Manchester Storm v Sheffield Steelers: Short break can help fuel Steelers for the title run-in ahead

Sheffield Steelers' head coach, Paul Thompson. Picture Dean Woolley.

The defending regular season champions head across the Pennines on Wednesday night to face a Manchester Storm side boasting a six-game winning streak as they make a late push to qualify for the play-offs.

The encounter in Altrincham is crucial for both teams with the Steelers able to close the gap on leaders Cardiff Devils to two points ahead of a potentially title-deciding double-header weekend against them in four days’ time.

In a season without any let-up for the Steelers, Thompson used the opportunity of a blank weekend brought about by Great Britain’s Olympic qualifying bid in Italy to give his beat-up team a few days off before returning to on-ice practice on Sunday.

He has been impressed by their attitude since returning to their regular routine.

“This short break away from everything will have done the guys the world of good,” said Thompson.

“It came at just the right time for a lot of them as it has been pretty full-on since the middle of August.

“They needed a complete break from me, from the rink and to just go and spend time with their families.

“And it’s been good because they’ve come back to practice refreshed and hungry.”

Defenceman Zack Fitzgerald will return for the Steelers after missing the 5-4 shoot-out defeat in Coventry 10 days ago, but there is still no sign of injured forwards Colton Fretter and Robert Dowd returning any time soon.

Dowd’s injury kept him out of the GB squad in Cortina, from where Steelers captain Jonathan Phillips and defenceman Ben O’Connor have returned after the national team were denied the chance of progressing the next stage of qualifying by a 6-2 defeat to hosts Italy on Sunday night.

“So much is resting on this game against Manchester for both teams, but that is how I would prefer it - you don’t want to be playing teams with nothing to play for,” added Thompson.

“The next week-and-a-half will determine where the season goes.

“It’s difficult not to, but we can’t even think about the Cardiff double-header at the weekend until after this next game.

“It’s a crucial few days coming up with these three league games and then we’ve got the back-to-back Challenge Cup semi-final against Nottingham next week.”