Sheffield Steelers coach Aaron Fox on helping deliver Elite League grand slam to meet great expectations

The American had arrived in South Yorkshire in the summer of 2019 with a reputation for being a top recruiter while, by his own admission, he had plenty of learning to do in his dual role as head coach and general manager.

The first season went well, Fox and assistant Carter Beston-Will helping end the team’s 17-year wait for a Challenge Cup trophy before Covid intervened in March 2020 and changed everyone’s lives.

A runners-up spot in the behind-closed doors Elite Series in Nottingham followed before two near-misses for the Elite League regular season championship in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.

On both occasions, Fox’s teams had looked well-set to end the organisation’s wait for a first league crown since 2016, only to fade and sit and watch the Belfast Giants triumph on both occasions.

Not surprisingly given this digital age, the usual social media calls followed from some Steelers’ fans demanding Fox be replaced and, coming into the 2023-24 campaign, further emphasis was placed on the lack of silverware when Steelers’ owner Tony Smith said the “pressure was on” to win something.

Eight months later, it is fair to say Fox has delivered what his boss demanded. In fact, some might argue, he went over the top.

Winning one trophy in the increasingly-competitive EIHL is hard enough, winning two, harder still. So to go out and emulate what Belfast had done in 2022-23 and win everything – delivering a first grand slam for the Steelers since 2001-02 – and in such style, too, was quite remarkable.

The question now is, how do Fox and the Steelers improve on that?

For now, the 47-year-old can justifiably look back with pride on the campaign just gone, with plans for 2024-25 already well underway.

“I think you set out goals at the start of every season and you obviously want to be in the hunt for all three trophies,” said Fox. “You want to win as many as you can by the end of it all and we were fortunate to get all three this year.

“A lot of things go into winning. You need to stay pretty healthy, you need good special teams play, you need solid goaltending and then, from a forward point of view, we brought in some high-end guys that built around those core players we brought back from last season and they really made a difference offensively for us.

“It was an outstanding year from start to finish - only nine losses through the year, in all competitions is pretty special.

“It’s something we’d been looking to accomplish since day one and it took us a bit longer than I’d hoped, especially with the league there, but it was great to get it done.”

And did he feel any extra pressure coming in, given the owner’s pre-season words?

“I don’t think so,” insisted Fox. “There is always pressure in this business, at certain clubs the expectations are always higher, but that just comes with the territory.

“I’m pretty confident with the work I put in, whether that translates into trophies or not, that’s not going to change from my end, I’m still going to be that guy that is first in and last out, which is the way it is supposed to be in this business.”

The Steelers’ success was not a simple process, however. It came on the back of the kind of heartache and tragedy rarely experienced.

The unimaginably tragic and sudden death of young forward Alex Graham last summer saw Fox having to handle a group of players who had played alongside the youngster in previous seasons still going through the grieving process when they returned for pre-season training less than two months later.

The season wasn’t even two months old when another tragedy unfolded with the death of Nottingham Panthers’ forward Adam Johnson during a Challenge Cup game at the Utilita Arena.

All those present – both on the ice and in the stands – will have been deeply affected by what happened, the incident having a long-lasting impact on the sport in general in the weeks and months which followed.

“It was very difficult,” added Fox. “Those are just things you don’t have a blueprint for. I feel like I’m a human first and that I have the same empathy and feelings all of my players have going through those moments. The ‘Grammer’ (Alex Graham) situation hit very hard and just talking about Alex was very, very difficult.

“And then with the mid-season Adam Johnson tragedy as well, that could have went a couple of different ways.

“It was a very emotional, very difficult time for everybody involved. We know that we weren’t in that alone with the fans’ support that we had in our building and the relationships with the Panthers that grew and almost saw us come together as one for some time there.

“Again, it’s something that you never expect you’re going to have to go through, but I felt like we found our way. They are a very, very close group of guys that we had this year and that was definitely something that wasn’t easy to go through and will never be forgotten.”

The task of replicating last season’s success will be far from easy for the Steelers. You only have to look at the Belfast Giants to see how quickly things can change, Adam Keefe’s team following their grand slam year with nothing to show for their efforts in 2023-24.

They will come back stronger, as will the Cardiff Devils and, following their own tumultuous year, the Nottingham Panthers. Guildford Flames, as in the past two seasons, will also be there or thereabouts.

And while the pressure to succeed may have eased slightly going into next season, nothing has changed for Fox, by way of the great expectations on his shoulders.

“Look, we just won three trophies and I can guarantee you that the pressure and the bar has been set now for next year,” he explained.

“That is never going to change and I’m completely comfortable with that.”