Early goal seen as vital for Steeldogs’ final bid

SHEFFIELD Steeldogs’ head coach Andre Payette believes his players’ fitness can give them the crucial edge as they seek to overturn a three-goal deficit in the second leg of the English Premier League Cup final in Guildford tonight.

By The Newsroom

Published 28th Mar 2012, 09:33 BST

The South Yorkshire club trail 6-3 from the first leg in Sheffield two weeks ago, but head to Surrey confident they can spring a surprise against the recently-crowned league champions.

Payette, voted EPL coach of the year by the Ice Hockey Journalists’ association, said all was not lost for his team.

“We are going to throw everything we can at Guildford and see what happens,” said Payette, whose team strengthend their bid for a third-place finish in the league with a 6-2 win over Basingstoke at the weekend.

“We need to look at it like three 20-minute games and try to win each period as it comes along. An early goal could change everything down there.

“We are the best conditioned team in the league and, in Ben Bowns, we have the best netminder in the league.

“We also have the best player in the league in Janis Ozolins so we’ll just have to see what happens.”