No regrets for former Sheffield Steelers' favourite Sarich as he builds life outside the game

Battling through to a memorable, dramatic win ... in a final ... against a team who had been his club’s nemesis throughout the entire season ... and then capping it all by celebrating with his team-mates in front of hordes of ecstatic fans.

But we had been here before with the Sheffield Steelers’ defenceman, hadn’t we? Twice, in fact. Not that there were any complaints from the supporters each time he returned to the blue line.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post this week, however, 36-year-old Sarich insists his skates will, finally, remain locked away.

With seven-week-old daughter Evelyn having recently come along to join her 20-month old brother Miles, Sarich and his Sheffield-born schoolteacher wife Becky have more than enough to keep them busy.

For many years while playing for the Steelers, Sarich found himself juggling a number of pucks, often getting up at the crack of dawn to hit the gym and then working what was essentially a full-time job in and around the Steelers’ daily practice sessions.

Add to that a part-time degree course in business management that was spread over five years until he graduated in 2015 and it is no surprise Sarich is taking the opportunity to enjoy the simple things in life.

He still keeps in touch with a number of his Steelers’ team-mates and closely follows how the team is doing without him this season.

He has only been back to Sheffield Arena twice since calling time on his career in early April, the first time being to make a brief appearance at the side of the ice to take the applause from the Steelers’ faithful on the banner-raising night to mark that memorable Elite League play-off final over Cardiff Devils in Nottingham.

He will be back for the traditional Boxing Day showdown with Nottingham Panthers with some of his extended family who are over for Christmas and while some sportsmen and women struggle to adapt to life once calling time on their careers, it seems Sarich has found the adjustment quite a smooth one.

“It’s different obviously, not having that sport in your life, but I’m not complaining,” said Sarich, who now works in marketing and sales for a German firm based in Sheffield that manufactures power transmission components.

“I’ve got busy with family life and work, so the transition has been quite easy in that sense as I was working already and I’ve kind of picked up where I left off before coming back that second time last season.

“I was working throughout most of my Steelers career, at least five or six seasons and studying for a good chunk of that as well. So they were busy years and it is nice to get your weekends back and get into a more consistent routine. Hockey is great, but not necessarily for family life that’s for sure.

“I’ve been following them on Twitter and keeping an eye out for the scores and things. I noticed there had been loads of injuries and thought I might get a phone call there, but, thankfully, it didn’t happen.

“If I had got the call I wouldn’t have been able to go. My heart would have been saying, ‘yes, yes, let’s go’ but – and this is the truth – I haven’t broken a sweat since that play-off final in April.

“I just wouldn’t be in shape to play hockey now, I’m just trying to keep up with my 20-month old son and that’s hard enough at the best of times.”

Four league titles, three play-off trophies and a British Knockout Cup mean there have been plenty of highs for Sarich in Sheffield. But one low point came ahead of the 2013-14 campaign when the arrival of new head coach Doug Christiansen saw him being told he would no longer be required.

Before the end of January that season, however, Christiansen was gone, replaced by former Steelers’ defenceman Gerad Adams, who led the team to a play-off triumph. One of Adams’s first moves in the close season was to persuade Sarich to return. He did not need asking twice.

“It was a surprise when Doug said he wanted to go in a different direction,” added Sarich. “But with going to work and school, I didn’t really want to be travellling down the road every day to play somewhere else, it would have been too much on top of everything else.

“I did enjoy my year out, but it was a long year and I just felt like I could still play. I’ve been very fortunate, with the team and the different coaches and that they have kept me around. We’ve been able to win a lot of things and you can’t knock that. Then there is everything else that has happened to me off the ice too.

“If you can find a place that you like and you can put down some roots it helps. I know a lot of guys that have had similar length pro careers to me and they have bounced around in their suitcases.

“That can be tough for families, as well as jobs and careers, so I’ve been very fortunate in a lot of ways.”