Sheffield Steelers boss Aaron Fox hoping Belfast Giants' tough run-in opens the door for Elite League title challenge
AARON FOX believes Belfast Giants’ schedule could prove the key factor in the Elite League title race.
The current regular season leaders head into a weekend double-header at fourth-placed Cardiff Devils with an eight-point cushion over Fox’s Sheffield Steelers team, who sit second having played a game more.
Belfast’s trip to South Wales is one of three double-header weekends they have against top four teams, with the Steelers due to host Adam Keeffe’s team on the weekend of March 14-15.
Third-placed Nottingham Panthers then head to Belfast on March 27-28, while the defending champions also have tough road trips to Manchester Storm and Coventry Blaze, who ended the Giants’ hope of a third treble in four years when they sealed a 9-5 aggregate Challenge Cup semi-final triumph over them on Wednesday night.
Fox, whose Steelers’ team host Coventry today (7pm) believes there are numerous twists and turns to come during the last month of the regular season.
“We know that we are kind of running out of time here, for us to stick around for as long as we can and see what happens,” said the Steelers’ head coach, whose team recovered from a 2-1 defeat in Belfast last weekend with a 5-1 home win over Cardiff.
“Belfast have got us twice, Cardiff twice, Nottingham twice and Coventry twice and Manchester and Coventry – so there’s a lot of hockey there that they’ve got to play and take care of business in.
“We’ve just got to hang around as long as we can and make it interesting.”
The Steelers follow-up today’s clash with Coventry by heading to Fife Flyers on Sunday.