Sheffield Steelers' new signing to be pitted against brother when ice hockey resumes

Sam Jones quit Fife Flyers for Sheffield - recently his d-man brother Adam, 24, has replaced him on Todd Dutiaume's roster, moving to Scotland from NIHL side Basingstoke Bison.

Adam and Sam will lock horns if the EIHL receives permission to start up again, something that can only happen if the pandemic restrictions are eased.

That aspiration wasn't helped by Friday's government announcement.

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Ice rinks had been set to be allowed to reopen from Saturday. But now they will remain closed until August 15 at the earliest.

However, Fife, Sheffield and other Elite League clubs are still hoping to face off their domestic competition before the end of the year.

Adam told Fife Today: “I spoke to Sam about his time in Fife last year and although he had his knee problem and the season didn’t go as well as the team would have liked, he said a lot of good things about it.”

Dutiaume described Adam as "a slightly different player to his brother, but has some similar attributes – skates well, moves the puck well and his first pass is good.

“Some of the things we have heard about him have all been very good, and people seem to think he is going to exceed at the Elite League level and so do we.

“We are pretty excited to replace an individual like Sam, who came in and was quite dynamic last year. We were keen to find a replacement and I think we have found another one."

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Sam left Kirkcaldy with fond memories, stating that his ambition was to play for a big club.

Asked by The Star if it was an undeniable fact that Fife, with its smaller base, would find it hard to compete with the likes of Sheffield, Nottingham, Cardiff, and Belfast as championship contenders, Sam replied: "It's definitely more challenging for the smaller clubs but they can definitely compete.

"Look how Coventry Blaze did last year for example. Any team can do well in this league.

"We obviously had some tough times last season, so I thank all those fans that stuck by us even when times were tough.

"I met some amazing people in Fife."