Franchise leader - The British Bulldog becomes the longest serving Sheffield Steeler

15 Oct 2015 | Robert Newbolt

On Wednesday night Jason “the British Bulldog” Hewitt took over from “Rocket” Ron Shudra as the longest serving Sheffield Steeler for the top British Elite team.

Shudra was an Edmonton Oilers draft pick in 1986 and made 626 appearances for Sheffield from 1991 to 2005.

But now Jason Hewitt has taken over that mantle when he made his 627^th appearance against Edinburgh Capitals this week.

Whilst the Steelers were winning the 2000-01 Grand Slam in the super-league era Jason Hewitt was starting out on his hockey career with hometown side Altrincham, near Manchester, UK. By the time the Manchester Phoenix were born and playing in the Elite league under head coach, former Steelers Rick Brebant, Hewitt had progressed to make his professional debut in 2003-04 and played all 56 league and 5 play off games. It was in 2004-05 that Hewitt became more recognised after signing for Denis Maxwell and the London Racers. Their hard nosed, hard hitting in your face style suited Hewitt. Hewitt remained with the Racers the following season, a short one for London when the club ceased operations just 15 games into the 2005-06 campaign. A further 9 game spell in Basingstoke followed before Dennis Maxwell was appointed as head coach in Sheffield. Maxwell immediately re-signed Hewitt who completed the remaining 19 games of that regular season and 8 play off games. 2008-09 saw the reward of a call up to the senior men’s GB side for both the Olympic qualification tournament and the end of season World Championship where a Bronze medal was won.

His honours:
League winner: 3 times
Championship winner: 3 times
British Knockout Cup winner: 1 time