Leeds Knights: No change as Oli Endicott strives to maintain run of success for NIHL National champions
HAVING agreed to return for a fourth season with Leeds Knights, it’s hard to believe Oli Endicott will still only be 21 when he steps out for the three-time NIHL National champions at the start of the 2025-26 campaign.
The left-handed winger has proved an integral part of the Knights’ success story since he first walking through the doors at Elland Road Ice Arena back in November 2022.
It brought him together again with a coach in Ryan Aldridge who he already knew well from their time at Okanagan Hockey Academy in their hometown of Swindon.
After Friday’s news on Endicott’s return was broken by the club, it’s clear neither player or coach are interested in ending their working relationship any time soon.
“It’s pretty clear that Leeds is a great club,” said Endicott. “Steve (Nell, owner) and Ryan have made it a great organisation. Ryan is a great coach, I like playing for Ryan, all the boys are great and it’s obviously a quality rink.
“And all the trophies and silverware that we’ve been winning over the last three years, it has been a real pleasure to be involved in and I don’t believe any kind of change for me right now is necessary.
“This is a place that feels a lot like home at the moment with my hockey, so it was definitely on the cards for me to come back once I knew Ryan wanted to sign me - a bit of a no-brainer, really.”
Given his obvious progression during nearly three seasons with the Knights, Endicott is likely to have a bigger responsibility when he returns to action in September, a situation he will be comfortable with.
The combination with Finley Bradon and Innes Gallacher on the Knights’ third line last season –one often rotating with the more experienced Ethan Hehir – proved particularly potent, a combination Aldridge was confident to put out against any other line in the league.
“I think the thing with Innes, Fin and me is that we just read the game so well together,” added Endicott, who posted 40 points - including 17 goals - in 62 appearances last season. “I just know where they are going to be on the ice - we move the puck well, we’ve got each other’s backs and I think that has just shown that we’re quite a deadly line.
“And I think our secondary scoring for Leeds last season was key, because we had big games where we did show up and I think that, as a line, we contributed a lot last year in a lot of different ways.”
Aldridge acknowledges the development of Endicott in Leeds since his arrival and said he was a must-have when it came to putting together his 2025-26 roster.
“On the ice and off the ice he is a huge part of our locker room and so he is somebody we had to have back,” said Aldridge.
"He’s one of our more experienced players in this league for us now, but he’s a big leader within the group and the boys are starting to see that in him as well.
"When players play the way he does, you automatically have to be seen as a bit of a leader or a key part of the group and he will do anything for anybody on his team against anybody any night of the week.”