Leeds Knights add Mac Howlett but lose their status as No 1 or Christmas

Friday saw them add British forward Mac Howlett to their roster for the remainder of the 2022-23 season, a sure sign that the Knights believe they are in with a realistic chance of securing silverware this season.

Bringing in Howlett - who arrives from Dundee Stars with an impressive resume that includes three-and-a-half seasons in the Elite League - adds the kind of quality, permanent depth they struggled to attain during the 2021-22 campaign when they were often reliant on two-way additions, sometimes not knowing until late on Friday night who they would be able to get.

The 22-year-old’s arrival will also hopefully bring a smile to the faces of his new team-mates, who will have been disappointed to see themselves knocked off the top of the regular season standings for the first time this season on Thursday night.

The pleasure of being Christmas No 1 will now fall to Milton Keynes Lightning, who edged ahead of the Knights after beating Raiders IHC 5-2 on Thursday night.

They now sit one point ahead of both Leeds and Peterborough Phantoms, although Aldridge’s team have three games in hand on both.

As any coach or player will tell you, though, the standings count for nothing at this stage in the season, although there could be a big change in how the top of the table looks given the hectic schedule that the teams face over the next week or so.

The Knights face the daunting prospect of four games in six days, the only positive in that being their travel is cut to a minimum with the resurgent Hull Seahawks and fourth-placed Sheffield Steeldogs providing the opposition.

“It’s going to be a tough few days, for sure,” said Aldridge. “But we’ve just got to take it game by game and it’s the same for everybody else, too.

“We’ll have to look to spread the workload out as much as we can, but if you’re engaged as a team, as a group, we’ve just got to go for every point that is on offer.

“I don’t think it’s a case of sitting down and looking at who we can take points off here and there, we’ve got to just go for every point we can.”

While Tuesday’s home game against the Steeldogs will come too early for injured defensive duo Jordan Griffin and Sam Zajac, Aldridge will be pleased to have Great Britain Under-20 youngsters Carter Hamill, Oli Endicott, Archie Hazeledine and Tate Shudra back on his bench.

The quartet all made significant contributions while away with the national team at the recent World Championships Division 2A tournament in Lithuania, where they finished runners-up, a 7-4 defeat to eventual winners Croatia proving crucial.

“I thought our four all played well,” said Aldridge. “We’re all really proud of them and how they handled themselves, they are good people, good players and fully deserve to be playing with the national team, but it will be great to have them back - we’re going to need them over the next week or so.”