Why Leeds Knights' Matt Barron is revelling in his role as 'junior partner'

The Leeds Knights forward played a pivotal role in the team’s march towards a second straight NIHL National regular season crown in 2023-24 and will again be at the forefront of the team’s campaign to do a ‘three-peat’.

So far this season, Barron has been one part of the Knights’ most effective line, taking to the ice alongside more seasoned campaigners, centre Matt Haywood and fellow winger Matt Bissonnette.

While newcomer Bissonnette leads the overall scoring for the team with 28 points – and is joint-second overall in the league – it is the more ‘junior’ Barron who has so far proved the most deadly in front of net.

His 13 goals from as many games leaves him just two shy of being halfway towards the number of goals he posted in the entire regular season last time out.

Often-billed as the archetypal team-first guy, by coaches and team-mates alike, the Canadian is typically quick to point out the influence his line-mates have had on his early-season form.

“I just think those guys have been around the game for so long, they are so much easier to play with and that makes my job so much easier,” said Barron ahead of a double-header weekend against Telford Tigers which sees the Knights head to Shropshire tonight before playing host tomorrow (5.15pm).

“So I just try and find the open ice and if they can hit me that’s great. To play with them has been a blast so far.”

The ability of Bissonnette to quickly settle in at Leeds – who sit second in the standings just one point off leaders Milton Keynes Lightning – has been impressive, Barron finding himself in a similar position last year when joining an already-successful team.

“The main thing is you are just trying to fit in with what the team had before and what worked,” added Barron. “Obviously, you want to come in and play your natural game, but to find that happy medium is sometimes tough.

“But Biss has done an excellent job of coming in during the summer and playing his game – it has worked really well for us.”

Telford, regular season champions back in 2020 and 2022 have struggled in the opening two months and welcome the Knights tonight (face-off 7pm) sat bottom of the table.

But their their successes this season so far include wins against Hull Seahawks, Sheffield Steeldogs and Peterborough Phantoms – all teams expected to be at the top end of the table come the business end of the season.

Regardless of the disaprity currently exists between the two teams, Knights’ head coach Ryan Aldridge is expecting a tough weekend.

"There are going to be two tough games,” said Aldridge. “They have two new imports in and they will be starting to figure out the league – adding two good imports into that team changes them a lot.”