NIHL National Saturday Review - How Leeds Knights, Hull Seahawks and Sheffield Steeldogs fared
OWEN SOBCHAK fired four goals as Leeds Knights got their 2026-27 NIHL National season up and running with a 9-2 thrashing of Peterborough Phantoms.
Having taken just the one point from their opening weekend which brought one-goal defeats to Hull Seahawks and Milton Keynes Lightning, the Knights produced a stirring response on home ice on Saturday.
The Knights raced into an early-two-goal lead through Sobchak and captain Kieran Brown and, after Adam Berg had halved the deficit at 7.39 on the power play, the two-goal cushion was restored through Sobchak’s second 13 seconds later.
The second period was where the game was won, though, with four goals in five frantic minutes, Brown grabbing a second and Oli Endicott and Cullen McLean getting on the board before Sobchak fired his hat-trick strike to make it 7-1 at 27.08.
McLean grabbed a second and Sobchak his fourth at 51.53 before Luke Ferrara scored a late consolation for the Phantoms.
Hull Seahawks saw their unbeaten start to the season ended when they went down 4-2 at Basingstoke Bison.
Former Leeds Knights Mac Howlett scored either side of a Jack Musil effort to put the hosts in control, their lead doubling to 3-1 when Charlkes Farmer beat Aleksanteri Heiskanen at 52.21.
Cody Monds gave the Seahawks hope when he pulled one back four minutes later, but an empty-net strike from Farmer sealed the deal for the Bison.
It was also a tough night on the road for Sheffield Steeldogs, who allowed hosts’ Telford Tigers a first victory of the season when losing 6-3.
The Tigers were 5-2 ahead after the first two periods, with goals from Jordan O’Brien and Dante Salituro giving the Steeldogs hope coming out for the third.
That hope heightened when Michael Pelech made it 5-3 at 52.59 but Jérémy Michaud scored a 57th-minute empty-netter to secure the points.