“It’s a 120-minute battle this cup and we’ve got 60-minutes to turn the page and go in there and play our best hockey of the year.”


Liam Peyton is ready for the second-leg of the National Cup Final, despite his side being 3-1 down to the Sheffield Steeldogs after the first-leg at The Castle.


It’s the Canadian forward’s first chance at winning silverware with the Knights having joined at the start of the 25/26 season, and he’s prepared for the challenge that the visit to iceSheffield will present next Wednesday.


Speaking after the first-leg, he said: “It was a good fought battle. I think we knew what was at stake going into it, we knew the challenges we were going to have and at the end of the day, it’s a 120-minute hockey game so we left ourselves a tiny bit of a hole to dig ourselves out if, but we’ve faced adversity all year long and we know what we’re capable of.
“It’s a history of winning here and that’s what we’re going to do.
“We know we’ve still got another 60-minutes to go and compete in Sheffield and we’re going to dare ourselves out.”


The first-leg saw the Steeldogs take a two-goal advantage through Joonas Larinmaa and Cole Shudra, before 16-year-old Jonas Bennett halved the deficit for the Knights at 51-minutes. However, a late penalty shot for the visitors was converted by Bair Gendunov in the final action of the game seeing Ryan Aldridge’s side trail by two goals as they head down the M1 next week.


It was a sold-out crowd cheering the team on in Leeds with Peyton acknowledging the role the fans play by saying: “It’s always a very special atmosphere in The Castle.
“I’ve said it from the moment I stepped foot in the building, even just the pre-season, it’s special in here.
“The atmosphere, the energy, the passion that the fans have and bring to the table every night… it’s something that feeds us and something that we want to match as well.”


The second-leg of the National Cup Final is this week and the battle to retain our title as champions continues.
“I think we know what we’re capable of in that room and we’re capable of winning,” said Peyton.