Leeds Knights proving they have what it takes to deal with missing bodies and adversity

Already missing three players due to being away on Great Britain Under-20 duty in Dumfries, the league and play-off champions were dealt a further blow when they learned that captain and talisman Kieran Brown would also be unavailable.

An upper-body injury meant the 23-year-old would miss his first games since signing for the organisation back in the summer of 2021.

Brown had recently been talking about how proud he was of the record he had of never having missed a game. It was almost as if he was tempting fate.

But while there will have been immense disappointment on the part of the player who has led the franchise in scoring since day one, there was perhaps concern whether his absence - in addition to that of fellow forwards Fin Bradon and Oli Endicott and defenceman Bailey Perre who were in Scotland - would prove to be too much for the Knights could handle.

Certainly, after 20 minutes of last Saturday’s home game against an experienced and clever Telford Tigers team when the Knights were losing 2-0, there will have been a feeling of dread among the home fans.

But, ultimately, the Knights were able to prove they have the depth to deal with tough situations, a Jordan Buesa the highlight of a come-from-behind 5-2 win against Telford, a scoreline they repeated the following night on the road at Bees IHC.

It means yet another four-point weekend for the Knights, keeping them just the two points adrift of leaders Milton Keynes Lightning, but with three games in hand.

For goaltender Sam Gospel - whose contract extension keeping him with the organisation until the summer of 2025 was announced on Monday evening - it was reassuring to see the team in front of him cope with such adversity.

“There’s definitely a good vibe around the room,” said the 29-year-old goalie, like Brown in from day one when the Knights franchise took over from the ill-fated Leeds Chiefs two-and-a-half years ago.

“The room is very similar to last year, there are some different personalities, obviously, but it’s a confident room, we’re confident in ourselves as a group.

“The weekend just gone, we showed that when we’re very short - with the guys away with GB and then having a couple of injuries along the way - that we’re okay and we can cope in such situations.

“We showed that without key players, depth guys or however you want to describe them, the room still functions, we still function more than adequately as a team.

“We come in every week with an upbeat attitude, practice, we’re learning all the time, we’re improving all the time.”

Gospel, who will hope to back-stop the Knights to victory in their only game of the weekend at Swindon Wildcats on Sunday, said the opportunity presented by being short-benched was quickly seized on by others - Jordan Buesa and Bailey Conger both grabbing a hat-trick a piece.

“We had a point to prove in a way,” added Gospel. “When there are players out or missing, it is always an excellent opportunity for others who might not get as much ice time as they want, to grasp the chance they’ve been given.

“It makes you a dangerous animal to play against really, because the players are hungry to prove something and you want them to take that opportunity.

“It was a good chance to show that we can still win games without key players and we took it.”