Leeds Knights v Telford Tigers: Champions more 'complete' as they prepare to defend their widely-coveted NIHL National crown

​The summer has seen what for Leeds is a huge turnover of players compared to previous off-seasons, eight new faces coming in with nine heading out - three of those - veteran centre Matt Haywood plus imports Matt Barron and Noah McMullin - to retirement, with another three - defencemen Dylan Hehir and Krisjanis Fugalis and forward Ethan Hehir - to Yorkshire rivals Hull Seahawks.

Four testing pre-season games - two against Hull, two against Sheffield Steeldogs - have brought mixed reviews from the Knights’ head coach but, ahead of Saturday night’s league/Cup opener at home to Telford Tigers, he is happy overall with what he has seen from his team so far.

“This team is all hockey and last year I don’t think we had that,” said Aldridge. “It’s hard to describe but, in some ways, I think we’re more of a complete hockey team this season.

“We’re just making a jigaw basically and you don’t know if all the pieces fit until you get on the ice.

“So am I happy with how we’ve been over the four games in pre-season? Absolutely not, I thought the two away games, we were horrible and that’s not just acceptable.

“I’m not happy with (certain) people and they are not happy that I’m not happy with them and that’s fine - you bring what you can bring every night or you can bring it elsewhere - that’s just the way we’ve got to be.

“We can’t just be a team that plays well in the home games, we’ve got to be a team that comes to play every night.”

On new imports, forwards Liam Peyton and Arturs Mickevics and defenceman Matt Staudacher, Aldridge added: “We had to make some key changes.

“When you lose people like Matty (Haywood), Matt (Barron) and Noah (McMullin), you’re not only replacing quality players, you are having to replace good people, too and we’ve definitely replaced done that on both counts – that’s why it took me a bit longer this summer, to make sure I was getting the right kind of people.”

“As players, it’s obviously very early days for them because we’ve only played four games.

"I think NIHL National is very different to most leagues around the world, so it’s on them to fit in and understand that but I’m happy with where they are at.”

Big Match Preview – Leeds Knights v Telford Tigers

THERE are only two teams who have won the NIHL National regular season title.

Leeds Knights are one, the other is Telford Tigers.

The two teams meet on opening night at Elland Road Ice Arena on Saturday night with the Tigers looking to rediscover the kind of consistency that made them such a force in the early days of NIHL National – lifting the league crown either side of the pandemic in 2019 and 2022.

Since then it has been all Leeds but the Knights’ head coach Ryan Aldridge believes Telford could make themselves a contender again this season.

Imports Eric Henderson and David Thomson return and are joined by fellow Canadian forward Patrick Brown and D-man Calean McPhee.

“Brown looks pretty good,” said Aldridge. “A lot of teams looked at him this summer – he’s a big strong kid who skates well.

“They’ve improved generally and are always well-coached, they’ve maybe had some testing times with homegrown players, just the amount that are available to them but they have been working on that and I think they are going to be good.”

Peterborough Phantoms, now coached by former GB international forward Ashley Tait following Slava Koulikov’s switch to Sheffield Steeldogs, host Leeds on Sunday night, marking their first game of the season.