Minor bantam Knights play in York - Simcoe round robin

The NobleKing minor bantam Knights played their first game of the round robin series in the York- Simcoe region playoffs Jan. 27 against Markham, and ended up suffering a 3-1 loss.

The lone goal of the game for the Knights was scored by Marco Mussato, assisted by Robbie Pizzicorola.

Jan. 30 saw the Knights take on the Richmond Hill Stars, but they were disappointed again with a loss of 5-1. The only goal of the game for NobleKing was scored by Pizzicorola, who skated through the Stars' lineup late in the game and blasted a hard slap shot over the shoulder of the goalie, who never stood a chance.

The Knights took on the Stouffville Clippers Feb. 4 in the third game of the series, and after a long, hard-fought first period, the Clippers scored to take the early lead. In the second period, the Knights offence came alive and started the scoring after nice lead pass from Christian Shortill to Thomas Martin, who took off on a breakaway and scored. A few minutes later, Tyler Burtt worked his way around the Clippers' defence while short handed, and put one in the top corner. The third goal came from Martin again, who skated past the Clippers' defence and scored off a nice low shot and with less than two minutes remaining in the period. Austin Maggiacomo and Burtt combined to make a pass to Nick Heintzman, who scored to end the period with the Knights ahead 4-1.

In the third period, on a two-on-one breakaway, Maggiacomo passed across to Michael Noblegreen who scooped a nice backhander into the Clippers' net. Stouffville scored one more time in the third, but during the last minute of play, Mathew Perruzza put one in the empty net off a pass from Martin to end the game 6-2 in favor of the Knights. Ben Rossetto was great in goal and stopped a lot of shots early to keep the Knights in the game.

Back in Nobleton Feb. 9, the Knights faced Orillia for the first time in the round robin series, and worked hard to earn another win.

In the first period, after trailing 1-0, Victor Mifsud scored after a scramble in front of the Orillia net to tie the game. Orillia scored again in the first to end the period ahead 2-1.

In the second, Perruzza scored off a pass from Brenden Ottaway. Then a few minutes later, Martin scored off a pass from Mussatto, who had won the face-off at the side of the Orillia goal. At 3:35 of the second, Orillia scored again, but one minute later, George Stepanis passed to Mussatto, who worked his way through the Orillia lineup and put one past their goalie. Early in the third, Maggiacomo passed to Martin on a breakaway and buried one off a nice backhander. Orillia would respond with two quick goals to tie the game 5-5. With three minutes left to play, and all tied, Burtt skated wide into the Orillia zone and took a hard shot on net which rebounded in front of Maggiacomo who capitalized on the chance and scored the winning goal for the Knights.

John Salome was on his game in goal and helped his team take another win.

The following day, in the King City arena, the boys faced Richmond Hill and took another win.

In the second, Martin scored on a breakaway and then again a few minutes later, off passes from Perruzza and Heintzman. In the third, the Stars responded with a goal to come within one, but Steven Gianfrancesco ended their hopes by scoring off a nice wrist shot, assisted by Mifsud.

Rossetto was in goal for the Knights and came up with some crowd pleasing saves throughout the game as he helped secure the win for his teammates.

The Knights were up to Orillia the following Friday, but came away with a disappointing loss after going into the third period ahead 3-2. Goals in the second period were by Martin, Noblegreen and Mussatto. Orillia scored twice in the third to take the lead, but Mussatto responded and tied things up, assisted by Martin and Pizzicorola. With less than a minute to go, Orillia scored and took the win 5-4.

The next day, the Knights went to Stouffville and walked away with another win. Two goals in the first period by Martin, with assists from Perruzza and Mussatto, gave the Knights the early lead and from there they wouldn't look back. Noblegreen scored the third and final goal of the game, assisted by Maggiacomo. Salome got another shutout to add to his record for the season.

The final game of the round robin series last Monday took the Knights to Markham, where the hard-skating, hard-hitting defence of the NobleKing team shut down the Waxers' scoring ability. Goals in the first by Martin and Mifsud gave the Knights the early lead. A single goal in the second by Perruzza was responded to by Stouffville late in the frame to make it 3-1 in favor of the Knights. Two more goals in the third by Martin gave him a hat trick. One was assisted by Stepanis and the other by Pizzicarola. The Knights took the match 5-1.

The Knights won and received a bye in the next round.