Leeds Knights Fans’ Jury: The unstoppable Kieran Brown, a split weekend and the race for runners-up in NIHL National

Have a scroll through their take on the home win over Bees and the loss at Telford Tigers and post your own thoughts.

Nick Jackson, Leeds: It was a hard-fought weekend for the Knights, home on Saturday against The Bees and away on Sunday against top of the league Telford Tigers.

Saturday started with early penalties for both teams then the goals started coming.

Brown and Barnes were on fire and Baldwin looked like a natural forward (Lewis can you play up front every week?!)

It was a solid team performance and put the Knights securely in the play-off spots.

Sunday, away to Telford wasn’t a great result but the lads worked hard again. The Tigers are top of the league for a reason. We’ll be there soon though, watch this space!

This weekend we welcome Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday before hitting the road to take on the Bees on Sunday away to the Bees on Sunday. These are two games we really need to win and put pressure on Swindon in second place.

Hope to see you all at the rink soon!

Jim Piper, Manchester: Things are hotting up at the top of the table, the Knights moving into third place in the NIHL standings after a win and a loss at the weekend.

Another 1,600+ crowd at ‘The Castle’ saw an 11-goal thriller against Bees. Kieran Brown, the league’s top scorer scored a hat-trick, as did the Bees’ Will Stead as goals went in thick and fast.

The first two periods finished 2-2 as our visitors belied their lowly league position by matching the home side all over the ice.

Knights pulled ahead with Kieran scoring his third and Lewis Baldwin his second to give them a two-goal lead.

Bees managed to pull one back to make it a frantic last few minutes but Knights sent the home crowd happy by keeping them out for a hard-earned two points.

On Sunday, it was a trip to the league leaders Telford in search of another four-point weekend. It was not to be as a powerful performance by the Tigers saw them run out 6-2 winners. Knights never gave up but Telford showed why they are likely to win the league next week.

Results went in the Knights’ favour though as they leapfrogged MK into third place with four games to go in the regular season.

Next weekend we entertain an in-form Peterborough before heading south for a re-match with the Bees. All to play for as only four points separate second from fifth in the standings as everybody closes in on the play-offs.

Johnathan Greenwood, Halifax: The tally keeps on ticking for the Knights and the two points collected at the weekend keep them in third spot - but it was perhaps the first week in many that things didn’t really fire.

Perhaps Telford Tigers had a point to prove when Leeds visited Shropshire on Sunday after a surprise 6-3 defeat in the first leg of the National Cup Final to Steeldogs and losing out to the Wildcats.

This is exactly what they did, taking a 3-0 lead thanks to efforts from Bayley Harewood, Vladimir Luka and Jack Hopkins before Leeds had any response of their own thanks to yet another Kieran Brown siren-sounder.

The contest was effectively over by the second intermission at 6-1 with all three previous Tigers scorers notching once more. A second Kieran Brown goal merely adding to his already impressive stats on a difficult night.

Bees also made Ryan Aldridge’s side work hard for both points that they eventually collected 6-5 on Saturday.

Twice the Bees went ahead in the second period thanks to Dominik Gabaj (2-3) and Josh Martin (3-4) as goals were traded. Adam Barnes collected a Brown pass to fire through the legs of Weller-Evans for 3-3 but the moment of the night came when, with the home side short-handed, Brown took it upon himself to produce an moment of individual brilliance and evade all challenges to skate down ice and cooly roof a shot that claimed his 100th league point of the season.

The early exchanges of the final period then settled the tie, a repeat of a Brown and Baldwin blitz from the opening 20 giving Leeds another two-goal lead - one they would maintain despite Will Stead completing his hat-trick at 56:52.

The Knights face-off against Bees again this coming Sunday in a reverse fixture after entertaining Peterborough Phantoms at the Castle 24 hours earlier.

With things getting increasingly tight - just a single point now between third and fifth spot on the ladder - perhaps it was a healthy reminder of the challenges this league offers to have a testing weekend, but there is now little room to slip up from here on in.

Michael Piper, Leeds: ‘A big fish in a small pond’ is how Knights star man Kieran Brown was described on social media recently, prompting furore from Leeds fans and players alike but how far can the Bradford-born forward go?

Having already spent time with the Sheffield Steelers in the Elite League, Brown is no stranger to UK’s highest level of ice hockey however he was barely out of his teens when icing for the men in orange and getting little ice time.

It’s with the Knights that Brown has really come in to his own. Initially having to share the spotlight with Brandon Whistle, Brown has relished taking on the mantel of Leeds’ star player after Whistle’s somewhat unceremonious departure.

As soon as he gets the puck the crowd are on their feet, he skates at lightning speed and has a hatful of tricks to leave defencemen in his wake.

Having scored his 50th NIHL goal this season and putting in a man-of the-match performance in the Knights’ win against Bees on Saturday and logging his 100th point of the season on Sunday in the loss to Telford Tigers, Brown has quickly established himself as one of the hottest properties in the British game.

Knights fans can rest easy knowing he will be suiting up in Leeds for at least one more season but if he carries on this form it’s hard to see him not going all the way to the top.