Colin Shields, the all time point scorer for the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) has held the record since retirement in 2019, 5 years ago. Shields is a legend in the EIHL and a British hockey hall of famer. David Clarke is the all time goal scorer for the EIHL and has held the record since 2018 when he broke it early January. Both these players are legends and will be known by all EIHL fans however, these records will be changing hands very soon as Robert Dowd stands only 17 points from breaking the points record and 5 goals away from breaking the goals record (according to stats on Elite Prospects).
Robert Dowd has had a long career in the EIHL playing for both the Sheffield Steelers and Belfast Giants during his tenure and he has signed a two year extension with the Steelers earlier this season. Robert Dowd first joined this league in 2006 on a two way contract with the Sheffield Steelers & Scimitars and he would be on this two way contract for two seasons, playing 67 games between the two teams putting up around 76 points (1 being in EIHL).
Dowd would sign his first full time professional contract with the Sheffield Steelers for the 2008/09 season and he would put up a high number of points for a rookie. Dowd iced in 50 games putting up 44 points. He demonstrated his good sniping ability along with sticking to be a playmaker for the team too. Dowd would be with the Steelers until the end of the 10/11 season in this time span he would play 160 games putting up a total of 137 points meaning over a three year period he had a points per game average of 0.86 points per game.
Robert Dowd made his way over the water to the Belfast Giants for the 11/12 season. This would be Dowd’s best season in the EIHL as he would put up 64 points in 45 games. That season saw him win his 3rd EIHL league. He was also voted as the best British forward and the British player of the year. Dowd also had the most points in the EIHL Challenge Cup (19). He also had success with Team GB that year in the World Championship (D1A) where he had the most goals (5) and most points (9) in the tournament.
For the first time in his career, Dowd left the EIHL and joined the HockeyAllsvenskan (second highest league in Sweden). He signed for the IF Troja-Ljungby (based in Ljungby, Sweden). Robert Dowd would finish his season as the 5th top point scorer on the team putting up 24 points in 42 games, meaning he was one point behind the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th point scorers on the roster however, he was 16 points of Justin Kelly the leading point scorer for the IF Troja-Ljungby. His team would finish 10th in the league, winning only 20 of their 52 games. Robert Dowd got the opportunity to face off against some of the world’s best players such as LA King star Anze Kopitar, Nashville Predators Filip Forsberg, and Calgary Flames player Mikael Backlund, just to name a few as this was the 2012 NHL lockout. Meanwhile in the EIHL the Nottingham Panthers won the league and Steelers finished 3rd.
Image taken by David Ingham
The 2013/14 season saw the return of Robert Dowd to the Sheffield Steelers and this was the correct move for the team as Dowd helped make their journey to the EIHL Playoff final, where they won the cup and Dowd became a three time EIHL Playoff Champion. Dowd played 43 games that season, putting 22 pucks in the net and assisting 17 of his team’s goals meaning he finished the year with 39 points. Dowd would stay with the club for another six seasons, bringing him up to the 2019/20 season before departing for a second time from the league. In this time period he played 276 games putting up 205 points. In this time period he would win two league cups, one playoff cup and one Challenge Cup. He would be the EIHL Player of the Week for the week beginning the 12th of March 2017. He also won two silver medals and a gold medal in the World Championship (D1B) and one gold medal in the World Championship (D1A).
After his departure from the league again he would move to the Italy2 league where he iced for the Eppan/Appiano. He would only play 13 games for them but he would put up 24 points in those games allowing him to finish with a 1.85 point per game average. Dowd would play alongside Marc-Olivier Vallerand his teammate from the season before and also his future teammate too. Eppan/Appiano would finish 5th that season with Robert Dowd leading the teams in points. Robert Dowd had the 4th most points in the league being only six points behind the leading point scorer, Luca Ansoldi. He would also take part in the EIHL Series with the Sheffield Steelers that season playing 15 games putting up 19 points, only 3 points behind the 3rd leading point scorer in the series Mike Hammond (💜). Sheffield Steelers would be the runner ups for the EIHL Series losing 2-0 to the Nottingham Panthers.
Image: Sienna Jackson & Family
He would be back the following season with the team to help them back after a close title race the previous season and a bad playoff run. He would lace up for 53 games putting up 43 points keeping a consistent point amount each season. He would help the Steelers chase glory as he helped his team reach the semi finals of both the Challenge Cup and the EIHL Playoffs. Sadly in the Challenge Cup semi finals there would be an upset, which saw the underdogs Fife Flyers beat the Sheffield Steelers with a 3rd period comeback which saw them win 7-6 on aggregate. Steelers would also lose in the EIHL Playoffs semi final to the Cardiff Devils 3-2. On the plus side Dowd helped Team GB win a gold medal (in the World Championship D1A) and promotion to the 2024 IIHF World Championship.
