Aaron Fox determined to keep Sheffield Steelers heading in right direction

THE premature end to his first season as an Elite League head coach may have caused some frustration for Sheffield Steelers’ Aaron Fox, but there are clearly still plenty of reasons to be cheerful when reflecting on his first 11 months at the helm.
Sheffield Steelers' head coach and GM, Aaron Fox. Oicture: Dean Woolley.Sheffield Steelers' head coach and GM, Aaron Fox. Oicture: Dean Woolley.
Sheffield Steelers' head coach and GM, Aaron Fox. Oicture: Dean Woolley.

As with sport worldwide, the coronavirus pandemic was responsible for the Steelers and their nine rivals being unable to complete their regular season schedule, the curtain being brought down early on Friday, March 13.

At the time, the Steelers were second in the standings, although relying on others to do them a favour if they were to stand any chance of stopping the Cardiff Devils winning a third regular season championship in four years.

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When the call was made to end the season, there was a five-way battle for the title ongoing, Coventry Blaze having muscled their way into the reckoning with a late run, with just six points separating Cardiff and Nottingham Panthers in fifth.

But,ultimately, there was to be only one piece of silverware handed out in 2019-20, the Steelers ending their 17-year wait to lift the Challenge Cup when overcoming the Devils in South Wales with a thrilling 4-3 win.

It made for a very satisfying evening for 43-year-old Fox, particularly as it came just 48 hours after his team had handed the Devils a significant advantage in the league title race when losing 7-3 to Andrew Lord’s team at the same Viola Arena venue.

Less than a week later, Fox found himself standing at the side of the Sheffield Arena ice as owner Tony Smith explained to his players that the worsening situation over coronavirus had left the league with no choice but to cancel the season.

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It led to a frantic few days for Fox, Smith and other members of the Steelers’ backroom staff as they scrambled to ensure all of their imports could get flights home in time to be with their families and loved ones before any further travel restrictions were put in place.

Given the swift and unexpected nature of how the season reached its conclusion, Fox was unable to hold the traditional exit interviews every club does at the end of each season.

It means he will conduct such conversations over the phone or via some other technological means as he begins to put together a roster for next season.

He already knows which members of his 2019-20 roster he wants back from a roster that had restored the Steelers to being a competitive force once again after the endless disappointment endured the previous year, when a seventh-place regular season finish preceded a first-round play-off exit.

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It is that obvious progress to turn the Steelers into being a contender once again – his initial remit upon being appointed by Smith last April – that gave American-born Fox the most satisfaction from his first-ever full season as head coach.

Sheffield Steelers' players and staff celebrate their Challenge Cup win in Cardiff earlier this month. Picture: Dean Woolley.Sheffield Steelers' players and staff celebrate their Challenge Cup win in Cardiff earlier this month. Picture: Dean Woolley.
Sheffield Steelers' players and staff celebrate their Challenge Cup win in Cardiff earlier this month. Picture: Dean Woolley.

“Our goal at the outset was to close the gap on the top teams and compete for trophies down the stretch,” said Fox, who spent six seasons with Croatia’s Medvescak Zagreb as sports manager before adding to his duties when taking over as coach during the 2018-19 campaign.“I think we did that and got the one trophy that was available.

“We’ve had plenty of ups and downs along the way and have dealt with quite a lot of adversity. We lost Aaron Johnson for 10 weeks, we lost Jonas Liwing for eight weeks, we lost James Bettauer for eight weeks and then we lost Robert Dowd for the remainder of the season.

“We also had to deal with the six-game suspension to (Michael) Davies, the list goes on and on, but then we had that consistency during the middle part of the season where we continually found ways to win hockey games.

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“It wasn’t perfect but, I think for myself, I look back and I learned a lot about the league and what needs to be done over an eight-month period to put yourself in a position to challenge. I’ll grow from that, too, and, hopefully, build off this year and come back and improve.”

MISSING IN ACTION: Robert Dowd's 2019-20 season was cut short by injury. Picture: Dean Woolley.MISSING IN ACTION: Robert Dowd's 2019-20 season was cut short by injury. Picture: Dean Woolley.
MISSING IN ACTION: Robert Dowd's 2019-20 season was cut short by injury. Picture: Dean Woolley.

For the time being, however, Fox will put his whistle and white-board to one side and switch to the other side of his dual role at the Steelers by concentrating on his duties as general manager, his recruitment skills being a crucial part of why he was offered the chance to succeed Tom Barrasso.

“I don’t think I need the extra time that finishing this early has given us,” added Fox. “I’ll essentially take my coaching hat off now and focus on the GM side of things again – recruitment and so on.

“I have to see if this (early finish) affects my budget for next year, those types of things such as losing three weeks’ gate money – those are questions and concerns that I have.

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“But we’ll just let Tony and the others take care of the business side of things for the time being here and I will focus on recruitment and, like I said, hopefully build off the year that we’ve had.

“There will be some turnover, there always is, but I feel like if we can get a good nucleus of the guys back that made a difference this year, that will put us in a good position moving forward.”

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