Easy does it for Steelers

It's hoped the 36-year-old blue-liner - who played in 'The Show' during the 1990s with Tampa Bay Lightning and Edmonton Oilers - will arrive in East Yorkshire ahead of Hull's televised game at Cardiff Devils on Friday, November 26.

Part of his remit is working as player-coach Sylvain Cloutier's assistant, charged primarily with shoring up a defence which has leaked an average of 4.5 goals per game.

With Latvian defenceman Kriss Grundmanis already released and Craig Mitchell still on the sidelines with a broken arm, Cloutier's side were short on bodies at the back at Ice Sheffield.

And although they were able to add depth by bringing in former player James Hutchinson alongside his Peterborough Phantoms defensive team-mate Thomas Jeffery, little was on offer anywhere on the ice to prevent Steelers from strolling to a seventh straight victory.

The result saw Ben Simon's highly mobile team close the gap on second-placed Nottingham Panthers to just three points as a result of last night's one-sided affair, while still having two games in hand. They now sit five adrift of leaders Bewlfast with three games in hand.

In a lacklustre first period which saw both teams struggle to gain any momentum, it was the Steelers who took control at 8.15 through Simon, weaving his way to the front of the goal to poke the puck past Christian Boucher. Worse was to come for the visitors seven minutes later when Joey Talbot tipped in a Kevin Bolibruck shot.

Any hopes Hull had of taking something from the game were blown away in the middle period when Steelers posted four unanswered goals.

The third came at 24.52 through a Neil Clark tap-in before the class of former NHL forward Rob Globke shone once again when he fired in a quickfire double. His second, at 35.20, was the most memorable as he was able to dance his way through unchecked before calmly poking the puck through Bouchers's legs.

Tom Squires made it 6-0 at 36.55 and the end of the second could not come quick enough for Hull. Clark grabbed his second of the night five minutes into the third period to round off the scoring, with Stingrays probably grateful their hosts did not run up double figures given that they were outshot almost two to one, Boucher eventually making 36 saves.

Afterwards, Cloutier admitted his side had not been in contention at any point during the match, something which would have come as a major disappointment to him given Sunday night's 5-1 Challenge Cup win at Coventry Blaze.

"We have gone from being way up high to way down low," said Cloutier.

"We beat one of the best teams in the league and thought we could just go for a skate against Sheffield. They thought it was going to be easy because we beat Coventry.

"No-one competed, we were out-worked and they were first to every loose puck. The team was just not there and it could have been worse than what it was. I am not happy. To not show up and compete is unacceptable.

"Some guys need to pull up their socks and start to pick it up now. Guys were brought in here to produce and some need to start producing."

This latest humbling for Hull comes less than two weeks after they were thrashed 9-4 at bottom club Dundee Stars, a result which prompted the new management team to brand performances as "unacceptable."