October 9, 2024
WELLAND, ON: Your Niagara Knights (3-5-1) gave the fans a lot to cheer about as they take a 4-2 victory over the visiting Mohawk Mountaineers (1-7-1), on a chilly Wednesday evening of celebrating our graduates.
9 Knights seniors were honored before the match, including Matthew Bogusat, Sakul Gurung, Kyle Hannon, Kylar Lampman, Dom McIntosh, Cole Smith, Jack Soares, Matthew Vadacchino and Noah Vogel.
The match started out controlled, as both teams were waiting for their opponent to make the first mistake. In the 42nd minute, that opportunity presented itself to the Knights as Robert McMillan put the ball across the box for the Thorold native, Mike DiMaurizio to slot it into the back of the net – giving Niagara a 1-0 lead going into halftime. The 2nd half of the match saw a combined 5 goals between the two teams – with Knights goals coming from Gerrit Oldejans (69th minute), Blake Kokko (84th minute) and Oldejans again shortly after in the 86th minute. All of this excitement ended up being a 4-2 victory for the Niagara Knights.
Frank DeChellis, head coach of the Knights, began by saying "tonight was a good win for us – our division has been in playoff mode since game 5 of the season and last night was no different." DeChellis continued to praise his players, all over the field. "Juan Plata, Jack Soares, Matt Bogusat and Will Mitchell did a stellar job as our back four. Noah Vogel and Kyle Hannon were the field generals in the middle and had their best game defensively. Gerrit Oldejans and Mike DiMaurizio are coming into form and peaking at the right time as our top goal scorers." It should be noted that Blake Kokko, the 3rd year player from St. Thomas, Ontario, scored his first ever OCAA goal in the match – Congrats Blake.
The Knights have one final regular season game left before the playoffs begin next week on October 16th. They will be travelling to Oakville to take on the Sheridan Bruins (6-1-2) as they hope to make it back-to-back wins for the first time this season and carry some momentum into the post-season.
