Leeds Knights trio are homeward bound aiming to tame familiar foes Swindon Wildcats

The long road south today takes the Knights down to Wiltshire for a first meeting of the season against Swindon Wildcats, the club where Endicott spent his formative years.

First coming through the junior system in his hometown, the 18-year-old forward then spent three seasons at the Okanagan Hockey Academy, based at the Wildcats’ Link Centre home and owned by then Swindon owner Steve Nell.

It was at Okanagan where Endicott also first met Knights’ head coach Ryan Aldridge.

Last season saw him thrust up into NIHL National where he made quite the impression under player-coach Aaron Nell. He also spent time at Bristol Pitbulls in NIHL South One as well as a short spell on loan at second-tier rivals Bees IHC.

In short, it was a productive 2021-22 for the youngster, who caught the eye with a string of energetic and skilful performances.

This summer saw him take the brave decision to head to Finland to play for IPK in the Under-20 Mestis league, his time there cut short over visa issues through his need to return to the UK to prepare for next month’s World Championships with the Great Britain Under-20s squad.

A delay over his International Transfer Contract card prevented him from making his Knights’ debut at Milton Keynes Lightning last week, as well as stepping out on home ice in the 7-1 demolition of Bristol.

That has led to him heading home to familiar surroundings to face-off for his new team against old team-mates. He will have family there watching him, although his parents are out in Poland cheering on his younger sister Lilly who is out there competing with Great Britain Under-18 Women in the Four Nations Championship.

“It’s going to be an interesting one, stepping out at Swindon for my first game,” admitted Endicott. “ I’m really excited, it;s my hometown and all that. In an ideal world, I wouldn’t want it to be my first game, but it is and I’ve just got to get on with it and play my game.

“The Swindon fans are great, so are all the guys down there and they’ve got good coaches. But on the ice it’s going to be a different situation and, hopefully, we can come out with the win.

“They’ve had a bit of a struggle at the start of this season, but I watched them the other night and they are a good team. They can beat anyone on their day and Aaron knows what he is talking about. But, seeing what I’ve seen so far, we are capable of beating them.”

Tonight also marks a return home for Aldridge, as well as Knights’ defenceman Bailey Perre, all three having spent a large chunk of their ice time at the Link Centre.

"It’s always tough playing against your old teams,” said Aldridge. “You’ve got to be a different kind of character to say it’s not. All three of us have grown up there, it’s a big part of our lives. But it’s not our club anymore and while there’ll be lots of friends in the building, they’ll also be plenty of enemies too.”