HATFIELD – Some games just mean a little bit more. That was the feeling in the atmosphere going into the Senior Night matchup of the Knights vs. CB West Bucks at Hatfield Ice. The recipe for a perfect night was there: the special Senior Night ceremony, a packed crowd, a heated match. It is a shame that sometimes, things just don’t go the way you want them to.

The Knights on the ice lost 5-4 in overtime sudden-death due to a goal within the last minute of OT. They fall to 3-8-1 and remain at the bottom in standings. The leading and only scorer of the night was junior forward assistant team captain, John Stinson.

The Knights opened the game with a strong first period, being the first to score and holding the Bucks to one goal. However, their weakest point in the game was the second period, where two points were let up and Stinson was held to one score. In the third quarter, the game looked put away at the start with another CB West goal, but Stinson answered with 2 of his own to tie things up. The game went back and forth in OT, but a wide open shot declared the Bucks victorious in the last minute of overtime. 

“Obviously we feel bad from the loss, but we have some more games this week and we think we can squeeze out a few more wins if we play like we did tonight” senior forward Julian Ma said.

Most CB West points were shot within close proximity of the goal due to North Penn trying to cover the perimeter of the rink as opposed to the inside area near the goal. 

“We needed to really step up and put pressure on them. We kind of fell off in the second quarter a little bit, but we started to turn things around midway through the third. We can’t let them just shoot the puck wide-open. If we did that, I think we would’ve been a lot happier with our performance tonight” senior defender and assistant captain, Sam Mostochuk said.

Although the loss stung the Knights hard, the seniors were honored before and after the game with a ceremony and small party, surrounded by friends and family. The NP seniors include Tyler Porubski, Julian Ma, Zach Ebbinghaus, Sam Mostochuk, Nic Christ, and Alex Seward. Jerseys and balloons honored these seniors and all their hard work on the varsity team.

“It feels really great to feel supported. We had our biggest crowd tonight, loudest cheers, and of course all the nice decorations put up by our parents. So thanks to everyone who showed out for tonight” Ma said. 

The Knight’s next matchup is against the Pennridge Rams on Thursday at 7:10 in the Hatfield Ice Gray Rink. The Rams are 9-3 in their season and are second in standings for the season. The Knights will have to tighten up their defense and make sure to keep their foot on the gas pedal throughout the entire game to stand a chance against Pennridge.