Leeds Knights register another maximum haul but no time for rest as NIHL National rivals give chase

The NIHL National leaders wake up this morning still three points ahead of nearest rivals Peterborough Phantoms, who themselves enjoyed a four-point weekend of their own, as did third-placed Milton Keynes Lightning.

With Sheffield Steeldogs also winning their only encounter of the weekend - a hard-fought 2-1 win at Basingstoke Bison - it means the Knights cannot afford to switch off on any given night.

Yet to be beaten in regulation, that record didn’t look in doubt on either night, a madcap 10-5 win at Swindon Wildcats on Saturday - when they were heavily outshot by Aaron Nell’s team - was followed up with a more measured performance when seeing off bottom side Hull Seahawks 4-1 at Elland Road.

There were elements of Saturday night’s performance that head coach Ryan Aldridge wasn’t happy with, which he alluded to in his post-match chat after seeing off Yorkshire rivals the Seahawks on home ice.

“That scoreline didn’t really reflect the game in Swindon on Saturday so we wanted a reaction against Hull and we were looking for the guys to go out and play a full 60 minutes and we got that,” said Aldridge, who handed back-up netminder Harrison Walker his first start of the season against the Seahawks.

“Especially for those first two periods where we came out and played hard and worked hard against a very hard-working hockey team in Hull."

Hull came into their first competitive visit of the season to Elland Road in buoyant mood having picked up a first home win of the campaign when seeing off Bees IHC 6-3 the previous evening.

But they struggled to gain a foothold in Leeds and found themselves 2-0 down inside seven minutes after Kieran Brown was twice the beneficiary of good work by linemate Adam Barnes.

Walker’s first taste of action didn’t come until the eight-minute mark, when he was called upon to make a couple of saves in quick succession, but he enjoyed a quiet opening period with the Seahawks only mustering three shots on net in total.

Matt Haywood increased the lead to 3-0 when he tipped in from Barnes just 82 seconds into the second period and the game was effectively ended as a contest when Cole Shudra struck on the power play at 26.45.

Hull did enjoy a short burst of sustained pressure shortly after but Walker was equal to the challenge when pulling off three or four top-class saves.

He was finally beaten in the third period, however, when Cameron Hamill leapt on to a loose puck on the edge of his own zone before racing clear and firing past Walker from the top of the left circle at 42.32.

It meant there was no dream shutout for Walker on his full Knights’ debut - he was handed a few minutes at the end of the previous week’s win at home to Bristol Pitbulls - but it was an impressive performance from the youngster, who turned away all but one of the 19 shots on his net.

The Knights’ net came under far more pressure in Wiltshire the previous evening but they still came away with both points thanks in large part to a four-goal burst in as many first-period minutes which contributed to them going in at the break 5-1 ahead.

With former Wildcats’ forward Oli Endicott making his Knights’ debut on familiar ice, Grant Cooper broke the deadlock for the visitors wuth just 2.46 on the board.

That was how it remained until the 14th minute when all hell broke loose in the Swindon zone, Cole Shudra doubling the advantage at 13.34 before Haywood and then both Cooper and Shudra again left the home team and their gobsmacked supporters reeling at 5-0 goals down.

The Wildcats got on the board before the period was over through Tomasz Malasinski only for Brown to quickly restore the five-goal advantage early in the second.

There was hope for the home team as they went in at the second break just 6-3 adrift thanks to strikes from Chris Jones and Stephen Whitfield.

But a third period hat-trick from Zach Brooks put paid to any hopes of a comeback, Cooper matching his fellow import’s output for the evening when sealing his own treble with just 74 seconds remaining.