'Exceptional' Leeds Knights leave coach Ryan Aldridge beaming with pride
RYAN ALDRIDGE hailed his “exceptional” Leeds Knights after they came through another weekend with a third straight four-point haul which moved them up to second in the NIHL National standings.
Having come out of their opening weekend on the back of two defeats, the Knights have been perfect ever since, extending their winning streaks to six games by following up Saturday’s excellent 5-2 win at Milton Keynes Lightning with a 6-2 triumph on home ice against Solway Sharks.
Their latest maximum haul was achieved while missing several key players.
Defencemen Jordan Griffin and Lewis Baldwin were already out injured ahead of the trip to Milton Keynes, as was winger Mac Howlett through illness.
Import defenceman Matt Staudacher was also absent against the Sharks but, those left fit enough to skate, stood tall, however, on both nights, much to head coach Aldridge’s delight.
“I thought the whole group were absolutely exceptional,” said Aldridge. “For 120 minutes of hockey with the line-up we’ve had this weekend - Saturday night was a very special win.
“They were really together and tight and they found a way to get over the line again on Sunday, so I’m super proud of them.
“You’ve got three D-men out of the line-up and you have a 16-year-old along with a 17-year-old guy who has never played for us before, only had limited practices with us.
“Then the way that Bow (Neely) and Coops (Sam Cooper) and Bailey (Perre) have stepped up this weekend has just been phenomenal.
“I thought the performance from them this weekend was incredible.”
It was 17-year-old forward Daragh Spawforth who got the ball rolling against the Sharks on Sunday, good work by Liam Peyton on the boards setting up the youngster to fire past Jordan Marr with 8.35 on the board.
The Knights doubled their lead when Kieran Brown scored on the power play after good work by Balint Pakozdi at 22.08 before Oli Endicott forced the puck over the line to make it 3-0 shortly after.
Innes Gallacher showed quick-thinking when he turned and fired home from the left circle and into Marr’s top right-hand corner at 35.35, although the Sharks got on the board soon after through Lewis Young.
The four-goal lead was restored at 47.25 when Fin Bradon latched on to a loose puck and although Dylan Stewart beat Sam Gospel from close range on the power play to make it 5-2, it was Brown who had the last word, chipping and chasing before beating Marr from the bottom of the left circle at 57.00.