Steelers complete roster

[Shorty]

Steelers last signing is Ben Gustavson:

Stats from Hockeydb.com

Ben Gustavson
Left Wing
Born Apr 23 1978 -- Provo, UT
Height 5.11 -- Weight 200 -- Shoots R


--- Regular Season --- ---- Playoffs ----
Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1995-96 Ottawa 67's OHL 59 16 25 41 58 4 2 1 3 7
1996-97 Ottawa 67's OHL 66 20 36 56 110 24 9 9 18 14
1997-98 Ottawa 67's OHL 62 17 34 51 101 13 8 6 14 14
1998-99 Ottawa 67's OHL 63 27 29 56 98 9 2 3 5 16
1999-00 Dalhousie University CIAU 25 9 10 19 36
2000-01 Phoenix Mustangs WCHL 1 0 0 0 2 -- -- -- -- --
2000-01 Bakersfield Condors WCHL 60 18 20 38 139 3 0 0 0 4
2001-02 Rochester Americans AHL 3 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --
2001-02 Port Huron Border Cats UHL 48 12 15 27 79 -- -- -- -- --
2001-02 Adirondack IceHawks UHL 21 7 2 9 34 5 0 0 0 2
2002-03 Amarillo Gorillas CHL 63 12 30 42 98 4 0 1 1 2
2003-04 Amarillo Gorillas CHL 30 3 4 7 13 8 1 0 1 2
2004-05 Amarillo Gorillas CHL 59 10 10 20 59 9 2 3 5 7
2005-06 Fort Worth Brahmas CHL 64 14 16 30 138 -- -- -- -- --

Played with our old mate Dan Tessier at Ottawa67's and looks similar to some of our players.

The one thing I have noticed is Matsos has been bigging up his team and has talked about winning leagues and trophies with the team he has put together. I think he is putting a lot of pressure on himself and Steelers. Ellis meanwhile has been saying that he wants us to be competitive, play hard and that other teams will not be looking forward to play us come the playoffs. A more sensible approach from Mr E.

[Deleted]

Yup Ellis out of the two has put a more sensible approach to it than loud mouth matsos i think. , and a far more down to earth view on things which i like 100%


Anyway onto Gustavson, doesn t give me the wow factor to be honest, just a run of the mill 2nd liner there, played CHL but not put up that impressive figures , has come on the recommendation of Tessier having played together with the 67`s

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[Mythosman]

Looks to be a solid signing for the Steelers. Another former Tessier team mate, so Tess may be having quite an influence on Matsos.

Have to agree with you about the 'bigging up' that Matsos has been doing Shorty. As the Panthers have too often found out at their cost, such bravado can often be a prelude to bigtime disappointment - let's hope so! ;D

However, what we don't know is how many of the quotes are actually Matsos', or attributed remarks penned by DS the BS merchant?

What isn't in doubt is that the Steelers have a huge job on their hands, trying to win back a large element of their former regular supporters, who have found better things to do with their hard earned cash over the past 2 seasons, when the team has hardly been sweeping all before them! In that context, we shouldn't be surprised at the boasts rattling around the Tin Shed.

[ted]

I dont think Matsos has been doing the bigging up.

I think thats mainly the steelers office spinning his words and the fans buying into it.

The amount of times ive read they "expect a trophy or 2"....

They are happy to beleive that Clouthier will be the hardest thing since Cairns and that no one will ever even land a punch on him ever, that Tess is 100x better than Stevens becauce Stevens is a bit older.

Making the same mistakes we did last season. Build up to big disappointment. I dont really see them as contenders for much to be honest. THe team hasnt overwhelmed me. Im much more worried about Belfast and Coventry

[belak]

Gustavson looks a pretty good signing

[Rich]

Average signing, nothing special imo

I agree re the hype, leave them to it and we'll see which approach works as the season goes on and come next april

[Deleted]

Over the last 3 seasons our ENFORCER Mr Shmyr scored 5 goals less than this guy did in 4 seasons !!!

And Simoes was only 7 points behind having played a season less, ;D

[Heanor Lair]

I'm interested to know how much 'scouting' work was done by Mastsos.

There were 5 on the roster when he arrived (plus Lehman , Lawrence, and Sarich were already on their way back through Whistle). Tessier was touted around the EIHL clubs by his agent, before Shuff signed him. Tessier has recommended a couple of players, Blaisdall has effectively recruited on Steelers behalf. Maltby was already EIHL anyway.

