Fife Flyers v Sheffield Steelers: Cole Shudra on the determination driving Steelers' relentless performances

Elite League champions and Challenge Cup winners they may well be, but there is a fierce desire driving through Aaron Fox’s players to maintain the intensity that has made them winners in order to hit the play-offs running and give themselves the best possible chance of going on to clinch a unique treble.

Tonight sees them head north of the border for a third and final visit of the season to Fife Flyers, one team from five they could yet find themselves facing off against once again when the post-season kicks into action in just over 10 days’ time.

Tom Coolen’s team have plenty to play for as they battle it out with Dundee Stars, Glasgow Clan, Coventry Blaze and Nottingham Panthers for the three remaining play-off spots.

Cole Shudra, who returned to his boyhood club last summer after two successful seasons in NIHL National with Leeds Knights, had a good feeling about the team he was returning to, having first signed up as an apprentice alongside Liam Kirk under then head coach Paul Thompson back in 2016.

As is the case with every season at the Steelers, there is an expectation to win and Shudra, now 25, was under no illusions as to the pressures he would be dealing with on his return.

There had been pressure on the Knights team he helped to a league and play-off double in 2022-23, but not to the extent facing the Steelers at the start of the 2023-24 campaign, particularly after the previous two seasons had seen the team’s title aspirations wither away in the closing weeks.

That has not even come close to happening this time around, head coach and GM Fox getting his recruitment spot on from start to finish.

And given the way the Steelers battled to take another four points from the weekend just gone, it is clear they are in no mood to either do any other team favours, or hand any momentum or belief to play-off rivals could they meet further down the line.

“You always play to win, obviously - we’re never going to go into a game and let the other team beat us,” said the left-hander. “That has been our mentality all year.

“Obviously we’ve already won the league and the Challenge Cup but we want to keep that winning momentum going into the play-offs. It’s only a couple of weeks away and the more we can carry on winning and retain those good habits we’ve developed as a team then that will only be for the better.

“It’s important for us to be a winning team going into the play-offs - especially as we’ll be going up against teams who we could very well face again at some point.

“We’ve got Fife this week and it looks like we could possibly match up against them in the first round and then there’s Belfast Giants who we play twice this weekend - we want to beat them because we’ll probably see them somewhere along the line, too.”

So far this season, the Steelers have managed to avoid back-to-back losses - it is a badge of honour Shudra they intend to wear right through until their final game of the season.

“We don’t want to turn one loss into two losses, into three losses - it can quickly become a bit of a slide if you’re not careful,” he said.

“We took pride in whenever we lost a game that we were going to throw everything at the next one and make sure we didn’t lose two in a row.

“And I feel like that attitude has carried us through all year. For example, we had a bit of a slip up in Fife earlier in the year and we didn’t want that to end up defining the rest of the season.

“We know how important every game is in this league, with the format the way it is, every single point is massive and we just took that as a record to be proud of and we want to keep it going right through until the end of the season.

In terms of points production, Shudra has enjoyed his best-ever year in the UK’s top flight, posting nine goals and 13 assists in 61 games.

But more importantly, he has gained regular ice time since returning to play under Fox, averaging around 10 minutes per game, largely spent on a fourth line alongside former Knights’ team-mate, Brandon Whistle.

The pair of them both made it into the Great Britain team for the recent Winter Olympics qualifiers in Cardiff, helping Pete Russell’s team progress to the final qualifying stage in August.

Before then, both will want to be on the plane that carries the GB to the World Championships in Prague, where they will face off against world-leading nations such as the hosts, Canada, Final and Switzerland.

Before then, though, Shudra wants to ensure the Steelers can secure that sought-after treble.

“Playing for Sheffield there is a massive expectation on winning every year and I think that is part of why we attract some of the better players,” he added.

“Winning is rare, it’s not every year you win trophies but to win two so far is obviously amazing.

“I wouldn’t say it has exceeded expectations because this is a club that is always expected to win - but with the group that we’ve got this season I really can see us getting all three.”