Steelers: James Bettauer promises fans first home league win of the season against Manchester Storm this weekend

Steelers lost to Coventry Blaze in the regular season curtain-raiser and that was quite a jolt for the team and most of the 6,253 fans.

But Bettauer has pledged they will get two points against their cross-Pennine rivals, Manchester Storm.

"We will get them a win against Manchester," stated the offensive-minded defenceman who scored for Steelers in his Challenge Cup debut, against Nottingam Panthers.

The 28-year-old Canadian new boy says he has found the Sheffield club and fans to be "incredible”.

"I wasn't sure what to expect coming over here, but the fans have breen so supportive,” he added. “It's a huge crowd in a big building, it's great."

He is being indoctrinated in the need to win the EIHL title, having played previously in leagues where the play offs are deemed more vital.

"Every day it is kind of enforced a little more; it is tough to get used to but once you kind of get it in your head that the regular season is the big thing, then it makes every game a lot more important and a lot easier to get excited for," he said.Bettauer, who scored 18 points in 49 games for Krefeld Pinguine in the DEL last year, has been popping up in some threatening positions on the Steelers' Power Play.

He played forward until he was 15 and went on to fill in for injured wingers when he was in Germany, so is comfortable in the opponents' zone.

"Generally I play on the off side, one-timer position (Power Play) but right now I have been in the slot...I am happy to be wherever."

Bettauer came to Sheffield direct from the German top flight.

He said he had been influenced by hearing positive things about the EIHL and was also excited to be offered a place on an MBA course at the University of Sheffield – “Something that would be nice to have when it is time to retire."

*After the opening two League games, Marc-Olivier Vallerand is the League's top scorer with four points. Brendan Connolly, Robert Dowd and John Armstrong are just behind him with three.