Head Coach Ryan Aldridge has praised the young Knights players who shone last night in his side's 5-2 victory over the Bristol Pitbulls.
Daragh Spawforth, Edgars Vengis and Jonas Bennett all returned to the line-up after spending the previous week on GB duty in Romania. They won silver at the IIHF U20 Men's World Championship and made their return known to The Castle.
Vengis scored the first goal of the night for Leeds at the 25-minute mark and then went on to secure his hat-trick with the third and fourth goals for the Knights.
Aldridge recognised his talent saying: "I said when he was away, we missed him; missed his energy, missed his personality in the room, missed his big smile on his face and he just plays the game the right way and we got rewarded for that tonight.
"[He's a] young guy with a bright future, but he's a team-first hockey player. We need more of them right now and luckily the young boys coming through are a team-first hockey player."
The joy radiating from the 17-year-old was palpable as The Castle erupted when he received Player of the Match - a very well-deserved award given his stand-out performance.
Aldridge went on to say: "The young boys were obviously phenomenal tonight. Those goals obviously got us right back in, gave us a jump. The boys played with energy from there on so yeah it was massive."
Danny Harrison netted his first goal as a Knight too and the team were certainly thrilled for the two young forwards receiving their accolades with Aldridge saying: "In the room there, the boys got their pucks. He [Edgars] got his puck for a hat-trick, Danny got his for his first goal. The boys were loving it for them.
"Again, it's a great group in there. We're finding it hard right now, but all the boys were definitely pumped for them to get those goals."
Join Edgars, Danny and the rest of the team back at The Castle on Saturday as we host the Telford Tigers. It's set to be another huge crowd as we battle for crucial league points on home ice. Get your tickets here ⚔️
