Top man Danny Ciampini repaying the faith shown by Sheffield Steelers coach

And that speaks volumes for the belief shown in him by Sheffield coach Aaron Fox.

The EIHL released the average on-ice minutes for the club recently, with the top four places, predictably, going to defencemen Matt Petgrave, 22:40, Kevin Schulze, 21:14, Nicklas Nevalainen, 21:08, and Sebastian Piché, 20:00.

The first forward on the list was Ciampini with 18:08 followed by Brett Neumann, 17:05, and Evan Mosey, 16:51.

Ciampini downplayed his number by suggesting he sometimes takes too long a shift.

However, he conceded: "I guess it shows a little bit of faith that he has in me. We have had conversations of what he expects.

"If I am not doing something offensively I try to be defensively responsible and be a guy who is trustworthy and accountable when necessary."

At the end of the day it is a reflection of trust by his coach, the winger said, adding that he actually preferred playing on the penalty kill over the power play.

Ciampini said the Sheffield locker room had discussed previous slow starts before last Saturday's shoot-out win over Nottingham Panthers and was pleased they responded with a good early showing. But there had been "a couple of times now where we have shot themselves in the foot at the end of the game" - as illustrated when Panthers came back and forced the match into overtime.

Asked about the new look Nottingham under Corey Neilson he said: "I always thought they had a good team, personnel and systems-wise they changed a few things, they looked a little bit different from what they watched on video."

He said the change of coach would: "help them for sure."