Jason Hewitt backs Hull Seahawks to find their 'character' to boost NIHL National play-off hopes
JASON HEWITT has enjoyed plenty of success during his long hockey career. There have also been some tough times along the way, too.
And the veteran centre acknowledges that Hull Seahawks are a team currently doing it tough.
The regular season campaign has clearly not gone the way anyone connected to the organisation envisaged.
After the weekend double-header against Solway Sharks, the Seahawks find themselves seventh in the standings.
The pre-season hopes in East Yorkshire of the Seahawks being among the contenders to take Leeds Knights’ regular season championship crown from them, have long faded.
A failure to make it into the semi-finals of the NIHL National Cup - in which they finished runners-up in 2023 - has added to the sense of frustration, meaning the play-offs remain their only realistic chance of lifting a trophy this season.
A failure to make it out of the group phase in the post-season and to the Final Four Weekend in Coventry over the past two years means there will be no shortage of motivation for the Seahawks once the regular season is over.
In Hewitt, they have a player who knows what it takes to be successful.
Hull hockey fans won’t need reminding of that, given the success he brought to the city while player-coach of the Pirates franchise - including a play-off triumph as part of a memorable treble in 2018-19. The four league championships and three play-off titles won prior to that with Sheffield Steelers should also not be easily forgotten.
Having essentially seen it all and done it all in British hockey, Hewitt is therefore one of the voices in the Seahawks locker room that carries plenty of weight, meaning his belief that the team remains capable of salvaging a frustrating campaign is worth listening to.
“As a club and as a group of players, I think we are trying to find our character a little bit - I think we’ve lost that,” said Hewitt after posting three assists in Sunday’s 6-5 home win over Solway - a result which made up for the 5-2 loss north of the border 24 hours earlier.
“We know what we are - we’re a blue collar team that should be grafting every night and I think we’ve taken our foot off that a little bit and it has cost us.
“But we’ll get back to work this week, the message is very clear - that is what we need to do, this is our group now as far as I’m concerned and we’re comfortable in that.
“It’s a little fragile - we had a chat and the things we’re saying in there is that this can’t define us, we’ve got to push back, we’ve got to show character because we’ve got good players in there and we’re a much better club than what we are showing right now.”
Hewitt – who admitted the departure late on Friday of popular import forward Owen Sobchak to Leeds Knights had brought further disruption to an already frustrating festive period for the team – is confident the Seahawks can find the consistency in their results that has proved so elusive this season and help set them up for a successful post-season.
“Everyone is behind Matty, everyone is behind each other,” added the 42-year-old. “There was a little bit of negativity that crept in and that was something which I wanted to address because we can’t keep feeling sorry for ourselves.
“We’ve got good people behind us, we’ve got a good group and we’ll find a way.
"Everything we’re doing now and going forward is to build for the play-offs – that is what we are focused on.”
Emil Svec led the way for the Seahawks on home ice with two goals, while
While the Seahawks have toiled during 2025-26, one of their fiercest rivals are by contrast enjoying a hugely promising campaign.
Sheffield Steeldogs’ weekend brought two tough games against a Bristol Pitbulls team desperate to make the post-season for the first time since joining the league back in 2022-23.
Saturday produced a 3-1 road win for Slava Koulikov’s team, before the return match at Ice Sheffield 24 hours later saw them fighting off a third period fightback from the visitors, who trailed 4-1 going into the final 20 minutes through goals from Steeldogs’ Kyle Watson (2), Joonas Larinmaa and Michael Danečko.
But two goals in as many minutes - Rhys Smetham making it two for the night before Bayley Harewood made it a one-goal game at 52.23 - ensured a nervous last few minutes for the Steeldogs.
But they held out to keep up the pressure on leaders Swindon Wildcats, who remain a point ahead with three games in hand.
Leeds Knights remain in contention to make it four straight titles, their 4-1 win at home to Basingstoke Bison leaving them seven points back off their Yorkshire rivals but also with three games in hand.