Leeds Knights look to take sting out of Bees’ play-off ambitions before taming title-chasing Telford Tigers

Victory for Tom Watkins’s side over second-placed Swindon Wildcats will see them retain the regular season crown they won during the inaugural season of the new-look second tier back in March 2020.

Soon after, the global pandemic took hold, the season shut down and hockey was forced into the shadows, save for a handful of behind-closed-doors tournaments towards the back end of 2020 and through early 2021.

But, despite the unforeseen stoppage in play, nothing much has changed.

Telford are still the same annoyingly consistent team they were two years ago, packed with veteran experience and led by the coaching nous of Watkins.

The fact they are out in front should come as no surprise and, even though Knights’ head coach Ryan Aldridge felt his team could and maybe should have got the better of the Tigers when they visited Elland Road two weeks ago - the visitors eventually prevailing 5-3 - he is among those quick to see why they have repeated their success from two years ago.

“They’ve got three or four lines that just keep coming at you and they all come at you the same way,” said Aldridge when explaining what made it so difficult to get the better of Telford.

“They are a very mature team – there are a lot of guys on that roster who have played at a very high level and you can tell.

“Here, when we played them, I thought we had chances to tie it up and actually win it in the third period, but they had already killed us off in that first period.

“They are a good, solid hockey team and a lot of them have played together for a number of years now - the same as Swindon - they know each other’s games inside out and that is an advantage right from the very start of every season.

“And if a team wins the league title, they obviously deserve it because it shows they have that staying power over a whole season.”

Who finishes runner-up to Telford is anyone’s guess, with the Knights one of four teams in a position to do so.

Should Telford clinch the title at Swindon’s Link Centre pad tonight, then Leeds could move into second spot should they get the better of Bees when they visit West Yorkshire tonight (face-off 6.30pm).

Everything points to a Leeds win on home ice tonight but Doug Sheppard’s team are themselves embroiled in a fierce battle for the eighth and final play-off spot with bottom club Raiders, who are without a game tonight but host Milton Keynes tomorrow.

Bees come into the game on the back of a 5-3 win at home to Sheffield Steeldogs on Sunday.

“They’ve taken a couple of big scalps recently,” added Aldridge.

“They’ve got plenty to fight for, so we certainly can’t be taking anything for granted

“We’ve got to try and play the way we did last Sunday against Milton Keynes and find a way to get the job done.”