Leeds Knights captain Kieran Brown hails 'unselfish' influence of team-mate

The two have enjoyed a productive partnership so far this season, captain Brown currently second in the league points-scoring in NIHL National, his 37 points in 15 games including 22 goals. He is one of five Knights players inside the top 20.

Of those five, one - import forward Josh Adkins - has recently been released by the club, despite producing 23 points in 15 games, with Matt Haywood (25) and Mac Howlett (22) also showing early promise.

The fifth Knights’ player in among the leading lights of the UK second tier is Matt Barron, the first import signing to be announced for the 2023-24 campaign.

It’s clear just from their respective stats that Brown and Barron are proving a fruitful combination, Barron having so far posted eight goals and 15 assists.

Throw into the equation new line-mate Jordan Buesa - who already has three goals and four assists in just five games - and it’s easy to see why Brown is happy with his on-ice life at the moment.

“Matt is one of the most unselfish players I’ve ever met in my career,” said 22-year-old Brown. “He is always about pass-first, to the extent that I sometimes have to tell him to shoot the puck!

“But, seriously, I really enjoy playing with him, he’s really smart and he definitely knows how to find a pass.

“I’m not sure how many goals or points we’ve put up together but we’ve definitely clicked and seem to be able to find each other on a regular basis.”

Brown is no slouch himself when it comes to setting up team-mates, as his 15 assists testify to. He admits that, under Knights’ head coach Ryan Aldridge, his game has been transformed, no longer having the ‘shoot-first’ mentality that he acknowledges existed in the early part of his senior career and his junior years at Bradford Bulldogs.

“Coming through juniors and the early part of my senior career, I always was a shoot-first kind of player,” added Brown. “But when you’re playing at this level on a regular basis, you have to adjust - you can’t afford to be selfish, you have to make sure you make the right play and if the pass is there, you make it.

“At the end of the day, a point is a point and it doesn’t really matter who is on the end of the play to score the actual goal. The main thing is all about making sure the team wins.”

By contrast, Brown and Buesa are contemporaries, having come up through the British junior leagues at the same time, fully aware of each other’s strengths and qualities.

Suffice to say, when Buesa first arrived in Leeds on a two-way deal with the Elite League’s Glasgow Clan – his move made permanent shortly after – Brown was fully aware of the quality the Knights were adding to their roster.

“He’s fitted right in,” added Brown ahead of Saturday’s return to action at home to Bees IHC at Elland Road Ice Arena (face-off 6.15pm).

“He was a little bit wasted in the Elite League but he’s come in and is on fire.

"He has scored pretty much every game and I’m loving playing with him, too - he’s a real smart hockey player.”