There the Steeldogs met archrivals the Manchester Phoenix in an epic battle that was decided on penalty shots in favour of the Lancashire outfit.

The Steeldogs also reached the EPL cup final but were soundly beaten by league champion Guildford Flames as they did the double.

Andre Payette once again led the Steeldogs in 2012/13 but faced a big challenge to repeat the success of the previous season.

With young goaltender Ben Bowns making the switch to the EIHL and an aging defence, it proved to be a difficult rebuilding process for the still inexperienced coach.

Fans had hoped that Ben Bowns would be re-signed, however he switched to the EIHL becoming the starting net minder for Hull Stingrays.

Lewis Bell was named the club's captain at the start of the season with the assistants being Tim Smith and Ashley Calvert.

Andrew Hirst reached a personal milestone in this time by scoring his 100th goal for the Steeldogs in a win against the Billingham Stars on 23 September 2017.

The contest that took place in Hull saw the Pirates take the points and hand the Steeldogs their first defeat in the league in regular time.