Schomberg claims SRLL minor midget A title

March 25, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner
The Trisan Centre was buzzing on Saturday afternoon as the Schomberg Allstone Red Wings minor midget local league team hosted the NobleKing Knights for game three of the SRLL finals.
Heading into the game, Schomberg held a 2-0 series lead, putting the Knights in a do-or-die situation for game three.
It was a close game throughout, keeping spectators on the edge of their seats, but Schomberg held on for the 2-1 victory to become SRLL minor midget “A” champions for 2013-14.
“It feels great. The kids have worked hard in the playoffs and it was nice to bring that one in here at home,” said Schomberg coach Doug Cross. “Every game we played against NobleKing this year was a one goal game. They made us work for every win, so it kind of made this win that much better.
“We just had to keep working hard. NobleKing is a very fast team and knows how to move the puck and we just had to keep wearing them down. They’ve got a good goalie, but we knew if we kept plugging away we would get a few goals and that’s what happened.”
It was a close game early on, despite the fact that the Red Wings were given a couple golden opportunities on the power play. However, the Knights buckled down and the kept the game scoreless going into the second period.
With both teams looking for an advantage, Knights goalie Harrison Mott stymied the Red Wings on a few quality chances.
However, luck ran out for the Knights when Red Wing James Barber carried the puck into the NobleKing zone. Mott made the save on Barber, but Jordan McIlwain picked up the rebound and buried it to give Schomberg a 1-0 lead with just minutes remaining in the second period. Barber was credited with the only assist on the goal.
As the third period began, the tension was thick as both teams were still going strong.
McIlwain rang a slap shot off the post early in the period which seemed to wake up the Knights.
With 7:41 left in the game, Knight Adam Pia flew down the wing into the Schomberg zone and scored on a low shot to tie the score at 1-1.
With a new sense of confidence the Knights were shoving back to make for an incredible five minutes of exciting back and forth hockey.
However, with just 2:49 left, Derek Biersteker scored a hard-nosed playoff goal to put the Red Wings back in the lead, which stood up as the championship winning goal for Schomberg.
“It was awesome. I jumped pretty high,” he said after the game. “The puck popped out at the blue line and then James (Barber) got it, went on a breakaway and it hit the post, then off the boards and back. It was a little bit of a knuckler, but I think it ended up going under the goalie’s arm. It was a little lucky, but it was exhilarating. It’s not as nice of a goal as I would have liked, but it’s the winner, so I can’t complain.”
NobleKing captain Connor Roth had a great series for the Knights and although his team was ousted by their King rivals, was positive about the way his team played this season.
“I feel like the whole team played very well,” he said. “They’re a solid team and it just came down to the basics, they outplayed us at the end, but we gave it our all. Everyone played well and we all had a great season. It’s unfortunate, but I’m grateful.”
Roth said he will be back to play with this team next year and that he hopes his club can take the next step.
“We had a great team. We won a lot of games and definitely had a lot of fun. We couldn’t come out on top, but we still had a great time.”