Could Brendan Connolly be on course for second season at Sheffield Steelers?

The Challenge Cup winners want to bring back their best and most committed players as a core of the side that will attempt to seal Elite League glory.

And, it is fair to assume players like Connolly fit that bill and he will be high on Aaron Fox's list for a second-year deal.

If Connolly is awarded and agrees a second year contract, it will be the first time he has stayed for two seasons at a club since his days at Alaska Aces, which started in 2013.

Canadian-born, but with a father from Northern Ireland, Connolly made his Great Britain debut at the Olympic qualifiers in January.

Last year, though, he missed out on the successful World Championships mission in Slovakia because of a knee injury.

Now it is more than likely that IIHF will cancel this year’s World tournament in Switzerland, because of the spread of coronavirus, meaning Connolly would miss out again.

“I was gutted to miss out last year after the injury I took, so I was delighted when they kept themselves up and we get another crack at it," Connolly told Craig Anderson for the britishicehockey.co.uk website.

"It gives you extra motivation and you want to put yourself up against the best players in the world.

"With the way things are in the world with the coronavirus, it would be disappointing to miss the World Championships again.

“It just seems like bad luck when something like that is out of your control, but we’ll see how things fare.

"If it doesn’t happen, then that’s understandable. I’ve still got hockey left in me so maybe 2021 could be the year.”

Connolly has also spoken about the last weekend of Steeler action, when they lost 7-3 to Cardiff Devils in the League, but then beat the same opposition to lift the Challenge Cup.

“It wasn’t a great feeling going into a final after what had just happened beforehand, but the one thing about our group is the bounce back we have after results like that," he told Anderson.

“We were confident going into the final and we knew we had the team and what we were capable of. It definitely helped having half the crowd there. The Steelers' fans have been amazing and they created an amazing impact. It fired us right up.

“It’s a great feeling to be able to hold a trophy over your head and to do it with Sheffield after the (17 year) drought they had in the Challenge Cup, it’s exciting and the city’s buzzing right now."Plus the reception we had when we got back to the Arena was incredible.”

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