Leeds Knights netminder Sam Gospel on why he is still confident of making it to NIHL Final Four Weekend in Coventry

Crucially, the Knights themselves are far from throwing in the towel.

Yes, back-to-back defeats against Milton Keynes Lightning were not exactly what was ordered for the start of the team’s six-game play-off campaign.

But they still have a chance of salvaging their post-season hopes, starting on home ice this Saturday against Bees IHC.

Anything less than a win, followed by another two points at the home of regular season league champions Telford Tigers on Sunday and the Knights can probably kiss goodbye to being at the SkyDome Arena on April 30.

But goaltender Sam Gospel said that, despite last weekend’s disappointments, the mood in the camp remained buoyant, Ryan Aldridge’s players retaining the belief that they are capable of going unbeaten for the remainder of the season.

Should that prove correct, then there will be wild celebrations in Coventry come May 1. And while the confidence remains strong, nobody inside the Knights locker room is under any illusions as to how difficult it will be over the next two weekends.

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“We know it’s a tall order but, as a group, we’re confident we can do it,” Insisted Gospel. “We had a chat after the game on Sunday and we said there’s no reason we can’t go four from four.

“It would be nice if other teams played into our hands, but we’re a team that have proved this season that we can beat anyone on any given night. So we’re still full of confidence – there’s no reason we can’t win out from here.

“All things considered, while it’s not ideal to lose back-to-back at the start of a play-off campaign, the beauty of this play-off format is that we get a chance to go at it from fresh next weekend.”

Gospel admitted that the Knights came up against a Lightning team packed with play-off experience and which had almost been saving themselves for the post-season to get underway, particularly given their hit-and-miss end to the regular season.

By comparison, the Knights remain one of the youngest teams in the second tier, although Gospel believes there is enough of a veteran presence in the roster to guide the younger team-mates through.

“Lightning are a team with loads of experience and have a lot of guys that have played a lot of play-off hockey,” he added. “We’re a young team, by comparison, and haven’t got a lot of players who have played much play-off style hockey.

“I think you could tell over the two games.

“With the younger guys, you do need to give them a bit of guidance sometimes and that’s what us older guys are here for.

“It is a steep learning curve but we’ve got the group that are capable and willing to get back into this play-off race.”

As he did with the ill-fated Chiefs before, Gospel has enjoyed another impressive campaign in Leeds, albeit tempered slightly by a groin injury that kept him out of the line-up for around five weeks around October and November.

But he still posted the best regular season save percentage of any NIHL National goalie (.914), while also making the most saves (1,277).

“I feel like my form has been pretty consistent all the way through,” said Gospel. “It’s always nice to do well in the stats over the course of a season. I feel like I had a bit of a dip about four weeks ago, but I’ve picked it up again since then.”

And if Leeds are to defeat the odds from their current position and make it to Coventry, they are going to have to pull together as one – something Gospel insists won’t be a problem.

“We’re a young team generally but we’ll stick up for each other,” he added. “We’re not the biggest group, physically, and we know that but there’s a big difference between bullying teams and sticking up for each other and we know what we’ve got in that room.

“We’re a team that other teams don’t particularly like playing. We’re super-offensively skilled, we’re a tight-knit group and we have each other’s backs.”