Fox intrigued to see how Steelers duo fare in Germany

They were recruited by Passau Black Hawks in the comparatively obscure Oberliga, making their debuts in Saturday's 5-2 loss to Riessersee.

Hawks' management said both played strongly in the game, although they pointed out that DeLuca was jet-lagged after arriving from Canada the previous day.

The Oberliga division is not perhaps a destination that will be all that familiar to Steelers' fans - in fact it is pretty much an chartered territory for Fox, too.

The coach said: "It is so hard to estimate the quality (of the third tier in Germany.) I haven't seen that league play in a long time, so I don't know what the level is.

"I believe our league is better than the German second league.

"So it is going to be a step below that.

"Our league is considerably higher than the Steeldogs' league (NIHL) so it might be a fair assessment to say it is somewhere in the middle."

Fox believes government support for hockey in Germany may have been instrumental in getting their league programmes going, during the covid pandemic.

"There are smaller cities, but with good fan support, and I believe they are getting government money that is able to support that situation. That's my understanding."

As for the EIHL, Fox said: "I know there are still conversations going with the league and the DCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) but I have no feedback on what's going on at the moment."

Is the coach despondent about the outlook?

"Yeah, ofcourse, everybody is. We are one of those professions where you absolutely cannot work from home so it's not something that has been easy from our side" he said.

"I am trying to stay active and stay busy, watch games when they are playing in other countries, and keep having conversations with agents to keep those relationships good.That is the only thing you can do at this stage...wait it out."

*Meanwhile, Steeler Robert Dowd has recovered from his ribs injury at Eppan in Italy - but match-play has been temporarily suspended because of covid.