Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
On Wednesday, January 21st at the John Rhodes Centre, first-place Korah Colts (13–3) put their league-leading 26 points on the line as they faced the third-place St. Mary’s Knights (11–5–1), who entered the midweek Sault Ste. Marie High School Hockey League action just three points back with 23. With standings positioning at stake, the matchup featured two of the league’s top programs squaring off in a highly anticipated contest that carried both intensity and playoff implications.
The Korah Colts delivered a strong third-period push to come from behind and defeat the St. Mary’s Knights 4–2 in Sault Ste. Marie High School Hockey League action at the John Rhodes Centre.
The Knights struck first just over two minutes into the opening period. At 2:09, Jarrett Solomon opened the scoring, finishing a setup from Bates Borelli to give St. Mary’s a 1–0 lead. The Knights carried that advantage through the remainder of the first period, leaning on solid goaltending from Aaron Juma.
Korah responded in the second period with a momentum-shifting goal while down a man. At 8:11, Koen Manchulenko struck shorthanded, burying his 26th goal of the season off assists from Hayden Joseph and Martino Coccimiglio to even the game 1–1 heading into the third.
The final frame was packed with action. St. Mary’s briefly regained the lead at 12:41 when Solomon notched his second goal of the game and second of the night, converting feeds from Tucker Bennett and Cole Bailey to make it 2–1 Knights.
The Colts answered back quickly. At 6:38, Tyler Lang found the back of the net for his 11th of the season, with assists from Manchulenko and Will Pusch, tying the game once again. Just over three minutes later, Korah took its first lead of the night when Hayden Joseph scored his first of the season at 3:16, assisted by Manchulenko and Ryan Johnson.
Korah sealed the win in the final minute. With the man advantage, Max Battacchio capitalized at 0:49, finishing a feed from Lang to give the Colts a 4–2 power-play goal and put the game out of reach.
Payton Melchiorre earned the win in goal for the Colts, while Aaron Juma turned in a strong effort between the pipes for the Knights in the loss.
Coach Dustin Grondin told Saultsports that “I thought we were really off for the first two periods. We acknowledged that in the intermission and decided we weren’t going to win pretty and needed to simplify our game. We focussed on trying to make the first obvious pass and get pucks in deeper. We have a senior team who have played together for a long time. They are supportive of each other on the bench and they never feel out of a game. It’s been learned and fostered from the culture we try to maintain in our locker room. It will serve us well as games have higher stakes down the stretch.
“I was really happy with our compete level. They are a big talented team but I thought we did a good job of boxing them to the outside and winning our battles. We are currently in a tough spot with our injuries. We had 2 lines and the fatigue lead to some mental mistakes in the last couple min that we hadn’t made all game and it cost us. I thought we took a huge leap in our process the last two games against them, said Knights coach Luc Provenzano.”
“It is half trying to guide and half letting them sort it out. They are high level players and sometimes they need to work through it. They know I have a lot of confidence in what they can do whether we are playing really well or struggling. Tough games are good. We need to continue to focus on getting better, getting to our spots and not taking our experiences for granted. I think the players themselves capitalize and we have different players who step up in tight games when we need a lifeline. I like to think it’s the sign of a good team,” added Grondin.
Provenzano added “it’s been a really strange year and we have yet to play a game with a full roster. I think that adversity is only serving to make us stronger. I was really proud of our compete today and thought we could have won it but sometimes you can play a great game and not win. Our goal is to be ready and hit our stride at playoff time and I thought we took a big step towards that in our play today. Congrats to Korah on the win they played a really good game.”
Both teams will be back in action at the John Rhodes Centre on February 1st. The Knights will face the White Pines Wolverines at 5:30 p.m., a game that will be broadcast on Saultsports TV and True North Sports Radio. The Colts return to the ice on February 2nd when they take on the Superior Heights Steelhawks with a 3:30 p.m. puck drop.
