Recognition as Leeds Chiefs’ top performer ‘brilliant’ says goalie Sam Gospel

The goaltender was always likely to be a front-runner in the online poll having produced a number of stellar performances for the Chiefs in their debut season in NIHL National.

He polled 40 per cent of the vote, with forwards Lewis Houston and Steven Moore sharing second place with 20 per cent each.

Gospel also won Player of the Season in the Leeds Chiefs Supporters Club’s end-of-season vote last month.

“It’s brilliant,” said Gospel. “ It’s always a pleasure when you get a bit of recognition from something like this.

“It’s nice when your hard work has been recognised, although that’s not taking anything away from anybody else because we all put the effort in last season, as a team.

“It’s great to be recognised by the fans. It’s always good to get their take on things and how they felt about the season.”

Gospel faced more shots than any other netminder in NIHL National last season and posted a save percentage of 88.91, making him some people’s outside bet for the league’s overall player of the season.

Not surprisingly, Chiefs’ player-coach Sam Zajac praised his No 1 goaltender on countless occasions in his post-match press interviews during the season, often citing the 26-year-old as his team’s most important player.

“What Gossy gave the team this year, you can’t speak highly enough about him,” said Zajac.

“When we were recruiting last year we knew straight away that we were going to need a top goalie to give us a chance in games and for our money he has been the best in the league.

“He faced a lot of rubber all season and he only missed a couple of games all year.

“He was so consistent all the way through and he gave us a chance to win every night, which is all you can ask.”