Sheffield Steeldogs face threat from nearest rivals Hull Pirates

The Dogs suffered their first home defeat in the league, losing 1-0 to the Telford Tigers.

With the Tigers line-up featuring the likes of Jonathan Weaver, Warren Tait and Jason Silverthorn, it takes a high quality performance to beat them and on the night, Sheffield were solid but didn’t reach the level they have shown they can achieve.

A guest appearance from Panthers back-up netminder Sam Gospel made Sunday’s visit to Nottingham more of a challenge.

The 23 year old showed some real quality facing 48 shots but a three goal burst in the second period secured a 4-2 win for over the Lions.

With Hull winning both their league games, the Dogs lead is down to a single point and with Hull having a game in hand, the importance of upcoming games increases even more.

Steeldogs have three games in three nights starting with a visit from Jason Hewitt and the Hull Pirates on Friday night for the first leg of the National Cup semi-final.

To bolster the squad for the weekend and beyond, player/coach Ben Morgan has persuaded his predecessor, Greg Wood to come out of retirement.

And it was an easy call for Morgan to make: "With recent long-term injuries to key players and a hectic schedule in such a short space of time, the decision to bring Woody in until the end of the season was an obvious choice.

"His playing ability and passion for the sport and our club speaks for itself and I'm sure he will not need too long to shake off the cobwebs from his skates.

“I am delighted to be able to work alongside Woody again, he is one of my oldest teammates in hockey and we go way back to our junior days at the old stomping ground that was Queens Road. He will undoubtedly give us the added quality and experience to enable us to compete in every match right up until the final game of the season”.

Wood will make his return against Hull on Friday in a 7:30 face-off at iceSheffield.