The Knights Junior A and B teams set off for road games to the NJ Rockets and Richmond Generals respectively this past weekend. The Junior A team split the weekend series with the Rockets – winning the first game 2-1 and losing the second game 6-3. The Junior B Knights also split the weekend series with their opponent, the Richmond Generals. The Knights won the first game in a shootout 4-3 and lost the second game 3-1.
“We played very solid defensive hockey on Saturday,” explained Head Coach Justin Lyle about the weekend, “but we kind of got away from that on Sunday.”
The Rockets Matt Volonnino scored the first goal in Saturday’s matchup against the Knights. After the goal, the Knights tightened up defensively and scored the game’s next two goals. Jason Zaleski scored the Knights first goal of the game in the second period, which was assisted by newcomer Ryan Alves and Gaven Lavalley. The game winning goal was scored by Bobby Polachek assisted by Rob Belger and Jack Ceglarski. Goalie Mike DeLaVergne stopped 30 of 31 shots in the winning effort.
The Knights second game against the Rockets was marred by defensive breakdowns and turnovers. However, the game featured a couple of highlights for the Knights. Jack Ceglarski scored two goals in the game and goaltender Mike DeLaVergne kept the game close with 39 saves. It wasn’t enough to win the game as the Knights lost 6-3.
The Junior B Knights had a very good showing in Richmond this past weekend. The games featured breakout games by more than a few of the Knights young players.
The Knights battled back from a 3-1 deficit in Saturday’s game against the Generals. Special teams proved to be crucial as the Knights came back from behind. The Knights scored two power play goals in the third period to tie the game and force overtime play. It started with CJ Yakimowicz scoring his second goal of the game to make the score 3-2. Then, Finnish-born Joel Vehkalahti scored the game tying goal assisted by CJ Yakimowicz and Yari Kobyzev.
Vehkalahti’s goal forced a five minute, sudden death overtime in which neither team scored. “The team came out very flat to start the game, but as it went on they started to focus and play harder,” said Assistant Coach Jon Park, “If Luke (Andriuk) hadn’t been in net to keep the guys in it, we could’ve easily lost the game 10-0. I had full confidence in him to give us a chance to win throughout the game and through overtime.” Andriuk stopped 54 shots in the game – 10 of those saves came in overtime.
Along with the strong play in goal by Andriuk, CJ Yakimowicz, Joel Vehkalahti, Yari Kobyzev, and Cody McClintock each had a multi-point game. Yakimowicz had what coach Park considered to be his best game of the season with two goals and an assist. Vehkalahti had a goal and an assist. Kobyzev assisted on two of the Knights goals.
The shootout proved to be a very dramatic cap to the Knights win. Coach Park elected to go with the hot hand in Yakimowicz to start. Then, he chose McClintock – who scored, and Kobyzev went third. McClintock’s shootout goal proved to be the game winner, while Andriuk made all three saves including an unbelievable glove save on the Generals third attempt to preserve the win.
For more information about the WBS Knights Junior program, please go to wbsknights.com
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12 Old Boston Road
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