AS a hectic week nears its end, Leeds Knights ensured they head into the final 10 games of the 2024-25 NIHL National tied up on points with regular season title rivals, Milton Keynes Lightning. 
In the aftermath of their NIHL National Cup Final celebrations last Sunday at The Castle, the Knights were back in action just 48 hours later for the first of two games in four days against Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Steeldogs. 
A dominating performance saw the Knights win 6-0 at Ice Sheffield on Tuesday before they made it a clean sweep of eight out of eight derby victories over Ben Morgan’s team with a hard-fought 4-2 victory at The Castle on Friday. 
Captain Kieran Brown was the star of the show on home ice, producing a scintillating hat-trick to get his team over the line. 
He broke the deadlock with only 97 seconds gone when he picked up a loose puck in his own zone, drove down centre ice and backhanded over Ben Norton’s left shoulder from the bottom of the right circle.
It wasn’t long before the Steeldogs were level, though, a sweeping move started by Elmeri Hällfors found Finlay Ulrick, whose skilful lay-off just inside the Knights’ zone set-up Ivan Björkly-Nordström to fire through Sam Gospel’s legs from the left circle at 4.08.
The Knights went in ahead at the first break, though, when Matt Barron teed up Brown for a cheeky close-range finish through his legs which left Norton with no chance at 18.38.
The second period saw the Knights extend their lead while they were a man down for a high sticking call on Dylan Hehir. 
As the puck was cleared from the Knights’ zone, Brown won the race to get to it before bearing down on goal and lifting the puck over Norton’s right shoulder and into the roof of the net at 34.05.
The Steeldogs ensured the Knights could not take a second off, though, when they made it a one-goal game early in the third, breaking out of their own zone down the left, Björkly-Nordström found the advancing Jonathan Kirk who had time and space to fire through traffic and past Gospel at 42.06.
The Knights needed a bigger cushion and duly got one just under five minutes later, Buesa’s attempted pass from the right circle to Howlett at the far post cannoning in off the right skate of Steeldogs’ captain Jonathan Kirk to make it 4-2, a lead they held on to to register their 33rd regular season victory. 
Three days earlier, the Knights made it 32 wins with an impressive performance at Ice Sheffield.
Still on a high from their Cup Final triumph over Romford Raiders two nights earlier, the Knights - who handed a senior debut to 16-year-old Bradford Bulldogs' forward Danny Harrison - picked up where they left off going ahead in the fourth minute through Finn Bradon before Matt Bissonnette doubled the lead at 7.19. 
A strike from Brown five minutes later put the Knights into a commanding position by the time the first intermission came around and, after a goalless second period, they found their scoring touch again.
Bradon doubled his tally with a well-worked power play goal in the 42nd minute before Bissonnette did the same with a neat finish from the right circle on a breakaway at 52.41.
Bow Neely completed a convincing win when his second goal of the season squeezed through Norton and over the line with just under five minutes remaining.