Sheffield Steelers head into 2025 striving to retain Elite League winning momentum

The Steelers closed out a memorable grand slam year with an impressive 4-1 win at home to Manchester Storm, who they face-off against again in Altrincham on New Year’s Day looking to extend their winning streak to three games.

Head coach Fox admitted it had not been the best of months to close out 2024, his team a shadow of the one that swept all before them through 2023-24.

The Steelers lost five of their 10 league games in December, losing ground in the title race with Cardiff Devils and Belfast Giants, but they enter the new year in good spirits after Monday’s win and with 31 games remaining in which to close the gap on the top two.

“We’ve got all three trophies under our belts right now as we end the year, so you’re going to take the positives,” said Fox.

“That was a pretty incredible run we went on last year to start the 2024 calendar year. It hasn’t been the best December, I would say, but two big wins to finish off the year and we can hopefully build some momentum going into 2025.”

Mikko Juusola was the star of the show at the Utilita Arena on Monday night, scoring all four goals for the hosts after they fell behind to a ninth-minute strike by Storm’s Grant Hebert.

Only 17 seconds of the second had elapsed before the Steelers were level when Juusola fired the puck through Evan Weninger’s pads on a wraparound.

A tip-in off Joona Huttula’s shot on net then gave Juusola and the Steelers their second of the night shortly before the halfway mark.

A similarly quick start at the beginning of the third doubled the hosts’ lead when Juusola was first to react to his own rebound off Weninger at 40.32.

The Steelers then kept it tight and, after Mike Morin had pulled Weninger for the extra skater, it was Juusola who wrapped up the scoring with an empty-net strike with just 16 seconds remaining.

“We came out for the second with a different mindset,” added Fox. “I thought we turned the game really well there in the second, we started doing things hard, playing fast and they had no answer for us.

“And if you play the right way it’s a lot more fun to be a part of and be around the group when they are playing like that. All four lines were going and it was a huge result for us.”