Late Goal Lifts More Knights Over St. Mary, 2-1

Late Goal Lifts More Knights Over St. Mary, 2-1
Posted on 01/08/2025
Hockey

By Larry Moko

Consecutive icing calls in the final minute proved costly for the St. Mary Crusaders boys' hockey team.

Playing at the J. L. Grightmire Arena Monday, St. Mary and the St. Thomas More Knights were tied 1-1 when the Crusaders iced the puck with 55 seconds remaining and then again with 21 seconds left on the clock.

"They did us a favour with that," More coach Jason Popovic said. "We had draws in their end and we were able to capitalize on the winning goal."

The Knights scored 17.1 seconds before the final buzzer and skated away with a 2-1 decision.

With the outcome, defending-champion More improved its record to 3-2 in the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic high school standings, while St. Mary slipped to 2-2-1.

Knights' defenceman and captain Julian Carbone capped the scoring on a shot from the point after teammate Calogero Pirrera won the faceoff.

"(Pirrera) is a good centre," Carbone said. "He tied the guy up and eventually hit it right back to me. I took it, looked for the open lane and shot.

"I think it was tipped by one of their players. All I saw was the referee pointing his hand. That was it."

While Crusaders netminder Landyn Chudzik managed to only partially stop Carbone's blast, earlier in the period he made several outstanding saves during and just after More's two-man power-play advantage.

"It was kind of deserved," Carbone said of the victory. "I wasn't surprised. Our team had been playing hard all game."

More opened the scoring in the first period. On the play, Josh Cordell raced up the middle and went in alone to snap a stick-side shot into the net.

St. Mary then answered with a second-period marker when, on the power play, Jozef Glenn banged a rebound of Wyatt Albert's point shot past goaltender Joseph Paiement.

"It was a battle all game," the Knights coach said. "Our veterans took it upon themselves to lift everybody and get the game going.

"I was very pleased with how we played. I thought we'd be sluggish coming back from the Christmas break. But we brought it today. We had good energy. We picked it up as the game went on."

Carbone, who plays rep for the AA Huskies, can play either line up at forward or defence. "I'm more of a flip flop guy," he said. "I play wherever I'm needed."

In other action Monday, the Bishop Tonnos Titans defeated the Bishop Ryan Celtics, 3-1. Bishop Ryan and More are now tied for first place in the standings where all five teams are currently separated by just two points.

Said St. Mary coach Jason Kokoski:  "It’s always tough to give up the deciding goal in the last minute. I thought we played well --  a lot of pressure and hit a few posts. In a close league like it is this year, you need some of those bounces to win games and it feels like we've been on the wrong side of them lately.

"There should be some close playoff games."

According to Popovic, it's been an "up and down" season for More and he's hoping to see the team maintain "constant energy."

In the girls' league, St. Thomas More and Bishop Ryan both won to remain tied for top spot with records of 4-0-1. More downed St. Mary, 6-1, while BR topped the Bishop Tonnos Titans, 4-0.

Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography

More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page here

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