Practice time only benefits Steelers

Aaron Johnson believes Sheffield Steelers’ current match schedule offers them an ideal chance to make the further necessary improvements to help turn their season around.

The Steelers staged a dramatic late comeback on Wednesday night to overcome visitors Coventry Blaze 5-4 in overtime and climb up to eighth in the Elite League standings.

The next nine days only heralds one match for Tom Barrasso’s players with Dundee Stars visiting South Yorkshire tomorrow (7pm).

Veteran defenceman Johnson – who scored two goals in the win over Coventry – believes improvements have already been made by the Steelers under their new head coach, but is convinced the additional practice time made possible over the next week or so will prove invaluable to the team’s bid to lift themselves back into contention for honours.

“There has already been an improvement in our game and there is definitely a bit of momentum,” said Johnson.

“We’ve been fortunate with the number of practice sessions we’ve had in the last three weeks – you can see the difference to the style of our game.

“We’ve got another 10 days coming up where we’ve only got the one game so, hopefully, we can continue to work on our systems.”