STEELERS' bosses went on a secret goaltender scouting trip a fortnight before netminder Jody Lehman led the team to Play Off cup glory, it was revealed today.
General Manager Mike O'Connor and coach Dave Matsos nipped over to France to watch ex-Sheffield goalie Christian Bronsard play.
Not surprisingly the trip was kept from the playing staff – and it
happened partly because Lehman had been hawking his availability across the continent, according to O'Connor.
Bronsard, 30, played a single season for Steelers in Mark Dutiaume-Mike Peron's 2003-4 team and is regarded by some as one of the club's best-ever custodians.
The German-Canadian has had two seasons there and now wants a move back to South Yorkshire.
Speaking in an audio interview for thestar.co.uk O'Connor admitted: "About two weeks before the Plays Offs we went and watched the semi/final game (Briançon v Grenoble) and it was a very interesting trip. I was impressed.
"What motivated us was that Jody was shopping himself around Europe - funnily enough the team we went to go look at is a team that is interested in taking Jody.
"Although Christian had a stand-out year when he was at Sheffield when he came in, I was a little bit sceptical about the French league.
"We've seen PC Drouin who was a stand-out in the Superleague, went and did well in the French league and came back a few years later here (Morzine-Avoriaz /Nottingham Panthers)and didn't live up to expectations."
Of Bronsard, O'Connor said: "He's still very good. He's a short goalie (5ft 9ins) he's very square, very vocal, does all the little things well. He played well."
O'Connor said nothing had been settled over the goaltender position for 2008-9, however.
Most fans had assumed Lehman, who has a British wife and new baby, was set to return to Sheffield.
Yet, interestingly, within minutes of beating Coventry Blaze in the Play Off Final, he told a press conference: "I can walk away now and look back on my career and say 'that's it, I have done it'.
Team-mates like Joey Talbot and Ian Manzano have called for Lehman to be re-signed.
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