Leeds Knights 2 add depth as they prepare for NIHL North One take-off

Davey Lawrence’s team launch their inaugural NIHL North One campaign with two tough road games, following up Saturday’s trip to Hull Jets - themselves only in their second season at this level - with a visit to Solihull Barons 24 hours later.

It promises to be a tough baptism of fire for the Knights, who go into the campaign with the emphasis very much on youth.

From the outset, Knights’ owner Steve Nell was clear about creating a pathway for local youngsters to eventually push through to the team which has been crowned back-to-back NIHL National league champions.

But having experience alongside that youth is clearly necessary, with the Knights expanding both of those areas, with three new faces and three more youngsters being brought up from the junior ranks.

In Alex Mitchell, Lawrence adds a defenceman with two years experience at North One level with Widnes Wild, having come through the junior ranks at Bradford Bulldogs prior to that.

Forward Matty Barlow is another to have benefitted from time under Andy Brown at Bradford before spending three seasons at Widnes.

Last season saw him post 31 points, including 13 goals, in 27 games for the Wild.

Dylan Harcourt is another forward making the switch to Leeds, splitting his time between North One rivals Blackburn Hawks and Altrincham Aces in the past two seasons.

Rocco Mallon, Rocky Jenkinson and netminder James Adamson are the three youngsters given the chance to make the step up from junior hockey.

“Alex had a pretty good year at Widnes last year and he was looking for a new challenge and wanted very much to be part of this group, so it’s a win-win for both team and player,” said Knights 2 head coach Lawrence.

“Matty is a player that I’ve got a lot of time for, plays the game the right way, committed to the cause and keen to better himself and play at a higher level. He played last weekend for the Knights in pre-season and did really well.

“Then, with Dylan, we’ve got another player who wants to progress and we aim to develop him into the type of player he is looking to be.”