Sheffield Steelers hit ground running with tough Elite League opening weekend

The arrival of Cardiff Devils in South Yorkshire on the opening night of the 2022-23 Elite League campaign is one warmly welcomed by Steelers’ head coach Aaron Fox, who hopes his rebuilt team can make the most of home comforts.

That wasn’t the case for much of last season when the two teams met at Utilita Arena, the Steelers winning 5-4 in overtime on what was again their opening league game of the campaign, only to come off second-best every time the Devils returned to South Yorkshire.

On two occasions, the Devils inflicted heavy defeats on the Steelers, winning 5-0 in November before, more memorably, winning by the same scoreline when the two met in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup.

The Devils went on to lose in the final against Belfast Giants – who sealed a deserved double when they clinched the regular season EIHL title shortly after – but bounced back in time to end their season on the perfect high when they won the season-ending play-off final at Nottingham’s National Ice Centre.

By contrast, the Steelers ended the campaign empty-handed, their misery extended when they suffered a play-off quarter-final defeat at the hands of Dundee Stars.

Fox insists the disappointment of last season is forgotten, returning as he always does, with plenty of motivation to success.

“I don’t think it adds any extra motivation, every year you are clean-slated,” he said. “At the beginning of last year we obviously wanted to win trophies - that is no different this year.

"It’s early doors right now but we know we’ve got find our game early if we want to contend down the stretch.

"Every game is tough in this league, there are no easy games. Cardiff we know are a team that will be chasing trophies and it will be a good test for us to see where we’re at right now.”

Sunday brings an early visit to The Spectrum at Guildford, a smaller, trickier pad than the Steelers’ players are used to during the week and for home games, but Fox believes pre-season visits to Manchester Storm and Coventry Blaze will prove useful for his new recruits.

"Guildford away is always difficult,” added Fox. “They look a bit different and they are a team that is always good in that venue. It’s a smaller rink, so you’ve got to be ready to make plays early as things can happen fast there and I think by playing in Coventry and Manchester already, which are similar, smaller venues to the one in Guildford, will help us out on Sunday.”