Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
At the John Rhodes Community Centre on Sunday, November 2nd, the Korah Colts kicked off their 2025-2026 Sault Ste. Marie High School Hockey League season in impressive fashion, skating to a 5–1 victory over the St. Mary’s Knights.
Korah opened the scoring midway through the first period when Koen Manchulenko notched his first of the season, assisted by Tyler Lang and Max Battacchio at 13:13. The Knights responded late in the frame when Nathan Watts scored his first of the year, with helpers from Bates Borelli and Cole Bailey, sending the teams to the intermission tied 1–1.
The Colts took control in the second period. Tyler Lang buried his first of the campaign at 14:47 with assists going to Tyler Neveau and Battacchio, before Manchulenko struck again at 8:04 for his second of the afternoon, assisted by Lang.
Korah continued their strong play in the third period, adding two more insurance markers. Deago Campagna scored his first of the season at 9:40, assisted by Neveau, and Bodie Belair sealed the win at 3:56 with helpers from Lang and Ryan Johnson.
Goaltender Will Franic earned the victory between the pipes for Korah, while Aaron Juma took the loss for St. Mary’s.
Korah coach Dustin Grondin told Saultsports that “opening the season with a win is always nice, but I’m more happy with the effort and attitude the boys brought to the rink tonight. I think as the adrenaline of opening night wears off we will reflect as a group and realize we have to be more detail oriented. Our group will continue to put in the work in the background while supporting our senior football teams continued success. Special thank you to Saultsports for the high school hockey coverage. Our league and its fans are so fortunate to have you guys put the work in to give us great film. Best of luck to the St Mary’s Knights Jr football team and the Korah Colts Sr team at NOSSA!”
“As far as the game I knew we were going to be in tough because we have so many football players that we are just getting our full team. They are a good squad so tonight was really about seeing where we were at. There were a lot of things I liked in terms of our puck control and decision making. We faced some adversity as we lost a few players early to injury but I thought the group responded well to that. We need to do a lot better job of our positional play but it’s a long season and that’s a process. Our defensive zone clearly needs more work but we have a really good group that’s committed to learning,” said Knights coach Luc Provenzano.
“We are a brand new team this year so there are going to be growing pains. This game gave us a good look at what we need to work on moving forward. Obviously you play wanting to win but this group knows to trust the process. The good news is from what I saw tonight I’m confident we will get there,” added Provenzano.
Visit Freeze Frame Photos by Bob Davies photo gallery of the Korah Colts versus the St Mary’s Knights in high school hockey league action.
The (0–1) St. Mary’s Knights will look to bounce back on Monday, November 3rd, when they face the White Pines Wolverines at 3:30 p.m. at the John Rhodes Centre. Meanwhile, the (1–0) Korah Colts return to action on Wednesday, November 5th, also against White Pines, with puck drop set for 3:30 p.m. at the Rhodes.
