Eihl Milestones

Jason Hewitt the "British Bulldog”, as he is known, is the most honoured of the Sheffield Steelers of the UK Elite league, holding the record of 671 appearances for them and he now holds the distinction of being the longest serving British Elite League Player with 800 appearances, 658 of those for Sheffield Steelers

He began his career with the Trafford Metros before stepping up to the major leagues with Manchester Phoenix of the EIHL. For them he played all 56 league and 5 play off games. Then he was taken by  Coach Denis Maxwell to the London Racers. Their hard nosed, hard hitting in your face style suited Hewitt. His goal output increased from 1 to 8, as did his penalty minutes from 58 to 75.

He was given the chance of a move to Sheffield when London ceased operations mid-season and has never looked back

Equally as important were his performances for GB, especially in the Ukraine where GB were less than 7 minutes away for promotion to Pool A of the IIHF World Championships. A silver medal was the reward for another fine season.

Hewitt was again an ever present in the two most recent seasons, it saw him take over from team mate Mark Thomas as the most capped EIHL player of all time and the Iron man title, as well as achieving the dubious distinction of surpassing Tommy Plommer’s penalty minute record.

On that same night club milestone was also reached, this time for long serving captain of Sheffield Steelers and GB, Jonathan Phillips, who showed his loyalty to his club by becoming only the fourth person in their history to achieve the milestone of six hundred appearances.

He joined them in 2006 from the Cardiff Devils for whom he made 264 appearances. He became captain in 2008 and has largely kept the job until now.

Also captain of the Great Britain side he has made 67 appearances for them too.

He is the most successful captain in their history leading them to three league title and three championships.

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