As we all know the 23/24 season was a very special season for the Sheffield Steelers winning their first Grand Slam since 2001 and the first one in the EIHL Era. Robert Dowd was named the captain of the Sheffield Steelers for the first time of his career. Robert Dowd was key to their success being there for his teammates for every game and especially during the recovery after sad events that happened during the season. Dowd was there for every single one of his boys and made sure everyone had someone to speak to. That season Dowd was more than just your average captain, he was somewhat of a hero for the team, putting his teammates first on and off the ice making sure they all had a friend there. Dowd scored 44 points in 49 games. He won seven awards that season: EIHL League; EIHL Challenge Cup; EIHL Playoff Cup, EIHL Grand Slam; EIHL British Player of the Year; EIHL Leadership & Professionalism Award (An award in honour of Jonathan Phillips EIHL Career); and EIHL Most Goals by a British Player (22).
Image taken by David Ingham
Without a doubt Robert Dowd is a huge player in the EIHL and he is loved by many fans, so we decided to ask two fans about their opinions on Robert Dowd. We first spoke to Chris Hargrave about Robert Dowd and he said ; “He is a fan favourite for sure, a great leader and will back up his teammates when needed. Will drop gloves if needed too. Scores big goals too.” Chris loves how Dowd plays his hockey and he acknowledges all of Dowd’s success.
We also spoke to David Ingham about Robert Dowd and Ingham had a lot to say about the greatness of Dowd’s career and game. “Dowd’s popularity with the fans is clear to hear when his name is announced at the start of the game as the decibel level in the arena takes an audible order of magnitude step change increase. He has a fast and agile play style and is extremely capable of both setting up the plays and also finishing them as can be seen by his recent overtaking of several Steelers legends in his goals scoring abilities. Off the ice my encounters with Robert Dowd have shown him to be nothing but a true gentleman taking time for the kids to make sure that they’ve had their moment with their favourite player and that it was a special one and not a rushed experience. He’s always come across as humble, and a true professional. To say last season was his first season captaining the ship I can’t think of a better person to have done the job leading the boys to the success we have seen throughout last season. What a difficult season it was, much love and respect to our 75, our captain, Robert Dowd.” Ingham has spoken about the skill level of Dowd and how popular he is in Sheffield. Dowd is good with the fans, always making sure he gives time to the children and helps to make the fans day.
Our researcher Will Harris, sat and analysed Dowd’s game and provided us with a scouting report on his game explaining how he is on the ice and off. “Robert Dowd is a high end forward capable of scoring from any range. Dowd has the ability to skate with the puck through crowds with ease and pick out the perfect pass or shot. Although his defensive game isn’t as strong as some other forwards, Dowd has really stepped up his defensive duties as of late. He means a lot to the Steelers fans as he will do anything for the badge. This was epitomised in the playoff finals weekend where he played injured.” Dowd has a great skating ability allowing him to skate through gaps most can’t and around tough angles. Despite lacking defensive skills he is still willing to try and improve on it and push himself to the limit for his team to succeed.
Lastly we spoke with former Fife Flyers, Glasgow Clan, Manchester Storm and Sheffield Steelers star Brendan Brooks and asked him about being teammates with Robert Dowd. “He’s a great person and teammate. He knows what it takes to win. He finds ways to score with his quick release from all angles. He's just one of those guys that people are drawn to.” Brooks spoke about Dowd’s good scoring ability always finding a way to get a puck to net whether it was an easy angle or a difficult one, He is a very respected player on and off the ice and Brooks addressed this mentioning how he always knew what it takes to win games and we know with that knowledge you can help your team improve.
Comes without a doubt that Robert Dowd is a skating legend in this league but never would we have predicted he would soon be the next all time goal and point scorer in the EIHL. This is an achievement that many people will have and for sure when he breaks it that it will be a record which will stand for a while with the closest player who is still playing being Joey Martin who is 148 points off the record. Same with the goal scoring record Joey Martin is the closest to the record apart from Dowd but he is 114 goals away. With knowing this we can almost assure that Dowd will hold the record for a long time. Robert Dowd may very well beat this record before the halfway point of the season.
*stats from Elite Prospects
Author of Article: Calan Yule
Editor: Will Harris & Calan Yule
Proofread By: Will Harris
© EIHL News Central
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