Leeds Knights v Bees IHC: Coach Ryan Aldridge expecting tough test from Bees as Knights bid to make Coventry

The defending play-off champions go into their double-header weekend with the Bees knowing a point will be enough to secure them a place at the Play-off Finals Weekend in Coventry next week.

The Bees arrive at Elland Road Ice Arena still looking for their first win of the post-season having come off second-best twice each against Hull Seahawks and Peterborough Phantoms in their first four games.

On paper, the Knights should have few problems making it through to the SkyDome Arena next Saturday, but Aldridge is not one for taking chances or anything for granted.

“They are a character team,” said Aldridge. “They’ve got guys in that team who are not going to want to go out on a loss, for sure, especially being at home on the Sunday.

“And they won’t want to travel several hours to get here on Saturday just to turn up and lose.

“I’m not sure whether the fact they are already out will necessarily make them more dangerous, I just think they are a team that will come out and play hard against us and we have to be ready for that.”

Aldridge backs his players to get the job done this weekend - Hull and Peterborough are contesting for the other spot from Group A - but he wants to see an improvement on their performances against the Phantoms, when they followed up a 3-2 shootout loss on the road with a 4-2 win on home ice.

“Firstly, I think we just need to be ourselves on Saturday,” added Aldridge. “When you start changing things, it can have an adverse effect sometimes, so we’ll approach it pretty much the same to be honest - regardless of whether we just need the one point or more.

“I don’t think we played our best hockey against Peterborough last weekend. I think we need to be at home to try and get our game back a little bit, get that momentum back which we can then hopefully carry into the finals weekend.”