Sheffield Steeldogs boss Ben Morgan looking for Coventry repeat show in NIHL National play-offs

Get to Coventry. Once there, it is anyone’s guess who will end up lifting the trophy.

Since the inception of the UK’s current tier back in 2019, there have only been three play-off winners, the result of the inaugural season being cancelled due to the pandemic and the subsequent campaign being lost altogether.

When the teams returned in 2021-22, it was Sheffield Steeldogs who ‘got’ to Coventry and triumphed.

Back then, Greg Wood was in charge with Ben Morgan as his trusty sidekick.

Fast forward to last summer and it was Morgan who was back at the helm in a player-coach role he fulfilled between 2017-20 at the organisation where he has spent the vast majority of his senior career.

His return to the role came about following a season in turmoil for the Steeldogs, who failed to make the play-offs at all in the first season under the new ownership of Tony Smith, owner of Elite League neighbours, Sheffield Steelers.

Although the regular season which finished last week ended with a bit of an inconsistent whimper for the Steeldogs, the past seven months have been a vast improvement on the hugely disappointing 2023-24 campaign.

Their place in the post-season was sealed several weeks before the end of the schedule.

This past week has been about establishing a reset in order to make the big push for the SkyDome Arena on the weekend of April 19-20.

Both play-off groups would have presented tough challenges, regardless of who the Steeldogs face, but Morgan is happy coming up against league runners-up Milton Keynes Lightning, Romford Raiders and, for openers this weekend, Swindon Wildcats, who finished the regular season in third – three places and 21 points better off than the Steeldogs.

“The aim with the play-offs has to be just making sure you get to Coventry,” Morgan told The Yorkshire Post.

“Once you get there, it is a great weekend and is just a roll of the dice. We’ve been there and we’ve won it, which was obviously great.

“We’re optimistic. We’ve not got a bad match-up to be fair. The likes of Swindon and MK – I do genuinely like our match-up.

“It’s not great in terms of logistics and the travel involved. I’d prefer to be playing more locally, but that doesn’t obviously mean the best match-up. I’m pretty content with Swindon and MK and people might think I’m nuts with them finishing second and third.”

The first lengthy travel day for the Steeldogs comes on Saturday when they head to Swindon before the two teams renew hostilities at Ice Sheffield on Sunday (4pm).

The Steeldogs then play both their remaining play-off home games on Friday night, against Romford on April 4 and Milton Keynes a week later.

If they secure a top-two finish they will then head to the grand finale in Coventry where they could be one of three Yorkshire teams involved, with Hull Seahawks and Leeds Knights up against defending play-off champions Peterborough Phantoms and Telford Tigers.

The Seahawks were dealt a significant blow on Thursday afternoon when captain Bobby Chamberlain was hit with a four-game ban for his part in the bench clearance that marred the fixture at Bristol Pitbulls last Saturday, when the game was abandoned and the hosts awarded a 6-3 win with just under five minutes remaining.

Chamberlain – a major contributor to the Seahawks securing a fourth-place regular season finish with 96 points, including 50 goals, from 51 games – will be a huge miss for head coach Matty Davies.

He will not be available for the first two weekends of the post-season, meaning he will miss this weekend’s double-header against Peterborough and the derby weekend clash that follows against Leeds.

He will be eligible to play the final weekend of group games against Telford.

Leeds – play-off winners two years ago and edged out in a shoot-out by Peterborough 12 months on – begin their quest for an unprecedented treble against Telford, the home tie at Elland Road on Sunday.