Leeds Knights 'relight the fire' in bid to retain NIHL National Cup crown
HAVING witnessed one trophy of theirs hoisted aloft by one of their fiercest NIHL National rivals already this week, Leeds Knights are keen to avoid a repeat show in South Yorkshire tonight.
Swindon Wildcats ended the Knights’ dominance of the regular season in the UK’s second tier and celebrated long into the night after being presented with the trophy and winners’ medals at the Link Centre on Saturday night.
By a strange twist of the schedule, it was Leeds who were the visitors that night, although the three-time champions went down fighting, as it were, by winning the game that preceded the awards ceremony 5-4 in overtime.
Tonight sees them defend the second of the two trophies they won in 2024-25 when they take on Sheffield Steeldogs in the second leg of the NIHL National Cup Final.
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg in Leeds almost two weeks ago, they are going to have to retain that particular piece of silverware the hard way.
Head coach Ryan Aldridge hopes seeing the most-coveted piece of silverware at this level pass on to Swindon at the weekend will have lit a fire in his players and not just for tonight’s showdown in Sheffield.
“It’s respectful and is the right thing to do, to stay on the ice for the trophy presentation,” said Aldridge. “To watch somebody else lift that trophy after we have done it for the last three years was pretty tough.
“Hopefully it should give us a little more drive and motivation for the rest of this season, but also act as a bit of a reset and a refocus for next season.
“And it relights the fire inside us for the Cup final and the play-offs.”
The biggest talking point for the Knights going into the clash is whether captain and leading point-scorer Kieran Brown will be fit to play, having missed the last five games, including the first leg of the final.
Aldridge said Brown was ‘day-to-day’ in terms of his recovery and it will be a gameday decision on whether he plays.
But his team take good form into Wednesday night’s encounter, having snapping a six-game losing streak by winning their last three league games – a run that includes a 5-4 win at home to the Steeldogs last Friday and an overtime victory by the same scoreline at newly-crowned champions Swindon Wildcats 24 hours later.
“For me, the team performances – with the team that we’re icing right now – everybody should be very proud of themselves,” said Aldridge.
“The young boys that have come in have been phenomenal and so to get those results with where we are right now and how tired we are right now, I think it speaks volumes about our group’s character.”
With his team needing to chase the game in Sheffield and overturn a two-goal deficit, Aldridge is aware of making sure his players get the balance right.
“They are a solid hockey team, they are well-coached and have some phenomenally talented players,” said Aldridge.
“For us, we’ve got to make sure we are defensively smart, we’ve got to take our chances when they come and we have to get that balance right.”