Finnerty confident of Steelers’ strength as Dowd exits

Finnerty received an early, significant setback on Friday night, however, when it was revealed young British forward Robert Dowd was switching to rivals the Belfast Giants for the 2011-12 season, although he remains confident of retaining the club’s other British players.

With similarly talented British players short in supply, it might prove difficult during the coming weeks for Finnerty to recruit someone with the same quality of Dowd.

Dowd was part of the Steelers’ team that clinched a third league title under Ben Simon three weeks ago, but the 32-year-old American player-coach quit the South Yorkshire club earlier this week after deciding new budget constraints would hamper his bid to put together another championship squad.

The rumoured wage cap set to be introduced by the league next season and subsequent reduced playing budget, has not put Finnerty off from taking on his first coaching role – marking a return to the club he graced as a player between 2007-09 when he won a league title and two play-off trophies.

“I’ve got a lot experience in the league and I think that will be a big help,” said the 30-year-old Canadian, who has spent the last 18 months at the Cardiff Devils, the other club belonging to Steelers’ owner Paul Ragan.

“There’s tons of pressure at Sheffield – the fans demand success and I know that when they don’t get it, it can get ugly.

“I’m sure I’ve got some fans to prove wrong, but I want to put the best team on the ice that we can and we’re going to be playing right up to the wage cap – we’re not going to spare any expense as far as that is concerned. We’re not just looking to compete, we’re looking to retain the title.

“Losing Dowdy isn’t what I had planned for my first piece of Steelers news. He is a guy I wanted to keep and as a club we tried our best to retain him. Belfast made him a good offer and we matched it.

“Last night I thought he was staying, but he has decided that at this time in his career he wanted a change of scenery.”

Giants coach, Doug Christiansen, has enticed the 22-year-old across the Irish Sea to boost the club’s young British contingent, joining international team-mates Mark Garside and Craig Peacock with the signing coming just a few days after experienced forward Colin Shields announced his intention to continue his career in France.

“One of the things that I’ve wanted to do at Belfast is bring together the top, young British talent,” said Christiansen.

“We have done an excellent job with Mark Garside and Craig Peacock and now we have added Robert Dowd, who is one of the best young British players around. All three of them have an excitement and passiona bout their game.

“Nobody knows what the ceiling is for Robert and, crucially, he is still very young.”

Dowd leaves the Steelers following three full seasons, after being initially loaned to the club by neighbouring Sheffield Scimitars for the latter part of the 2007-08 campaign.

He went on to become a firm fans’ favourite with his energy and speed, eventually scoring 151 points, including 69 goals, in 184 appearances.

Speaking from the GB training camp in Coventry ahead of this weekend’s two international friendlies against the Netherlands, Dowd added: “I am really excited to join the Giants. I’ve had three great years in Sheffield, but I am ready for a new challenge.”

Members of Steelers’ championship-winning roster yesterday welcomed Finnerty as the replacement for the popular Simon, with defenceman Rod Sarich hoping supporters gave the returning forward time to make his mark in his new role.

“I was surprised at how quickly it’s all happened,” said Sarich. “It’s going to be a bit of the unknown again with another rookie coach, but hopefully the fans will give him time to get settled in and be himself. I’m sure it will take a while to adjust, as it will the players.

“In the locker room, when he was here last he was a great guy to have around - always one to keep it light joking around. But I imagine that might have to change.”

British forward Jason Hewitt added: “I am really disappointed to see Ben go - he did nothing but good for me and my game and the team as a whole but, people do move on and now Ryan’s in charge.

“He’s a good friend of mine and I’m sure he’s going to do well as a coach here.”

Tomorrow: Listen to Ryan Finnerty, Ben Simon and Steve Munn discuss their respective futures in the latest edition of our HockeyTalk podcast