The Leeds Knights Are The 24/25 NIHL Cup Champions
After trailing by a goal in the first leg of the final, the Leeds Knights came back to win by two goals at home in the second leg to win the NIHL Cup for the first time in their history.
On Saturday night the Romford Raiders scored two late goals to win 5-4 with Shaun Miller and Shewfelt both getting four-points on the night. However a four goal first period at the Castle saw the Knights see off a 4-1 victory on the night making it 8-6 on aggregate.
Head coach Ryan Aldridge spoke on the victory:
“It’s the trophy which has always got away from us but after going behind last night, we got a big reaction from the boys and the crowd to get over the line. We had to come into the second leg and play our game and we know when we bring our best, we are tough to beat and we did that tonight! We defended really well in the third period to see the game out.”
We are away from our families a lot and they all do so much for us, so it was special to be able to win this trophy in front of them and share all these special moments.”
Captain Kieran Brown scored two big goals in the first period of the second leg to put the Knights in front and Sam Gospel stood strong in goal taking the man of the match, saving 29/30 shots on the night.
Commiserations to the Romford Raiders who have done a brilliant job to make the final and ran the Knights all the way to the final buzzer. All of the Raiders players and staff should be very proud of the efforts both on and off the ice, helping the club grow.
After two previous Cup final defeats in 2022 and 2023, the Knights became third time lucky to secure the trophy in a sell out arena. They will be looking to complete the treble for the first time in their history with the league still up for grabs and the play offs at the end of the season.
NIHL Cup final game reports:
It was a thrilling first leg in Romford with the Knights taking a 2-0 lead however the Raiders fought back into it with two quick goals of their own. The Knights took the lead back twice more, but the Raiders as they have done many times this season, battled back into the game and with less than two minutes of the first leg remaining, Shaun Miller scored the go ahead goal for the Raiders.
The second leg saw the Knights come out flying with three goals scored in seven minutes! The Knights came out of the 1st period two goals ahead and killed the rest of the game off with Sam Gospel making some key saves throughout. The buzzer sounded and it was jubilation at the Castle with over 2000 fans shouting and clapping on the cup champions.
However, the Knights will be straight back into league action on Tuesday night against the Sheffield Steeldogs!
