Sheffield Steelers: Aaron Fox pleased with the early positive signs at training camp

By the end of this weekend, the Steelers should have all but one of their imports in place, the last of which – believed to be a Canadian-born forward with AHL experience – could be announced in the next 24 hours.

The past few days has seen the Steelers’ players put through rigorous fitness tests, with head coach Fox, pictured, happy to report that his signings had clearly taken care of themselves over the summer.

They will need to for what promises to be another gruelling Elite League slog of a season and one in which there is extra pressure on the Steelers to deliver silverware.

Their last trophy came with the 2019 Challenge Cup, while the last league title came back in 2016 when then head coach Paul Thompson led them to the regular season crown, the most coveted of the three trophies on offer.

"We’ve had a couple of skates and done some fitness tests with the guys that we have got in so far and there are still a number of guys to come in,” said Fox, whose players will get to test the new ice recently put down at the Utilita Arena for the first time today.

“It's very early days yet but the early signs are positive. They’ve all come in here in good shape, which is important when you’ve got a two-week training camp. We should have everyone here by Monday.”

Hull Seahawks have rallied around in a cry for help for forward Nathan Salem after a freak fire burnt his family home to the ground earlier this week, losing all their possessions.

The 31-year-old forward and his family fortunately escaped injury, but are now effectively homeless.

The club have set up a Go Fund Me page to help raise money for the family to help them get back on their feet.

A club statement said: “We’re wanting to do absolutely everything we can in order to help support Nathan, Hannah and his young child.”

The link to the Go Fund Me page is: https://gofund.me/0009af92

"We’ve had a couple of skates and done some fitness tests with the guys that have got in so far and there are still a number of guys still to come in,” said Fox, whose players will get to test the new ice recently put down at the Utilita Arena for the first time today.

“It's very early days yet but the early signs are positive. They’ve all come in here in good shape, which is important when you’ve only got a two-week pre-season training camp.

"So we’ve done a bunch of fitness tests with the guys and they all look good. We should have everybody here by Monday.”