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High School
Hockey
St.
Peter successfully defends high school hockey crown
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans
Online The
St. Peter Knights managed to successfully defend their AAA/AAAA high school hockey
championship on Wednesday with a 5-3 win over the All Saints Avalanche to win
the title in two straight games. After
skating to a 6-4 win in the first game of the best of three final series, the
Knights were eager to finish the Avalanche off and avoid having to play a third
and deciding game in which anything could happen. St.
Pete's jumped out to 2-0 first period lead before the Avalanche finally got on
the board to make it a one goal game. It didn't long, however, for the Knights
to pot another one to re-establish a two gowl cushion heading into the second
period. The
Knights scored the lone goal in the second stanza to take a 4-1 lead into the
third period. They would go up 5-1 in the final stanza before the Avalanche scored
late in the game to make the final score 5-2. Sam
McLaughlin and Kyle McCrae had two goals each for the Knights while Derek Chow
also had a goal and Erik Plumadore picked up the win in net. After
losing a number of key players to graduation, the Knights started the season on
unsteady ground. After winning theif first two games they were pounded 9-0 by
the Hillcrest Hawks. They managed to right themsleves, winning their next three
games, but then allowed six goals in a 6-6 tie with the St. Matthew Tigers. They
ended the season with three straight wins to finish atop the East Division standings
with an 8-1-1 record. After squeaking by John McCrae in the first round of the
playoffs, they bested the St. Joseph Jaguars 2-1 in the semi-finals to earn a
berth in the finals. A
large part of the team's success has been the leadership of returning players
like McLaughlin, Peter Cook and Eric Donato. McLauglin started the year at a hockey
academy in Oka, Quebec. When things didn't work out, he returned to St. Pete's
and was welcomed with open arms. The
Knights defence is anchored by twin towers Brian Upton and Taylor Wilson, who
is one of the best junior golfers in the city, while Colin Vanstrien added an
offensive spark on the back end. Grade 11 student Pat Fitzgerald also contributed
offensively, as did Jordan Highley. "With
the number of players we lost off of last year's team, we knew it was going to
be tough to repeat," says Markatti who shares the coaching duties with Phil
Cossette and Pat Thompson. "But the guys really came together and we had
enough guys that could put the puck in the net to chalk up some wins" The
Knights must know focus their attention on the OFSAA provinciual championships
which get underway on March 22 in St. Catharines. 
(Posted
6:30 p.m., March 6) Return
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