Leeds Knights bring curtain down at The Castle in convincing style

A 4-2 triumph over Milton Keynes Lightning ensured the Knights finished top of play-off Group B and booked them a semi-final slot against Sheffield Steeldogs - offering a chance for revenge after losing out in the NIHL National Cup final to Slava Koulikov’s team earlier in the season.

As they had on Saturday night on home ice, Hull Seahawks came from behind to edge out Telford Tigers to clinch the last remaining semi-final spot, their 3-1 win in Shropshire earning them a clash with Swindon Wildcats.

Leeds and Sheffield will open proceedings at Coventry’s SkyDome Arena this Saturday in the first semi-final (1.30pm) with Swindon and Hull locking horns after (5.30pm).

Once again the Knights will be short-benched given Edgars Vengis, Daragh Spawforth Liam Hine and Jonas Bennett will be in Romania with Great Britain Under-18s on the final day of their World Championships Division 2A campaign.

That means head coach Ryan Aldridge will likely take the three teenagers who iced over the weekend and while they didn’t touch the ice in Saturday’s stunning 6-5 win in Milton Keynes, Evan Bradon, Jake Wigginton and Josh Hartley impressed on home ice when their chance arose 24 hours later.

As on the road the previous night, Leeds found themselves 2-0 down early in the second period.

Former Knights’ forward Harry Gulliver had given the Lightning a seventh-minute lead before Rio Grinnell-Parke doubled the advantage at 23.03.

But less than a minute had passed before the Knights were on the board, Kieran Brown beating Will Kerlin before he added a second on the powerplay just over two minutes later.

Another power play opportunity saw Matt Bissonnette fire through traffic from centre ice to put the Knights ahead at 28.59 and it was left to Sam Cooper to apply the finishing touch for the night when he made it 4-2 in the 47th minute.