Sheffield Steelers and how treble defence and the Champions Hockey League helped bring Mark Simpson back for second year

Not that the influential 29-year-old centre would have needed any more reasons to head back to South Yorkshire given how well his first campaign went, the Steelers securing a memorable Elite League treble of league, cup and play-off titles.

The Rothesay-born forward endeared himself to his team-mates, coaches and fans with a string of consistent performances in only his third season as a pro, eventually posting 41 points - including 17 goals - in 61 appearances.

The Steelers’ regular season success - their first since 2015-16 - was enough to earn them a return to the CHL for the first time since then.

Earlier this week, they learned what their schedule would be, having been drawn in a group containing teams from Sweden, Czechia and Switzerland.

They open their campaign on the road on September 5 against Switzerland’s HC Fribourg-Gottéron before visiting Sweden’s Växjö Lakers two nights later.

​Their first home game comes on September 13 against Sparta Prague, with last season's CHL runners-up​​​​​​, Sweden’s Skellefteå AIK, visiting the Utilita Arena two nights later.

They then finish off by travelling to ​ZSC Lions Zurich on October 8 before hosting Dynamo Pardubice a week later.

It’s expected to be a tough ask for the Steelers, given the superiority of many of Europe’s leagues copmpared to the EIHL, but Simpson - who split the 2022-23 season between Finland’s KalPa and Italy’s Asiago in the IceHL - is confident they will be able to hold their own

“Being able to play in the Champions league is such a great opportunity for myself and the rest of the team - just to see where we stand with the top teams around Europe,” said Simpson.

“It was a no-brainer coming back for me anyway, given the success we had last year, but the Champions league was a big factor in my decision.

“You are talking about the best teams in each of those leagues, but I think we can fare well – I don’t think there’s any reason why we can’t compete with some of these teams.

“I don’t think there was ever going to be any kind of easy draw and we know it’s going to be a battle every night – but we are excited about the opportunity to prove ourselves at this level.”

Fox was never short of praise for Simpson throughout the 2023-24 campaign and is not surprisingly delighted to have him back for another year.

"Mark is a guy that can play up and down our line-up and can create match-up issues against other teams’ top lines,” said Fox.

“He skates so well for his size and defensively shuts plays down quickly. He was a top PK guy for us as well and was a major player in the second half of the season – he’s the type of player teams need if they want to win.”