Sheffield Steelers switch focus to lifting last piece of silverware

SHEFFIELD STEELERS head into the final weekend of the Elite League regular season tonight determined to gain some momentum ahead of the play-offs.
PLAY_OFF CHALLENGE: Sheffield 
Steelers' head coach Paul Thompson.PLAY_OFF CHALLENGE: Sheffield 
Steelers' head coach Paul Thompson.
PLAY_OFF CHALLENGE: Sheffield Steelers' head coach Paul Thompson.

With their title bid long ended and having last Saturday in Sheffield witnessed Cardiff Devils inherit what has been their league crown for the last two years, you could be forgiven for thinking there will not be much riding on the Steelers’ remaining two games.

But victory over tonight’s hosts Nottingham Panthers and again at home to struggling Coventry Blaze on Sunday night could see the Steelers finish runners-up overall and earn themselves a better play-off seeding which - in theory at least - should give them an easier quarter-final draw.

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Their chances of finishing second to the newly-crowned champions also depend on Belfast Giants losing both their games in a final weekend double-header in Cardiff.

Either way, Steelers’ head coach Paul Thompson is backing his players to finish the campaign in positive fashion.

“When you’ve won as much as we have here and as I’ve done personally with Coventry, you want to be part of that again after seeing what happened at our rink with Cardiff last Saturday,” said Thompson, who is hoping to have Swedish forward Yared Hagos back from injury for tonight’s trip to the National Ice Centre.

“There’s another trophy to play for here and we know what we are capable of achieving still if we play as well as we know we can.”