Having already won the Challenge Cup and the regular-season title this season, the Sheffield Steelers completed the Elite Ice Hockey League’s “Grand Slam” on Sunday by defeating the Belfast Giants 3-1 in the playoff final.

In British ice hockey, the winner of the regular season is considered the league champion, and therefore the Steelers had already secured their place in next season’s Champions Hockey League. The EIHL’s regular season is 54 games long, which is supplemented by Challenge Cup games at intervals throughout the year.

In contrast, the playoffs are a short tournament played over two weekends in the spring. The first weekend has the quarterfinals as two-game, home-and-home series, with the winners on aggregate score advancing. The following weekend has the “final four” – the semifinals and final all at the same venue in a single-game-elimination format.

This year, the Steelers easily handled the Fife Flyers 13-5 over two quarterfinal games, then hosted the “final four” in their home barn, Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield. There, they beat the Guildford Flames 6-3 on Saturday the day before besting Belfast in the final.

Below is some post-game reaction from coach Aaron Fox, defenseman Colton Saucerman, captain Robert Dowd and netminder Matthew Greenfield.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pybv1YrLeU[/embed]

The Steelers were founded in 1991, which predates the EIHL’s 2003 establishment. In their history, they have the regular season nine times, the Challenge Cup six times and the playoffs 11 times. This was the second they won all three in the same season – the first “Grand Slam” coming in 2000-01.

For some of the Steelers, the season is not yet finished. Four players – Robert Dowd, Cole Shudra, Sam Jones and Brandon Whistle – are members of the British national team and will soon head to Prague to compete in the IIHF World Championship.