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Arrivederci cup hopes
Sheffield Steelers were reeling from two body blows all the way from Italy today.
First they lost their best British player Ashley Tait to Italian team Ritten Tigers.
Then it emerged their hopes of landing a Continental Cup tournament at Sheffield Arena had been sunk – it has gone to Bolzano in Italy.
Steelers' general manager Mike O'Connor says he wasted his weekend in Budapest at the IIHF meeting, where he had gone to lobby for the event.
He said: "I would have been better off staying at home and doing the garden.
"It's a shame the way things happened and I feel embarrassed and cheated that we didn't even have a chance of making our presentation to the delegates."
O'Connor had both a Steelers sponsor and a representative of the Creative Sheffield organisation with him in Budapest and had been told before the meeting that he would have an opportunity to make a bid for the hosting of the Steelers' European games.
"We were told that I could distribute our plans and make a pitch, however at arriving at the meeting we were given a sheet of papers with the host countries already inked in, we made our point to the organisers but it fell on deaf ears.
"I feel embarrassed that we dragged sponsors and Creative Sheffield to Budapest for no reason. The venues were decided a long time before we got involved, it leaves a sour taste that's for sure."
Steelers have received a bye into the third round of the competition, effectively the semi finals. They will play the host team Bolzano, HDK Maribor (Slovenia) and the winners of a second round grouping played in October.
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Fog
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
