Leeds Knights v Sheffield Steeldogs: Yorkshire rivals kick-off hectic weekend with derby duel

The Steeldogs kick off a hectic 72 hours heading to West Yorkshire looking for a first win over Leeds Knights since February 2023.

The second-placed Knights will be hoping to close the gap on leaders Milton Keynes Lightning, who just happen to be the Steeldogs’ opponents on Saturday at Ice Sheffield.

That is the first game in a home double-header for the Steeldogs, who close their weekend out with a visit from play-off chasing Bristol Pitbulls.

It will be a test of the team’s strength and endurance, but a situation which defenceman Morgan, pictured, relishes.

“These are the games that you want to be playing,” said Morgan, whose team drew 2-2 on their last visit to Elland Road in the first leg of a NIHL National Cup semi-final they eventually lost out in over two legs.

“This is another good opportunity to test ourselves against two of the top teams in this league.

“If we can perform as well as we did last time we played there, it should be another good game in Leeds.

“We know how congested this league is, especially that middle pack, anything from fourth down to about seventh or even eighth.

“It’s really, really tight and everybody is jockeying for position.

"And then at the top, you look at MK and Leeds and they both lost down at Berkshire, but that is testament to how strong the league is becoming now – no results are a given.

“MK are up there on merit, though, have a very strong roster and vying for silverware so it will be another tough one.”

Like the Steeldogs, the Knights too have a three-game weekend.

After tonight’s derby, a Saturday night trip to title rivals Swindon Wildcats is no simple task, before a return home to West Yorkshire to face a Berkshire Bees team who, although rock-bottom in the regular season standings, have beaten the top two of Milton Keynes Lightning and second-placed Leeds in the past fortnight.

For head coach Ryan Aldridge, the next 72 hours will be about trying to manage the ice time of his players to ensure they come out the other end of the weekend in as good a shape as they they go in.

With a two-legged Cup final thrown into the schedule against Romford Raiders next month, there will be little time for rest for Aldridge and his players between now and the end of the regular season.

“There’s no doubt, it’s going to be a hard slog for these next 10 weeks or so,” said Aldridge, whose team bounced back from back-to-back defeats with a maximum four-point haul last weekend.

“Over the whole weekend, we did what we needed to do,” he added. “We were keen to produce good habits and take them into these three games because this weekend is a completely different ball game.

“We’ve got to try and manage players’ ice time and we want to do that as much as we can, but that will depend on how the games are going and how we are playing.”