Sheffield Steelers coach Aaron Fox and why he wants his players to be quicker out of the blocks
WHILE happy with two more points in the defence of his team’s Elite League regular season crown, Sheffield Steelers’ head coach Aaron Fox was clearly left wanting more at the Utilita Arena on Wednesday night.
A 5-2 win over a Fife Flyers team struggling to get their season going sounds like a comfortable evening but, for 40 minutes it was anything but.
Twice the grand slam winners had to come from behind against Tom Coolen’s side, with it taking until the third period before the hosts really hit their stride.
It only took 47 seconds for Dominic Cormier to fire his team into the lead for the first time on the night but it wasn’t until Finlay Ulrick – stepping up from the Steeldogs – struck with just under nine minutes remaining that the majority of the 9,133 crowd could relax a little, any fears of a late rally from the visitors ended when Patrick Watling scored an empty-netter with 60 seconds remaining.
“That felt like a midweek game after playing a bunch of hockey – we just never got going until the third period,” a downbeat Fox told Steelers TV afterwards. “But we found a way to play the right way when it mattered most and we got the job done.”
“So we weren’t at our best, didn’t have our best but we still won a hockey game by three goals, so I’m going to take the positives out of that and so we’ll take it as a learning point and hopefully find a way to motivate to start hockey games better.
“If you play 70-75 games (a season) there are going to be some ups and downs throughout the season, there are going to be some ups and downs throughout each game.
“It would be ignorant to think that you’re going to get that same level on a nightly basis – that’s sport.
“You could see there was a dip from the Saturday intensity to the intensity (against Fife) – it’s sometimes about how you manage and how you finish those situations in games that matters the most.”
Former Steelers’ forward Martin Latal had been given a warm reception, making his first return to South Yorkshire since leaving the club 18 months ago.
Latal made himself a fans’ favourite during two seasons with the Steelers, scoring 52 goals and 64 assists in 132 appearances.
But it looked like he might incur the ire of the home crowd after the Steelers fell behind inside four minutes through Phelix Martineau.
The hosts’ quickly dragged themselves level through a penalty shot converted by Marc-Olivier Vallerand at 7.19 and although Martineau struck again early in the second a cool finish from Mikko Juusola in the 28th minute hauled the Steelers level again before they eventually took control in the final 20 minutes.