At the John Rhodes Community Centre on Sunday, November 9th, the St. Mary’s Knights opened their Sault Ste. Marie High School Hockey League campaign with a strong 4–1 win over the White Pines Wolverines.
The Knights wasted no time getting on the board in the first period. Russell McNally opened the scoring at 13:59, finding the back of the net for his first of the season, assisted by Rylon Gillson and William Watts. Gillson then added to the lead just over five minutes later, burying his own first of the season from Hunter Jackson and Beau Primeau.
White Pines responded before the end of the frame when Chase Socchia converted on the power play at 2:23, cutting the deficit to 2–1 with help from Ethan Marsh.
After a scoreless second period highlighted by strong goaltending from St. Mary’s netminder Aaron Juma and Wolverines’ goalie Ben Potter, the Knights sealed the game in the third. Connor Bishop extended the lead at 10:49 with his third goal of the season, assisted by Nathan Watts. Hunter Jackson added an empty-net marker in the final minute, his third of the year, with Tucker Bennett picking up the helper.
Juma stood tall between the pipes for St. Mary’s, keeping the Wolverines off the board after the first, while Potter turned in a solid performance despite the loss.
“Was really happy with the way we played tonight. We have faced a ton of adversity in this first week. We’ve lost players to injury had to sit some of the football players heading towards NOSSA etc. We have played most of our games with half our regular squad. We are asking players to play different positions and we have had some amazing callups. So for us do see that our players have embraced the challenge and stayed positive and continued to work through it has been a great sign. We are starting to execute some of the things we have worked on a more consistent basis. I thought our decision making tonight was really good. We have an amazing group of hockey players in this room and we are really proud of them for overcoming what they have overcome so far. We still have a lot of work to do but we are clearly headed in the right direction, added Knights coach Luc Provenzano.
“Penalty kill was good, playing short handed and having the calls go against us , the guys stepped up and killed the five on three and five on four when needed to. Having two of our top players go down and out of the game others guys were given opportunities to play more and get a taste of a physical game and what is expected to play in games,” said Wolverines coach Matt Caria.
With the win, the Knights continue to build early-season momentum. They’ll look to keep it going when they face the CASS Huskies on Tuesday, November 11th, with puck drop set for 3:30 p.m. at the Northern Community Centre.
