Leeds Knights coach Dave Whistle gets set to meet players for first time

The 55-year-old Canadian hasn’t exactly been idle since being brought on board by Knights’ owner Steve Nell with his dual role as head coach and GM keeping him busy.

But over the next couple of days, he will spend time getting to know people both on and off the ice at Elland Road rink as preparations build for the 2021-22 NIHL National campaign.

Whistle is keen to meet and greet as many people as he possibly can on his first visit to town, including a gathering at the rink tomorrow night at which he will meet members of the Knights’ supporters club.

Introducing himself to potential sponsors will also be on the agenda, as will sorting out accommodation for both himself and a small number of players who will be based in the city.

Most importantly, however, will be when tonight offers him a first glimpse of some of the players who will watch and learn from him over the coming weeks and months.

It being the team’s first official practise – although light on bodies – Whistle will not be looking to seriously test his new charges, more see for himself what basic skills and attributes they possess, the hour or so long session also allowing him to see areas on where various players can improve.

There is expected to be at least one practise session or the next 2-3 weeks with further gatherings being added towards the end of the month as they step up their readiness for the pre-season exhibitiongames that are lined up for the weekend of September 4-5.

The opponents for those games will be announced tomorrow morning, with a warm-up game at home to Sheffield Steeldogs already scheduled for Friday, September 10 ahead of a trip to Telford Tigers 48 hours later.

Whistle, who has been lodging in Swindon since he flew into the UK almost two weeks ago, admits he is looking forward to the moment when he finally steps out on to the ice in Leeds tonight.

“It does feel like it has been a long time coming,” said Whistle. “The last thing we’ve been worried about right now is the ice time over the last couple of months. We’ve been working more on the off-ice stuff in the previous weeks and months and getting the team picked and the roster filled and trying to build the best team we can, both on and off the ice.

“So I’m really looking forward to just meeting the players for the first time and seeing what they can do in practice.

“We won’t have our full team but we’ll have at least half of our players skating and we’ll also have some players from other places maybe coming out and skating with us .

“I’ve seen plenty of video on our players already, but this will be a great opportunity for me to see them skate close up.”

Whistle says he will keep the first on-ice session fairly light, both in terms of drills and intensity.

“I’m going to go on the ice and run some drills – I could have just let them have a scrimmage and watch them play but I’d rather go on there and actually do some skill work with them to see where they are at.

“We’re probably going to do some passing drills I want to see the level they are at right now and I’ll probably be able to tell which guys have been skating more in the summer.

“I know some of them have, whereas some of our other guys haven’t had that opportunity with some of the ice arenas being shut for longer periods.

“I know some of our guys have been up at Bradford skating together a few times, so they are probably going to come out and not miss a beat but then you’ll have other guys who haven’t played for a year and a half.”

“Now that the ice time is starting up for us, I’m actually getting more and more excited.”