Sheffield Steelers boss Aaron Fox counting down the days after 2019-20 schedule is released

The Steelers revealed at the weekend that they would open their season at home against long-time rivals Nottingham Panthers in the Challenge Cup on Saturday, August 31, with the following night seeing the two teams renew hostilities at the National Ice Centre.

The traditional Christmas double-header between the two teams will not take place this year, with Fox's team instead taking on Manchester Storm, former Steelers' head coach and forward Ryan Finnerty bringing his team to the FlyDSA Arena on Boxing Day (4pm) before the two rivals head back across the Pennines to face each other at Altrincham two days later.

Other notable dates for Steelers' fans will be two away weekends, one to Scotland which sees them visit Fife Flyers on Saturday, October 12 ahead of a trip to Dundee Stars the following night. A double-header weekend in Belfast will take place on Friday, December 6 and Saturday, December 7.

Fox has put together an impressive roster for the campaign during the summer, with the Steelers desperate to get back to winning ways after two trophy-less seasons.

With at least two spots still left to fill on his roster - one being a netminder, the other a forward - Fox still has work to do in order to produce a team capable of challenging big guns Belfast and Cardiff Devils.

In recent weeks, Fox has been on the ice with his British players a number of times at ice Sheffield, but will see new faces begin to arrive from August 7 onwards ahead of the team's pre-season exhibition games against HK Poprad, from Slovakia, and Hungarian outfit MAC Budapest.

"We're close now, I'm looking forward to getting this thing started," said Fox. "It's been a good summer, but it will be fun get everybody in here and see exactly what we have and get to work."

Fox said the Saturday-Sunday format of the EIHL would be new to him, coming from the Austrian League and, before that, the KHL while he was in charge of Medvescak Zagreb.

"We were predominantly Friday and Sunday in the Austrian League, then in the KHL it was a little bit different and you would go on road trips and play four games on the road, then you would come home and play four," he explained.

"The same four teams always travelled in the same pod, so it was a little bit different but it was always every other day as well, so you would play Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday then you would get a couple of days off and come back and start that rotation again.

"The Saturday-Sunday schedule here is a little bit different, it makes your week a little bit longer and you’ve got to manage that, keep the guys excited and motivated throughout the week.

"But the biggest difference, is just that the regular season is the big one here, so we’ve got make sure we're ready to go from day one and get off to a good start."

In all, Steelers will stage 25 home games as part of their season ticket package, with a number of other games offered at discount price, a move which proved popular for a series of midweek games last season at £5 per ticket.

At least four games will be staged on the same basis, as well as a special double-header home weekend which sees Guildford Flames' visit on Saturday, September 21 followed 24 hours later by the arrival of Zack Fitzgerald's Glasgow Clan, with a weekend ticket covering both games costing £10.

The other games at £5 per ticket are Fife Flyers on Wednesday, October 16, Manchester on Wednesday, October 30, Belfast on Wednesday, November 27 and Guildford on Saturday, January 4.