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IT may not have been the dream ending James Archer was looking to bow out his hockey career with, but it came pretty damn close.

A shoot-out loss to former club Peterborough Phantoms in the NIHL National Play-off final at Coventry on Sunday denied Leeds Knights a second successive double triumph.

But, despite the heartache, Archer insisted he and his team-mates were still able to look back on the 2023-24 campaign with pride.

For Archer, it was a particularly bitter-sweet evening at the SkyDome Arena, given it was his last-ever game, the time coming for him to dedicate more time to his children and his full-time job as a self-employed tiler.

END OF THE LINE: James Archer closed out his near 20-year senior playing career in a shoot-out loss with Leeds Knights against former club Peterborough Phantoms in Coventry. Picture: Jacob Lowe/Knights Media.

Archer has experienced the good and the bad times in play-off finals at Coventry, winning three times and losing just as many over a senior playing career lasting almost 20 years.

And he backs his Knights’ team-mates to bounce back from their final-day disappointment and be in contention to win more silverware next season.

“Obviously it hurts losing like that, but there are no losers - there’s only learning,” said the former Manchester Phoenix and Hull Pirates forward.

“And they’ll learn from this, they’ll understand the pressure and they’ll know that feeling of a loss in a final on the very last day of the season.

BOWING OUT: Leeds Knights' James Archer. Picture: Bruce Rollinson

“I’ve had it happen to me a few times. I’ve experienced it, I’ve been there and lost in a final before.

“And you do learn and you do come back, the year after or the year after that - you know what you need to do and you build and these guys will do that.”

While there will have been some tears on Sunday evening, Archer was grateful for having been able to enjoy such a successful final season on the ice, his experience helping the Knights to a second successive regular season league title.

“It’s certainly more than I could have hoped for when I go back to where I was last summer,” he added. “It’s an incredible group of guys here, they are hungry and there are some very talented players in that locker room.

“Yes, we’ve lost (the play-off final) and that makes it bitter-sweet but at least we’re going away as league champions.

“I’ve packed my kit away for the last time. It’s a strange feeling. It’s emotional, but what a way to finish. Being in a final with that group of guys and we’ve won a league title - I really couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Leeds Knights backed to learn from pain of NIHL National play-off final defeat