Sheffield Steelers coach Aaron Fox on reaching coaching milestone as he chases silverware on all fronts

The Steelers suffered a blow to their hopes of retaining their Elite League title on Sunday night when they went down 6-2 at Guildford Flames.

It saw them swap places with Nottingham Panthers - who won at Manchester Storm - and drop to fourth in the regular season standings, while ceding more ground to leaders Belfast Giants, who were busy winning 4-1 at second-placed Cardiff Devils.

With 22 games remaining for the Steelers, the gap between them and Belfast now stands at nine points.

There is only one more meeting between the two teams, while the top two still have to meet each other three more times.

Either way, the Steelers are going to need other results to go in their favour, but while there are enough points available, there is hope and it is guaranteed that there will be a number of surprise results between now and the end of March.

The trip to Guildford was also a significant one for Fox on a personal level, marking his 338th game in charge, taking him past Alex Dampier’s long-held record of 337 games behind the bench.

When Fox first agreed terms to succeed Tom Barrasso in the Spring of 2019, he was looking for a stable and long-term project, particularly given the way his previous team Medvescak Zagreb had imploded, a situation which led to him resigning the previous December.

Once he arrived in South Yorkshire, he set about closing the gap on the likes of Belfast and Cardiff, who between them had dominated the Elite League landscape in the previous three years, since the Steelers had last landed the most-coveted prize of all, the regular season league championship in 2016.

His first season brought the Challenge Cup - the team’s first-ever triumph in that competition in the EIHL era - but the league remained elusive until they produced last season’s stunning grand slam campaign.

Champions Hockey League produced many new admirers and plaudits from around Europe earlier this season and they remain in the running for all three domestic trophies this time around.

“You know what, I came into this situation and what really appealed about this job originally was that it was an English-speaking country and the Steelers were a very well-known and well-respected club that had a history of winning,” said Fox.

“And winning was something that they wanted to get back to and I wanted to be in a place to win.

“Also, I was looking for something where I wasn’t moving my kids around from year to year, going through different schools, so I had it in my head to come here for at least a few years and give them that, as well as give myself the opportunity to be at an organisation that wants to win, cares about winning and gives you the tools to win.”

It hasn’t all been plain sailing.

When Fox’s team fell away late in the league title race for a second year running in 2022-23, there were calls from some Steelers’ fans for him to go.

A year later, the mood had changed significantly. For his part, Fox has no intention of going anywhere soon.

“I feel like it says a lot about the stability of the club - of the place that the organisation is in right now,” added Fox. “And I feel like since I’ve gotten here, we’ve played some good hockey and always been close to the top, won a lot of games, won some trophies and I guess it is credit to the organisation as a whole to keep key players here and find that stability.

“I wasn’t aware of the number until last week and, for me, it’s great because I’ve got a 16-year-old and an 11-year-old and this is a place we consider home at the moment, they’ve been very good to us and we’re very happy here.”