Leeds Knights faced with hectic schedule as NIHL National title battle hots up with Sheffield Steeldogs derby showdown

That’s what lies ahead of Leeds Knights when they face-off against Sheffield Steeldogs at Elland Road Ice Arena tonight.

It’s a daunting prospect - the Steeldogs themselves face a spell of four games in five days which culminates with a final regular season meeting with Leeds at Ice Sheffield on Tuesday - and one which is going to test the Knight’s title-winning credentials to the limit.

Defenceman Lewis Baldwin will be missing throughout this hectic period and possibly for up to three weeks in total with a lower-body injury, but head coach Ryan Aldridge is confident he has the personnel and the depth to cope with what is coming their way.

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When asked whether the next 10 days represented a season-defining moment for his team, Aldridge replied. “Quite possibly.

“We’ve still got 19 games to go overall and we’ve got another similar period in March where we have a lot of games in a short space of time.

“We’ve got a couple of injuries right now, so it’s obviously going to be a tough little period for us.

“For us now it’s about winning games. We’ve talked a lot about performances over the season - and obviously we still want good performances - but we’ve just got to win hockey games now.”

Having added Mac Howlett to the wing just before Christmas and replacing import forward Grant Cooper with Jake Witkowski, Aldridge has plenty of options on the front end, particularly with the welcome return of Adam Barnes after more than two months out.

Baldwin’s injury shortens his options on the back, but having already added the experienced Thomas Barry in early December, the depth should still be there.

“It’s tough to run four lines at this level,” explained Aldridge. “Especially when you haven’t got all those players every week, that unsettles guys, they can’t get into their game as much as they normally would.

“But the reality is that we’re going to be having four lines on the bench as much as we can over this busy period and if we get a chance to rest guys we’ll rest guys and if we get a chance to run four lines, we’ll run four lines.”