Success for Aberdeen Lynx has not come overnight. It has taken years of hard work to build them up to this stage.
Player-head coach Jordan Leyden has seen Aberdeen’s premier ice hockey team grow in stature over the last five-to-10 years, which has culminated in them sitting top of the Scottish National League and attracting 1,000 supporters regularly to the Linx Arena.
Dundee and Fife has traditionally been the hotbed for the sport in Scotland, but the Lynx’s presence at the head of the pack at the moment suggests something special is growing in the north-east.
“It’s taken us over the course of about 10 years to get to this stage,” said Leyden. “It’s a bit of a niche sport in general and there’s not dozens of potential players hanging around Aberdeen, like there is with football.
“It’s about creating a want, to want to come to Aberdeen and for us to be able to pick and choose who we can get.
“You see it across pretty much all sports; when teams buy in to what you want to do it helps massively. These are the type of guys we need in the squad. If the players are not going to buy in, then you find they don’t last long.
“They are a squad of guys who are in it together and for the right reasons. Everyone knows their role and plays the system well. It’s all going in the right direction.”
Leyden, who has put his Highland League football career on hold to focus on ice hockey, has been heartened by the response from the Aberdeen community to the Lynx’s impressive start.
“We’ve been fortunate over the last five or six years to be getting roughly 1,000 at every game,” he added. “That’s nearly a sell-out every week.
“It goes hand-in-hand – the better the times are on the ice, the more likely people are to turn up. We typically put on a good show and put the effort in.”
After the fantastic game and our 4-0 win against @AyrshireWild, we catch up with Man of the Match – Jordan Leyden!
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Man of the March sponsored by @AberdeenLynxSC. #goCats #Aberdeen #snl #icehockey pic.twitter.com/avnYWrXn3p
— Aberdeen Lynx (@Aberdeen_Lynx) October 2, 2022
The current Lynx squad draws on players not just from Aberdeen, but from Dundee, Moray and the Highlands, too.
They have won five of their six league games so far, with their only defeat coming on the opening day of the season against Dundee Comets.
Their next game is on Saturday night against Paisley Pirates, with face-off at the Linx taking place at 7.15pm.
“They’ve always been a team that are well-drilled,” said Leyden. “They have a good coach in Ian Turley and are very hard-working.
“We know what to expect from them. They’re nothing new to us and always give us a tough game.”
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