Marco Vallerand's delight as Anthony DeLuca and Brendan Connolly re-sign for Sheffield Steelers

But if there was one person who was probably even more pleased than they were - that would be Marco Vallerand.

He struck up an explosive chemistry last season with the duo and loves playing alongside them.

Remarkably, all three of them were club joint top League goal scorers last year with 26 apiece.

That is as fair a share of the limelight as you will see.

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And Vallerand credits much of that to the varying skills of his colleagues.

"DeLuca is a very offensive player, Conns is a great two-way player," says the French Canadian.

"That's probably the biggest difference between those two.

"Connolly is a sound safe player, DeLuca takes a few more chances. He is flashy but he is very skilled," he added.

"It is fun to play with these two when they are at the top of their game because DeLuca, with the set of skills he's got, he can get out of a situation that I haven't seen players get out of in so many years.

"With Conns, we just have that great chemistry the two of us play so well together."

Connolly, the League's third highest overall points scorer, (55 pts in 48 games) was "so reliable, you know that if you make a mistake he is there to cover it" said Vallerand.

"He is one of the hardest workers in the team.

"He is great at face offs, he is a good centreman, good down low, moves his puck well."

Connolly, a born winner, is not afraid to dish out advice or criticism.

"It might be tough on some players but he also can come back to the bench and tell exactly what he didn't like.

"Sometimes it is actually great to get that feedback.

"He can be hard on you but he knows what he is talking about, he is never really wrong. So that's another great part of his game."

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As for himself, Vallerand said he knew playing for Sheffield would be a positive experience.

"I played in Coventry two years ago and had a lot of success there, I knew the spotlight in Sheffield the fans would give me that extra energy to perform well at Sheffield," he said.

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