2013
JULY:
All 12,500 seats are being ripped out and replaced, at the Arena, toilets are being rebuilt, energy efficient lighting installed and external concourse doors will be replaced.
Marc Lefebvre ended an eight year break from Sheffield Steelers to sign as new assistant coach.
Steelers new coach Doug Christiansen pipped Panthers Cory Neilson to the part time post as GB head coach.
JULY:
Sheffield today made the first of the University signings as Frank Doyle (netminder) agreed a two year deal.
Steelers sign import defenceman Tim Spencer.
Maxime Lacroix was signed today to leave just two slots to be filled on the Steelers' roster.
Dustin Kohn coming in on a two year deal to fill the University slots.
Jonathan Philips was confirmed as captain for the coming season.
Sheffield began their pre-season campaign in a tour of Hugary and Slovakia. Their first two games, to H.C.Kosice and Ambri-Piotta ended in defeats but then, seventeen years after playing Olimpija Ljubljana during their first sortie into europe, they defeated the Slovakians by penalty shots.
Doug Christiansen talked in glowing terms about marksman Jeff Legue during pre-season and how he saw his role in the coming season.
Entrance video
SEPTEMBER: Former NHLer Stefan Meyer was signed for Sheffield Steelers from Germany.
Even a crowd of over 7000 couldn't prevent the Steelers going down in their opener, 4-1, to Nottingham Panthers.
OCTOBER: Sheffield Steelers coach Doug Christiansen has returned to America following the death of his father Keith. The coach said " I have been truly blessed to have such a wonderful family. My father work ethic, values and guidance has helped to shape the man that I am today."
NOVEMBER: Steelers' fan, Garry Dickinson and his personal injury firm 'Lime' have agreed a sponsorship deal with the club.
2014
FEBRUARY: The merry-go-round of ice hockey transfers took a strange turn today - Sheffield Steelers assistant coach Mark Lefebvre leaving the club to take over the reins at troubled Coventry Blaze. Coach Matt Soderstrom was fired by the Midlands side last night only a few hours after their team were beaten 5-1 by Lefebvre’s Sheffield. Lefebvre was offered the post last night. It was an obvious step-up and he didn’t think twice.
13th Sheffield Steelers sacked Doug Christiansen this afternoon. He was dismissed less than half-way through his two year contract at the Arena. The head coach, who arrived from Belfast Giants last year, paid the ultimate price for last night’s 5-3 home defeat by big rivals Nottingham Panthers in the Challenge Cup semi final, which came on top of some fairly average form in the League. The 35-year-old American clearly did not present owner Tony Smith with the formula he wants.
One player has spoken, behind closed doors, of a “black cloud being lifted.” Another is looking forward to playing without being “shackled” by Christiansen’s precise and keenly-observed personal coaching manual. Some talk of “over-coaching.”
Gerad Adams will hold a meeting with his new Sheffield Steelers team this afternoon as his first step in trying to bring back the trophy-winning days. Adams was confirmed as coach and his immediate task was to find out how to turn an inconsistent side into Play Off winners. On Saturday, he will have a baptism of fire in a league match at Nottingham Panthers - but it is a challenge he is relishing. Steelers’ owner Tony Smith commented: “Gerad is the perfect fit, short term and maybe long term. He is keen to show us that he is our long term answer. I was looking for a man who could put the fire back into Steelers hockey. Someone to extract the passion that I want to see game in and game out."
APRIL:
The team goes into battle this evening against Coventry Blaze, hoping to secure a Play Off semi final place. They lead 3-2 from the first leg. But they will be without Legue, who underwent a three and a half hour operation at the University Hospital, Coventry on Sunday. Legue was accidentally hit in the face by a puck shot by linemate Chris Blight. The puck smashed his cheekbone just below his ear - and also broke his chin. He has had two metal plates fitted.
In the play off final Sheffield Steelers became championship winners defeating Belfast Giants.
Sheffield Steelers today signed present stand-in coach Gerad Adams on a two-year contract offer after he revolutionised their fortunes with a sensational Play Off final win against the champions, last night. Adams managed to turn an out-of-sorts, unpredictable team into Play Off finalists... and then steered them to a dramatic underdog victory over a crack Belfast Giants team . Only a few short weeks ago, Adams inherited an unbalanced team riddled with inconsistency and with a fragile psychology. He turned that melancholy outfit into one that wanted to have fun - and win. Last night, they repaid him. In full. Drew Fata scored a cracking overtime winner to bring the Play Off trophy back to Sheffield Arena.
Afterwards Adams said he was “jumping out of my skin” with happiness, but felt the win belonged to players and staff who had been there all season. He said “a number of factors” were involved in him signing for Sheffield next year, but he felt the organisation was a “first class one” in the way they treated players.
Jeff Legue has confirmed his move from Sheffield Steelers to Steeldogs, and says his physical condition played a part in the switch. “I’m older than I was, the body doesn’t heal as quickly as it once did” says the forward who fractured his jaw last season. “You never want to admit it when the time comes but the time came. It was one of those days you never wanted to arrive. Playing for the Steelers is a full time job. It is seven days a week full-on."