Sheffield Steelers: Aaron Fox says familiar core key to Champions Hockey League hopes

The Steelers’ preparations for their first return to Europe’s premier competition in eight years have been hindered slightly by missing two key players in Great Britain internationals Robert Dowd and Cole Shudra, who were only able to join up with the rest of the team for the first time on Tuesday during practice at the Utilita Arena.

It was the first time head coach Fox was able to take a look at his full 2024-24 roster together since pre-season camp started on August 20.

Given Wednesday was a travel day, the Steelers will have one more session on the ice together in today’s morning skate before they face last season’s Swiss National League regular season runners-up tonight.

And while Dowd and Shudra will have to spend a little time getting to know some of the new faces around them on the visitors’ bench, Fox is confident the familiarity among the core group who have remained from the 2023-24 grand slam-winning campaign will serve him well.

“Tuesday was our first skate with the full team and then Wednesday is a travel day and then we have a pre-game skate on Thursday,” said Fox.

“But the nice thing is that we’ve got a good core group of guys coming back and some good line combinations that we can use from last year that we know brought us some success.

“But it will also be nice to try some different guys in different spots.

“At the end of the day we’re going to have to play like a team if we’re going to want to compete against these kind of opponents.

“We’re coming up against really good teams who are all going to be very, very good and we know it’s going to be a hard competition for us, but it is exciting.”

Steelers’ last experience of the CHL was back in 2016-17, a campaign which - under then head coach Paul Thompson - brought them their one and only win in the competition.

On paper, given the tough-looking draw they have been handed – their six opponents hailing equally from Switzerland, Sweden and Czechia, three of Europe’s leading hockey nations – the Steelers, bolstered by the addition of Sheffield Steeldogs’ two-way forward Sam Tremblay, will have to be at their best in order to add to their solitary victory, something acknowledged by captain Dowd.

The 36-year-old forward is a veteran of both of the Steelers’ previous forays into Europe’s premier club competition and is relishing the chance for his team to show the strides made by Elite League teams in the intervening years.

Last season, Belfast Giants – themselves grand slam winners from the 2022-23 domestic campaign – missed out on making the CHL knockout phase by just one point, winning three of their six games.

“We are relishing this opportunity,” said Dowd. “It’s going to be a great experience.

"If I’m being brutally honest, we got a bit of a tough draw. It’s going to be a tough slog coming up against some of those high-quality talent pools, but it will be good to get out there with the boys and play against some of these top teams in Europe.”

Having spent the last week or so on international duty with GB – where Pete Russell’s missed out on qualification for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy – Dowd is pleased to get back to the bread and butter of club hockey.

"This is the first time I’ve been with the team and the new boys apart from a quick hello before I went away with GB,” he added. “I’m really looking forward to what is the start of the year for us and getting some hockey under our belts.”