Manchester Storm v Sheffield Steelers: Ability to spread the load gives Aaron Fox belief for hectic schedule

The Steelers head across the Pennines on Thursday night for the first of three games in four nights.

But Fox is confident that his team can cope with what is coming their way, given the way they have performed in recent weeks under the continued trying emotional circumstances they found themselves inin the wake of the Adam Johnson tragedy.

In terms of those performances, there was plenty of satisfaction to be had by Fox from a weekend road trip that took in Scotland and then Northern Ireland, following up Saturday’s 6-4 win at Dundee Stars with a 4–0 triumph over defending Elite League regular season champions Belfast Giants.

The Giants are struggling this season, a combination of a high summer turnover of their roster and key injuries.

Adam Keeffe’s team currently lie seventh in the standings, eight points adrift of top-of-the-table Steelers and having played two games more - but Fox has no doubt they will turn their season around and be in the mix for honours come the end of the campaign, like they have been for the past two seasons when they have lifted five of the six trophies up for grabs.

But the Giants are for much later down the line, the Steelers not locking horns with them again until a weekend double-header at the Utilita Arena in March.

For now, Fox is stealing his team to take on Manchester Storm in the first leg of their Challenge Cup quarter-final on Thursday, a game which precedes a home game in the league against Guildford Flames on Saturday and a tricky trip to Fife Flyers 24 hours later.

It will be a demanding few days for sure, but Fox is reassured of his players’ readiness for the task having been able to spread the load across all four lines more evenly than in previous seasons.

One big reason for that has been the performances of the so-called fourth line, primarily made up of Mark Simpson and Brandon Whistle, with Cole Shudra – used more often in defence this season – thrown up front to join them last weekend.

It has reaped rewards, particularly in the last three games with Simpson posting two goals and two assists, Whistle – who missed the start of the season through injury – adding four assists and Shudra weighing in with three goals and two assists, two of those points coming while playing defence in the 6-2 win at Guildford.

“They are delivering for us in heaps at the moment,” said Fox. “I would say the last six to eight games, they have taken another step up for us and have just been outstanding.

“Shuds has been up and back depending on the injury situation we’ve had on the back end, but any time you can get the type of contribution we’ve been getting from what is technically our fourth line on paper – although they are definitely not playing like a fourth line right now – you re going to be happy with.

“And as a result of that, another big positive for our group right now is, if you look at the minutes played between our first line versus our fourth line, it is so tight in there.

“I’m not burying anybody at the moment because we’re able to roll four lines and I’m comfortable with every match up we get throughout our line-up.

“It gives you a lot more flexibility that way and maybe you have a lot more in the tank from your top six guys on a Sunday because you didn’t have to play them, say, for 24-plus minutes on a Saturday.

“You’re playing top line guys 17-18 minutes and then your fourth line is playing 13, 14, 15 minutes - it makes a huge difference to the balance of your group.”

Given the testing upcoming schedule, Fox is confident his players will have plenty left in the tank once they arrive in Kirkcaldy on Sunday afternoon.