Sheffield Steeldogs face big weekend for title hopes as Ryan Aldridge takes over Leeds Knights’ quest

Greg Wood’s team head to Wiltshire tonight before taking on hosting duties 24 hours later at Ice Sheffield (face-off 4.30pm).

They go into the weekend six points adrift of third-placed Swindon, with leaders Telford Tigers a further two points away.

During the early part of the season it was the Steeldogs making all the running, winning seven out of their first eight games.

But, as with all teams, a touch of inconsistency arrived before injuries and Covid took hold in an extreme way just before Christmas, the Steeldogs at one point travelling for a game at Telford with just nine skaters.

Not surprisingly, form took a serious knock, with just two wins coming from eight games, the most recent success being last Sunday’s impressive 4-1 win at Raiders IHC.

Swindon themselves have just come through a similar Covid problem, meaning both teams go into the weekend desperate to claw back ground on the top two.

“Mathematically, obviously, nothing is out of reach,” said Hewitt. “But Covid and injuries have really kicked us in the teeth, which is quite frustrating because we had such a good start.

“But, it is thanks to that start that we’ve managed to just about stay within touching distance.

“This weekend is massive if we are to stay in the hunt.

“If we fall any further back it becomes a massive ask and then you are relying on other teams and you don’t want to be in that position.”

Hewitt is hopeful line-mate Matt Bissonnette will return to action, the 29-year-old having been out injured after being cross-checked to the head in the bad-tempered 5-2 win at Milton Keynes Lightning, who sit second in the standings.

“I know that when he gets the puck he’s looking for me to get open for him and that’s obviously what I thrive on,” added Hewitt.

“He skated on Thursday and looked good and felt okay. Now it will be a case of monitoring him and seeing how he is on the day.”

One place below Sheffield are Yorkshire rivals Leeds Knights, who fell further off the title-chasing pace with defeats to Swindon and Milton Keynes last week.

Coach Dave Whistle made an unexpected exit on Wednesday after owner Steve Nell made it clear he wanted to change the set-up at Elland Road, bringing in a new coach while retaining the Canadian in a GM role only.

But the 55-year-old was still keen to remain as coach and so declined with interim coach Ryan Aldridge taking practice on Thursday and Friday ahead of tomorrow’s home clash against Basingstoke Bison.

Aldridge said patience will be key as he sets about stamping his mark on the team over the next few weeks. It is still not clear how long he will be in place or what Nell’s long-term plas are.

The 43-year-old has been installed on an interim basis after the sudden exit of Dave Whistle on Wednesday.

After carrying out a mid-season review on the team, owner Steve Nell told Whistle he would only be operating in a GM role going forward as he wished to bring in a different coach.

Aldridge was impressed with what he saw at practice but said, for now, he was concentrating on the team playing to their own strengths first, before worrying too much about the opposition.

“I said to the boys on Thursday that I’m not going to come in and, with the skillset that they have got, sit there and say ‘this is how we’re going to play against each and every team,’” said Aldridge, who worked for Nell as both coach of Swindon Wildcats and at the Okanagan Hockey Academy.

“It is early doors. Of course it is going to come in time, but we’ve got too much stuff that we need to talk about as a group and get sorted out before we move on to that.

“We’re going to play to our strengths, we’re going to go at them and make it for them to hopefully adjust to us. We haven’t got the time right now to sit here worrying about other teams right now, we’ve just got to worry about ourselves.”

Sitting fifth in the table and 13 points off leaders Telford Tigers and, even with 23 regular season games remaining, Aldridge admits it will be tough to overhaul all of the teams currently above them to lift the regular season title.

“I think it is going to be a tough ask,” he added. “There are obviously a lot of good teams in this league. And I think this team should be focussing on the play-offs and what they can get done and it’s about building and building, slowly and slowly for the playoffs. Should Leeds be a playoff contender? 100 per cent.”