Jake Witkowski on being back in the game and aiming for repeat success with Leeds Knights

Everybody knows how things ended up the last time he was here, the Knights going on to finish the 2022-23 season as NIHL National league and play-off champions.

Heading into tonight’s home clash with Telford Tigers, the Knights are certainly well-placed to emulate, maybe even better that success, sitting three points clear of second-placed Milton Keynes Lightning and with a game in hand.

It was around the same time 12 months ago that Witkowski made his first entrance to West Yorkshire, debuting in a midweek 7-2 win at Hull Seahawks.

This time around his second ‘debut’ came a bit further north, with a first-ever visit to Dumfries in Scotland to take on the Solway Sharks.

Unlike that midweek night in Hull 12 months ago, it ended in defeat for Witkowski. Just. The Knights going down 4-3 after a shoot-out.

Given he had landed in the UK only the day before and was still suffering from jetlag, his performance was all the more impressive, the same thought applied for when he returned to ‘The Castle’ in a competitive fixture two nights later when the Knights responded with a comfortable 7-5 win over bottom club Bristol Pitbulls.

After his swift exit home to North American following that memorable play-off final victory in Coventry last April, Witkowski landed back in Massachusetts unsure of what the future held for him.

A deal with Leeds never materialised, leaving Knights’ head coach Ryan Aldridge to look elsewhere.

In the meantime, Witkowski has been keeping his hand in with some former team-mates and fellow pros in a college alumni league, as well as turning his hand to some coaching of junior players in between.

Keeping in shape has never been an issue for the 27-year-old forward, who returns to West Yorkshire hoping to enjoy a similar kind of impact to the first time around when he plundered 59 points in 28 league and play-off games - 19 of them goals.

“It was great showing up to the rink for that first practice back and seeing all the guys and meeting all of the new players,” said Wikowski.

“It was a little bit of a different feeling compared to coming here last year, when I didn’t know anyone. A lot of these guys are good friends of mine now.

“Once I got that call from Ryan, it was a no-brainer. Just to have this opportunity to try and do what we did last year again - it was a very quick call. I definitely didn’t need any convincing.

“Last season just exceeded all expectations that I had coming in. I didn’t know much about the league or the area coming over here, so it was a little bit of a shot in the dark.

“But just from the first day that I got here and how welcoming everybody was and how great this city was and the fans were to us, it was a great experience.

“And if you throw a couple of trophies on top of that, then it made for a very special four months. I was very fortunate to be a part of that team.”

On whether the current crop of Knights’ players can emulate or even improve on last year’s double success, Witkowski likes what he has seen so far.

“It’s obviously going to be a little different, year to year with any team that makes changes,” he added. “But we have plenty of guys in the locker room this year that are just as capable of getting the job done as anybody else.”