WHILE the NIHL National regular season league title will always be the top priority for teams - at least until the play-off format undergoes a considerable revamp – Matty Davies fully appreciates the value of the National Cup.

Two points adrift of leaders Milton Keynes Lightning in the league standings, Davies is comfortable knowing his Hull Seahawks team is well in the race for honours on that front, regardless of most onlookers tipping Pete Russell’s team to be clear favourites to lift the crown.

The Cup – which sees one league game against each of the other 10 teams count towards a separate ‘preliminary round’ table – leaves little room for error, given only four teams progress.

Hull have managed to progress only once in their four seasons, convincingly beating Leeds Knights over two legs in the semi-finals during the 2023-24 season before coming a distant second-best to the Lightning in the final when losing 10-5 on aggregate.

This year saw Hull set the early pace in terms of the Cup, winning their first five games before coming unstuck at Milton Keynes, who now top the Cup standings.

They were then hammered 7-0 at Swindon Wildcats – currently third – before getting back on track with a come-from-behind 3-2 overtime win at second-placed Romford Raiders last Sunday.

That heavy loss in Swindon is the reason Hull find themselves sat just outside the top four ahead of today’s clash at Sheffield Steeldogs, but only by the slenderest of margins.

They share the same goal difference as Leeds, but the Knights – who visit Hull on Sunday in the last preliminary round Cup game for both teams – are ‘ahead’ based on having scored more goals than Hull – such is the priority of the criteria the league favours when teams are tied on points.

WE MEET AGAIN: Sheffield Steeldogs' Jonathan Phillips (left) and Hull Seahawks' Cody Monds battle for puck possession during last month's clash in Hull - the hosts winning 4-3. Picture: Kim Elliott/Seahawks Media.

placeholder image — WE MEET AGAIN: Sheffield Steeldogs' Jonathan Phillips (left) and Hull Seahawks' Cody Monds battle for puck possession during last month's clash in Hull - the hosts winning 4-3. Picture: Kim Elliott/Seahawks Media.

Anything can happen over the next 48 hours and Davies is excited by the prospect.

“The Cup is something we take very seriously,” said Davies, who is hoping to have Bobby Chamberlain back in his line-up after the Seahawks captain has sat out the last six games injured. “We came close three years back and we want to get back there.

“I think teams generally have started to take it more seriously in the last couple of years and see it as an excellent opportunity to win a trophy – we’re no different.”

A win for Hull in Sheffield could effectively end the Steeldogs’ own hopes of progression – given they are already three points off Hull and Leeds and then having just two more games to play.

ON TRACK: Patrick Brown (left) and Johnny Corneil celebrate during last week's home win over Romford Raiders. Picture: Kim Elliott/Seahawks Media.

Hull came from behind to win 4-3 when the two met in the league East Yorkshire last month, Davies confident his team fully deserved the points and full of belief they can prosper in Saturday’s derby clash in South Yorkshire.

“I felt like we could have won that game more easily, to be honest,” added Davies. “I think we were on top for a lot of the game.”

“We missed a lot of big chances but their goalie played well and we never really put them to the sword.

“They've got two or three really dangerous players who you've always got to be aware of when they're on the ice.

EXCITED: Hull Seahawks' head coach, Matty Davies Picture: Kim Elliott/Seahawks Media.

“It's a bigger ice pad, so it's a different sort of game. Even compared to our pad it feels bigger.

“There's not a lot of love lost there, so there'll be a lot of intensity and we'll take a lot of fans there, I imagine so for us, it might even feel a bit more like a home game.”