In Town Tonight – Sheffield Steeldogs
The visitors to the Link Centre tonight are the northern based Sheffield Steeldogs, we welcome them back for only their second visit this season, it will be great to renew our rivalry with them and I’m sure we’ll be in for a great game this evening.
So far this season we have played the Steeldogs on three occasions and it is Sheffield who lead the series 2-1. They were victorious in the Autumn Cup and in the first league meeting between the two but in the last game we played the Wildcats got the shutout win in Sheffield.
Behind the bench for the Steeldogs is the NIHL National’s youngest non-playing head coach, Greg Wood has made the choice to step behind the bench full time in Sheffield this season and on paper he has assembled a very strong looking roster that should be up the top come springtime 2022.
Starting at the back and in goal for the Dogs this year will be a returning face who is very familiar in Yorkshire, Dmitri Zimozdra is back once more and this will be his 4th consecutive season with the Steeldogs but his entire career has been spent in the city of Sheffield. Backing up Zimozdra will be Miles Finney who has moved over from the Leeds Knights after one season and will be looking to challenge Zimozdra all the way throughout the year.
This season Wood has only signed the one import for the Steeldogs, they have brought in Matt Bissonnette who last played for the Hull Pirates in the NIHL during the previous season. During his short stint in the NIHL Bissonnette was a key player in Hull as he managed to score 35 points in only 17 games, a mightily impressive tally.
With the unfortunate news that the Hull Pirates would need to sit out the 2021-22 season this left a huge opportunity for Sheffield to add some key players; they signed the trio of Jason Hewitt, Lee Bonner and Sam Towner. The prior two will be big points scorers for the Dogs this season based on their stellar previous performances, Towner will add good secondary scoring depth to Sheffield which will be a key area if they are to challenge for trophies.
One of the notable returnees to the forward ranks is James Spurr, he is back once more for the Dogs and this will be his 4th season back in Sheffield after many years with Peterborough. Spurr can always be relied upon to produce around a point per game which is very valuable from your British players in this league.
The Steeldogs have also secured a very highly rated youngster in Alex Graham who they have on a two-way deal with the Sheffield Steelers and in the games that he has played for the Dogs this year he’s performed very well.
On the blueline is also somewhere I believe that Sheffield will excel and present a stern test against any side they come up against. They do have a very veteran feel to them but in Lewis Bell, Lee Haywood, Ryan Johnson, Ben Morgan and Tim Smith they have a core with a huge wealth of experience in this league and the EPL. Joining these veterans will be Johnathan Kirk who is back in Sheffield after 5 seasons away with Hull. This group will be one of the toughest defences in the entire league this season.
