Leeds Knights boss hails 'unbelievable' team after stunning NIHL National title repeat show

Last year the Knights pulled off a league and play-off double at the end of only their second full season as an organisation. There will be few people betting against them to repeat that double triumph in a few weeks’ time when the post-season concludes at Coventry’s SkyDome Arena.

But, before that, head coach Aldridge’s team will use their remaining four regular season games to prepare themselves for a return to the group format that greets the start of the post-season.

Players carrying knocks will be rested over the next couple of weeks ahead of the push for a second piece of silverware.

Aldridge and his players will rightly take a day or so to bask in the glow of their stunning title triumph, one which came on the back of them suffering only six regulation losses all season.

Defensively they have been solid all year, comfortably conceding the least number of goals, while their offence - granted, not as explosive as it often was last season - still sees them likely to finish the regular season as the league’s second highest scorers.

The Knights could have sealed the deal at the home of their nearest challengers - Milton Keynes Lightning - on Saturday night.

And even though Aldridge was disappointed to see his team return from Buckinghamshire with nothing to show for their efforts for a third time this season - only Hull Seahawks have won at Milton Keynes in 2023-24 - being able to win a trophy on home ice in front of a near-capacity crowd at Elland Road Ice Arena 24 hours later helped him quickly forget any frustrations he may have had.

“I think I was disappointed with the loss (in Milton Keynes) but, looking back on it, I’m almost glad we did,” said a delighted Aldridge. “It’s nice to do it in front of our fans, our own families so, yeah, it was pretty special.

“We talked a lot last year about how winning something like this is very hard and so to do it twice is pretty special, with the youngest group of players in the league for two years in a row.

“That is a credit to them - they have been unbelievable.”

Fittingly, Sunday night’s 6-3 win over Bees IHC - themselves still tied up in a three-way battle to clinch one of the two remaining play-off spots - was bookended by goals from captain Kieran Brown, allowing him to remain the league’s highest points scorer with 58 goals and 51 assists.

It remains to be seen whether he can win his personal duel with the Lightning’s Rory Herrman, who is one point back - Hull’s Emil Svec is also making a late charge with 104 points - but, in terms of the head-to-head battle between the respective teams, it was the Knights who again proved comfortable winners.

Having opted for a complete overhaul of the imports from last season, many questioned whether the Knights would be the same potent force that romped to the league title in 2022-23.

They were. The goal tally might have been slightly down, but Aldridge got his team to adapt to the new strengths added by the likes of Canadian duo Matt Barron and Noah McMullin, as well as top-end Brits like Jordan Buesa. They found a different way to play, a different way to win.

“We just found a different way to play,” added Aldridge. “But we found a way to win every night. We have a team that shows up when it is in tough situations and I think over the course of the season they have obviously proved that.

“They come to play every night. Sometimes we’ve had to drag it out of them, but they have found a way to respond every time.”

As with every championship-winning team, a degree of consistency is vital. Prior to Saturday’s 7-4 defeat in Milton Keynes, the Knights had enjoyed an 11-game winning streak. There was also a stretch of nine straight wins in October and November which proved crucial, much like a seven-game streak did over the Christmas and New Year period.

“Until we lost in Milton Keynes we were on an 11-game winning streak,” said Aldridge. “I think with this team, maybe it’s because they are a younger group or because of the bond that they have, I think the more adversity we’ve had to face the better we’ve become.

“We faced a few things last year and again a couple of times this year and it has made them pull together as a group and found a way to win night after night.”

The Knights finish off their regular season schedule with a weekend double-header against Sheffield Steeldogs - who by contrast have had a season to forget and missed out on the play-offs for the first time in the NIHL National era - before games against Solway Sharks and Hull.

The results won’t matter so much, of course, but it will be preferable for the champions to carry some kind of momentum into the post-season, while they take the chance to rest the battered and bruised bodies among their ranks.

“We’ve got a couple of guys who are carrying injuries right now and we need to rest them and find a way to limit their ice time, shall we say, but then our focus quickly turns to the play-offs,” added Aldridge.

“It will be just about getting into the routine of things and see what we can get done in the post-season. But we’re going to enjoy this first - for the boys to do it again is simply phenomenal.”