Sheffield Steeldogs looking to get the balance right in order to maintain progress

This NIHL National season is no different, with player-coach Jason Hewitt relying on a number of youngsters to flesh out his roster – partly a by-product of delays brought about by the ownership wrangle in the summer.

Owner Tony Smith – who brought the Dogs under the umbrella of Sheffield Steelers in August – has made it clear he wants the Steeldogs to play a big part in developing a production line of homegrown talent, a line that eventually feeds locally-trained players through to the Elite League outfit.

But there has to be a balance found between blooding youngsters and having more experienced players to show them the way as they come through.

"We have qot a pretty young set of players in this year,” said Hewitt. “It’s all about learning for them. They obviously want to be on the ice and we want to get them on the ice and develop them – but they have to be ready.”

It’s a sentiment shared by experienced defenceman, Ben Morgan, a former player-coach of the Steeldogs between 2017-20.

The 36-year-old, who has previously played for the Steelers and Manchester Phoenix, said it would take time for the Steeldogs to get to where they want to be.

"The club are talking about how they want to bring in the next generation of players, which is what we all want,” said Morgan. “But we also need to have a product on the ice where you’re striking the right balance.

“We’ve got numbers, we’ve got inexperienced players, we’ve got older players but when you look around the league and what other teams are putting together, it’s quite frightening how fast it is developing.

"We need to take stock of where we are as a club, we’ve gone through a massive transition (in the summer) and it’s a building process at the minute – it’s going to take a couple of years, it’s not a quick fix for us.”

The Steeldogs will look to bounce back from last Sunday’s 5-2 defeat at Peterborough Phantoms when they travel to leaders Milton Keynes Lightning on Saturday night before hosting Swindon Wildcats at Ice Sheffield on Sunday (face-off, 4.30pm).