Lewis Houston hoping he can renew Leeds Chiefs points-scoring alliance with Adam Barnes in NIHL National

The two youngsters hit it off almost immediately last season after Great Britain Under-18 international Houston made the switch from Solway Sharks in mid-December.

Houston posted 22 points, including 15 goals, in his 24 appearances for the Chiefs, while regular line-mate Barnes ended the slightly truncated 2019-20 season as the team’s top scorer, posting a 50-point haul, including 26 goals, from 43 games.

Barnes’s whereabouts for next season are yet to be revealed but, if player-coach Sam Zajac can get him back for a second year, it would be no surprise if he were to put the pair together again, something which would delight Houston.

“We just hit it off straightaway, we connected and we seemed to get better and better the longer the season went on,” said Dumfries-born Houston, who attracted the interest of several other NIHL National rivals during the summer.

“You do have to work at these things, but sometimes it just naturally clicks with another player and that’s what happened with Barnesy at the Chiefs soon after I got there.

“It seemed every time I put a pass somewhere, Adam would be on the end of it, he’d just be in the right place and vice versa. It helps a lot when you connect with somebody that quickly.”

Houston will go down in Chiefs’ history following his move there last year, his goal in the 4-1 defeat at home to Sheffield Steeldogs being the first to be scored at the new Elland Road rink by a Leeds player.

And it was the atmosphere generated on and off the ice that helped convince him he should return for the 2020-21 campaign.

“Straightaway, on that first weekend, you could tell it was a good atmosphere in the room,” he added. “All the boys were supportive of each other and always looking out for each other.

And then there were the fans in Leeds, who were something else. Considering it was only a half-finished rink, the noise that they made was unreal - unlike anything I’d played in front of before.

“That just shows you the potential for the sport and the team in the city. When we played that first game at home it was a busy place and that was great to see.”

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