Arron Fox takes positives From contrasting Sheffield Steelers weekend

Sheffield Steelers head coach Aaron Fox believes his side produced plenty to build on over the weekend despite experiencing contrasting results in Cardiff and at home to Fife.

The Steelers were beaten 1-0 by Cardiff Devils in Challenge Cup action on Saturday despite creating enough chances to take something from the game.

Less than 24 hours later, they responded with a 6-3 Elite League victory over Fife Flyers at the Utilita Arena, racing into a 4-0 first-period lead before weathering a strong second-period comeback.

Fox felt the performance in Cardiff had been better than the scoreline suggested and was pleased to see his side rewarded on Sunday.

“Obviously I’m happy with the two points,” he said.

“I liked our game for the majority of the evening.

“We had a great start. We got two on the power play and, five-on-five, I thought we were dominant in that first 20 minutes.

“That came after what I thought was a really good performance in Cardiff where we just didn’t get rewarded.

“We did a lot of the same little things tonight that we did on Saturday, but this time we found the back of the net.”

The Steelers appeared to be in complete control against Fife after goals from Aatu Aarnio, Ryan Tait, Logan Roe and Evan Jasper gave them a 4-0 advantage after the opening period.

But the Flyers hit back with three unanswered goals in the second to reduce the deficit to one.

Fox felt small mistakes allowed the visitors back into the contest.

“I actually liked the first few minutes of the second period,” he said.

“Then we hit the referee with a clearing attempt, it bounces straight onto their tape and they come down and score.

“After that we take a penalty that we don’t need to take. We’ve got to be smarter in those situations.

“They get the five-on-three shortly afterwards, score two really quickly and suddenly the game has been turned on its head.”

Fox joked afterwards that the middle period had added to the stresses of coaching.

“Those are the types of games that magnify the grey hairs on my head by a hundred,” he said.

The Steelers steadied themselves in the third, with Jasper scoring his second of the night before Olivier Archambault added a sixth.

Fox was particularly pleased with the way his team responded after Fife had threatened to complete the comeback.

“I thought we dug deep and had a really good third,” he said.

“We got back to a lot of the positive things we had done in the first period.

“That fifth goal is a great example. We make a play, win a battle and get below the goal line from a lost draw.

“Those are the little details that you have to do.

“Then the sixth one was kind of the nail in the coffin.”

For Fox, the weekend offered encouragement despite the defeat in Cardiff.

Saturday brought a strong performance without reward, while Sunday showed the Steelers were capable of responding when momentum swung against them.

That, as much as the two league points, appeared to be the main positive for the Sheffield coach.

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