No one is 'pointing the finger' inside Sheffield Steelers' dressing room

Evan Mosey miserable after Guildford goal. Picture: Dean Woolley

Sheffield Steelers' players and staff win together - and they lose together.

You won't find anyone inside the camp taking potshots at individual players now the EIHL league title is slipping out of their grasp.

The online community has been taking aim at Steelers personnel, with the play offs now the most likely tournament where Sheffield can be successful.

"There is some great character in that group, it is not like I am going to sit here and point a finger at a player here, a player there," said coach Aaron Fox after 16 losses in the regular season.

"There are ups and downs every year, some guys go through hot streaks and cold streaks, that is part of the business.

"Do I think we have enough in that room to go on and win the play offs? Absolutely."

Fox said it was a standard comment from coaches in sport to say that a team's best players had to prove themselves to be just that.

And Steelers' big names were doing that right now, he said.

"We have gotten some good production out of our high-end guys lately."

Danny Kristo's goal against Nottingham Panthers last Saturday was a welcome sight, for instance.

He was Sheffield's man of the match after snapping a 10-game drought.

"Any time as a player, the puck is not going in for you, and you are struggling a little bit, that confidence helps for sure."

Fox's attention is now trying to convert reasonable recent performances into a string of late-season wins.

"Right now with four games left it is about making sure we don't fall in form" he said.

"Belfast Giants and Cardiff Devils, next weekend, both are very good hockey teams, we are going to have to be at our best, and be ready to compete and win those two games.

"We want to be playing the right way into the play offs."

They will have to shine to get anything at Belfast's rink on Friday, where Scott Conway leads the league in goals and points and netminder Tyler Beskorowany leads the division in goals-against average.

Meanwhile Steeler Robert Dowd's superb right-wing strike against Guildford Flames last Sunday - ghosting past three markers and hitting the roof of the net - has earned him the EIHL goal of the week award.