Sheffield Steeldogs’ coach Ben Morgan anticipates strike back from Swindon Wildcats

Ben Morgan’s team opened their ‘Streaming Series’ account with a deserved 5-1 victory against their Wiltshire rivals, who traditionally they have struggled to get the better of in recent years.

And while player-coach Morgan acknowledges his side’s chances are always enhanced when playing on the bigger home ice of Ice Sheffield such as last Sunday, he anticipates a different kind of contest tomorrow evening.

“It’s been a fair few years since I can remember a scoreline like that in our favour against Swindon,” said Morgan. “We always tend to play better against them at home because of the big ice and they do struggle on big, open ice, but when you go down to Swindon it is a completely different kettle of fish.

“I expect this game to be much, much tighter. It’s a small rink, very compact and it is a typical Swindon team - big players, who are direct and who know how to play that rink very well.”

The Steeldogs head into their second game in the behind-closed-doors tournament also buoyed by the positive online viewing figures, which saw 1,200 streaming tickets sold for last week’s game.

Morgan will be without captain and key defenceman Lewis Bell, who is ruled out for the rest of the series with a shoulder injury sustained in last week’s opener.

He will be replaced by fellow D-man Thomas Relf, giving the visitors five recognised ‘D’ with the option of slotting utility player Ryan Johnson on to the blue line as and when required.

Regardless of their strength in numbers, Morgan admits the loss of Bell is still a big one to take, both on and off the ice.

“We’ve had a good, solid week of training,” added Morgan. “We had pretty much everyone there for both training sessions and that always helps.

“There were plenty of battling drills on the Tuesday then, on Thursday, we switched our attention more to what we can expect in Swindon, our systems and how we’re going to have to adapt to the smaller rink.

“But losing Belly is a huge blow for us, he’s our captain and someone who leads by example on and off the ice at all times.

“He is certainly going to be missed, whether it is just for the next three games or for however long he ends up being out. But it’s good to have Tom back.”

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