Interview with Sheffield Steelers' head coach, Aaron Fox, on his team's Champions Hockey League last 16 tie against German DEL champions, Eisbaren Berlin
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00:00Yeah, I was aware. It was a very good feeling to know that we had qualified. We went in
00:17and just kind of congratulated the guys before the game. Obviously well-deserved, but we
00:23talked about, you know, the run of play that we've been on here and, you know, making sure
00:27that we start building good habits again. That pathway, we felt like if we didn't get
00:33points tonight, we were going to be up, end up in Farjestad or in Zurich, you know, finishing
00:38in 15th or 16th place. We'd have liked to finish with three points tonight and move
00:44up the standings even further, but, you know, we've drawn a really good hockey club in Ice
00:50Fair in Berlin, which will make things quite interesting, you know, with Kirky coming back
00:56to town and Danny and Mike, family affair there as well, which is fun too. So what a
01:04match-up.
01:05Given the players knew then, the way they came out at the start of that game was probably
01:11even more impressive, wasn't it, I guess, because some people could argue that there's
01:15not a great deal to play for, we're already three, but that wasn't the case when they
01:18hit the ice, was it?
01:19No, absolutely. I think, you know, we've challenged the boys this week a little bit after the
01:24results on the weekend, and now we've got to find a way to carry our momentum and our
01:28effort from tonight on to, you know, big games Saturday and Sunday. So it doesn't surprise
01:35me. I know what this group's capable of and how well they've played under certain circumstances.
01:40So, you know, Portobeats had a ton to play for tonight, which was, you know, which was
01:46a bit scary when we didn't know if we were through at that point. So it's a relief. I
01:50think also maybe took some pressure off our group tonight that way, where, you know, we
01:55can just play free and play our game and no panic, no stress and take the result that
02:01we're given. But you could tell that the compete level was the next level tonight.
02:05And that team that you beat tonight, they're actually now out, is one of the bigger teams
02:10in the competition, which kind of highlights how well you guys have done throughout, I
02:14guess, doesn't it?
02:15Absolutely, yeah. I think they're the only team from our group that didn't advance, and
02:19we knew we, I mean, we kind of called it the, we felt like it was the hardest group
02:23in the whole competition with the six teams we've played. And, you know, now five of them
02:28have all advanced along with us, which would be six.
02:30Yeah. Just quickly, you didn't mention that it is Berlin. That's been confirmed now. You
02:35couldn't write that, could you really?
02:37No, that's pretty fun stuff. You know, that's good stuff. That's exciting. What a team.
02:43I think they've won the DL three out of the last four years. You know, they've extremely
02:48well run, well coached, great import players, some of the best Germans in the country. So,
02:53you know, that's going to be a very difficult matchup and task for us, but I feel like we'll
02:58be ready to go and excited for that challenge.
03:00I was going to say, it's a competition that shouldn't really hold any fear for your guys
03:03anymore, really, after what you've achieved so far.
03:06Right now, we're living on house money, you know. I think everyone wrote us off after
03:12they saw the group, so now for us to be in the position that we are is pretty amazing.
03:18Yeah.
03:19Yeah.
03:20Yeah.
03:21Yeah.
03:22Yeah.
03:23Yeah.