Red Knights upset Humberside's skaters

[attach]1297[/attach]Northern Red Knights were successful in carrying out a coup d’état, handing Humberside only their second loss of the South Region boys hockey season.

On home ice, the 0-6-2 Red Knights fought hard in the corners and played disciplined hockey Feb. 16, winning 4-3 over the second place Huskies.

Northern head coach Brian Gaw thought he was dreaming, as it was their first win of the season.

“We limited our mistakes,” he said. “We had been making the wrong plays at the wrong times.”

However, the game did not start off on the right skate, as a mishandled puck by Northern goaltender Tyler MacLaine was tapped in by Humberside’s Kristos Tsiltidis.

Minutes later Red Knights forward Trevor Close teed off a shot from the Huskies face-off circle beating Humberside’s Josef Del Castillo with a laser beam to tie the game at ones in the first period.

Northern carried their momentum into the second as Gaw’s troupe worked a tic-tac-toe pattern from Close to Jeff Petroff to Will Rychlik for their second notch.

The to-and-fro game continued as Humberside’s Graham Low wired a shot glove side to even the game again.

Third period action saw the Huskies go ahead after two minutes of play with Thomas Spolsky knocking Adam Gavarkous’ rebound past MacLaine.

But the turning point came when goaltender MacLaine stopped a Humberside breakaway by Aldus Behan, Gaw said.

After a stellar save, Northern netted the next two goals, coming from Jacob Boone and Chris Kelly.

Humberside attacked in the dying minutes of the game, but could not find the mesh, as Northern completed the upset.

Huskies coach Dave Johnson said the loss was in part due to the team coming off a long weekend and his captains not putting in a full effort.

“It doesn’t matter if your first line or second line, if somebody else is playing a little harder, they’ll take your spot,” he said.

Northern’s hopes to continue their winning streak against Leaside Lancers were dashed as they were downed 7-1, ending their season with an eighth-place worthy 1-7-2 record.