With the end of the regular season coming up, your Morley Glass Leeds Knights are within touching distance of picking up another League Title!
We started the 23/24 season as the team to beat, following a phenomenal 22/23 season, that saw us win successfully pick up two pieces of silverware, in the form of a League Title and a Playoff Championship!
During last year’s league season, we set the league alight, winning 46 out of 56 games, losing on just 5 separate occasions, beating out the MK Lightning for the right to be called the Planet Ice NIHL National Champions for the very first time – in just our second year as a club. Winning the league put is in a great spot for the Playoffs, dispatching of the Basingstoke Bison, Telford Tigers and Raiders IHC as we lifted silverware for the second time in 2024.
Fast forward to present day and it all feels oh so familiar, with us once again leading the way and the MK Lightning chomping on our heels as they try to knock us off the top spot – something we have maintained for almost 2 full seasons now. Things are by no means over yet, but with an 8-point lead at the time of writing and just 9 games remaining in the regular season, time is quickly running out for our league rivals.
This season saw us once again make it into the Semi-Final of the National Cup, an elusive competition that we have not yet managed to go the distance of, despite 2 cup finals in the previous years as well. Unfortunately, we fell to our Yorkshire Rivals, the Hull Seahawks, as they too begin to make their mark on a highly competitive NIHL National Division.
On the ice we’ve had some standout performers once again, with our Captain, #12 Kieran Brown smashing the 100-point barrier once again, as well as surpassing 50 goals and by doing so, becoming the first ever player in the English Premier League and NIHL Era, to accomplish those incredible feats. Kieran boasts a league leading Points Per Game, leads the league in scoring and is potentially leading us to a successful title defence – AND he’s already re-signed for next season!
Joining Kieran for another year at The Castle, #31 Sam Gospel will be back in Leeds for the 24/25 season, following what has been a career year so far, beating out the rest of the Netminder’s throughout the league in: Goals Against Average, Save Percentage, Goals Against, Wins and more!
Head Coach Ryan Aldridge has also committed to staying in Leeds, recently signing a 3-year deal. During his time at the Helm of the Knights, Ryan boasts a mind-blowing 101 wins in 122 games, which means he boasts an 82.8%-win rate alongside an 85% points percentage.
Off-Ice, we’ve seen incredible growth in attendance at The Castle, as well as some amazing travelling support up and down the country - and even to Scotland on our trips to face the Solway Sharks, as they made the step up to this league this season. We’ve also seen substantial growth in our Social Media following, adding the accolade of being the most followed team in the league to our belt!
The league title could mathematically be attained as early as this Sunday if results were to go our way, but with a tough schedule coming up it may be a couple of weeks before the league winner is decided, with the regular season coming to a close at the end of this month!
