Leeds Knights: No let-up from Grant Cooper as Knights hold edge over NIHL National rivals

The Knights roster has produced several talismanic players this season.

Pick any of the five – Cooper, Zach Brooks, captain Kieran Brown, Cole Shudra and veteran playmaker Matt Haywood – who have burst through 50 points, or Sam Gospel, the first-choice netminder who has helped make the team by far the stingiest in the whole league when it comes to goals conceded.

Several defencemen have also come to the fore, they are harder to spot because they generally go about their jobs quietly, but they are all as vital as the players in front of them, those more likely to grab the headlines or have their names boomed out around Elland Road Ice Arena by Matchnight announcer Rich Williams.

Cooper has led the way in scoring for the Knights all season and, whether you think he should have seen out his first season in British hockey with the KNights or not, he will be missed.

The weekend just gone showed how much, the 26-year-old Canadian following up a hat-trick in the 8-1 win at Bristol Pitbulls on Saturday night with another pair of goals in last night’s 9-0 thrashing of the same opponents.

Head coach Ryan Aldridge knows who he has coming in to replace Cooper and insists the new import is under no pressure to replicate what his predecessor has accomplished.

A quick look down the team scoring stats shows that there are currently plenty of options in terms of points for the Knights, teenage British forward Carter Hamill the latest to start producing on a regular basis with four goals at the weekend.

“It’s not about replacing Cooper,” said Aldridge. “It’s more about what we need going forward and the biggest thing is that we need a good guy, a guy who can skate with us and play our way.

“He doesn’t have any pressure from me to come in and get the kind of points that Cooper has got because we’ve got other guys that will fill that role.”

When his departure date is eventually known, Cooper should be given a fitting send-off from the Knights fans who have come to adore him.

His latest contribution was part of perhaps one of the most comfortable weekends Leeds are likely to experience all season.

At times, on home ice in particular, the Knights were unstoppable, continuing their habit of scoring in bunches – helpless netminder Will Kerlin was pulled before the halfway mark with his team already 4-0 down – a knack which sees them steamroller teams out of games.

Ethan Hehir combined well with younger brother Dylan to deflect the defenceman’s shot to get the ball rolling at 9.15, Zach Brooks continuing his rich vein of form with strikes either side of the first intermission.

Captain Kieran Brown quickly made it 4-0 at 23.52, signalling an end to Kerlin’s night, before Hamill’s first, a tip-in off Brown at 34.00, increased the advantage.

Four more came in the third, despite the best efforts of replacement netminder Tyler Perre, a second for Hamill sandwiched between two for Cooper, before veteran defenceman Sam Zajac got in on the act, swivelling in front of net to fire through the back-ups legs to bring the scoring to an end at 51.21.