Leeds Knights: Performances trump results as far as coach Ryan Aldridge is concerned

He fully expected his team to get beat at some point, the law of averages dictates such an eventuality, as does the presence of a number of other quality teams currently plying their trade in NIHL National.

On paper, an overtime defeat in Milton Keynes is something most teams would take on any night, given Tim Wallace’s team are considered by many to be among the front-runners for silverware this season.

When the Lightning came to Leeds last month, they exited three hours later on the back of a 6-1 defeat at the hands of a clinical Knights.

And even though Leeds found themselves 6-2 ahead after 35 minutes on Saturday there was little chance that the Lightning were going to allow themselves to come off a poor second-best again.

The fact Leeds had got themselves into such a commanding position, though, was the main source of Aldridge’s frustration.

Winning streaks and how long they go on for are of little concern to Aldridge. Performances do.

Leeds responded in impressive fashion on home ice the following night, beating league newcomers Bristol Pitbulls 7-1 – their biggest win of the 2022-23 campaign.

But despite the handsome margin of victory, there were still elements of the performance which irked Aldridge, chiefly his players’ taking their foot off the gas after getting themselves 5-0.

“It’s funny because everybody talked about the number of wins we had apart from ourselves,” said Aldridge.

“That winning streak was never mentioned in the locker room. It’s not something I spoke about, it’s not something anyone else spoke about in there.

“The thing for me is performances, it always has been and I felt that to be 6-2 up in that building on Saturday night was incredible.

“They didn’t beat us on Saturday down there, we lost the game – that’s what frustrated me more than anything else, just how we lost that game.

“We know we had to lose at some point, it was always going to happen. But if somebody had offered me an overtime loss at Milton Keynes the night before I would have snapped their hand off. It’s just that when you’re up by that scoreline, it does make losing out hurt that bit more.”

Bristol, like fellow newcomers Hull Seahawks, found it tough adjusting to NIHL National initially, but have climbed the standings in recent weeks, now sit fourth-bottom having recently leapfrogged the likes of Basingstoke Bison and Bees IHC.

Despite coming off a distant second-best at Elland Road, Aldridge was impressed with Jamie Elson’s team, the two having worked together in the Great Britain Under-16 programme last year.

“Believe me, Bristol are a good, hard-working hockey team,” said Aldridge. “They are good in the offensive zone, well-structured and good on face-offs. They’ve got a lot going for them.”