Sheffield Steelers sitting pretty with reasons to be cheerful - but Aaron Fox still wants more
AS Sheffield Steelers break through the quarter-way mark in their Elite League campaign, head coach Aaron Fox is understandably happy with how things have gone so far.
But, like the vast majority of coaches, he admits he is left wanting that little bit more.
A comprehensive and one-sided 5-0 win at home to Manchester Storm on Sunday ensured the Steelers remained tied at the top of the standings with arch-rivals Nottingham Panthers.
It was the Panthers who leapfrogged them on Saturday night courtesy of picking up the extra point on offer in a shoot-out at the National Ice Centre that saw the hosts eventually prevail 4-3 over the Steelers.
Throw in that the Steelers are top seed for the Challenge Cup semi-finals and the fact that they can currently boast the league’s best penalty kill – by far – as well as the second-best power play in the top-flight and the joint-best Goals Against Average and there are rightly reasons to be cheerful. But then…
“It’s a tough one for me because I feel like we’re tied for first in the league right now and we’re first overall seed in the Challenge Cup,” said Fox.
“Oour power play is top two in the league, our penalty kill is first in the league, so stat-wise everything looks pretty good
“But I think we’re all a little bit of a perfectionist in this business and you are always looking for things you can do better as a group.
“And I thought this weekend was a step in the right direction from a consistency point of view which is something that I think will be huge for us moving forward.”
The Steelers have an opportunity to gain revenge on the Panthers this weekend when Danny Stewart’s team visits the Utilita Arena.
Fox and his players have every reason to be confident going into the game given the way they played across both nights at the weekend.
“I thought we played well on Saturday, so for me it was 120 minutes of high compete hockey from our group,” added Fox.
“It’s a good feeling going into these next couple of days knowing just how well we’ve played, how consistent we were. We know how important that game will be on Saturday.”