At the Northern Community Centre on Tuesday, November 11th, the St. Mary’s Knights faced off against the CASS Huskies in Sault Ste. Marie High School Hockey League action. Despite dressing a short bench, the Huskies battled hard from start to finish but ultimately fell 7–1 to a deep and determined Knights lineup.
CASS opened the scoring midway through the first period when Austin Finlayson notched his third goal of the season unassisted. The Knights responded late in the frame with a shorthanded tally from Hunter Jackson—his fourth of the year—set up by Connor Bishop, tying the game 1–1 heading into the intermission.
Just 18 seconds into the second period, Beau Primeau scored his first of the season for St. Mary’s, assisted by Jackson and Ethan Agawa, giving the Knights their first lead of the game. From there, the momentum shifted firmly in St. Mary’s favor.
The Knights erupted for five goals in the third period, beginning with Tucker Bennett (his second of the season) assisted by Nathan Watts and Jackson. Connor Bishop then added a shorthanded marker—his fourth—off a feed from Bates Borelli. Agawa scored unassisted shortly after, followed by Cole Bailey’s first of the year, assisted by Watts.
Watts capped off a strong night with back-to-back goals, his sixth and seventh of the season, assisted by Bishop, Bennett, and Jackson, sealing the convincing 7–1 win.
Between the pipes, the Knights shared goaltending duties between Aaron Juma and Freddie Slukinsky, while Jack Unetic stood tall for the Huskies despite heavy pressure throughout.
“Honestly a bit disappointed, we played our best two periods so far this season , the effort and compete level were all there , our goalie stood on his head and gave us every chance to win, but then in the third we came out flat and completely lost the intensity that got us there. Hopefully when we get the few guys we are missing back in the lineup things will change but, even then this can’t happen. If we want to grow as a team we’ve got to learn how to play a full game not just two periods. I believe the next step moving forward is to realize and understand what it takes to finish the games the right way, said Huskie coach Spencer Lawrence.
Next up, the CASS Huskies will travel to the John Rhodes Centre on Thursday, November 13th, to take on the White Pines Wolverines at 3:30 p.m. Meanwhile, the St. Mary’s Knights will return to action on Wednesday, November 18th, in a student buy-out game at the John Rhodes Centre with puck drop set for 1:00 p.m.
