KEVIN TANSEY is aware the pressure will be on once he steps out onto the ice for the first time with Sheffield Steelers next season.

The experienced 30-year-old defenceman was yesterday one of two signings announced by the Steelers for the 2023-24 Elite League campaign, with forward Brett Neumann having agreed to return for a second season.

Tansey will arrive in South Yorkshire for his fifth season in Europe but his first in the UK, having opted for Denmark last summer instead of Sheffield having held initial talks with Steelers’ head coach Aaron Fox about a move to the Utilita Arena.

Having spoken to Daniel Ciampini, last season’s joint-top points scorer for the Steelers, and former defenceman Adrian Saxrud Danielsen, who played under Fox during 2021-22 and in the preceding behind-closed-doors Elite Series, Tansey is aware of the expectation levels.

SILVER PINING: Brett Neumann (centre) is desperate to land a Elite League trophy with Sheffield Steelers in 2023-24. Picture courtesy of Dean Wooley/Steelers Media

Those levels only rose further after a 2022-23 season which promised so much for the Steelers but which ultimately left them empty-handed, a third-place regular season finish allied to semi-final exits in both the Challenge Cup and the play-offs.

“There’s always pressure whenever you come into a new team as a new player – you always want to make a good impression ,” said Tansey, who played with Ciampini and Danielsen for Innsbruck in the IceHL in 2020-21.

“But with a team that loves to win like Sheffield and the past few years that it has had, of course there’s been pressure there. But we’re used to pressure as hockey players, it’s part of the job, so I’m excited to see what we can do over there.

“It would be awesome to land some silverware in Sheffield, that is the reason we play.”

GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Defenceman Kevin Tansey know he is coming into a Sheffield Steelers team where the pressure is on to deliver silverware in 2023-24. Picture supplied by Steelers Media.

For Neumann, who last season posted 63 points in 70 games for the Steelers, including 29 goals, there is a sense of unfinished business following his first season in the UK.

“We didn’t get the job done and that lingers with me,” said the 25-year-old Canadian, who had offers from Europe and Elite League rivals before agreeing to a return to Steelers. “I have the desire to go that extra step and win a championship, it just feels like unfinished business.

“I like the league format where every game matters and you have to play as hard in October as you do in March – that appeals to me.

“It was nice to go in personally and put up some numbers, but obviously it would have been a lot more meaningful if that had translated into a trophy or two.”

Sheffield Steelers duo happy to embrace the great expectations of 2023-23 Elite League campaign