Leeds Knights coach Ryan Aldridge and why he knew his faith in Jordan Buesa would be rewarded
RYAN ALDRIDGE hopes Jordan Buesa can emulate Leeds Knights captain Kieran Brown and kickstart his 2024-25 season after ending his goal-scoring drought.
After 17 games without a goal, the Scot registered his second of the campaign in last weekend’s 5-1 home win over Telford Tigers. His first came in the season-opening night win at Solway Sharks 78 days earlier.
Throw in a classy assist for Brown’s slapshot effort earlier in the game against Tom Watkins’s team and it was no surprise the Scot was all smiles at the final buzzer.
Brown has gone through something of a slump himself earlier this season, scoring just once in seven games as he struggled to replicate the same form that had seen him finish NIHL National’s top points-scorer for three consecutive years.
But a goal in the 5-2 win at Sheffield Steeldogs on November 9 was the catalyst Brown required, part of a three-point which has seen him go on a run of scoring 22 points in seven games, 12 of them goals.
Buesa was a major contributor to the Knights’ league title success of 2023-24, posting 65 points - including 30 goals - across 54 appearances.
Aldridge is hopeful the 24-year-old can return to that kind of form and insisted he always had faith in the former Glasgow Clan forward, confident his patience would be rewarded.
“It gets him going again,” said Aldridge. “I thought he made a great pass on Kieran’s goal just a few minutes earlier, a really nice pass
“It’s that kind of goal that can get you out of a slump as a player. He’s obviously been in a bit of a slump, a bit of a tough spot but hopefully that’s the goal that sparks his fire.
“Watching the game back in the week, his first three shifts were just night and day compared to how he had been.
“He was geared up, ready to play and when Jordan plays like that he’s hard to play against. Hopefully he has found his spark again and goes on like that for the rest of the year again.
“He’s a massive part of our team, as all our players are. You could see the weight lifted off his shoulders and it was great to see the reaction of the other players, too - the whole bench hadn’t erupted like that for two years, probably.
“He’s still a young lad and we wanted to support him through it and we wanted him to be in Leeds, so you have to show players that support and stand by them.
“And if that is the trigger for Jordan to start scoring more regularly, then that’s another level of offence for us. It worked for Kieran recently, too when he was struggling.”
The win over Telford was their only game of the weekend, the Knights arguably emerging from the latest round of games in a slightly better position than they went into it.
That was courtesy of leaders Milton Keynes Lightning dropping a point in a 4-3 overtime loss at Solway Sharks, leaving them just a point ahead of the Knights but having played one game more.
The Knights hit the road on their return to the fray, hoping to avoid a similar outcome to when they last visited bottom team, Berkshire Bees, when they lost 2-1.
The Bees have been struggling for bodies in recent weeks, something clearly noticeable when they visited The Castle in mid-November, icing just 12 skaters as the KNights recorded a comfortable 8-2 win.
The situation hadn’t improved much in a 6-3 defeat at Hull Seahawks last Sunday, although Aldridge - whose team take on his former club Swindon Wildcats at home on Sunday (face-off 5.15pm) says there is a danger in taking the Saturday night’s hosts lightly.
“Last time down there, their goalie was great against us and then they probably rested him when they came up to us because they wanted him for the home game the following night against Swindon,” he added.
“So I imagine he’ll be in the net again which will make it a different game again completely.
“I think they are still struggling for numbers, but it’s the same as any team that is short that I’ve ever been on - they usually over-achieve.
“Your best players are always on the ice more and that’s just what the reality is. You look at their ice time over the last 3, 5, 10 games, their top three forwards their two imports and Vanja Antonov - I think Vanja’s averaging about 35 minutes a night, so with players like him on the ice for 35 minutes per night, yes, he’s tired but he knows how to put the puck in the net and he knows how to create offence.
“I don’t think you can do that every night over the course of the season but I think in the short-term or for odd games, you can still turn over anybody.”