Aaron Fox insists Sheffield Steelers' Elite League title hopes remain alive despite slump
AARON FOX insisted Sheffield Steelers remain part of the Elite League title race - but is aware they need to halt their current slump soon.
A 7-4 defeat at Fife Flyers on Saturday means the Steelers have won just once in their last six games, making Sunday’s visit to second-bottom Dundee Stars a must-win encounter.
After taking an early lead through defenceman Reece Kelly, the visitors were chasing the game thereafter, trailing 3-1 at the first break through goals from Milan Lucic, Justin Ducharme and Ethan Somoza.
Joona Huttula made it a one-goal game at 28.55 but Fife went into the last period 5-2 ahead with goals from Anton Karlsson and Johan Porsberger.
Again the Steelers rallied, Mitchell Heard and Evan Jasper scoring inside the first five minutes of the third period. But Fife made the most of a power play opportunity when David Booth beat Eamon McAdam at 55.52, Somoza making sure of the points with an empty-netter in the final minute.
The result left the Steelers five points adrift of leaders Nottingham Panthers - who lost 4-1 at Belfast Giants, who moved into second spot as a result, with Cardiff Devils going down 2-1 at Manchester Storm.
“It’s a tough stretch of play for us right now,” said Steelers’ head coach, Fox. “I’m obviously embarrassed for our fans who have travelled all this way and we have nothing to show for it right now.
“This is the most difficult times as a coach, when you’re going through these types of stretches where you just can’t seem to build 20 minutes at a time and find ways to win hockey games - we’re finding ways to lose hockey games right now
“I’m not a guy who comes out and goes ‘scorched earth’ on my team in the media but, at the end of the day here, as a group we’ve got to find a way to stay in this fight right now.
“If you look at where we’re at, we’re five points out of first place and we have the exact same number of points as we had this time last year after 28 games.
“We have to find points (in Dundee), we have to keep in this fight - 26 games and five points is nothing but if we don’t figure a way out of this quickly, that gap is just going to get bigger and bigger.”