Sheffield Steelers head coach Aaron Fox on handling expectations during the 2023-24 Elite League season and facing off against Coventry Blaze and Guildford Flames

Only last month, Steelers’ opener Tony Smith said the pressure was on to deliver a first trophy since the Challenge Cup in 2019 - what would be even better is a first regular season league title since 2016.

In each of the last two seasons, the Steelers have looked well-placed for a tilt at ending their wait for a championship, only to fade away in the closing weeks.

You get the feeling there will be little forgiveness if that happens for a third year running.

But Fox embraces the pressure on his shoulders and believes he has put together a ‘special group’ to bring the success that the Steelers, owner - and fans - so desperately crave.

“You know what – I start every year with the same goals and that is winning trophie,” said Fox. “That is why we’re in this business and I understand this is a results-based business and we’ve fallen short these last two years.

“I set the bar pretty high with the amount of pressure I put on myself every year and there’s never a lack of effort from my end, you know what I mean?

“There are some things we’ve maybe tried to focus on over the summer to get us over that hump and I feel like we’ve done a good job with that .

“I feel like we have a special group here right now and we’ve set some high goals.”

Steelers enter this Saturday’s home opener against Coventry Blaze - they travel to Guildford Flames on Sunday – in buoyant mood following two pre-season wins over Cardiff Devils last weekend.

"Momentum is a funny thing in hockey and we wanted to build some momentum coming into this weekend playing the right way, added Fox.

“We wanted to show that when we play certain concepts and systems, when you have success you get a little bit more of that buy-in from the group as well.

"It’s been a good week so far, the boys have competed really hard in practice and we’ll taper it now towards the weekend and make sure we’re ready for two huge games.”

Coventry and Guildford were the two surprise success stories in the EIHL last season, the Flames sustaining their early-season burst to finish regular season runners-up, while Coventry came in fifth, having kept pace with the teams above them for the majority of the campaign.

Fox doesn’t expect it to be any different against this time around.

"We’ve started to dig into Coventry a little bit from their pre-season games and they’ve had a bit of a changeover as well, so we’re not 100 per cent sure what kind of identity they are going to have,” added Fox.

“Danny (Stewart) coaches them well, they are well-organised, it’s never an easy place to play and they always play us tough.

“Guildford, basically have kept most of their whole team and added some nice players as well, so they are going to be there again this season. They are a very good hockey team and it’s always a hard place to play as well. They are going to be two tough games.”

On the league as a whole, Fox believes this could be the best-ever season in the EIHL – certainly since he arrived in the summer of 2019.​​​​​​​

The increase to 15 imports for each game day – while not popular with some fans – has seen an upgrade across the board by all teams, says Fox, which he believes will make for some top-quality hockey.

"Every team has upgraded,” said Fox, whose team are looking for their first trophy since 2019 and their first regular season league title since 2016. “There are going to be some unknowns because you don’t know how some guys are going to fit.

"But I feel like if you look at the league on paper, this league is as good as it has ever been, probably the best it’s ever been from top-to-bottom.”