Steelers hope for 'blinder' against top goalie

Czech netminder Ladislav Kudrna is hugely rated by the Sheffield Steelers forward and his teammates.

And they know it will take something special to get the puck past the 6ft 1in custodian this evening, at Sheffield Arena (7pm).

"Against Kudrna we have to create traffic in front of him. If he sees the puck he will stop it, no question," Finnerty said.

"We have to get our noses dirty, drive the net, get in front of him, get dirty goals with deflections.

"Remember, if he can't see it ... he can't stop it."

Kudrna has a 92.5 per cent save percentage so far - he kept Nottingham Panthers forwards at bay in a 5-1 win last weekend, stopping 44 shots.

Finnerty is upbeat about his side's chances, this weekend and beyond.

"When we arrived everyone was talking about a championship and, of course, you would like to think that we'll be competitive.," he said.

"Now we have been together for four weeks and have beaten the likes of Coventry and Nottingham, we all now know that we can bring this trophy home.

"We have to make sure that the two big lines fire every night. I know that Jonathan Phillips, Shane Johnson and I have had a great week and we feel we can score and create something every shift.

"Against Hull we can't give them time to breathe, we must be ruthless with them, have them turning round and chasing shadows.

"If we are serious about winning this championship we can't afford to lose games against Hull.

".I know they have improved and have beaten Nottingham 5-1, but we still feel that we are a better side and must win this game

"If Coventry are our targets, and I think they are, we must show them that we are not going to drop points against the Hulls and Edinburghs. Coventry won't lose at home this year to Hull, they won't drop points to them. We can't afford to do so either."

What do you think. Post your comments below.