Sheffield Steelers head coach Aaron Fox gives his view on changing the format of the Elite League play-offs
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00:00I think the aggregate is a bit outdated, in my opinion.
00:16I understand where it came from, but again, we won on the weekend, so it's easy for me to say this.
00:24What's the best thing to say?
00:25Yeah, that's fair. To be perfectly honest with you, I feel like we should probably have been playing in Glasgow on Thursday and Sheffield on Saturday.
00:34If that series is tied 1-1, there shouldn't be any aggregate goal differential in that.
00:39You win a hockey game, you win a hockey game, and then there should have been a home game on Sunday for the higher seed,
00:47which is you play 54 games of pretty intense hockey to put yourself in a top-four spot.
00:53Where's the advantage? I know people will say the advantage is, well, you get your home leg at home for that 3-on-3 overtime and penalty shots,
01:00but to play two hockey games like that for 120 minutes and throw it down to a 3-on-3 5 minutes and penalty shots just seems like we're missing the point a little bit.
01:10You know, I don't think logistically it would be that hard of a, you know, you play your first game on the road,
01:17the higher seed plays on the road the first game, and then there's two home games waiting for you if you need it.
01:22If it's only two games, it's only two games, but it also gives that home team an extra gate, which is the advantage of finishing the top four as well.
01:28So, again, just my two cents when it wasn't sour grapes after a loss due to aggregate or something like that,
01:35I felt like it was a good time to throw it out there.
01:38And would you carry that on through all of the postseason?
01:41I don't think you can. I think the playoff Final Four weekend is something that will never get changed in this country,
01:46you know, because it's such an event, and whether you like it or you don't like it, you know what I mean?
01:51It's something that is very traditional and part of British hockey, and it's, you know, I like the Final Four concept.
01:58I mean, if you want to give me a best of seven for three rounds, I'll take that all day.
02:02But we know that's not happening, so let's start small.