LAST YEAR saw the rivalry between Leeds Knights and Hull Seahawks step up a few notches. Matty Davies expects the stakes to be raised even further this season.

Both teams got one over on each other in 2023-24, the Knights enjoying the better of the head-to-head league series between the two, while Davies’s Seahawks enjoyed Yorkshire bragging rights in the semi-finals of the National Cup before going on to lose to Milton Keynes Lightning in the final.

Leeds Knights ahead of rivals but still 'finding their feet' in pursuit of third...

This weekend, the two Yorkshire duo meet each other in a double-header, the first instalment being staged tonight at Elland Road, with Hull Ice Arena providing the platform for them to face-off tomorrow.

RIVALS: Leeds Knights and Hull Seahawks meet twice this weekend. Picture: Knights Media/Jacob Lowe.

Leeds - looking for a third straight regular season title - go into tonight’s encounter top of the standings, with Hull close behind, one point and one place adrift but with a game in hand.

It could hardly be closer.

Both have suffered unexpected wake-up calls – Leeds at Berkshire, Hull at Romford – and while there is plenty riding on the next 48 hours for both teams, both Davies and his Leeds counterpart, Ryan Aldridge, know nothing will be decided in terms of silverware this early in the season.

Davies believes the onus is on his team to close the gap on a rival he still insists is the best team at this level.

DERBY DAYS: Hull Seahawks' head coach Matty Davies hopes to see his team go ahead of rivals Leeds Knights in the NIHL National standings. Picture: Bruce Rollinson

“I think last year, we saw the birth of a real rivalry between the two of us, one that will last for a long time now, the way both clubs are going,” said Davies.

“It does and it will get intense and emotions will come to the fore. At the end of the day they are still the benchmark.

“We are chasing leeds, everybody is chasing Leeds – they’ve won the league twice in a row, they are the best team in the league. But we go into these games knowing we can beat them and knowing how to beat them.

“That doesn’t make it any easier, it’s still going to be two really tough games, two hard games for both teams.”

Davies will be without GB international defenceman Dave Phillips after he was handed a four-game ban by the NIHL Game Review Panel for an illegal check to the head in last Sunday’s home win over Romford Raiders.

Hull will also be without young D-man Kohen Taylor for getting into an altercation with Romford’s Joe Tomalin in the same game.

The double-blow means Davies has turned to a familiar face in the shape of Josh Hodgkinson to step in and fill the gap.

The 23-year-old left-hander played four games for Hull last season, but is well-known to Leeds fans having helped them to their first league crown during the 2022-23 season before being jettisoned in the close season by Aldridge.

Hull Seahawks looking to close the gap on Leeds Knights - now and in the future