Time on Leeds Chiefs side as they look to crank up pressure on NIHL National rivals
LEEDS CHIEFS player-coach Sam Zajac is convinced there remains enough time for his team to turn themselves into a genuine playoff contender in their debut season.
Bottom-of-the-table Chiefs fell to their biggest defeat of the campaign on Saturday night when they were hammered 9-2 by NIHL National rivals Peterborough Phantoms, a result which left Zajac feeling “embarrassed.”
But one positive from an otherwise forgettable weekend was that eighth-placed Raiders IHC – who currently occupy the final playoff spot - lost both of their games meaning that, with 32 regular season games remaining, the Chiefs are still only seven points adrift.
This weekend the Chiefs head to Hampshire for a double-header against fourth-placed Basingstoke Bison, marking the first time the clubs have ever played against each other.
And with a busy festive period to follow, which will see Leeds play seven games in 14 days, Zajac hopes his team can start to pile more pressure on those steams immediately above them.
“We’re not even halfway through the season yet, so there is a lot of hockey to be played and a lot of points still up for grabs,” said Zajac, who hopes to announce a new signing this week, possibly even later today.
“But we can’t let the teams above us start to pull away any further and we need to find a way to close that gap.”