Steelers Ride Hot Goalie

I don't follow the Champions Hockey League standings very often, but Jason, co-host of The Hockey Show, certainly does and he alerted me of a team that might be playing above its head right now. Make no mistake that the Champions League (CHL) is the best-of-the-best in European hockey as teams like ZSC Lions Zurich, Red Bull Salzburg, Eisbären Berlin, Dynamo Pardubice, and Skellefteå AIK all are competing in the fall's tournament. Normally, the Swedish and German teams ascend past some of the countries whose leagues may not be as good as the SHL or DEL at this point, but it looks like one EIHL team is trying to make a statement in the competition after four games!

The EIHL's Sheffield Steelers won last season's EIHL championship, so they were invited to play in the Champions League this season. Sheffield was a beast last season as they finished atop the EIHL standings with a 39-8-6-1 record before crushing Fife, Guildford, and Belfast by a combined score of 22-9 in the four games that were needed to win the championship. Needless to say, the Steelers were a handful for whoever lined up against them last season.

Part of the reason they were so good was due to a Floridian kid who honed his skills at the University of Calgary as a member of the Dinos men's hockey team. That player is goaltender Matthew Greenfield who played with the Dinos from 2016-20 where he helped to elevate that program with his solid play. In 53 games with the Dinos, Greenfield went 32-16-2 while sporting a 2.38 GAA and a .908 save percentage in those games. Greenfield was a solid netminder at the Canada West level, and it seems he's taken that skill to Great Britain and put it on display as a member of the Steelers.

After a short stint with the ECHL's Kansas City Mavericks, Greenfield landed in Sheffield in 2022 where he's gone on a tear through British hockey. Over his two seasons with the Steelers, he's played 100 games where he posted a record of 74-26-0 in that time. Toss in a 2.09 GAA and a .930 save percentage, and you're looking at one of the best goaltenders in the EIHL. Last season, he had the most wins, the lowest GAA for goalies who played more than 20 games, and the top save percentage en route to an EIHL championship, so it seems Sheffield has their guy when it comes to goalies.

The play shown by Greenfield which carried Sheffield to the EIHL championship has returned this season as he's now backstopping the Steelers in CHL action, and he has them sitting in eighth-place out of 24 teams in the CHL after four games with a 2-1-1-0 record! He backstopped the Steelers to another big win yesterday, defeating SHL champions Skellefteå AIK on Sunday afternoon to push them to their third-straight win. With the win, a number of other teams are sitting at 2-1-1-0 as well such as Red Bull Salzburg and Oceláři Třinec, but the goal differential between the teams at that record sees Sheffield ahead of Eisbären Berlin, Fribourg-Gottéron, and Tappara Tampere.

Sheffield will play Swiss powerhouse ZSC Lions Zurich on October 8 with these two teams sitting one point apart in the CHL standings, and a win over the Lions would go a long way in helping the Steelers qualify for the CHL medal round. To date, no EIHL team has finished in the top-four teams in CHL play, but the Steelers appear that they're gonna make a run for it. It would be another exciting moment for the Steelers in their history, but it may cement their legacy as one of the best teams to have ever been assembled in the EIHL.

It's pretty cool to see a U SPORTS-trained goalie having a major impact on the success of the Steelers, but he's not the only one who has U SPORTS roots. Forward Mitchell Balmas spent a couple of seasons with St. Mary's University in the AUS where he scored at a better than a point-per-game pace, forward Patrick Watling had a two-year stint with the UNB Reds where he put up solid numbers, and defender Dominic Cormier spent a season at the University of Ottawa in the OUA. The Steelers have built a lot of their success on the strength of some good U SPORTS players, and Greenfield is part of that equation as he does his part in helping the Steelers win!

Congratulations to the Steelers on their successful entry into the CHL this fall, and here's hoping that Matthew Greenfield can continue his hot play as Sheffield finds ways to score goals. For anyone who thinks that U SPORTS hockey won't lead to bigger things, I suggest looking at the career of Matthew Greenfield as hockey has taken him all over the US, Canada, and Europe!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!