Knights strike first in high school hockey final (11 photos)

It took overtime for the St. Mary’s Knights to draw first blood in the city high school hockey final.

Ethan Novello converted a feed from Theo Smith early in overtime as the Knights beat the Korah Colts 1-0 on Wednesday evening at the John Rhodes Community Centre to open the best’of-5 series between the two schools.

Knights coach Mike Oliviera spoke of the frustration of the St. Mary’s players at times as the team carried the play early on in the game but couldn’t beat Colts goaltender Sean Zago.

“It’s tough to play a period like that,” Oliviera said. “Our guys were getting frustrated. You could see it and he made a couple of big saves in the second period again. Frustration was taking over. You start gripping your stick a little tighter, but we were just trying to keep it positive and keep it light.

Korah coach Greg Arbour praised the play of Zago in the game.

“Our goaltending was spectacular,” Arbour said. “He’s the one that kept it in check and gave us a chance.”

Arbour was pleased with the effort from the Colts in the series opener.

“They’re a really talented group,” Arbour said. “Our kids played their hearts out. We defended well. We just have to get a bounce or two and just try to get pucks in deep and go to work.”

For Oliviera, sticking to the game plan and not changing their style was the key to overcoming the frustration of not breaking through offensively early in the game.

“We didn’t change the way we played at all,” Oliviera said. “We were really good. We were aggressive. We didn’t sit back. In a game like that, you just have to stay true to your identity.”

Game two is set for Friday at the GFL Memorial Gardens at 3:30 p.m. while game three is Sunday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre at 9:30 p.m.

Prior to the game, the league award winners were announced.

On top of being the league’s scorer, Chuck Webb of St. Mary’s was named the league most valuable player.

Goaltenders Josh Lidstone and Sam Crowell of St. Mary’s earned the award for the best combined goals against total.

The Matt Howard Memorial Award, which is chosen by the Referees Association, went to Tyler Greco of CASS.

Mack Ableson of CASS was named the most valuable defenceman.

The Jim Lang Memorial Trophy for the most gentlemanly player was shared by Theo Smith of St. Mary’s and Mark Keenan of Superior Heights.

Nathan Keranen of Korah and Sam Lake of St. Mary’s shared the rookie of the year award.

Michael Shaw of CASS earned the academic and on-ice performance award and the Art Jarrett Bursary.