results we deserve.
Netminding is fine and in general I think we have a decent defence, for me the biggest issues sit with the forwards.
Apart from Balmas, I don’t think we have a forward on for a 20 goal season, which just isn't good enough. Fair play to Dowd though, because he has started scoring the goals and is putting up a lot of assists.
Fox also prides himself on his team playing with pace, which I'm just not seeing right now.
Obviously the biggest issue for me is faceoffs. I just can't believe how poor we've been at them and it's undoubtedly costing us in games. Winning the faceoff battle doesn't guarantee victory in a game, but it certainly helps.
Is the faceoff issue just down to the players we've signed or is it partly tactical? Having not played the game, I'm not sure, but I have noticed in the past if you go into a faceoff with the team having a defensive mindset, more often than not you lose the faceoff.
What can Fox do about it, because unless this element of our game improves dramatically, we're toast?
I believe we have one more import we can sign. It really needs to be an impact forward. Fox also needs to get the forward lines producing more. Hopefully Watling is getting back up to speed and can go back into the centre, where he may start producing and getting more out of others.
A lot of work to be done.
Regards
Doom
That of course has changed now. We're still not playing well, but now we're also getting the negative results we deserve.
Netminding is fine and in general I think we have a decent defence, for me the biggest issues sit with the forwards.
Apart from Balmas, I don’t think we have a forward on for a 20 goal season, which just isn't good enough. Fair play to Dowd though, because he has started scoring the goals and is putting up a lot of assists.
Fox also prides himself on his team playing with pace, which I'm just not seeing right now.
Obviously the biggest issue for me is faceoffs. I just can't believe how poor we've been at them and it's undoubtedly costing us in games. Winning the faceoff battle doesn't guarantee victory in a game, but it certainly helps.
Is the faceoff issue just down to the players we've signed or is it partly tactical? Having not played the game, I'm not sure, but I have noticed in the past if you go into a faceoff with the team having a defensive mindset, more often than not you lose the faceoff.
What can Fox do about it, because unless this element of our game improves dramatically, we're toast?
I believe we have one more import we can sign. It really needs to be an impact forward. Fox also needs to get the forward lines producing more. Hopefully Watling is getting back up to speed and can go back into the centre, where he may start producing and getting more out of others.
A lot of work to be done.
Regards
Doom
-
MLL79
- Draft Pick
- Posts: 78
- Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2025 11:56 am
- Has Liked: 62 times
- Been Liked: 13 times
Really good points raised.
I’m normally slower to catch on to the more technical points, but crikey the face off issue is a MASSIVE issue for us. I noticed on the Manchester game more than ever players rotating to the face off dot then back their normal positions so the coaching staff are on it.
Not sure with the calls for Fox to go, although I’m pretty vocal on the team softness thing, I guess looking at other teams they aren’t exactly oozing with toughness either. Heard has brought some parity back on this front, although he’s not an enforcer of old (is anyone these days?). I feel like with Fox it’s a bit similar to Southgate - style not to everyone’s taste but gets (or nearly gets) the outcomes, the problem is when it fails it feels like a major fail as it’s all a bit lacklustre at times. The last home game against Storm though felt a bit better in that it was higher tempo higher entertaining I felt.
One thing that did resonate, and I hate to say it as I liked at first, but Harper…. It’s become more evident to me in recent games - but he feels like a weak link to me now. Face offs terrible, and he doesn’t really fit in with the players around him. I feel like he’s a good PK guy chasing people down and being an individual, but against the Storm I feel we’d have been better scratching him and playing Tremblay.
Cheers
I’m normally slower to catch on to the more technical points, but crikey the face off issue is a MASSIVE issue for us. I noticed on the Manchester game more than ever players rotating to the face off dot then back their normal positions so the coaching staff are on it.
Not sure with the calls for Fox to go, although I’m pretty vocal on the team softness thing, I guess looking at other teams they aren’t exactly oozing with toughness either. Heard has brought some parity back on this front, although he’s not an enforcer of old (is anyone these days?). I feel like with Fox it’s a bit similar to Southgate - style not to everyone’s taste but gets (or nearly gets) the outcomes, the problem is when it fails it feels like a major fail as it’s all a bit lacklustre at times. The last home game against Storm though felt a bit better in that it was higher tempo higher entertaining I felt.
One thing that did resonate, and I hate to say it as I liked at first, but Harper…. It’s become more evident to me in recent games - but he feels like a weak link to me now. Face offs terrible, and he doesn’t really fit in with the players around him. I feel like he’s a good PK guy chasing people down and being an individual, but against the Storm I feel we’d have been better scratching him and playing Tremblay.
Cheers
-
Jayboy
- Site Admin
- Posts: 2521
- Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2020 9:43 am
- Location: Chesterfield
- Has Liked: 77 times
- Been Liked: 684 times
- Contact:
I would wager a fair amount of money, that when Fox was recruiting his current crop of players he didnt pencil Dowd in has our 1st line centre! Or Tansey as a 3rd line forward!!
And I get Watling coming in slow on the 4th line, but why isn't he playing the centre position?
Some of this tinkering really does come over has desperately grasping for a solution he cant figure out..
Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk
And I get Watling coming in slow on the 4th line, but why isn't he playing the centre position?
Some of this tinkering really does come over has desperately grasping for a solution he cant figure out..
Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk
-
lovedenisvial
- Draft Pick
- Posts: 137
- Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2020 7:53 pm
- Been Liked: 27 times
Very similar to last season for me! we just seem to be short in all areas in too many games! Last season we were in the same position in that we just couldn't put a steady run together especially against the other top 3 top teams, and fear we are going to do the same this season. This next weekend will definitely make all the difference to our season! any defeat and it will clearly prove we are just not good enough! but 3 wins and we are back on track!
I would like to see a new player on the ice, someone who makes the team stronger in the face off circle and who plays with an edge! I thought Heard was just the player we needed but he's seems to be happy just playing his part? the leadership skills that he had at the Clan have vanished! Gentile is physically too weak for this league and I fear Dougherty and Southorn are passed their best! I'm not sure about Harper either? he has all the attributes to perform well in this league but he hides at times when he's needed the most.
I would like to see a new player on the ice, someone who makes the team stronger in the face off circle and who plays with an edge! I thought Heard was just the player we needed but he's seems to be happy just playing his part? the leadership skills that he had at the Clan have vanished! Gentile is physically too weak for this league and I fear Dougherty and Southorn are passed their best! I'm not sure about Harper either? he has all the attributes to perform well in this league but he hides at times when he's needed the most.