Sporting Bygones: Festival will bring memories flooding back of Steelers’ grand slam triumph

Sheffield Steelers’ players, pictured right, sink to the ice in celebration at Wembley Arena after a thrilling 4-3 victory on penalty shots over arch-rivals Nottingham Panthers.

But that night of Sunday, March 31, 1996 marked no ordinary end-of-season celebration. The trophy was the Steelers’ third that season, completing a memorable grand slam – just five years after they had first come into existence at Sheffield Arena.

Two successive promotions had swiftly taken the Steelers into the UK’s top-flight, then known as the British Heineken League. Head coach Alex Dampier, who had joined the Steelers organisation in 1993 from the Panthers, led them to a league championship and play-off double two years later and much was expected of his side going into the 1995-96 season.

They did not disappoint as crowds of 6,000-plus lapped up the entertainment.

After qualifying comfortably from the first-round group phase of the Benson and Hedges Cup having lost only the one game – to the Panthers – the Steelers opened their league campaign with an 8-8 draw on the road against Milton Keynes Kings.

The first victory came a week later with a 13-5 thrashing of Slough Jets on home ice before the league programme was interrupted yet again for a short stint in the Europa Cup and a two-legged B&H quarter-final victory over the Cardiff Devils (9-7 on aggregate).

In October, the Steelers travelled to the North- East to enjoy what would be their biggest victory of the season – a 14-1 humbling of the Newcastle Warriors – but hopes of landing a first trophy of the season in the B&H Cup seemed to have been thwarted when they lost the first leg of the semi-final 5-3 at Fife Flyers.

But a 6-3 victory back on home ice the following week was enough to guarantee a spot in the final where they came up against fierce rivals the Nottingham Panthers. It was almost a month before the final arrived, but it was a night worth waiting for as the Steelers’ fans were able to celebrate their first piece of silverware with a 5-2 victory.

From then on, it was league action right through until towards the end of February as the Steelers finished four points clear of Cardiff to retain their league title.

Within a week, the play-offs were under way and despite losing two of those games – to Basingstoke and Nottingham – the Steelers negotiated a path to the semi-finals where they came up against the Humberside Hawks, winning 6-3 .

The final itself was a thriller and, perhaps fittingly, required a shoot-out to determine a winner. It was defenceman Rob Wilson, now coaching in Italy, who stepped forward to be the hero.

He recalled: “It was my second year with the Steelers and I knew what a big deal this was.

“I just remember going crazy, remember (Tim) Cranston getting to me first and just screaming down my ear, then the whole team was on top of me. You don’t forget moments like that.”

Another member of that team was Tommy Plommer, in his fourth season with the club.

Like many other former players – not just from the 1995-96 team – he will be making a special trip back to Sheffield to help the club celebrate its 20th anniversary with a Festival of Hockey.

Plommer will line up alongside the likes of Wood, Shudra, Tim Cranston, Jason Lafreniere, Mike Peron, Marc Lefebvre, Tony Hand and David Longstaff to play a Cardiff Devils legends side at Sheffield Arena on Saturday, August 27.

Now 42 and working as physical education teacher in Brooklin, Ontario, Plommer admits his first trip back to Britain since going home to Canada in 2001, will prove to be emotional, particularly as he will be having his shirt ‘retired’, in time-honoured tradition at hockey clubs, before the Legends game. “My whole time in Sheffield was pretty special, but winning the grand slam was particularly memorable,” said Plommer.

“I didn’t enjoy my time in Sheffield most for the winning, to be honest, more so for the friends that I made there. We were getting paid for doing something that we loved doing after all.

“It’s been more than 10 years since I was there and my whole family is looking forward to going back. I’m sure it’s going to be very emotional going back to the Arena.

“The club retiring my shirt is an honour and it will mean a lot to me.”

Defensive lynchpin in that grand slam side, Mike O’Connor, who would later go on to become the club’s general manager, said the combination of head coach Dampier and his assistant Clyde Tuyl was pivotal to the success enjoyed by the Steelers.

“Alex was a players’ coach,” recalled O’Connor. “He made sure that everybody worked hard and did all the little things right.

“He and Clyde were the perfect combination and had the most success when they worked together.

“Winning that slam was fantastic, obviously. But it was not just that we were winning a grand slam, it made it even better because we were beating our arch-rivals in order to achieve it.”

n The Festival of Hockey will be held at Sheffield Arena on Saturday, August 27. As well as the Legends match, there will also be on-ice action featuring a number of youth teams before the evening when the current Sheffield and Cardiff line-ups will face each other.

Tickets purchased prior to the event are priced from £5 to £22.50. For further information and to book tickets please contact 0114 256 5656.