EVERYTHING may seem rosy for Sheffield Steelers at the moment, but head coach Aaron Fox is taking nothing for granted going into the second half of the 2022-23 Elite League campaign.

The Christmas and New Year period saw the Steelers emerge as leaders in the regular season standings, extending their league winning streak to nine games with a pair of wins over both Nottingham Panthers and Manchester Storm.

They will look to continue their rich vein of form in South Wales against Cardiff Devils in Thursday night’s Viaplay televised game but with his team’s role having switched from being the hunter to the hunted, Fox knows there is no room for complacency between now and early April, when they complete their league schedule against the same opponents, at the same venue.

“Since I walked in the door here, Cardiff and Belfast have been the two franchises I’ve tried to close the gap on, they’ve had a ton of success in the league in recent years,” Fox told BBC Sheffield’s Sport Heaven. “They're only four and six points back and Guildford had been on an excellent run and up until they lost those two games against Manchester

WE MEET AGAIN: Robert Dowd takes on Cardiff's Joey Martin during last month's Challenge Cup quarter-final second leg clash in Cardiff, which Steelers won 5-3 for 10-4 aggregate win (Picture: James Assinder/EIHL Media)

“There’s a ton of hockey left to play, so any three of those teams can put a really good stretch of hockey together and win the league.

“We have just been concentrating on taking care of our own business which we’ve done recently and we’re in a great spot. Halfway through the year, we want to be in this hunt down the stretch and we’ve put ourselves in a great spot to do that.”

Steelers overall unbeaten run stretches to 11 games, given their two-legged Challenge Cup quarter-final win over tonight’s hosts.

Fox believes his players will come up against a slightly different beast at Ice Arena Wales, the Devils having won six out of seven since their Cup loss to the Steelers and having added two new faces in the shape of forwards Stefan Fournier and Robert Herrman.

Sheffield Steelers head coach Aaron Fox (Picture: Dean Woolley)

“It will be a little bit of a different team, a different look,” added Fox. “But, again, we’re more focussed on how we’re going to play. I feel that when we are on our game and ready to play with the pace and tempo we like to play with, we’re a tough match-up .

“I like our group. We’ve got depth throughout our line-up, a top six that is like a line 1A and 1B and we get some great depth scoring. We’ve got some awesome defencemen and great goaltending. If we stay healthy, I really like our chances.”

Sheffield Steelers boss Aaron Fox issues warning to Cardiff Devils, Belfast Giants and Guildford Flames