No Sheffield Steelers return for goaltender Barry Brust
Sheffield Steelers have bid a fond farewell to Barry Brust, one of their most decorated goaltenders in recent times.
The club has signed an import replacement, although his name has yet to be announced.
A number two has yet to be signed, although the club has two-way assets Curtis Warburton and Jordan McLaughlin to fall back on.
Throughout the Summer, coach Aaron Fox has been unwilling to publicly write Brust out of the recruitment narrative.
But the club has now moved to set the record straight after misleading and inaccurate speculation that he is to return surfaced on Twitter.
Fox has spoken to Brust - who will be 39 next week - and wished him well with his life going forward.
A Steelers' source said: "We are grateful for what Barry did for us.
"We don't know if he is to retire or his life will take him in another direction, but we wish him well."
Brust had a 89.71 percent save ratio for Sheffield - while his goaltending partner Rok Stojanovic had 92.53.
His EIHL career got off to a slow start and his fitness was often a topic for debate.
He lasted only 40 minutes of his debut and he went on to suffer both injury and illness issues.
By the end of the season he had played 930 minutes less that Stojanovic, who recently moved to Cracovia Krakow, of Poland.
Some fans felt Sheffield's netminding was not as sharp at that displayed at Cardiff Devils by Mac Carruth and at Belfast Giants by Tyler Beskorowany.
Brendan Connolly, a team-mate of both before getting injured last season, had mixed views on Steelers' net guardians.
"I thought our goaltending was pretty good," he said.
But he added: "We probably didn't get a timely game, when we needed to.
"Rok came in and had an excellent season when Brusty was hurt at the start, he played well through the middle stretch of the season, but I would say just that crunch game when we needed a big performance...we probably didn't get it.
"Not that those guys were not capable of it, it just didn't happen.
"Foxy can reach to a number of different leagues and access players who you might not think would come to Sheffield - he has probably done that with the goaltending as well."
Brust was candid about his season in an earlier interview with The Star.
He acknowledged that Stojanovic had excelled in the crease at times and deserved to be picked more often.
The Canadian also suggested that the players had confidence in Stojanovic and were comfortable when he was picked as the starting netminder.
Steelers will announce more forward signings on Wednesday.
Meanwhile former Sheffield Scimitars right winger Finlay Ulrick has committed to his third season with Manchester Storm.