Knights inch closer to high school hockey title

An early lead helped the St. Mary’s Knights move to within one win of a city high school hockey title on Sunday night.

The Knights took a 3-0 lead through one period en route to an 8-0 win in game two of their best-of-5 series with the Korah Colts.

“That was the message going into the game,” said St. Mary’s coach Mike Oliviera. “We wanted to send a message early. We thought we outplayed them in game one and if we got them down early, we thought that we could be successful.”

Oliviera called a shorthanded goal late in the opening period by Colby Arbour a “backbreaker.”

Korah coach Greg Arbour agreed the start was an issue in the game.

“When you get down early like that, it becomes a daunting task to motivate your guys to come back and put that many on the board against them,” Arbour said.

Chuck Webb scored three times for St. Mary’s while Isssac Parise scored twice.

Kyle Finateri added a goal and an assist.

Nathan Rowe had the other St. Mary’s goal.

Josh Mannarino, Nick Niro, Johnny Mackin, and Ethan Novello assisted on two goals each for St. Mary’s.

Goaltender Sam Crowell picked up the shutout.x

With the short turnaround heading into game three, the message for the Colts is a simple one.

“You can’t quit,” Arbour said. “You just have to keep at it, come back and be better.”

Oliviera doesn’t plan to change anything heading into game three.

“Just keep playing the way we’ve been playing,” Oliviera said. “Make sure we spend most of the time in the offensive end, keep it simple and get a lot of pucks to the front of the net.”

Game three is set for Monday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m.

If necessary, game four is Wednesday afternoon at the McMeeken Centre.