Sheffield Steelers' coach Aaron Fox has happy memories of his last trip to Cardiff Devils

Happy moment from the last Steelers v Devils game. Pic by Dean Woolley.

That was when he was Sports Director for Croatian KHL team Medvescak Zagreb, a club which had held a week long training camp in Wales prior to the two games with their hosts, back in August 2016.

While the pre-season matches were won in style by the then-illustrious visitors, it will be a far harder task for Fox as head coach of Sheffield Steelers on Saturday night.

Steelers may have lost just three of their last 12 games but they will be without influential forwards Marco Vallerand and Michael Davies, through suspension.

Fox says Cardiff and the reigning champions, Belfast Giants, were the two teams that Sheffield were still "measuring ourselves against...the two teams that we are chasing."

Both of them had had respectable results in the Champions League, said Fox.

Looking forward to the trip to the Viola Arena, the coach said: "It is a big hockey game.

“I thought that Cardiff game where we lost 3-2 - they did score a power play goal with four minutes left - I thought that was one of the turning point games of our season which allowed us to believe in ourselves and buy into our identity a little bit because we felt we outplayed them that night and didn't get the result.

"We are looking forward to getting them again."

Fox said his first visit there with Zagreb was memorable: "With a full house it was loud and it was a fun atmosphere.

"It is a well-run organisation, a good arena, I know they usually fill it and it will be a fun night."

Steelers have two games this weekend, both on the road.

After their first visit of the campaign to Cardiff, they go to Manchester Storm where they have lost twice in the Challenge Cup, 2-5 and 2-6.

Fox has already stated that the two losses would at least provide him and his team with plenty of background information ahead of this regular League visit.

In their last trip over the Pennines, Pavel Kantor struggled in goal.

He has since been released and Fox says he is "in contact" with potential replacements, although he will hold his cards to his chest "to make sure we get the right guy."