The Orissa Steelers are the winners of the Premier Hockey League

Premier Hockey League

The now defunct Premier Hockey League was a professional league competition for field Hockey clubs in the top division of the Indian hockey system. There were seven teams in the PHL. The competition was held every year from 2005 till 2008.-History:...

 2007, India's only national league level Field Hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 tournament. The originally proposed name for the team was Rourkela Steelers after the city which is said to be the Hockey Capital of Orissa.

They participated in the tournament for the first time in 2006, when it had two tiers. They won the First Division (the other was Premier Division) title that year. In 2007, the two-tier system was replaced by a single-tier system in PHL, and Orissa Steelers was admitted as one of the seven teams. The others were Hyderabad Sultans

Hyderabad Sultans

The Hyderabad Sultans is the Premier Hockey League team from Hyderabad of royal lineage, mixing tradition with modernity, they are the progressive nawabs. The squad is captained by Sardara Singh since 2007-08 edition. They were winners of first Premier Hockey League in 2005.-Founding:The club was...

, Maratha Warriors

Maratha Warriors

The Maratha Warriors are the Premier Hockey League team from Maharashtra, led by Captain Viren Rasquinha.-Players:The squad as of December 20th 2006 is as follows....

, Sher-e-Jalandhar

Sher-e-Jalandhar

Sher-e-Jalandhar is a Premier Hockey league team based in Jalandhar, Punjab. It is captained by Kanwalpreet Singh.*...

, Chandigarh Dynamos

Chandigarh Dynamos

Chandigarh Dynamoes are a Premier Hockey League team based in Chandigarh, Punjab. The team captain is Rajpal Singh.-History:During the 2004 season, the Chandigarh Dynamos played in tier 2. Their goalkeeper Gurkirat Mann was adjudged the best goalkeeper for the 2004 season. Following their win, they...

, Chennai Veerans

Chennai Veerans

The Chennai Veerans are a Tier-1 level field hockey team Premier Hockey League in India. In the inaugural cup in 2005, the Chennai Veerans led by Ignace Tirkey finished at the bottom of the group with two wins and six losses....

, and Bangalore Lions.

Orissa Steelers went on to win 10 of their 12 matches in the league level to top the table. In the best-of-three finals, they won the title and the prize money of Rs 4 million by beating Sher-e-Jalandhar twice while losing to them once. Dilip Tirkey

Dilip Tirkey

Dilip Tirkey hailing from Sundargarh, Orissa is a former Indian hockey player and his playing position was of full back. He was best known for his penalty corner hit. Dilip was one of the most difficult defenders to beat in the world...

, the captain of the Orissa Steelers, who also leads Indian national Hockey team, was awarded player of the tournament in PHL 2007.

Team in PHL 2007

Players

• Dilip Tirkey
  Dilip Tirkey
  Dilip Tirkey hailing from Sundargarh, Orissa is a former Indian hockey player and his playing position was of full back. He was best known for his penalty corner hit. Dilip was one of the most difficult defenders to beat in the world...
  
   (Captain)
• Salman Akbar (Goalkeeper) [Pakistan]
• Daman Deep Singh
• Prabodh Tirkey
  Prabodh Tirkey
  Prabodh Tirkey is an Indian hockey midfielder. He is an ex-captain of Indian hockey team.-Personal life:Prabodh is the younger brother of Indian Hockey player Ignace Tirkey, who also has captained the Indian Senior Team...
  
  
• Roshan Minz
• Samir Dad
• Sunil Ekka
• Jitender Saroha
• William Xalxo
• Bimal Lakra
• Jasbir Singh
• Adnan Zakir [Pakistan]
• Mario Almada [Argentina]
• Tjeerd Steller [Netherlands]
• Sunil Yadav
• Bruno H Lugun
• Birender Lakra
• Prem Kumar
• Dinesh Ekka (Goalkeeper)

Officials

• A K Bansal (Chief Coach)
• Pranab K Pattnaik (Asst. Coach)
• Mukti Prasad Das (PT)
• Pratap Satpathy (Manager)

Performance in 2007

League Level
Matches: 12; Won: 10; Lost: 2; Goals For: 29; Goals Against: 12; Points: 28; Position in League Table: No 1

Results At A Glance in 2007

League Level

• Won Against Chandigarh Dynamos 1-0 (Extra Time)
• Won Against Chennai Veerans 2-1
• Won Against Hyderabad Sultans 1-0
• Lost to Sher-e-Jalandhar 1-2
• Won Against Bangalore Lions 3-0
• Won Against Maratha Warriors 2-0
• Won Against Hyderabad Sultans 2-0
• Lost to Bangalore Lions 3-4
• Won Against Chandigarh Dynamos 4-2
• Won Against Sher-e-Jalandhar 4-2 (Extra Time; Shootout)
• Won Against Maratha Warriors 4-1
• Won Against Chennai Veerans 5-1

Finals

• Lost to Sher-e-Jalandhar in the penalty shootout
• Won Against Sher-e-Jalandhar 2-1
• Won Against Sher-e-Jalandhar 4-3