Leeds Knights need to box clever to cope with missing GB young guns

Three Knights players Oli Endicott, Bailey Perre and Fin Bradon - are away on international duty with Great Britain Under-20s, who will be hoping home ice advantage will pay dividends when they host the Division 2A World Championships in Dumfries.

The tournament begins on Monday and lasts through until Sunday, December 17 with GB taking on Lithuania, Netherlands, Spain, China and Korea.

Two of the coaches leading the team are NIHL National rivals of Aldridge’s with head coach Martin Grubb boss at league newcomers Solway Sharks, while assistant coach Tom Watkins is the man behind the bench at Telford Tigers.

It is Telford who visit Elland Road Ice Arena on Saturday night before the Knights hit the road for a second visit of the campaign to Bees IHC.

Watkins won’t be with the Tigers team due to his commitments with the Under-20s, who continued their preparations on Friday night with a warm-up game against Korea.

Missing three key players at any time of the season is not something any coach likes to have to deal with, but Aldridge - who has placed such emphasis on the development of young players since his arrival in West Yorkshire in January 2021 - totally understands the situation.

He believes it will make a refreshing change for the Knights’ youngsters to play a different style of hockey against players their own age.

“For all three of them, it’s good for them all to go and play against players their own age and of a similar high standard,” said Aldridge.

“It’s good for them to go and play a different kind of hockey. They can do different things, act differently, win more battles in the corners, feel more comfortable out there on the ice instead of having a big, grown man breathing down their throats.

“They are all young men at the end of the day and they are all still learning their trade and so I think it’s good for them to have this kind of tournament.”

Aldridge was initially planning to deal with just the loss of forwards Endicott and Bradon until, on Wednesday, defenceman Perre was added to the GB roster, the result of an injury suffered by Sheffield Steeldogs’ Sam Cooper.

It means the Knights will be playing short for the next three games – they only have one game next weekend when they are hosted by a Swindon Wildcats team finally back in their Link Centre rink – but Aldridge is confident those he has on his bench will cope with the extra demands placed on their bodies.

“We’ll move some bodies around in terms of positions and we obviously just have to go with a shorter bench,” he added. “It obviously gives other players a chance and more minutes. It’s a bit tough, but it is just what it is and we’ll have to cope.

“I don’t think we’ll be bringing other players up temporarily, other teams have games and there’s no point in bringing somebody up if it isn’t going to be worthwhile.

“With a shorter bench we’ll just have to box clever. We’ll just take care of the home game and then start thinking about Sunday and the Bees once we’re done.”