Leeds Chiefs - Five years on:  When hockey finally found its 'home' at Elland Road - video Dailymotion

Yorkshire Post

Looking back to the night pro ice hockey finally arrived in Leeds when the Chiefs took on Sheffield Steeldogs in the first-ever game at Elland Road Ice Arena back on January 31, 2020 ...

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00:00Sam, the day's here, the big moment that seems to have been a long way off for most of the

00:14season for you.

00:15How does it feel that in a few hours you're going to be skating out on that ice at Ellon

00:19Road?

00:20Yeah, it's a little bit surreal.

00:21As you say, it has been a long time coming.

00:23The start of September feels like forever ago in a way, but I'm happy that we've managed

00:28to keep the core of the team together and most of the guys that started this journey

00:32get to see it through and now we've finally moved into the rink.

01:58Just on the night as a whole, I think it was a bit of a mad dash trying to finish bits

02:16and pieces off at the rink.

02:18Obviously, as everyone can see who's been here tonight, it's not fully open and it's

02:21going to be a few weeks before it gets some more season and maybe get that crowd up to

02:25a thousand.

02:26Just the mood in those minutes before stepping out on the ice, were there a few nerves in

02:33your room?

02:34I don't know if there were nerves, but there was a lot of excitement and maybe a little

02:39bit of tension at times.

02:40It's been a long time coming and the guys wanted to seize the moment.

02:44As I say, it's unfortunate we couldn't get the result that we wanted tonight, but it's

02:49great to see that the stand that was open there packed like they're after us and obviously

02:53it looks like the interest is here so we just need to make sure we can put on a show for

02:56them in the remaining home games.

02:57As I say, it's a home crowd, it was a proper home crowd.

03:01You've obviously played home games elsewhere, I think seven other venues before you actually

03:04made it home proper, but it would have made a nice change for you guys to have the bulk

03:10of the crowd actually behind you rather than 30 or 40 people at another rink somewhere

03:14else.

03:15Yeah, definitely.

03:16Some of the games we've had 10 or 12 people there watching and they make an amazing amount

03:20of noise, but obviously when you've got 600-plus in the building there it's a lot more atmospheric

03:27and obviously when the place is fully open there's going to be a 2,000 capacity, so if

03:32we can get anywhere near that I think it's going to be a hell of a place to play a game

03:35of hockey.

03:36It's going to be tough for teams coming in, playing in that kind of atmosphere, they'll

03:39be part of that atmosphere I think at times.

03:41The Leeds sporting fans are obviously renowned for the passion they have for their team,

03:45so if we get any kind of degree for that then I think we'll be in for a noisy building.

03:50Yeah, absolutely.

03:51Absolutely.

03:52Absolutely.

03:53Absolutely.

03:54Absolutely.

03:55Absolutely.

03:56Absolutely.

03:57Absolutely.

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04:11Absolutely.

04:12Absolutely.

04:13Absolutely.

04:14Absolutely.

04:15Absolutely.

04:16Absolutely.

04:17Absolutely.

04:18Absolutely.

Leeds Chiefs - Five years on: When hockey finally found its 'home' at Elland Road

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