I guess the question I ask is actually how much of this team is actually made up of players that Mastos has done research into- 3 or maybe 4 players perhaps?

Regards

HL

[darrellpanther]

Looks ok, they will be struggling with there forwards though....

they decided to go with 4 d and 5 Forwards, of them 5 forwards they have an enforcer who looks quite poor at hockey in my opinion so as it stands there second line is 1 import and 2 brits, then a 3rd line of brits and clouthier, i just feel with 5 forwards you cant afford an import he cant play hockey, he may be able to but dont look like it with his stats !!!!

So it looks like they will have a more defensive approach and hope not to conceed many in order to win games, Tess will have to be on form, lets hope he dont get injured for them because they will be stuffed

[Rich]

HL i was just thinking that, If you look around players stats youll find most of them played together at some point.
This guy by the looks of it played with Lehman, Manzano,Tessier,Shmyer,and more.
Not that theres anything wrong with that, im just surprised they havnt really taken a gamble on a lesser known euro like a lot of teams do. Worked with Lennartsson last season.

Sorry to go off topic but when you look around the AHL and ECHL Stats, one name that comes up everywhere is Desantis (Basingstoke new signing). Looks more and more impressive!

[darrellpanther]

pantherrich said:

Sorry to go off topic but when you look around the AHL and ECHL Stats, one name that comes up everywhere is Desantis (Basingstoke new signing). Looks more and more impressive!

Bison always seem to pull of a really good signing, always have 1 or 2 quality players but struggle with depth, DeSantis looks quality, as with boucher as n/m

[darrellpanther]

From the Bison Website

Named at Chl All-Star for times and in 2005 - 06 won the Hardest shot competition!!! He is going to have a rocket from D

[Nemesis]

Well thats us done then, as has been said, hardley an earth shattering signing. I for one am not buying in to the spin, I am under no elusions as to the new season; I am however looking forward to it. I think alot of the talk is designed to appease the fan base having had a rough couple of years, they wold panick if they didn't hear how it's all going to be alright this year. I also believe Mr E is dumbing down yor expectations for the same reason, you have been continualy told over the last few years 'this is the year' and 'best team we ever had' This year I have noticed many of you are not getting wrapped up in it so anything you get will be a bonus.

TBH, IMO we will both be playing for the higher mid table possitions with our best chance in the cups. Niether of our rosters strike me as championship rosters; we are both re-building and have a way to go yet IMO. Some signings for both our teams have been a bit 'Yeah, OK I suppose' for me. As some of you have said, up front I can see us struggling, whereas your defence looks very leaky to me with too much attack mindedness. Cov will be the ones to watch with Belfast not far off, then us 2 with Vips and Devs (all being well)

[ted]

Not mentioned yet....

A Steelers with Munchkin Peron.

[Nemesis]

Yeah, the mighty 'P' has flown the nest. Will be interesting to see where he pops up, although I cant see it being over here now with most rosters complete.

[panthermick]

Ben with maybe play on the same line as Tessier & Sutter.

[darrellpanther]

Tess and Sutter cant play on same line, it was said at nottingham so the signing of sutter was baffling as managment didnt realise they couldnt play together until sutter arrived and then tess mentioned

"oh yeah we cant play on same line"

[Steelersmith]

Darrell we have 5 D because we have thomas aswell as for Gustavson looks a solid 2nd line player alot like Steve simoes you guys have signed.
Defence wins championships.
and Darrell clouthier can play you dont score 28 goals in junior for nothing get your facts right.
Looking at both squads I think they are about equal with us maybe having the strong D and tender and you the better forwards but we shall see.

[Rich]

smitherssteel said:

Darrell we have 5 D because we have thomas aswell as for Gustavson looks a solid 2nd line player alot like Steve simoes you guys have signed.
Defence wins championships.
and Darrell clouthier can play you dont score 28 goals in junior for nothing get your facts right.
Looking at both squads I think they are about equal with us maybe having the strong D and tender and you the better forwards but we shall see.

All depends how you look at it, im sure Ellis is more confident than Matsos because he knows most of the players hes signed and hasnt had them signed for him. That Said Sheffield have assembled a better squad than I thought they would under the circumstances.

