Leeds Knights captain Kieran Brown ruled out for opening weekend of NIHL National season

The 23-year-old, top points scorer in the second tier for the last two years, is ruled out with an upper-body injury sustained in last Sunday’s 4-1 defeat against Hull Seahawks in the pre-season Yorkshire Cup.

Brown took a hit from Hull defenceman Dave Phillips early on in the first period and didn’t ice in the second or third.

Head coach Ryan Aldridge said going into games at Solway Sharks on Saturday and at home to Milton Keynes Lightning on Sunday was a blow, but something the team were capable of dealing with.

“Kieran will have to sit this weekend out, unfortunately,” said Aldridge. “It’s just following a hit he took in Hull.

“As a precaution, given how important he is to this organisation, he will rest and won’t be playing this weekend because of an upper-body injury.

“We’ll have to see about the following weekend - we’ll obviously do whatever is best for him.

“It’s a big player to be missing on the opening weekend, but we’ve got the depth in our team to cope and I believe you want to see your players playing through adversity.

“Touch wood, we have been pretty injury-free for the last couple of years, so we’ve just got to deal with it.”