Sheffield Steelers living in the shadow of the Land of the Giants

There was a time when the South Yorkshire club was the one that set the benchmark for others to aspire to.

But this is the era of Belfast domination.

UK ice hockey, at its elite level, lives in the Land of the Giants. Their winning blueprint is the one everyone else must analyse and try to modify or replicate.

On Sunday, they completed the Grand Slam, with a 4-1 Playoff Final victory over Cardiff Devils, the team that dumped Sheffield out of Saturday’s (2-3) semi-final, hosted at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.

Cardiff, who finished fourth, just behind Sheffield in the regular season tournament, had come from 2-0 down as Steelers’ confidence and energy visibly ebbed away.

At the end of the 60 minutes, the only remarkable thing you could say about Sheffield was the wall of orange fans who stood by them to the end of a winless season.

Yes, they could certainly have used the likes of injured Marco Vallerand and Sébastien Piché.

But the hard fact, as coach Aaron Fox has acknowledged, is that Giants comfortably had the upper hand over his side throughout the campaign (Steelers record: Won 1 Lost 5.)

Today Fox begins the task of bringing in a side that can do better, much better, in bridging the Irish Sea gap.

Hopefully, goaltender Matt Greenfield will stay for a second term.

And the Brit pack should remain intact, barring the retiring Jonathan Phillips.

Ironically, with a large number of new men to find, Fox has left himself a mental note that while he will need a new captain (Robert Dowd, anybody?), he will leave the door open for cameo appearances for the 40-year-old Welshman.

He says that if the 2023-24 line-up gets “thin” through injuries next season, then the superfit Phillips will be the first phone call he will make.

Fittingly, Phillips and fellow retiree Brendan Connolly magicked up a goal at the end of Sunday’s third-place game, in which Sheffield saw off a limp Nottingham Panthers, 7-4.

Other than Phillips, scorers were Brandon Whistle, Daniel Ciampini, Dowd, Brett Neumann, Calle Ackered, and Niklas Nevanainen.

Afterwards Fox said there were “a lot of people” in the dressing room that he liked personally and professionally and thanked them for what their efforts over the season.

How many will remain in orange is another matter.

n Sheffield Steeldogs’ post-season also ended at the semi final level, a 5-4 defeat to Raiders.

Two-way Steeler Cole Shudra was man of the match for Leeds Knights, who completed the NIHL National league and play-offs double, with a Final win over Raiders.