How Sheffield Steelers' defence-first style is proving to be an Elite League offensive hit

Refreshed and recharged from their relentless Christmas and New Year schedule, the Steelers return after a full week away from competitive action determined to ensure their impressive first half of the 2023-24 campaign does not go to waste.

Too often in recent years, the Steelers - who stretched their winning streak to 12 games in all competitions with Saturday’s 3-2 home win over Glasgow Clan - have set the early pace, only to fall away when it has mattered the most.

This year, however, just seems different.

The Steelers may head into today’s trip to Manchester Storm 12 points clear and with a game in hand on nearest rivals Cardiff Devils but, with 29 games still remaining between now and when the regular season concludes in early April, nobody at the Utilita Arena is taking anything for granted.

“There is still a hell of a lot of hockey left to be played,” said Fox, who remains without the services of injured forwards Brett Neumann and Brandon Whistle, as well as defenceman Sam Jones.

But Fox has options, one being to roll with five defencemen and push Zach Vinnell up to partner Cole Shudra on a fourth line that would be filled out by rotating some of the other nine forwards.

“We’re still a little bit thin on the injury front,” added Fox. “So I think we’ll be in a similar situation this weekend as we were against Glasgow.

"But we’ll see, we have a couple of options.”

Fox said his team’s ability to win the battles in their own zone had been the driving force behind their current run of form.

“We’re a defence-first minded group,” said Fox.

“And because of how well we have been playing that way, it has also driven the offensive side of our game.

“It all starts from the D-zone in our game right now.

"We’re winning a ton of battles and that’s suffocating other teams and creating offence off plays out of our zone.”

The trip across the Pennines to Altrincham sees the Steelers looking to defend their 100 per cent win record on the road in the league this season.

All three of their defeats - one in a shoot-out - have come on home ice, although Fox insists there is no secret to his team’s away form, given they simply adopt the same approach to every game, regardless of the venue.

“I don’t think our game changes a ton on the road,” he explained. “I think we’ve also been a little bit unlucky with the losses that we have had at home.

“We kind of try to play the same way whether we’re at home or on the road and I guess we’ve just been a little bit more successful on the details on the road. It’s the same grit and grind mindset on the road and it’s been very successful.”