Leeds Knights: Matty Davies confirms exit and reveals plans for Hull team to join NIHL National for 2022-23 season

The IMJ Group announced last week that they were in the closing stages of discussions both with rink owners Hull City Council (HCAL) and the NIHL National owners’ group about icing a team next season. If, as expected, it all goes through, then there will now be 11 teams competing in the second-tier.

On Monday, less than 24 hours after the Knights’ season had officially ended in an 8-7 play-off defeat at Bees IHC, Davies revealed on Twitter that he would not be returning, indicating he would be involved with the new Hull organisation.

A formal announcement is expected before the end of the week regarding the latest on the ice contract for Hull Ice Arena - an agreement has been reached with HCAL - and the new team’s NIHL National membership being ratified, with all the other team owners having already given it the green light.

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Davies looks set to be one of the leading figures in the new organisation and believes his time at Elland Road will serve him well in the next stage of his hockey career.

“It was sad the way the season ended in Leeds,” Davies told the Evening Post. “The last weekend left a little bit of a sour taste, to be honest, just with how it all ended in terms of the results over the last three weeks or so. I don’t walk away feeling like I’m fulfilled or I’ve done my job there fully.

“But I believe we had something really special there and I really believe that team and that club are really going to go places in the next few years.

“After Ryan (Aldridge, head coach) came in, there were a couple of changes and then we were really flying as a team, we had that nine-game winning run, we just couldn’t stop winning.”

With Sam Zajac absent through injury and work commitments for a spell after the turn of the year, Davies was made captain by Aldridge, a role he clearly revelled in.

“I think we had a really good atmosphere in the group and I came into my own a bit more as a leader,” added Davies. “It was about not trying to be the best player on the team anymore, which is what I’ve always had in the back of my head, that I’ve got to be that guy. I realised that wasn’t my role anymore.

“I felt like I had more to give rather than trying to be that guy and saw myself as trying to bring Browny (Kieran Brown) on a bit more, trying to bring Barnesy on more – just speaking to them and making them realise they good they were and that they should be confident.”

Davies had a couple of spells out through injury during the course of the season, but still contributed significantly, posting 67 points, including 17 goals, from 48 appearances. His time at Elland Road was one he clearly enjoyed.

“Leeds is a massive city with a lot of people who are looking for something a little bit different to the rugby and football and the Knights has caught that imagination massively,” he added.

“I want to thank everyone at Leeds for what has been a great season, the fans have been amazing and I really wish them all the best for the future. I’m looking forward to going back there with Hull for some great battles.”

Now Davies is preparing for a new chapter in his career, one which will see him heavily involved off the ice as well as remaining an influential figure on it.

Last week, Ian Mowforth was announced as MD of the IMJ Group who will be running the new team in Hull, with a third member of the ownership still to be revealed.

The specific nature of Davies’s role will become clearer over the coming days but he will clearly be the man responsible for hockey operations.

Born in the city and having come through the junior ranks there, the 32-year-old former GB international has spent the majority of his career playing out of Hull Ice Arena. There have been spells in Swindon, Solihull, Manchester, Telford and, now, Leeds but Hull is home and where the heart is for Davies.

“I felt it difficult to turn down the opportunity to help run a team in my home city,” said Davies. “It was one of those things where I thought, if I don’t do it then somebody else will.

“I’m excited about the challenge of what’s going to be happening and we’re hoping to reveal more details very soon. This year has been really tough at times, but I wouldn’t be doing this (in Hull) without what has happened this year in Leeds, now I think about it.

“In a way seeing what Steve (Nell) has done and achieved in Leeds and learning quite a lot from that, it has really made me think that, ‘yeah, this is actually how you do it’.

“Steve has obviously been doing this for a very long time, he’s been at Swindon for a long time, he’s been there and done it and he’s probably one of the best to do it at this level. It’s given me an insight into how a club should be run.

“People should be quite excited for what’s coming because we’ve got a lot of big plans. Especially with the fans having missed hockey there for a year or more they will be crying out for it to come back and with a good team.

“But, irst and foremost, with my ownership hat on, it’s about making this work and having nthree of us helps to spread the workload. We’re thinking long term and we don’t want this to be a flash in the pan, but I do want a good, competitive team next sesaon and a team that fans can get behind.”

With Davies heading back home to continue his career, it would be no surprise were other former Pirates’ players to join him next season, although he stressed it was far too early to say how the new team’s first roster would look.

Knights’ team-mates Jamie Chilcott and Jordan Fisher, like Davies, remain based in Hull and were both part of the 2019-20 Pirates team, as were several players currently icing for Sheffield Steeldogs, including Sam Towner, Lee Bonner, Lee Haywood, Matt Bissonnette, Jonathan Kirk and Jason Hewitt.

It was Hewitt who was player-coach of the Pirates between 2016-20, leading them to a memorable NIHL One treble in 2018-19 before the coronavirus pandemic cut short the following season, the first of the NIHL National era which was launched in an attempt to get back to something resembling the standard and competitiveness of the old EPIHL which ended in 2017 once it was reduced to seven teams. Hewitt, who lives in Sheffield, signed a two-year deal with the Steeldogs last summer.