Mar 26, 2018 | GeoffRead | 676 views
KnightHawks Go on Wild Weekend Ride
The KnightHawks thrilled fans across the nation on the weekend, if not always their coaches, posting a tie and a win in back to back games and securing first place in the playoff round robin in the process.
In Saturday's game against the Bandits #33 the KnightHawks carried the play for most of the game and entered the final frame with a solid 3-1 lead on the back of three nice goals by winger Troy Price, who recorded his first career hat-trick and snagged player of the game honours. But Price's heroics aside, the entire team had done an excellent job of limiting the Bandits' chances and staying in the offensive zone for the majority of the time. And when called upon, goalie Kayden Keating got the job done.
And early in the third it was much the same. The KnightHawks perhaps weren't as dominating but still they semed to have the game well in hand.
Then with less than two minutes to go, all hell broke loose.
The Bandits pulled their goalie and #14 potted not one but two goals off mad scrambles in the KnightHawks' zone. The KnightHawks, who'd played such a composed, controlled game until that point, were suddenly panicking and rushing all over the ice. Exemplary of this was Zoe Read, who'd had a great game and suddenly rushed madly back, even though she was playing right wing, to the left defense's corner to help out. And naturally, the puck came around the boards to the Bandits' point man on Read's side of the ice who put it on net and #14 put the rebound away. Which is a good reminder to all the KnightHawks of the importance of playing your position - you have to trust your teammates to do their jobs and you have to stick to yours.
At any rate, the KnightHawks escaped with a point and hopefully learned a lesson. When you've got your opponent on the ropes, you have to finish them off.
On Sunday night, however, the KnightHawks put together a complete game against Bandits 13. The foursome on defense of, at first, Brandon Miles with Paul Steele and Read with Gregory Nicolis, did a masterful job of minimizing the Bandits' chances. And when there were a couple of breakdowns, including a breakaway, Keating looked rock solid stoning the Bandits. And the steady performance of the defence continued when at the start of the second Read moved up to forward and Aiden Hayes dropped back to take her place.
The forwards also made some key plays defensively. James Nielsen stands out for the strides he has made this season in the defensive zone - he came back several times to help break up Bandits' scoring chances. Others did likewise and this was critical to the KnightHawks' victory.
On offence the KnightHawks took a while to get going but then poured it on. Read had a stellar night picking up three assists - one in the first when she moved the puck up to Nielsen for a pretty goal in front of the net and two in the third when she streaked up the right side and threw cross-ice backhands out front for goals by Nielsen and Connor Devlin. Devlin, in addition to the goal, continued his inspired play from the previous game when he made several great passes to spring his linemates on breaks up the middle. Read and Devlin have become the KnightHawks' best playmakers with Nielsen, Jack Peterkin, Price, and Owen Askew as the primary finishers.
The player of the game was Askew, fresh off a conditioning stint with the Florida Gators of the ECGLMHA (East Coast Greater London Minor Hockey Association), the tanned Askew bulged the twine in the second period to record the game winning goal. He was buzzing around the net all night. Price also continued to have a hot hand scoring another nice individual effort when he first caused a turnover in the defensive zone before streaking up the ice to score early in the third. And the final goal of the game off the stick of Aiden Hayes, who came on as the game continued and, like Price, scored a pretty goal off the rush when he scored a seeing eye shot to the top corner.
Kaelan Walsh went 0 for 2 on breakaways in these two games, and continues to be held without a goal on the season. Walsh plays hard on the forecheck and is one of the team's most consistent players in terms of effort, so it's a little amazing that he hasn't had a bounce or two go his way to this point. But then, when you're cursed with your father's genes the way Walsh is, it's understandable if you have hands of stone. In the Sunday game, Walsh broke in with Peterkin (I think) on a 2 on 0, and elected to shoot. He got a good hard shot off but the Bandits' keeper made a nice save.
In another season-long storyline, the race for the Tiger Williams Award, given to the team's penalty minutes leader, stayed wide open as none of the frontrunners for the award received any penalties. Joking aside, I would guess that the KnightHawks must be the least penalized team in the league, and that continued this weekend with no penalties over the two games.
So on the whole it was a good weekend for the KnightHawks, who now head into the semi-finals as the top seed. So cancel your Easter plans, KnightHawks fans, because you'll be at the rink!
Go KnightHawks go!