Leeds Knights digging deep again to deal with absence of key man Oli Endicott

Leeds Knights have already done that this season, winning their first two games of the NIHL National campaign without captain and leading scorer for the past two years, Kieran Brown.

Other individuals – namely Matthew Barron and Finley Bradon with a hat-trick apiece – stepped up to fill the gap that weekend.

Brown has since returned but, tonight at Swindon Wildcats, the Knights will be missing another key piece of their roster in the shape of Oli Endicott.

The 20-year-old livewire forward is banned following a check to head call in last Sunday’s 6-4 win at Telford Tigers.

Thankfully, he will be missing for only one game, back on home ice for the first time in two weeks tomorrow night with his team-mates when Bristol Pitbulls visit.

Over the course of a season, the left-hander won’t contribute anywhere near as many points as Brown over the course of a season, nor is he expected to.

Instead, he contributes in so many other ways, according to head coach Ryan Aldridge, both on and off the ice.

“It could have been avoided, probably,” said Aldridge when discussing the hit that led to Endicott’s ban. “But, the way Oli plays, is he going to make mistakes? Yeah. Are we going to support him through those mistakes? Absolutely.

“He wears his heart on his sleeve and comes to play hard every night, sometimes he is going to make hits and plays that he’ll regret and it’s just about being part of a team, maturing and dealing with it.

“He is a massive player for us, one of our big energy guys, he’s big in the room, big on the ice. He gives his all every night and it is his hometown team that we’re travelling to and so it’s going to hurt him as he would obviously have loved to have been playing in Swindon.”

Aldridge is looking for a performance more like those seen in the opening weekend wins over Solway and Milton Keynes, believing last week’s displays in beating Bristol and Telford saw his players take a couple of steps back.