N/M- Why is Lehmann better than Lindsay? Lindsay is unproved in this league, then again so is Lehman really
D-Ricci is getting on and with ZT might struggle. Darby goes walkabout to make hits, Sarich does what he feels like that night and the new guy is unproven. Rees is proven at BNL,Krajicek was the best all round D man in the leauge last season (IMO, but in a lot of peoples opinion aswell)Neilson looks set to be even better so I dont see why that puts sheffields D better than nottinghams.

Forwards- Nearly all the players both teams have are one for one with the other team so it will make for loads of personal battles thro the season. Ie last season it was Tessier vs Peron for 1st line C, this season it will be Stevens vs Tessier so IMO theres not much in it. Phillips has got a lot of pressure tho because hes matched up with Clarke IMO

[NevesMetro]

smitherssteel said:

Darrell we have 5 D because we have thomas aswell as for Gustavson looks a solid 2nd line player alot like Steve simoes you guys have signed.
Defence wins championships.
and Darrell clouthier can play you dont score 28 goals in junior for nothing get your facts right.
Looking at both squads I think they are about equal with us maybe having the strong D and tender and you the better forwards but we shall see.

(as I've said before) The doubt about his junior years is that he only had one really good year (his last) and that's when he would have been playing with and against some kids 2 years younger. So, the fact that he is a big guy who went on to be an enforcer in the AHL means I have no doubt what-so-ever that his size and strenght would have played a major part in his numbers that year. He might do well but I wouldn't judge him on his last junior year

[Shaggy]

smitherssteel said:

Defence wins championships

No, a balanced team wins championships.

Last season, we had the best defence of all... we conceded fewer goals than any other team, and had the netminder with the best save% and best GAA. Yet we didn't win anything - because we didn't score enough goals.

Last season we were criticised (including by Sheffield fans) for playing 'boring' defensive hockey... so not only does defence not automatically win championships, it doesn't win friends either.

As for

clouthier can play you dont score 28 goals in junior for nothing

- so? There's a bit of a difference between junior hockey and senior.... I would have thought that a more accurate assessment of his abilities would come from his play in the AHL, ECHL and UHL since then.... not junior games 6 years ago!

And as for

get your facts right

- darrellpanther only said

they have an enforcer who looks quite poor at hockey in my opinion

He stated an opinion, not facts. Your quoting of statistics may be a fact, but it hardly is concrete proof that Clouthier's going to be any good - he might be, he might not.
I would suggest that you learn the difference between facts and opinion - and also learn that the application of the former does not necessarily invalidate the latter....

[ted]

28 goals at junior?

We are going back to THIS again..... you can hardly compare junior hockey to anything.

HJe is nothing more than a low scoring enforcer (not that it should nessecarily go against him)... I just dont see where everyone assumes he is this immense player who will be banging them away in this league.... just becuase he had one alright season in Junior

[belak]

ted said:

28 goals at junior?

We are going back to THIS again..... you can hardly compare junior hockey to anything.

HJe is nothing more than a low scoring enforcer (not that it should nessecarily go against him)... I just dont see where everyone assumes he is this immense player who will be banging them away in this league.... just becuase he had one alright season in Junior

I agree Ted.

Tie Domi potted 22 goals for the Petes (OHL) in 1987-88, but he never ever scored more than 15 goals in his pro career, and certainly was never ever thought of as a goal scorer because of it.

Also, one-time Leaf Rocky Dundas put up very good numbers for Kelowna & Spokane (WHL) but didn't translate that into his pro career.

Link

[Big Dave Steeler]

pantherrich said:

N/M- Why is Lehmann better than Lindsay? Lindsay is unproved in this league, then again so is Lehman really

Didn't Linsday play for the Racers in the first season?

[Shaggy]

bds said:

pantherrich said:

N/M- Why is Lehmann better than Lindsay? Lindsay is unproved in this league, then again so is Lehman really

Didn't Linsday play for the Racers in the first season?

He certainly did - but backstopping a Racers team which was, quite frankly, utter pants.... you remember, their game stats that year were P56 W3 L49 T2 OTL2. It was a shooting gallery - and Lindsay was in the firing line.
Now I can't remember much at all about him with the Racers... but personally, I'm completely discounting that season for him. Clean slate as far as I'm concerned.... I've got no idea how good or bad he's going to be.