Leeds Knights 2 return 'younger but stronger', says coach Davey Lawrence
DAVEY LAWRENCE prepares to embark on his second season in charge of Leeds Knights 2 confident he has a better team than this time last year.
It was a baptism of fire for both the head coach and his players last time out in their inaugural campaign.
They were able to scrape into the play-offs on the final day of the regular season before a humbling by the all-conquering Billingham Stars in the first round of the post-season.
With 11 new faces coming into the team over the summer - a handful of them stepping up into senior hockey for the first time - Lawrence again has a young team at his disposal.
But that is the main driving force behind launching a second senior team at Elland Road, to provide a pathway for younger players to work their way through the senior ranks - the eventual hope being they will provide a rich supply line of talent for the NIHL National Knights’ team.
Last weekend saw the Knights play their only pre-season challenge game, losing out 5-3, the goals coming from Fritz Heinzle, Danny Harrison and, on his senior debut, Frank O’Sullivan.
The result was - as is the case with all pre-season games in most sports - irrelevant, but Lawrence got what he wanted from the outing in Cheshire, working out which combinations and lines may work best in tomorrow’s NIHL North One opener at title hopefuls, Blackburn Hawks.
“The Widnes game was us just wanting to look at lines, seeing which guys clicked with who and find out where each individual is at,” said Lawrence.
“Because when you come off that summer, you’ve got an idea of how you want things, but until you’ve really seen everyone, you never really know how people are going to click.
“I’m happy with where we are, I think we’re better than we were last year, I don’t think there’s a question about that - even though you could argue we’ve even gone a bit younger, I believe we’ve got more talent and that will show itself as the season progresses.”
Leeds Knights continue their preparations for the defence of their third straight NIHL National title when they take on Hull Seahawks in a double-header pre-season challenge weekend.
The Knights head to Hull first on Saturday (5.30pm) before hosting their Yorkshire rivals at Elland Road on Sunday (5.15pm).
Hull made the surprise announcement that defenceman Dave Phillips had left the club on Friday morning.
Later in the day, Sheffield Steeldogs announced the former GB international was heading there. Hull have added experienced Jamie Chilcott to the line-up to bolster their defensive options.
Head coach Ryan Aldridge will give debuts to his three new imports Liam Peyton, Matt Staudacher and Arturs Mickevics, as well as other new arrivals Sam Cooper, Balint Pakozdi and Jonas Bennett.