Leeds Knights import duo Matt Barron and Noah McMullin will be friends reunited in 2023-24

Landing in the UK on a full-time basis for the first time, the pair will be more than happy to resume a career playing alongside one another that has already served them so well in North America.

The pair will be joining a winning team in Leeds Knights, one returning for the 2023-24 NIHL National campaign as league and play-off champions.

Forward Barron, 24, and 25-year-old defenceman McMullin will also arrive with a winning pedigree, having lifted the MHL (Maritime Junior Hockey League) title with the Yarmouth Mariners in 2018-19.

It could prove to be a potent combination.

The pair then spent time as room-mates at Ontario Tech University university for two years following on from their time at Yarmouth.

McMullin remained there for a further two years, while Barron made the jump to senior hockey, first with Evansville Thunderbolts in the SPHL (Southern Professional Hockey League) before finishing the 2022-23 season on loan at Trois-Rivières Lions, on the back of a short spell with East Coast rivals Indy Fuel.

Barron was already well-known to Aldridge through his time at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Swindon, where he worked from 2013-21, the latter six years as head coach.

Barron’s father Laurie spent a year at Okanagan as head coach in 2014-15, his son spending a short time there before the organisation took a team to Lativa to compete in the Riga Cup.

References were clearly therefore not a problem when it came to Barron Jnr, while his dad was also a good sounding board when it came to McMullin - the blueliner having played under him and alongside his son when Yarmouth won that championship in 2019.

“I obviously know Laurie very, very well, who is a very honest man and the feedback I got back from him about Noah was just all positive,” said Aldridge.

“He told me Noah was an unbelievable person from an unbelievable family and that’s another massive for our group, because you’ve got to be a good person to fit in and he fits that bill really well.

“With Matt, I obviously knew what he was like already. He is a hard-working player, he’s intelligent and he can play both ends of the rink. He can score, he sees the ice well and can pass the puck and I know he’s a good person.”

The announcement of Barron and McMullin came on a busy Saturday for the Knights who, just 24 hours of disappointing fans by telling them popular imports Zach Brooks and Jake Witkowski wouldn’t be returning for 2023-24 - hit them with a triple whammy. Al on Canada Day.

Forward Josh Adkins was the first import revealed, with McMullin and Barron following later in the day.

The signings have been well-received and while they will be relative unknowns, any fans questioning their ability should hark back to just under 12 months ago when Grant Cooper and Brooks were announced by Aldridge as the club’s first-ever imports.

Much like at the weekend, hardly anybody had heard of the two forwards at the time but both went on to have a remarkable impact, not just for Leeds, but on the league as a whole.