Sheffield Steeldogs coach Greg Wood keen to get most out of Yorkshire Cup

Ryan Aldridge has rung the changes at Leeds ahead of his first full season in charge, bringing in 13 new faces in all, some of those being on two-way deals with lower-level clubs.

Over on the east coast, Matty Davies has been even busier, understandably so given he has had to piece together a roster from scratch, his hometown Seahawks team one of two new additions to NIHL National for the 2022-23 campaign, along with the Bristol Pitbulls.

By contrast. Steeldogs’ head coach Greg Wood has added just a couple of new faces – veteran forward Warren Tait and Latvian winger Vladislavs Vulkanovs, who lit up NIHL North One with Widnes Wild last season when plundering 88 points – including 55 goals – from just 38 games.

Heading the other way are Nathan Ripley, to the Elite League’s Coventry Blaze, Sam Towner, who returns to hometown Hull and Swedish import Andreas Valdix.

And having won two trophies – adding a play-off final win at the SkyDome Arena in Coventry to the NIHL National Cup – Wood had little reason to want to make any drastic changes.

“We’ve got the core of a solid hockey club, we proved that last year with the results that we had, the trophies that we won,” said Wood, whose team host Leeds tonight in the Yorkshire Cup before travelling to Hull on Sunday afternoon.

“There wasn’t an awful lot that needed fixing and the players that we’ve had here, even the younger guys that probably didn’t play as much, they have all now been around a winning set-up and have seen what it takes to win.

“It’s great having the Yorkshire Cup and getting all three teams together but, realistically, these next two weekends are about getting the players back up to speed, getting their competitive edge up and just working on systems, helping make sure we’re ready for when that league season kicks in.”

This weekend’s Yorkshire Cup games - times and venues: Friday: Sheffield Steeldogs v Leeds Knights (Ice Sheffield, face-off 7.30pm - tickets HERE); Saturday: Leeds Knights v Hull Seahawks (6.30pm - tickets HERE); Sunday: Hull Seahawks v Sheffield Steeldogs (Hull Ice Arena, 5.30pm - tickets HERE)