The Salisbury Knights, defending Elite 8 Champions, found themselves heading into February in unfamiliar territroy, on the outside looking in for prep standings. They started the month win back to back impressive wins over Kent and Frederick Gunn School but their toughest test was tonight against a stingy Taft squad that defeated them earlier in the season.
The game started off even back and forth with both teams exchanging scoring chances but it was the Knights who broke the lead with 5:57 remaining in the first period on the powerplay when Anthony Biakabutuka got the puck and zipped it across to Quinn McCall who fired a one-timer goal by Taft netminder.
The Taft Rhinos responded quickly just over two minutes later when sophomore Carter Halsell who is up from the JV squad, gathered the puck at the faceoff dot – went towards the net and fired a low wrister 5-hole to beat the goalie clean. The teams ended the first period at a 1-1 draw.
Salisbury came out in the second period with another gear and scored just a minute and half into the period as Hayden Hayes got the puck in the slot and fired it top corner for the score. The Knights outplayed the Rhinos for most of the period getting pucks in deep, working the cycle and driving to the net but they couldn’t get the puck past junior goalie Rudy Guimond who was the clear player of the game and kept it as a one-score game going into the third period.
The Knights knew their Elite 8 hopes were on the line and didn’t take their foot off the gas going into the third period but credit to Taft who were composed, well-coached and kept the defending champs away from the net and took away rebound chances. Taft and Salisbury traded scoring chances and while the Rhinos were being outshot, they didn’t give up and showed great resolve in the final minutes. With 2:09 remaining Taft coach Ryan Shannon pulled the goalie and called a timeout. They were able to get a decent shot off the draw and then had another offensive zone faceoff – this one was won cleanly by Tafter centerman Archer Brown who got it back to Jackson Holl at the point who fired a low snap shot to the net that was tipped by Shane Mettler to tie the game with 1:59 remaining.
While Salisbury and Taft nearly scored in the final minute the game went to a 5-minute overtime, just like their first meeting earlier in the season. Salisbury controlled much of the overtime period trapping the puck deep in the Taft zone and wearing them down and with 32 seconds remaining in the period Salisbury got an offensive zone faceoff – the same spot Taft tied the game in the final minutes of regulation. Salisbury won the faceoff clean back to Quinn McCall who made a nice move and fired a low snap shot off the goalies pad which was rebounded by Garrett Krieger alone infront to pull off the win and keep the Knights Elite 8 hopes alive.
Although it is rare to give a losing team the player of the game but there was no doubut to anyone in the rink that Taft netminder Rudy Guimond was the player of the game with his poise and skill making save after save, several point blank stop in tight.
Both teams played hard, were well-coached and will be tough teams to beat down the stretch as they look to earn spots into the Elite 8 playoffs.
Three Stars of the Game:
1st Star: Rudy Guimond, Goalie, Taft
2nd Star: Quinn McCall, Defense, Salisbury
3rd Star: Garrett Krieger, Forward, Salisbury