Leeds Knights signal their future intentions with clear pathway for youngsters' development

The NIHL National league champions have revealed their submission of an ‘expression of interest’ to England Ice Hockey - the governing body for all levels of the sport outside the Elite League - to play in the third tier.

The move is designed to bridge the gap more comfortably for junior players aged 16 and over into senior hockey, essentially creating another step for their development, rather than expecting youngsters to go straight into the second tier.

They believe the better challenge for youngsters looking to take the next step in their hockey careers lies one tier below their current team.

Davey Lawrence, assistant coach to Knights’ boss Ryan Aldridge for the past two seasons, will step across to oversee the new ‘feeder’ team, working closely with Seth Bennett, who is in charge of the Leeds Junior Knights, which runs teams from Under-10s through to Under-18s.

Knights’ owner Steve Nell first mooted the idea of a second senior Knights’ roster around 12 months ago, shortly after watching his team clinch a NIHL National league and play-off double in 2022-23.

“It’s always been about growing the club on and off the ice,” said Nell, “The development of the younger players coming through is key to that and Ryan is key to that development.

“It’s now about bringing those younger players through. There’s a good junior development system here now and there are about 120-130 players registered with the Junior Knights.

“There are a lot of players there now and if we can bring some of those players from Leeds into the first team eventually that would be a big achievement.”

While the desire is to see talented youngsters complete their hockey journey right through the juniors and into the senior Knights’ teams – some kids will age out at Under-18s this summer – the door is also open to youngsters outside the organisation, insisted Nell.

“The idea is to retain our youngsters,” he added. “We want the kids to be able to stay within the programme. There is a big jump from Under-18s to the National League. I don’t think Division Two would be challenging enough for some of those youngsters and that’s why I think a team in Division One will be the kind of challenge they need to develop.

“It’s not just about kids coming through at Leeds, though - it’s open to anybody. Ideally, we’d like as many Leeds-based players as possible, but I’m sure that there will be players from other areas and other clubs.

“In the past year or two, we’ve brought in the likes of Innes Gallacher and Fin Bradon – so it doesn’t matter whether they are from Billingham, Scotland, wherever, we just want to give talented kids a pathway to make that jump to senior hockey.”

Nell said the organisation had a number of criteria to fill, one being signing enough senior players to be able to register a team for the 2024-25 season.

That currently stands at 11 skaters plus one netminder, but that is expected to jump for next season, possibly to as many as 15 skaters and one netminder.

Nell said player trials would be held before the end of the month to get the process of putting together a competitive roster rolling.

Aldridge, who signed a new deal in March keeping him as Knights’ head coach until the summer of 2027, added: “Our primary goal is to create a clear pathway for our local junior players.

“The junior academy has a lot of promising talent and it's important that we provide them with a clear route for their development. Our aim is to retain local talent within West Yorkshire.”