Leeds Knights 2 head coach, Davey Lawrence on the team's NIHL North One campaign so far

Yorkshire Post

Leeds Knights 2 head coach Davey Lawrence discusses the progress made by the team so far in its first season in NIHL North One

Transcript

00:007-5 defeat to Blackburn Hawks, but it was a good comeback from your boys, are you pleased

00:11with that performance?

00:12Yeah I think so, it shows we're building in the right areas, I think D-Zone's getting

00:16a little bit better, it's just knowing that that's a young group and we are building,

00:22it's going to take a while but it's slowly coming, we had a good result on it last week,

00:26we had a bit of a Pondocker game against Deeside on the Saturday and then tonight obviously

00:30we've gone against arguably one of the best teams in the league and put a performance

00:34in so you've got to be pleased with that one somehow.

00:36This is a team who have come into this game, well come into this weekend anyway, haven't

00:39beaten Billingham Stars the leaders last week so that gives you an idea of their pedigree

00:43doesn't it?

00:44Yeah exactly that and I think Blackburn have always been, from the beginning of the year

00:48they've been a team that we've kind of looked at and sort of pegged as being one of the

00:51top limmers I think if that's what you want to call it, they're bringing quite a good

00:55group of youngsters through as well which is good to see and it's nice to get on that

01:01level I think and know that we can play at that level.

01:04Talking to youngsters, bringing them through here is obviously one of the main reasons

01:09for the team being brought in this season, are you happy with the way that side of things

01:13is going?

01:14Yeah I think so, I mean Eggers and Mikey have always played maybe retirement nights now

01:19so that's nice to see, Bale's game has stepped up as well and he's played some minutes with

01:24nights there as well and it's nice to get Harrison out for a run as well, it gives him

01:29that much needed game time so that when he needs to step in at that level he's ready

01:32to go.

01:33You mentioned Eggers, you mentioned Michael Doneco, they are getting regular shifts on

01:38quite a regular basis for nights with Ryan, how much do they benefit from dropping down

01:43into this team?

01:44Is it just the case that extra ice time that they get that it's just going to naturally

01:48progress the game?

01:49Yeah I think so, when they go up to that level you're sort of a small fish in a big pond

01:54and then you come back down to this level and you've got to try and show that you're

01:58a bigger fish in a smaller pond so it's good for them and it's finding that balance that

02:03gives them a chance to try things that they probably don't want to try at that level.

02:07It's all about progression, we've seen it with Bale a little bit, I think he'd be the

02:12first to admit he probably wasn't where he'd want to be at the beginning of the season

02:16but he's playing a lot of big minutes, big situations for us which has then paid dividends

02:20because now he's playing a bit more minutes for nights as well.

02:22Just a quick word on the 18s that have come through so far this season, are you impressed

02:26and pleased with the way that they've adapted because it is a big adaption isn't it?

02:29Yeah it's massive, there's a number of them, we've got Wiggle, we've got Eggers, we've

02:34got Harry Hemsley who's just stepped up on D and he's doing a brilliant job, he's only

02:38been with us for the last couple of weeks and got that cheeky goal there tonight which

02:42I'm sure they'll not be too happy about but yeah it's great for him and it's nice to see

02:46that progression from them kids and I guess the hunger comes back a little bit, it's a

02:51new challenge, it's fresh, it's difficult and you can see that there.

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