Matsos hails Super Joe

Talbot: Steelers hero

David Matsos has told skysports.com that Joey Talbot was the inspiration for the Sheffield Steelers' Continental Cup Group D victory.

Talbot was hospitalised on Saturday with a virus, but jumped off his bed to score twice against the Bolzano Foxes before the Steelers won 4-3 on penalties.

The dramatic result against the Italian host side capped a remarkable weekend for Sheffield, who also beat Dutch club HYS The Hague (4-3) and Slovenians HDK Maribor (5-4) to win Group D and reach the Continental Cup Super Final.

And in an exclusive post-game interview with skysports.com, Matsos revealed his delight at his side's performance.

"It came down to the final game and you're up against the home team, which is one of the top ones in Italy, but we just switched it on and Joey Talbot was our inspiration," Matsos said.

"Joey was in a hospital (on Saturday) with an intravenous drip for half the day. Then he gets the assist on the winning goal (on Saturday against Maribor) and gets two goals for us tonight.

Confidence

"Our line-ups don't match up against their line-ups as far as numbers go, but our big players stepped up. The guys rested up when they needed to this weekend. They were disciplined off the ice and on the ice and they can celebrate now."

A powerplay marker from Rob Dowd and Talbot's brace in regulation sent the game into overtime. In the shootout Jeff Legue and Matt Hubbauer beat Bolzano and one-time Nottingham goalie Pasi Hakkinen to prevail in the winner-takes-all finale.

The most remarkable aspect of Sheffield's European success was that it came on the heels of an awful start to the Elite League, which has seen the Steelers slip to seventh in the table.

"Hockey is no different from anything else in the general world in that when your confidence goes down, sometimes it's a struggle to get it back," Matsos added.

"It's something that we wanted to embrace in a positive way coming over here and the real positive thing is to win it. We did it in a very nice fashion.

"We were playing against teams that play in different leagues with different styles and we made them adapt to our style and once that happens the game is weighed heavily in our favour."

The Steelers now advance to the Super Final in Grenoble, France on January 15-17 where they will face hometown team Grenoble Brûleurs de Loups, Belarusian side Yunost Minsk and the winners of Group E Red Bull Salzburg.