'Simply the best' - Leeds Knights goalie Sam Gospel and why me is so revered by his team-mates

It just offers another reason why the players who play in front of their No 1 netminder, regard him so highly – were any further excuses needed.

Both of Gospel’s shutouts came at the weekend. On Saturday, the 31-year-old produced a 44-save repelling of Romford Raiders in a hard-fought 3-0 win on home ice.

Just under 24 hours later, he saw off the challenge from hosts Basingstoke Bison, as he back-stopped his team to a 2-0 win which guaranteed the Knights a place in the semi-finals.

Not surprisingly, it brought two further MVP awards, in addition to two over the previous weekend. There have been others this season, too.

Knights’ forward Oli Endicott, himself in a rich vein of form with eight goals and seven assists in the last 10 games, says Gospel’s value to the team is immeasureable.

"That guy is the best goalie I've ever played with,” said Endicott. “He really is the best goalie that I've ever seen in this league.

“The fact that he's British as well - a few other teams have import goalies - he's still the best goalie in the league.

“He knows he faces a lot of shots, but as long as we can keep them to the right areas, I think he's more than happy.”

The Nottingham native is no stranger to good performances. Over the last four seasons – including 2025-26 – he has maintained a save percentage above .920. This number is considered elite as he has saved 92 per cent of all the shots he faced.

Clearly, it has been a big reason behind the Knights’ unparralelled success at this level.