Knights reach league summit following disciplined performance


23 November 2021

On the evening of Sunday, November 21st 2021, the Beaufort Knights of Luxembourg reached the top of the Royal Belgian Ice Hockey Federation (RBIHF) division 1 standings for the first time in more than 3 years following a hard-fought win over the Mechelen Sharks.

 

The match began somewhat typically of this season’s Knights team. The opposing Mechelen Sharks dominated possession of the puck and shots on goal. Had it not been for the play of goalie Piotr Swiderek, who was outstanding all night, the scoreline might have been very different. Much like in the matches against Heist and the Mechelen Whales, the men from Beaufort stayed composed, absorbed the pressure and grew into the game. At the 6 minute mark, Sacha Backes gave the Knights an unlikely 1-0 lead after powering his way through the middle of the ice. The Knights would take that lead into an early intermission after a crunching body check from Brad Holman on a Sharks player would actually break the glass of the Mechelen arena. With only 30 seconds left on the clock, both teams agreed with the referees to use the scheduled period pause to fix the glass and then finish the final seconds of the 1st period before beginning the 2nd.

 

The intermission was exactly what the Luxembourgers needed and they began to take command of the game at 30:00 through a perfectly executed power-play goal from Mirko Mosr. Coach Barthels will have been pleased to see Mosr show patience in front of the Mechelen net, finding space and staying there until some quick passes between Benny Welter and Backes found the puck on his stick for a redirect beyond the Sharks goalie. 4 minutes later the Sharks would finally convert one of their many chances with Diego Marrant weaving his way through the defence. Less than a minute later however, Claude Mossong and Brad Holman would exchange passes heading down the ice and after a soft pass towards the net from Holman, Mossong calmly collected the puck, passed the Sharks goalie and slotted into the open net to rebuild the Knights' 2-goal advantage. Mechelen would strike right back seconds later at 35:02 when Viljami Hietala Veeti snapped a quick shot past Swiderek to make it 3-2. It was once again on the power-play that the Knights would score their 4th of the game. This time Benny Welter played a cross-ice, 1-2 with Holman to tap-in at the back post. The stellar play of Holman this season continued in the last minute of period 2 when he quickly moved from behind the Sharks net to wrap the puck into the goal. The score was 5-2 to Beaufort and Holman had his league-leading 13th goal in 5 games.

 

The third and final frame of the match would see 2 more goals scored. After a forced turnover in the Mechelen zone, Sacha Backes worked his way into the middle of the ice and snapped a wrist shot into the top corner to make it 6-2. Mechelen would get a consolation power-play goal with 9 minutes remaining through Owen Bernard, but it was not enough to deny the Beaufort Knights a 4th straight win and a place at the top of the division 1 standings. The Knights now have a week off to prepare for a trip to Leuven to face the Chiefs in hopes of remaining at the top of the league.

 

Article by Liam McEvoy