KIERAN BROWN believes a weekend away could prove ideal for Leeds Knights as they struggle to get their NIHL National season going.
The Knights are languishing in eighth with just two wins to their name from their first eight games, with two further points picked up in overtime defeats at leaders Milton Keynes Lightning and, last week, at home to Basingstoke Bison.
It is their joint worst start to a league campaign in terms of points accrued since 2021-22 when they won three and lost five of their first eight games.
This weekend gives them a chance to try and build some momentum on the road when they head to regular season champions Swindon Wildcats before carrying on further south to take on Basingstoke.
Knights’ captain Brown - who has himself had a quiet start to the season, yet still leads the scoring for his team with two goals and eight assists so far - is confident all the right pieces are in the locker room and believes it will be sooner rather than later that the three-time league champions will start overhauling the teams above them in the standings.
“I think we've been good,” said Brown. “Obviously we've not been getting the wins that we would like, but we keep plugging away.
“We're really listening and taking on board what Ryan's saying - because obviously he's a great coach and he knows what he's doing.
“I think it's just the little details that we need to fix, then we should be good.
“It will be good for our team to just get away for the weekend and get some team bonding. To get two points on our first night away when we play Swindon will be massive. It would set the tone for the weekend.”
Brown admitted it was unusual for the Knights to find themselves in such a position, given their relentless success in the previous four seasons which has yielded three league titles, two play-off crowns and a National Cup.
He said it was a case of learning from mistakes made in the opening four weeks of the 2026-27 season and moving forward.
“We just need to stick to what we know,” he added. “We've never really been in this situation before where we've lost this many games, so it's quite new to me and new to a lot of the guys.
“We need to look at our mistakes and try not to repeat them and get some more points on board.
“We know it’s going to be a tough weekend, they all are - but I believe it's in our room to get the points. As some people say, we just need to get the train going and roll it into the following weekend.”
Like Leeds, Swindon took just a point from their opening weekend but have fared better than their northern rivals since, winning their next four games before settling for a point in a shoot-out defeat at home to Romford Raiders last Saturday.
Former GB and Sheffield Steelers’ defenceman Ben O’Connor returned for that game having been out through injury since mid-January.
Saturday’s encounter in Basingstoke also doubles up as a National Cup game, the Knights hoping to pick up their first points of the group phase, after defeats to Peterborough Phantoms and Milton Keynes.