How Mitchell Heard has had the desired impact at Sheffield Steelers

The 33-year-old may have got off to a losing start for the South Yorkshire club in a 3-2 midweek defeat to former team Glasgow Clan on October 15 but he has played a pivotal role in the seven-game winning streak the Steelers have enjoyed since that setback.

In eight games for the Steelers, Heard has posted four goals and three assists.

And while he may have drawn a blank in the weekend wins over Belfast Giants and Fife Flyers, his influence has been far-reaching, both on and off the ice, according to his head coach.

“You look at the goals and the points which is a huge part of why we brought him in here,” said Fox.

“But we also brought him in here because he’s a guy that will hold people accountable on and off the ice, in terms of opponents but also his team-mates too, which is important.

“He competes hard and is willing to lay it on the line every night, which is something which is good for our group and he’s come in as advertised which has been great.”

The 4-1 home win over defending regular season league champions Belfast may have been the success which garnered more interest around the Elite League, but what was just as crucial was the gritty, 2-1 win in overtime in Kirkcaldy, the hosts getting their league campaign up and running at the eighth attempt.

When it came to it, the Steelers had to earn their seventh straight win the hard way, coming from behind after Vlastimil Dostálek gave Fife the lead in the 26th minute.

Evan Jasper levelled before the end of the second period but that was how it stayed until Mitchell Balmas - with his first goal in six games - earned the extra point on offer with 72 seconds of overtime gone.

Fox appreciated how tough his team’s latest trip to Scotland had been.

“I thought Fife came ready to play, competed really hard and I don’t think we were very good in the first period,” he added. “But we started to play a little bit pissed off midway through that game and our compete level went up and matched Fife’s intensity and I felt like we were the better team for the second half of that game.

“You can tell that there is an identity that Fife is trying to play up there and you’ve just got to be ready to play hard and win battles. And I feel like if we can out-compete other teams I feel like we’ll give ourselves a good chance to win every night if we do that.”

In NIHL National, Sheffield Steeldogs ensured it was night of double celebration for the entire Steel City organisation when they made it six straight wins with a 3-2 win after a shootout at faltering Milton Keynes Lightning.

Slava Koulikov’s side had got their weekend off to a promising start with an 8-3 win at Ice Sheffield against Solway Sharks.

But visiting last season’s play-off champions was always going to present a tougher test - and so it proved.

Bair Gendunov got the ball rolling in the 10th minute for the visitors, who doubled their lead through CJ Garcia just before the halfway mark.

The Lightning got a foothold in the game when Sean Norris scored at 37.40 before Illia Korenchuk pulled Tim Wallace’s team level just over four minutes into the third period.

That was how it stayed right through until the end of overtime and when the shootout occurred the Steeldogs proved to be perfect, Gendunov and Walker Sommer both scoring before Ivan Björkly-Nordström held his nerve to secure the extra point.

Elsewhere, Hull Seahawks couldn’t replicate their winning efforts from Saturday night against Peterborough Phantoms when they lost 5-2 on the road.

Liam Peyton gave Leeds Knights a first-period lead at Telford Tigers, but the hosts hit back in a convincing 6-1 win.