Ben O’Connor hoping Sheffield Steeldogs’ latest layoff is only short-term

For Ben O’Connor and his Sheffield Steeldogs’ team-mates, that has certainly been the case for the last eight months.

When all hockey was brought to an abrupt halt in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic, along with virtually every other sport, nobody would have predicted it would be so long before players would be able to return to the ice.

And then, only in special circumstances, Sheffield coming together with NIHL National rivals Milton Keynes Lightning and Swindon Wildcats to earn ‘elite sport’ status in order to produce the now-completed ‘Streaming Series’.

Taking the game behind-closed-doors while selling tickets to fans to watch the games via an online stream was always going to be a risk, but one coaches, players, owners and rink managers were all prepared to take.

The numbers over the past three weekends have certainly been encouraging – averaging around 1,000 tickets sold per game – but, now, it is a case of waiting to see what, if anything, happens next.

The hope is that there have been enough encouraging signs to convince other NIHL National teams to jump on board to extend the streaming pilot to start some kind of regular season in January.

Team owners are due to meet later today to analyse the Series and to discover whether there is enough of an appetite from enough teams to take it one step further in the New Year.

The players certainly hope so.

“As players, we’ve had more of an appreciation for the game after being out of action for so long,” said O’Connor, after the Steeldogs brought the Series to an end with a 5-3 home defeat to Milton Keynes on Sunday evening, but topping the group having won their other three games.

“When something you love doing every day gets taken away from you for so long and it is your job, you don’t take it for granted.

“Every single one of us, our love for the game is burning and it was fantastic being out there. We just want to carry on now – league, cup, anything – we just hope something can be sorted out.”

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