Things brightening some for minor bantam Knights
Submitted by Margarete Carr

Thomas Faris and Shane Jones were trying to apply pressure on the Penetang net late in Thursday's contest.

"Light at the end of the tunnel" is an often heard adage, and it's an apt description of where the NobleKing minor bantam Knights find themselves midway through the regular season.

The team had a strong start at the "Early-Bird" Brian Steele Memorial Tournament, where they finished first in their round robin with three straight wins, but were then eliminated in the semis.

But the regular season has been a tough start for the Knights.

Despite strong goaltending and a number of bright moments, there were no lucky bounces and goals were few and far between. This resulted in a string of losses in the first six games.

The seventh game, however, appeared to be our lucky number as we scored our first win, 2-0 against East Gwillimbury. A glimmer of hope emerged. In the next three games there was another win against Markham (3-2), a hard-fought and welldeserved tie against the strong Orillia team and one loss against Barrie. The Orillia game especially showed great promise, as there was much improved and accurate passing, strong defensive efforts by Connor Anderson, Justen Favero, Marco Gerimnario and Dakota Marsham, amazing goaltending by Alex Harris and great penalty killing by "pesky" Justin Palleschi and Kurt Cumming.

On a positive note, during the season every single player, forward and defence, have had at least one goal or assist. It is truly the group effort that determines our success and it's not due to a few superstar scorers. Top scoring honours (regular season so far) go to Captain Taylor Jenkins (with eight points), Andrew Carr (seven), Cameron Boyce (five),

Mark Torelli and Connor Anderson (four each), Kurt Cumming, Justin Favero (all with three). The rest of the team followed closely behind, having at least one goal or assist, including newcomers Darian Waite, Nick Skrypek, and Brendan Finch (each with two).

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and we look forward to continuing this success. Many thanks to our sponsors, Carwell Construction, Century Brick, Favcor Construction and Lanno Torelli Accountants, and the dedicated coaching staff of Will Germinario, Greg Anderson and Paul Marsham, and trainers Jamie Austin and Jonathan Harris.