Leeds Knights: New signing Jamie Chilcott aims to get back up to speed quickly for NIHL National play-off push

The next time he walks through the doors at the rink though, on Sunday afternoon, will be as a Knights player, ending a 22-month ‘break’ from the game.

The former Hull Pirates defenceman has signed up with the Knights for the remainder of the season, bringing with him a wealth of experience, much like his two former team-mates from East Yorkshire, Matty Davies and Jordan Fisher.

Like everyone else back in March 2020, the 28-year-old took an enforced absence from the game when the coronavirus pandemic took hold and the UK went into the first of a number of lockdowns.

While some of his former Pirates’ team-mates were later able to get ice time in the handful of behind-closed-doors tournaments that took place in 2020-21, Chilcott was busy preparing for fatherhood, splitting his time between his hometown and Leeds, where his partner lives. As he took to family life and with Hull Ice Arena firmly shutting its doors for an overdue refurbishment while other rinks around the country gradually reopened, Chilcott admits he had little time to actually miss playing.

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But after the NIHL National returned to some sense of normality in early September last year, his interest has been rejuvenated, eventually getting back on the ice around November.

With the Pirates mothballed for the season, Chilcott knew he would have to look further afield to get back playing.

And, after spending a couple of weeks practising with the Knights at Elland Road, he is now preparing for his first competitive action in almost two years when Basingstoke Bison visit Elland Road on Sunday.

“I’ve been down to a few of the games when I’ve been able to,” said Chilcott after his signing was announced yesterday.

“With the Autumn Cup Final they had over 2,000 in which is great for any team in this league, never mind one in its inaugural season.

“I think in terms of other teams in this league, Leeds has to be one of the biggest cities – it’s definitely got the potential to grow and gain more interest.

“And the team have done a pretty good job so far, especially early on in the season when they got on a good winning streak, that brought fans in and got them hooked – hopefully, they will stick around.”

Like his new team-mates, Chilcott got to meet new, interim coach Ryan Aldridge for the first time last night, the former Swindon Wildcats coach being brought in by team owner Steve Nell to succeed Dave Whistle, whose exit earlier this week came as a major shock.

Having been out of action for so long, Chilcott is keen to make up for lost time, but realises it will take a few games to adjust to the rigours of NIHL National hockey once again.

“To be honest, when I first went back on the ice last November, after about 20 months or so, it was okay – I was better than I thought I’d be,” he added. “I probably felt worse in previous years when I’ve jumped back on for pre-season after just having the summer off.

“You get up to speed with things initially, then build your match fitness back up. You can be training as much as you want in the gym but getting on the ice is different, it is for all players.

“You don’t fully get up to speed until you’ve got a few games under your belt.

“I’ll get in there this weekend against Basingstoke and take it from there and hopefully I’ll hit the ground running.”

Former Pirates team-mate Davies - also part of the treble-winning season line-up from 2018-19 - is looking forward to having Chilcott alongside him on the ice again.

“He’s a good lad, I’ve played with for a long time and we are friends away from hockey, so it’s nice to have him on board,” said Davies.

“He’s a player that we need to help shore up the back and just bring some added, well-needed experience. It’s been a while for him since playing, but he’ll soon be back to where he was and he will help us a lot going forward.”