Sheffield Steelers: Suspended Michael Davies ready to atone for letting down club

The Sheffield forward was suspended for two matches after lobbing a plastic net peg into the crowd at Nottingham Panthers, following a 1-5 defeat there recently.

He quickly apologised and his coach Aaron Fox says he is doing everything he can to make amends to the club.

Fox has now shed new light on the peculiar incident at Nottingham, saying it was more about giving a fan a memento than anything sinister.

But the coach still supports the decision by the EIHL Department of Player Safety for the two-games ban, which he has now completed.

Asked how he had dealt internally with the Davies situation, he said: "He is part of our group. Obviously he didn't make a very good decision. It is something that he has done numerous times in the past.

"Aaron Brocklehurst played with him last year (Linz EHC, Austria) and he told me he probably handed out 10-12 goal pegs after games. Was he sour at the end of a game, absolutely (but) he said he had no ill-will or intent.

"He said he looked the guy right in the eye that he was throwing it up to, underhand tossed it. It wasn't a metal peg it was plastic...there was no intent there to hurt anybody."

The coach added: "I think we can all agree it wasn't a good decision. I understand where the League is coming from, nipping that stuff early in the year to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

Since the incident Davies has been contrite.

"He has already pushed the pace a little bit in practice, and done quite a bit extra to make sure that we all see that he knows he made a mistake and let the team down and I believe he is a high-character guy and he will bounce back and be ready to help us when he is back," said Fox.

Referring specifically to Davies' act at the Motorpoint Arena, he said it had been a case of "handing out souvenirs to fans, but that it was a lesson learned.

"I am not going to speak on the league's decision, I think they have a job to do and I think they do a good job of it."

Fox thinks the DOPS officials were "fair people and I understand they don't want this to have a black eye on the league. Any time you make the League look unprofessional there is going to be an issue."