The Leeds Knights are a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team based in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. The team is a member of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

and plays at Planet Ice Leeds.

History

The team was announced, along with the new

, on 16 March 2019. However, rumours of a Leeds-based team playing out of the 1800 capacity Planet Ice Leeds arena were circulating months beforehand. In joining the league, they became the first ever hockey team to play out of the city. The Chiefs name was selected by Planet Ice following the results of a fan poll. The 'Chiefs' moniker won the poll, results of which were announced on 16 May 2019, having beaten the alternatives; Cotton Kings and Mighty Mammoths. Former

Whitley Warriors Whitley Warriors are an ice hockey team based in Whitley Bay in the north east of England. Founded in 1957 as the Bees, they changed their name to Whitley Warriors in 1964. Warriors played at the highest level of British ice hockey for much of ...

Defenceman Sam Zajac was announced as

Player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

of the team on 10 May 2019. Zajac's first signing for the Chiefs was former

Manchester Phoenix Manchester Phoenix was a semi professional ice hockey team from Greater Manchester, England. The club was formed in 2003 as a result of the efforts of supporters group ''Friends of Manchester Ice Hockey'' to bring top-level ice hockey back to Ma ...

captain, Defenceman Luke Boothroyd. In November 2019, head coach Sam Zajac launched an urgent appeal after a large amount of the team's equipment was stolen from an apartment block in Batley. This included new helmets that hadn't even been worn yet, along with sticks and gloves used by the players all season. Despite this, the Chiefs confirmed their weekend games would go ahead as planned via a statement on Twitter. In their first

season, the Chiefs finished 10th. They won 13 games, losing 36, achieving 28 points overall. The season was curtailed in March 2020, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. For the first five months of the season, the Chiefs were required to play home games elsewhere, due to a delay in the opening of their rink. The first game at their Elland Road arena was against

Sheffield Steeldogs The Sheffield Steeldogs are a semi professional ice hockey team, based at the iceSheffield complex in Sheffield, England. History The club came into existence during the summer of 2010 as a replacement for the previous tenants of the iceSheffie ...

on 31 January 2020. In 2021, the club rebranded and changed their name from Leeds Chiefs to Leeds Knights due to a change in ownership. The new name has ties to Leeds Armouries. David Whistle arrived as Head Coach and General Manager, but departed in January 2022. Former Swindon Wildcats coach Ryan Aldridge was then appointed as interim coach until the end of the 2021/22 season.

Club roster 2022–23

(*) Denotes a Non-British Trained player (Import) Source:

2021/22 Departures

References

External links

NEWS
{{British ice hockey Sport in Leeds Sport in West Yorkshire Ice hockey teams in England Ice hockey clubs established in 2019 2019 establishments in England