Sheffield Steeldogs coach Greg Wood wants to develop the winning habit in NIHL National

The Steeldogs were worthy 6-3 winners at Ice Sheffield on Friday night, the result seeing them finish top of the Autumn Cup group standings, overhauling Leeds who had to settle for second spot. Both teams head into the semi-final stages along with Swindon Wilcats and Telford Tigers.

The Steeldogs head to Swindon on Saturday to open their regular season NIHL National campaign, in a match which also counts towards points in the group phase of the NIHL Cup.

And head coach Wood wants his side to replicate the kind of performance against Leeds that, at times, he felt saw them dominate the game.

“I’m really pleased with that performance,” said Wood. “It’s something we’ve been priding ourselves on over the last year or so, making sure that we are in every single game and trying to win every single game.

“For large parts tonight we played really, really well, I felt we controlled the puck well, we used it efficiently and our transition was the big difference between the two teams.

“When we moved it quick and we moved it north and we could get our offence going I thought we were really dominant.

“We’re getting better each week, it’s not a perfect performance by a long stretch of the imagination, but we are finding ways to win, even in the last five or six games when we haven’t been playing so great over the last five or six games.”

Ahead of Saturday’s long trip south to Wiltshire before a day off on Sunday ahead of their league home opener against Telford next Friday which will be the first of a three-game weekend that also brings a home and away double-header against Bees IHC.

“We’ve put ourselves in a good position,” added Wood. “The real hard work starts now with the league season and we’ve got a tough opening game but, yes, it’s been a positive start.”