Sheffield Steelers and Sheffield Steeldogs out to help rising star Liam Steele reach his 'ceiling'

The 21-year-old defenceman has signed on a two-way deal between the Steelers and NIHL National affiliate Sheffield Steeldogs.

He comes to South Yorkshire having spent the last four years in North America.

A season at Stanstead College was followed by a year in the BCHL league where he excelled particularly for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks before a year in NCAA hockey at Cornell University.

Regarded as one of the brightest British talents to emerge in recent years, there was no shortage of interest when it became clear Steele was available.

The prospect of Elite League hockey combined with the development opportunities with the Steeldogs, saw Sheffield win the race for his signature.

Despite his lack of ice time at Cornell - from where he returned midway through last season - Steelers’ head coach Fox is a big admirer of what Steele has to offer going forward.

“He has an extremely high ceiling,” said Fox. “There’s not been a lot of game time these last couple of years for him but he trained and practiced with that group at Cornell and his size and skating kind of sets him apart in my opinion.

“I feel like he’s going to be a guy who comes over and really competes for ice time at our level. I am a huge fan of what he can bring to the table and now it’s on myself and Slava to make sure that we develop properly into what he could be.

“I feel very strongly that he will be a national team defenceman sometime in the very near future with the tools that he has got as part of his game.”

Jamie McIlroy, Steeldogs GM, added: “Securing Liam's services is a major coup for our organisation.

“He's one of the most sought-after British prospects at the moment, which was made apparent by the amount of other offers he had to consider.”

As for Steele himself, he is keen to continue his “incredible” journey, believing that Sheffield offers him the best environment to progress..

“Over the past five years, I’ve had the privilege of playing in North America, at Cornell and before that in the BCHL with the Silverbacks,” said Steele.

“The journey has been an incredible one, and I’ll always be grateful to the coaches and teammates who’ve helped me grow both on and off the ice.”