Video - Sheffield Steelers' Rod Sarich heads into retirement with a winning smile

AS retirement parties go, it was a pretty spectacular one.
GOING FOR GOOD: Rod Sarich, helping the Steelers to a fifth Elite League play-off title by defeating Cardiff on Sunday. Picture: Dean Woolley.GOING FOR GOOD: Rod Sarich, helping the Steelers to a fifth Elite League play-off title by defeating Cardiff on Sunday. Picture: Dean Woolley.
GOING FOR GOOD: Rod Sarich, helping the Steelers to a fifth Elite League play-off title by defeating Cardiff on Sunday. Picture: Dean Woolley.

Rod Sarich insisted on Sunday night at Nottingham’s National Ice Centre, that he was sticking to his retirement plans.

Twice before he has tried to hang up his skates, twice before he has been hauled back in by the Sheffield Steelers, the club he first signed for in 2005.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This last time saw him return to the fray in February following five months out of the game which came on the back of him helping the Steelers to their first-ever Champions Hockey League win, beating Red Bull Salzburg 5-2 at Sheffield Arena in September.

GOING FOR GOOD: Rod Sarich, helping the Steelers to a fifth Elite League play-off title by defeating Cardiff on Sunday. Picture: Dean Woolley.GOING FOR GOOD: Rod Sarich, helping the Steelers to a fifth Elite League play-off title by defeating Cardiff on Sunday. Picture: Dean Woolley.
GOING FOR GOOD: Rod Sarich, helping the Steelers to a fifth Elite League play-off title by defeating Cardiff on Sunday. Picture: Dean Woolley.

Sarich had initially retired the previous April, quietly slipping into the night a few days after the Steelers’ season had ended prematurely with defeat to Coventry in the play-off quarter-finals.

He agreed to a short-term deal for the CHL campaign before heading off once more. But he then answered an SOS call from Steelers head coach Paul Thompson after he had been left short on defence with the sudden departure of Swede Christoffer Bjorklund on transfer deadline day.

Sarich quickly got up to speed on and off the ice and after beating Cardiff Devils in a dramatic 6-5 win in the second period of overtime in the Elite League play-off final on Sunday, he earned himself the perfect send-off.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“There’s no better way to finish a career than this – not that I can think of anyway,” said Sarich.

SECOND TIME AROUND: Rod Sarich is given a warm send off by his Steelers' team-mates after entering his second retirement with a first CHL win for the club when beating Red Bull Salzburg. Picture: Dean Woolley.SECOND TIME AROUND: Rod Sarich is given a warm send off by his Steelers' team-mates after entering his second retirement with a first CHL win for the club when beating Red Bull Salzburg. Picture: Dean Woolley.
SECOND TIME AROUND: Rod Sarich is given a warm send off by his Steelers' team-mates after entering his second retirement with a first CHL win for the club when beating Red Bull Salzburg. Picture: Dean Woolley.

“I kept thinking I was tempting fate when I said I was retiring after beating Red Bull (Salzburg) - that was pretty special but then coming back for this past seven weeks and then beating Cardiff in double overtime, coming back against the Panthers the way we did and then beating Belfast - you just couldn’t make it any better.

“It was a tough way to do it, but it was a lot of fun too.”

Jonathan Phillips, Sarich’s captain for most of their time together in South Yorkshire, said the 36-year-old from Saskatchewan in Canada would rightly be regarded as a club legend.

“He’s an amazing guy,” said Phillips. “He’s out of the game for months, then within a week he’s back to game fitness and just where he left off.

“But, over the years, he’s been such a calming influence in the room and a leader through and through. He’s given so much to this club over the years – he’s just a legend.”