RYAN ALDRIDGE believes Leeds Knights are starting to find their feet in NIHL National after a rocky start to the 2026-27 campaign.
The Knights were in the midst of their worst-ever opening to a second-tier campaign after picking up just three wins and eight points in their first 10 games.
But a 5-0 win over Solway at Elland Road Ice Arena on Friday night ensured back-to-back wins for the first time this season - coming on the back of Saturday’s 5-3 win at Basingstoke Bison.
It was also their first shutout of the campaign, while it also produced two power play goals, a particularly welcome development given they currently have the league’s worst PP record.
Ahead of Sunday night’s visit to Telford Tigers and then a following week which brings three games in four nights, Aldridge was pleased with the progress he feels his team - still missing forwards Innes Gallacher and Fin Bradon, as well as defenceman Liam Hine - has started to show.
“We finally played well at home and we’re starting to find our feet,” Aldridge told Knights TV afterwards. “But yeah, to win a game 5-0, you're always happy.
“We didn't do great in the last 30 minutes, but you want perfection, you don’t always get it.”
Aldridge was particularly pleased to see two of the five goals come on the power play, admitting it has often been a problem area for his team.
“We celebrated those two goals a little bit harder probably on the bench because the power play has never been our strong point, so to get two nice power play goals was great.
“The lines have changed slightly because of different things, but they were two nice goals.”
Aldridge hopes his team can extend their winning streak to three games when they visit Shropshire on Sunday, particularly with it also being a National Cup qualifying round group game.
“I think we're building every game now and we're starting to find our feet a little bit,” he added. “We've just got to play for 60 minutes, but again, that's a tough building to go into.
“We've played some good games there, we've played some bad games there, so we've just got to go in there with the right mindset. Sunday night is a very important game.”
Liam Peyton and Owen Sobchak led the way in terms of scoring in front of a 1,770-plus crowd, the Knights going in 2-0 ahead at the first period break.
Peyton jammed the first one home at 12.26 after a scramble in front of Dershahn Stewart’s net before Sobchak benefitted from a loose puck in front following good approach work from captain Kieran Brown.
The first of the power play goals arrived in the 26th minute when Sam Dunn fired through traffic, the second coming just under three minutes later when Sobchak teed up Peyton to blast home from the right circle.
Sobchak matched Peyton’s output when he broke clear down the right on to a Brown pass before slotting the puck through Stewart’s legs to make it 5-0 just past the halfway mark.
The Knights eased off - somewhat understandably - in the remaining 30 or minutes, the biggest cheer coming when netminder Sam Gospel produced a stunning save late on from Jonathan McBean who had the goal at his mercy.