By Larry Moko
In making his high school hockey debut Monday, goaltender Lucas Thoma of the St. Thomas More Knights picked up a shutout victory.
The Grade 11 student also plays U18 AAA rep hockey for the Southern Tier Admirals.
Thoma made 29 saves, helping More even its Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league record at 1-1. Newman slipped to 1-2.
The defending champion Knights got two third-period goals -- by Calogero Pirrera and an empty-netter with 28 seconds remaining by Josh Cordell.
"Lucas looked very strong and confident out there," More coach Gino Leone said. "He was moving side to side and robbed one of their guys with an open-net glove save. Without that save, it would have been a different outcome in this game."
What proved to be the winning goal came from a pass out from behind Newman's net to the top of the crease with eight minutes remaining. Neither Cardinals goalie Alessio Menegazzo nor one of his defenceman could react quickly enough to prevent the high bouncing puck from crossing the goal line.
Said Leone: "I just think when you're going to the net hard and crashing the net, sometimes you get a lucky bounce. We'll take it.
"They had just as many chances as we did to score. Maybe that lucky bounce helped us with the momentum a little."
According to Thoma, the Knights as a whole played well defensively. "They helped me out quite a bit in front of the net," he said. "I didn't have a lot of rebounds. If we keep that up I think our team can go a long way."
Leone said the Knights played hard and that's all a coach can ask for.
"That first goal was a fluky one," Cardinals coach Matt Pritchard said. "It kind of hit a couple of sticks and ended up in the net. It was a weird, bang-bang play."
"I thought we were the better team today. Our goalie had a great game, too. We just couldn't get the breaks."
Pritchard said the Cardinals are young and play a physically aggressive style. "That's what will help us in the playoffs," he said.
Both coaches expressed disappointment that the St. Jean de Brébeuf Braves have not entered a hockey team in either the boys' or girls' division this season.
"It's unfortunate," Pritchard said. "I'm a Brébeuf guy myself. So it sucks to see them not in the league this year."
In the girls' half of the doubleheader, More improved to 2-0 in the standings with a 4-2 victory over Newman (1-2).
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page here
