Grant Cooper aiming high after making transition from Leeds Knights to Belfast Giants

A promising season in the East Coast league with Reading Royals had led to Cooper’s addition to Ryan Aldridge’s roster, one which was to benefit hugely from his arrival.

When it came time for him to leave – earlier than initially planned – in January this year, nobody could argue about the positive impact he’d had - 32 games in, the Knights sat top of the table with Cooper having contributed 71 points, 36 of them goals.

He’d never made any secret of his desire to play at Elite League level, but it still came as something of a surprise to some when he handed his notice in just before Christmas, with the prospect of being on a championship-winning team at Elland Road Ice Arena a very real one.

But, in securing a move to Belfast Giants, he has essentially swapped one team gunning for a treble for another. The first part of that triple crown has already been landed by the Giants, Cooper playing his part with a goal in the 9-3 win over Fife Flyers to win the Challenge Cup final earlier this month.

And as Cooper returns to Yorkshire for the first time since leaving Leeds, the Giants facing off against Elite League title rivals Sheffield Steelers tonight (7pm), he finds himself on a team leading a four-way chase for the regular season championship with just eight games remaining. Then, of course, there’s the play-offs.

Understandably, there are no regrets for Cooper since he made the decision to step up. And while nobody expected him to take his second-tier scoring rate into the EIHL, he has made a significant contribution since arriving in Northern Ireland, posting 15 points in 17 games, five of them goals.

“I’m really pleased with how it has gone,” said Cooper, ahead of making the short trip over to mainland UK.

“It’s obviously a great organisation to come to and we’ve had some success down the stretch here already, so there’s definitely no regrets on making the jump here.

“There’s probably a little more mature, experienced hockey in the EIHL, not so much of the run and gun stuff and I would say it is slightly faster.

“Coming in here, I knew I could play any role that was given to me and with the talent in the group here, they’ve allowed me to play my game and obviously it’s been working both on the defensive and offensive sides.”

Giants’ head coach Adam Keefe said Cooper was a player they had their eye on since he first arrived in West Yorkshire.

“We were tracking Grant ever since he signed in Leeds, coming in and signing there from the ECHL kind of raised some eyebrows and then we looked at him, we did a little bit of homework on him,” said Keefe.

“And when we got into some necessary line-up changes in January and once his contract expired with Leeds we moved fast to get him over to Belfast.

“He’s slotted in real nice here. With the references we had on him and from doing our homework, we figured he was going to be solid for us as a guy who is going to do anything to help the team win.

“He certainly does that but he’s also picked up some very big goals for us and he’s capable of making those plays that set up his team-mates. He also has a very good shot.

“So when you put all those intangibles together it just makes for a real good signing this season and we’d be more than happy to have him back next year.”

That would mark the start of a second season in British hockey for Cooper were it to come off. And there is no doubt that he will look back on his first taste of the game over here with anything but fond memories.

"I’m always looking online, especially through Twitter to check what’s going on at Leeds and I talk to some of the guys still, too,” added Cooper. “I’m really hoping they can get that league title won as well, that would be great.

"I know they have a cup final coming up this month, too, so hopefully they can get the job done there and get two trophies.

"This was always the plan moving forward for me, to try and get to the Elite League. Obviously it happened sooner than expected, but that was the understanding going forward and I will always be grateful for my time at Leeds.

"And with Ryan behind the bench there, he understood what I wanted to get out of myself – it was just nothing but great.”