SHEFFIELD, U.K. – The Sheffield Steelers have confirmed that Ben Morgan and Rod Sarich will be playing at the Sheffield Arena next season. Sheffield born Morgan, 21 has made the short trip across the road from EPL next-door neighbours the Sheffield Scimitars, where he is hoping to make a smooth transition. Sheffield Steelers Head Coach Dave Matsos spoke about the signing of Morgan, “Ben Morgan is more than ready for this chance, and in my mind this move is a no brainer for us. The likes of Towe and Dowd just had their chance come a little earlier, circumstances that’s all, now it’s Ben time,” Matsos said “He is strong enough, mature enough and more than good enough to play a regular shift in our team. With Ashley Tait moving on to Italy we had to look at shuffling our pack a little, by being able to bring Ben Morgan into the team it gives us options up front options that will become transparent in the next few weeks.” Morgan who was the captain of the Scimitars last season, has also featured for Great Britain at Under 20 and Under 18 level, and has established himself as a formidable force in the EPL. He has already played in 186 games in the EPL, collecting 146 points along the way. Morgan spoke of his delight to join the Steelers, “I have been waiting for this moment for ages I have always dreamed of playing for the Steelers they are my club, I’m a local boy and this is a dream come true. I have had chances before but I just had to complete my education. Now that’s done it’s my turn to play, my turn to make my mark and show people that I deserve this chance,” Morgan said “I spoke to Matty at the end of last season, then he text me a few weeks ago and asked if I was interested, of course I was interested so then Mike O’Connor got involved and we quickly agreed a deal. I’m ready for this, I have served my apprenticeship, I have seen the likes of Matt Towe and Robert Dowd play for the Scimitars and then leave for the Elite League and do well.” Returning to the Steelers will be fan favourite Rod Sarich, although as reported not in his usual position. Sheffield Steelers Head Coach Dave Matsos has plans to use Sarich on the wing, where he believes he will be effective. “You don’t replace the Rod Sarich’s of this world, players of his skill level don’t come around that often and when they do you try and keep them and that’s what we have done. I would have thought that there wasn’t a player in the Elite League that would have received the amount of offers this summer that Rod did, the fact that we kept him, that he stayed here pays a huge tribute to this hockey club and the principles we believe in here,” Matsos said “Rod is a winner, he knows we are putting another winning side together and he wants to be a part of it. He has shown this team great loyalty and at a huge financial loss as well, some teams in Europe were throwing pots of money at Rod but he turned his back on that to stay with the Steelers. I have a lot of new idea’s for Rod this season, some that might surprise both our fans and other coaches, but when I mentioned them to Rod he was excited and saw coming back as a new challenge.” Sarich featured in two games as a forward last season, picking up nine points along the way. Fans see the signing as a gamble, but it does add versatility to the team, if a defenceman gets injured, Sarich would be able to cover in defence. Sarich, 28, has spent the last four seasons with the South Yorkshire side, and he admitted it would be hard to leave, “At one part of the summer I thought a lot more of last years players would move on to different clubs but I think as the summer went on we probably all realised that we had something special here, something that doesn’t happen and come around that often. I honestly believe this is the best club I have ever played for, the best group of people all trying to work for each other and win – that’s why I signed again,” Sarich said “I know a few people will question us in September because we have some new faces on board and maybe it will take us a short while to click but there is an inner strength to this team, a lot of pride that will see us through.” The Steelers start their pre-season campaign by playing host to last years league runners up the Coventry Blaze. Steelers then travel up to the Midlands 48 hours later for the return fixture. Contact the author at Scott.antcliffe@prohockeynews.com
