BRAD Voth will face Sheffield Steelers this weekend for the first time since his uncompromising style made him Sheffield ice hockey fans' Enemy No1.
Ashley Tait, Jeff Legue and Stefan Sjogren have all come off worst from his controversial style of play and more recently Randy Dagenais was inches away from suffering the same fate.
That most recent incident saw Voth banned for a month (12 games; reduced on appeal to seven) from the line-up at Cardiff Devils who visit Sheffield Arena on Saturday.
Last weekend saw the Canadian return to the ice - something Sheffield's entire roster picked up on.
While the Arena fans will doubtless be baying for his blood on Saturday, Dagenais says nobody will be detailed to go after him.
"He is the type of guy you want to be subdued. If you get people like that riled, they can be more effective," the defenceman said.
"But at the same time we will all have to have our heads up because his game is to take the body."
Dagenais says few people like playing against Voth, adding: "Although I don't respect him very much, he is doing his job.
"He has been suspended and out for a long time now and will want to make up for that. You want players, not just him but others, to play hard and leave out the cheap stuff - the stuff that brings the game into disrepute."
Dagenais says he hopes Steelers can now go on and repeat the tempo they showed for most of the 6-3 win over Nottingham Panthers last Saturday.
"Our problem has been that we haven't always shown that sense of urgency for 60 minutes," he said.
"Perhaps we have got too comfortable. It is strange, sometimes.
"We have to go behind before we get going. We seem to want to be put in a corner and fight our way out."
What do you think? Post your comments below. READ MOREMore Ice HockeyMore rugby leagueMore rugby unionMore boxingSports columnistsAll sport categoriesThe full article contains 346 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
