Leeds Knights: Matt Barron on the added motivation driving Knights on in NIHL National play-offs

It could be the desire to go on and land an unprecedented treble at this level for the first time since the new second tier came into existence back in the summer of 2019.

It could be a wish to erase the painful memory of last year’s play-off final at Coventry SkyDome Arena when they lost to Peterborough Phantoms on a penalty shoot-out.

Or it could be down to the determination to send one of their team-mates off into retirement in the best possible way.

Matt Haywood announced his intention to hang his skates up before the final weekend of the regular season. There were many tears, no doubt from himself, but also some of his team-mates and certainly from the fans who have supported him since the he first arrived at Elland Road in the Autumn of 2022.

Since then he has helped the team win three league titles, one play-off crown and, this season - finally - a National Cup.

His influence and guidance has been greatly felt by team-mates on and off the ice, with fellow forward Matt Barron admitting the Knights would love nothing more than to send Haywood off with another winners’ medal to add to his collection come Sunday, April 20 in Coventry.

“We definitely want to send him off as a winner,” said Canadian-born Barron, himself a firm fans’ favourite after two impressive years with the Knights.

“Just with the person he is in that locker room. Everyone would say the same thing: we want to get it done for him.

“On the ice, what he does and what he’s done, it just speaks for itself but a lot of people don’t get to to see the off-ice side of him and he has been so massive for this group, so if we could get one more trophy for him, that would be very, very special.”

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Having posted a maximum four-point haul from the opening play-off weekend in their double-header with Telford Tigers, the Knights continue their play-off journey over the next two days against Yorkshire rivals, Hull Seahawks.

Barron, 26, has himself benefitted from playing alongside Haywood, a veteran campaigner who spent 10 years in the Elite League with Glasgow Clan before making the switch to Leeds.

“He’s obviously been around and played high-level hockey and so he knows that side of it and passes that experience on,” added Barron.

“But, more than anything else, he’s just a genuinely good person - you are not going to find anyone nicer than that guy.

“I’ve picked stuff up off him, you always look at the older, more experienced guys on your team to see what they are doing and they seem to know all the little tricks and stuff, so you just kind of watch players like that and if I can pick up some of the things that he does, it is only going to help my game.”

Of course, getting to Coventry is no simple task, with this weekend’s opponents Hull Seahawks determined to make up for their post-season disappointment of last year when they failed to make it out of the group stage.

To do that, they will probably need to win three of their remaining four group games, starting with Leeds this weekend.

There was little to choose between the two teams during the regular season and Barron expects it to be no different today.

“It was good to get a couple of wins on the first weekend, but that doesn’t mean we can afford to take it easy over these next two weekends. We’ve got two tough teams coming up.

“We kind of know what to expect from Hull but they are never easy games, so we need to come here ready to work.

“Because of the way they play, you probably get a little less time on the puck, but they have some very skilled players and so it’s just about us keeping them in check and not letting any frustration get the best of us.”