Leeds Knights boss Ryan Aldridge on how his team have 'come a long way' in past two weeks
IT WOULD be easy to believe that this weekend’s double-header between the NIHL National top two will determine the outcome of the regular season title.
Just one point separates Leeds Knights from leaders Milton Keynes Lightning with both teams having 14 games to play ahead of Saturday’s first meeting of the weekend in Buckinghamshire.
Worst-case scenario for Ryan Aldridge’s team, of course, would be for their biggest rivals for the most-coveted prize in the UK second tier to take all four points, while they pocket nothing over the two games.
That would leave them with a small mountain to climb with a dozen or so games to go but, with a further visit to Milton Keynes still to come and the fact the Lightning also have to face third-placed Swindon Wildcats in a double-header weekend means the race will remain far from over, regardless of what happens this weekend.
Both teams have shown their frailties on a number of occasions this season, both losing at bottom club Berkshire Bees in recent weeks, while any game on the run-in will present potential pitfalls.
Either way, an intense great weekend of hockey is guaranteed in both Milton Keynes and Leeds, the kind of games Knights’ head coach Aldridge lives for.
“It could definitely have an impact on the title,” said Aldridge earlier this week. “We’ve just got to go in there and play our game and maintain the same kind of mentality we showed in both games last weekend.
“I think we’ve come a long way in the past couple of weeks with that. For us it’s just about the performance. We know that when we work hard and we’re together, we can beat anybody.
“We know that and it’s about us bringing that on both nights this weekend and everything we have been doing this week is about making sure that we do that.
“We enjoy playing Milton Keynes and I think people are going to be able to watch two great games of hockey.”
Leeds will head to down Milton Keynes on Saturday keen to set the record straight. It is over two years since they last won there, a 5-4 win in overtime on January 28.