Sheffield Steelers' head coach Aaron Fox confident he has depth to cope with festive frenzy

Their 9-4 triumph over Dundee Stars at the Utilita Arena on Wednesday night produced eight different goal-scorers in a performance that saw them keep up the pressure on current Elite League leaders Guildford Flames, who they trail by five points.

Head coach Aaron Fox believes he has a group capable of hurting all teams from all areas of the ice, from all four lines.

Proof of the latter was evident against the Stars when fourth-line unit of Jonathan Phillips, Brandon Whistle and Mason Mitchell all got on the scoresheet.

Such goal-scoring prowess – which saw the Steelers become the first team to break through the 100-goal mark for the regular season – combined with the league’s stingiest defence, offers plenty of hope for the second half of the campaign.

“What Wednesday showed was that we have a ton of depth in our line-up,” beamed Fox. “Every one on our fourth line scored and it was nice to see (Evan) Mosey get on the board again from our third line.

"We felt very good on the back end too – Gravy (Matt Petgrave) has been unbelievable, I think he is a +29 at the moment, and (Niklas) Nevalainen is +27 which is top for the whole league.

“So we’re deep and we have many ways to hurt teams right now.”

Depth is something the Steelers will have to rely heavily on over the next week or so, with the traditionally hectic festive schedule looming large.

As usual, it kicks off with the traditional back-to-back double-header against fierce rivals Nottingham Panthers, with the Steelers enjoying home ice advantage on Boxing Day (4pm) before visiting the National Ice Centre 24 hours later (also 4pm).

The following weekend then sees them go head-to-head twice with Manchester Storm.

Fox believes it will test his team’s durability, but believes he has the tools for the job, particularly against a Nottingham team which is starting to see the benefit of having Corey Neilson back behind the bench.

"It’s obviously a busy schedule we’ve got coming up right now, so it’s great that we have the bodies and the depth to roll.

“Nottingham have brought Corey in and he has steadied the ship there for sure. When we’ve watched them it feels like there is a ton more structure in their game and some of the guys that maybe weren’t perhaps 100 per cent committed to the cause, he has got them to buy in, which everyone expected that he would do that.

“It is definitely a better hockey team than they were a month ago.”

NIHL National rivals Leeds Knights, Sheffield Steeldogs and Hull Seahawks criss-cross the county several times over the week.

Leeds host the Steeldogs on Tuesday (7.30pm) before Greg Wood’s team face-off at Ice Sheffield 24 hours later against Hull (7.30pm).

The Knights visit Hull on Thursday (7pm) and then travel to Sheffield on New Year's Eve (1pm) before hosting the Seahawks on January 1 (5.15pm).