By Larry Moko
A boys' high school hockey game Thursday between the St. Thomas More Knights and St. Mary Crusaders had an unusual vibe to it.
Just ask Crusaders coach Jason Kokoski.
"It was More's first game of the schedule and our second, yet it felt like a playoff game," Kokoski said.
"There was high intensity. That doesn't happen very often so early in the season."
Played at Chedoke Twin Pad Arena, the evenly-matched Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic contest ended in a 4-4 deadlock.
To get the point, however, More fought back in the final six minutes from a two-goal deficit. And the tying marker -- by Liam Ryerson -- was scored with 35 seconds remaining when the netminder was lifted in favour of an extra attacker.
Other goals for the Knights went to Logan Slack (two) and Mac Griffin.
St. Mary got two goals by Noah Nevins plus singles by Ben Lamb and Caden Okis.
Kokoski said the fact that many of the players on the two teams know each other added to the competitive nature of play.
With the score 3-2, More defenceman and captain Julian Carbone made a series of heavy body checks on one shift, causing St. Mary to take a penalty when an opponent went after him. As a result, when Carbone skated to the bench all his teammates pounded on the boards to express their appreciation.
"I didn't know what to expect because we've got a lot of new faces this year," Knights coach Gino Leone said. "I thought we would be a little rusty at the start and I felt like we were. But, overall, I'm happy with the effort."
Offensively, the Crusaders got a strong performance from the line of Lamb, Okis and Nevins. Those three combined for nine points.
"That line played really well Monday (four goals in the Crusaders 6-3 victory over the Bishop Tonnos Titans) and they played well today," the St. Mary coach said."They have a lot of experience playing together for our school. Caden was in the city final for us in Grade 9 and now he's back for his fourth year as our captain. He's been around. He's a guy everybody kind of looks to."
Kokoski said the Crusaders should benefit from having competed in the OFSAA championships for AA teams last season.
"Most of our team from last year is back, so we're hoping to have some success," he said.
Leone said St. Mary moves the puck well and is a tough team to play against.
"I'm just happy we were able to adjust and forge a bit of a comeback at the end," the More coach said. "This was a good start we can build off."
The Knights lineup includes four sets of brothers.
In other action Thursday, Tonnos evened its record with a 7-3 victory over the defending champion Bishop Ryan Celtics (0-1).
The St. Jean de Brébeuf Braves (0-1) and the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals (1-0) were idle.
Said Kokoski: "One thing I've always said about this league is there's so much parity. Probably a lot more than some of our board's other sports. Come playoff time anybody can knock anybody else off."
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
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