Bailey Conger looking forward and keen to make up for lost time with Leeds Knights

A goal and two assists in the 5-3 home win over Bees IHC last Saturday - the Knights’ first game in almost two weeks and which extended their winning streak to nine games - will have been just what head coach Ryan Aldridge ordered having made the surprise decision to replace the popular Josh Adkins with Conger a couple of weeks earlier.

But having not played since the end of the 2022-23 SPHL season with the Knoxville Ice Bears, Conger admitted he had some catching up to do now he was in West Yorkshire.

“I tried out for an ECHL team a couple of months ago, so I got some high level hockey into me there, for sure, but no real game speed like on Saturday,” said Conger. “So it felt good to get back to that side of things, throw the body around and shoot some pucks.

“It’s going to take a week or two to get in game shape but I’m just excited to be playing again and it’s good that we have three lines here and that you can play good, hard hockey.

“It was a lot of fun getting back out there with the boys. It’s been six or seven months for me so it was definitely a case of getting the lungs back and getting my feet going again.

“The Castle was definitely rocking and scoring early was lots of fun.”

It doesn’t seem to have taken Conger long to settle into his new life in West Yorkshire, on or off the ice.

Thrown on to a second line with Matt Haywood and Mac Howlett, the 26-year-old winger said he felt there was some immediate chemistry between the three, something which there will have to be plenty of this weekend when they face NIHL National leaders Milton Keynes Lightning in back-to-back games.

And, having spent a week or so in the company of his new team-mates and with another week of practice behind him under Aldridge, Conger is confident the Knights have an excellent chance of emulating last season’s success.

“I’ve been impressed, definitely,” added Conger. “Browny, man, he can sure shoot that puck, the kid is a spectacle for sure, a great player. Bues’ (Jordan Buesa) is a big boy, too, he put in a huge hit right in front of our bench and he can skate, too.

“Matty B (Barron) I played against last year so I was already pretty familiar with him and he’s a great player, too. We just seem to have three great lines.

“I felt like me, Matty and Mac had got some good chemistry going in practice and that carried into the weekend, so hopefully we can just keep building together.”

Fellow import Barron, in fact, was one of the people Conger reached out to when the potential for a move to Leeds came about, the two having played against each other in the SPHL, Barron having iced for the Evansville Thunderbolts.

Conger admits it was helpful having a familiar face on his arrival.

“Matt is great - I messaged him before I came over here and got some advice and he said he loved it,” said Conger.

"And Ryan has been great. He has a great offensive mind and lets you play your game and when he needs to talk to you, he’ll talk to you.

"I’m excited to learn under him and have a really good year here.”