Big task awaits new Steelers coach to chase down Panthers

An overtime winner from captain Jordan Fox saw Corey Neilson’s side edge out Belfast Giants 3-2 in a thrilling play-off final at the National Ice Centre, securing a memorable treble for the East Midlands club, who have dominated the 2012-13 season.

It would have been a grand slam for the Panthers had the Giants not pipped them to the Erhardt Conference title by the slenderest of margins - one more regulation win than Nottingham being the difference.

Finnerty’s two year spell as Steelers’ head coach was ended last Wednesday following a meeting with owner Tony Smith – less than 24 hours after his team had lost to Panthers in the final of the Challenge Cup.

The 32-year-old Canadian was denied the time he felt was needed to build a team at the Motorpoint Arena which could mount a serious challenge to Panthers’ recent dominance.

Smith and his staff are running through a shortlist of names, with initial talks having been held in Nottingham at the play-off weekend with at least one candidate.

Not surprisingly, applications have not been slow in coming in, although Smith has clearly stipulated he is looking for an experienced head coach.

Paul Gardner, brought in by Braehead Clan to replace player-coach Jordan Krestanovich midway through the season, is one name in the frame. He has yet to agree any kind of deal with the Scottish club for next season with sources in Glasgow claiming he is keen to remain in the UK and would be interested in the Steelers’ head coach position.

Gardner, in Nottingham for the play-offs, would certainly fit the bill in terms of the experience that Smith is looking for.

After almost 10 years as a player in the NHL between 1976-1986 - scoring 402 points (201 goals) in 447 games - the 57-year-old Canadian made the transformation to the bench initially as head coach of the AHL’s Newmarket Saints. In 1992, he became an assistant at Portland Pirates under head coach Barry Trotz, helping steer them to the Calder Cup in 1993-94.

The two would later move to the NHL with expansion team the Nashville Predators where Gardner would remain as assistant to Trotz until 2003, when he became pro scout.

Gardner returned to a head coach role at Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in Russia in 2007 before a year-and-a-half at Hamburg Freezers in Germany’s top-flight DEL, losing in the first round of the play-offs in his first year.

Spells back in North America followed in the Central Hockey League at Mississippi Riverkings and Bloomington Blaze. In both cases, a change in ownership saw Gardner shoved through the exit door, eventually leading to his appointment by Braehead in January where he was able to steer them to the inaugural Gardiner Conference title following a fiercely-contested campaign.

Elsewhere in Nottingham, it proved to be a winning end to Paul Thompson’s 18 years as coach of the Coventry Blaze organisation, defeating Cardiff Devils 11-5 in the third/fourth place play-off match.

Blaze had gone down 5-1 in their semi-final to Belfast on Saturday, while Cardiff were defeated 6-3 by Nottingham.

Former GB coach Thompson will now prepare for a coaching position at Troja-Ljungby in the Swedish second division at the start of the next season.

He is the longest-serving head coach in Europe and has guided the organisation to 15 major trophies at all levels of the British game. He helped the club win four Elite League titles and capture the Grand Slam in 2004/05.

Blaze’s last trophy came back in 2010 when they won the regular season championship.

“It was nice to sign off with a win and I got a fantastic reception from my fans and everyone in the stadium,” said Thompson.

“It was quite emotional really. It kind of sunk in as I was walking off. For the last two minutes of the game the fans were chanting my name and it was like ‘wow, this is it’.”

IN the English Premier League, Manchester Phoenix won their first-play-off title when they defeated regular season champions Guildford Flames 5-2.