Leeds Knights feeling the benefit as import forward Jake Witkowski makes positive impact

But it’s fair to say that, in the short time that he has been in West Yorkshire, the American has quickly made a substantial mark on the team. The Knights’ head coach will no doubt be pleased to have got more than he perhaps bargained for.

It’s not all about points production with the 26-year-old winger, however, regardless of how impressive that has been since his arrival in late January, a space on the roster becoming available after Cooper eventually secured a deal in the Elite League with the Belfast Giants after declaring his desire to try out at the higher level.

It is as much to do with the ease with which he has fitted in at ‘The Castle’ alongside his new team-mates, firstly on the ice by slotting seamlessly onto a line with veteran centre Matt Haywood and fellow mid-season arrival, Mac Howlett, but also off the ice too.

In 13 games, Witkowski has contributed 27 points, 12 of them goals, three of which came in Saturday night’s 8-5 win at Bristol Pitbulls.

Adding two more strikes in Sunday’s 8-1 home win over the same opponents suggests Leeds have landed a player currently at the top of his game.

Needless to say, he is enjoying his first stint abroad in his debut season as a professional.

“The guys made me feel really welcome from the start, as did the coaching staff and the fans,” said Massachusetts-born Witkowski. “That made it an easy transition coming from Boston and I settled in great.

“It’s a great league, there’s a lot of skill generally and there’s certainly a lot of skill on our team. Each night is a challenge to get those two points, though and I think the guys have done a great job of taking care of that before I got here, too.”

On playing alongside Howlett and Haywood, Witkowski acknowledged he has landed on his feet by playing alongside two quality operators.

“It’s been going great,” he added. “We’ve been playing together pretty much every game, other than last weekend, but it’s been great as those guys have been real easy to play with.

“They make my job a lot easier every night, so I’m very fortunate to have them as line-mates.

“It’s the way that they see the ice – they usually make the right play with the puck - and the speed with which they play with as well. We just seem to get in the right spots and are able to find each other pretty well.”

Before he left to pursue his EIHL dream across the Irish Sea, Cooper posted 71 points - 36 of them goals - in 32 regular season league games, averaging 2.21 points per game.

Aldridge immediately stressed there was no pressure on Witkowski to live up to his predecessor's points-scoring rate. The fact he is only slightly behind Cooper in terms of points-per-game (2.07) is a timely bonus, meaning Cooper’s departure has not been as keenly felt as was initially feared as the Knights maintain their push for the NIHL National title.

“It’s always nice to help the team win in any way that I can,” added the modest Witkowski, who spent five years playing NCAA hockey in North, four years at Boston University before a season at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.

“But a lot of things have to happen for the puck to end up in the back of the net. Sometimes it happens to be me that scores but before that there’s a lot which contributes to it being a goal. I’m just very fortunate to share the ice with these guys.”