Knights Squirt Minor 'AAA' lose to Wheatfield, 4-1

The Amherst Knights Squirt Minor "AAA" hockey team lost to the Wheatfield Blades, 4-1, on Sunday at the Wheatfield Hockey Outlet. Wheatfield center Collin Rutherford had three goals and an assist to lead his team to victory.

Amherst goaltender Mark O'Malley made the first big play of the game with a tough save off a strong shot within the first two minutes of play. At 7:48 into the first period, Wheatfield's Brendan Miller scored off a deflection of a shot by Rutherford to give his team a 1-0 lead. Just one minute later, Amherst forward Mitchell Spring powered his way down the left side, beat the Wheatfield defenseman through the center slot and let go a strong wrist shot on goal. Matthew Steffan went to the net hard and pounced on the rebound to even the game at 1-1.

Amherst finished the first period strong with some good scoring chances. Amherst winger Matthew Ruggiero made a nifty backhand pass to Alex Dimitroff who broke in for a solid scoring opportunity. The Steffan-Spring-Luke Eberhard line kept the pressure on the Wheatfield defense and drew a penalty late in the first.

The power play unit put some sustained pressure on the Wheatfield goaltender. Owen Green quarterbacked the unit from the point and launched two rockets on the Wheatfield net, one which clanked off the far post.

The Knights found themselves short-handed early in the second. John Hazelet took control of the penalty killing unit, stifling the elusiveness of the Wheatfield forwards by winning the crucial corner board battles deep in his own zone.

Amherst came on strong after the penalty kill as defenseman Dylan Lock turned back multiple full-speed Wheatfield rushes with some timely poke-checks and solid body positioning. Green followed suit with a swift moving deke and pass from the point that set up teammate Danny Tyczynski for a good shot. However, the Wheatfield goaltender was able to make a solid save and keep the game tied at 1-1.

Halfway through the second period, it appeared the Knights had taken a 2-1 lead. Dante Todaro rushed wide through the faceoff circle and passed the puck through the Wheatfield crease. With Dimitroff and MJ Bronsky smothering the crease, the puck lay on the goal line, then seemingly was pushed over the line before the Wheatfield goaltender covered it up. Amherst had thought they had scored but no signal came from the referee.

With four minutes to go in the second, Rutherford scored top-shelf with a back-hand from the side of the net. Wheatfield led 2-1.

The tightly fought battle continued in the third period. Amherst goaltender Max Battistoni came in to relieve O'Malley and forced an early faceoff with a stretching pad save. Defensemen Ellis Smith and Chris Winiecki worked hard keeping the swift Wheatfield team bottled up through much of the third period.

Later in the period, Battistoni made a huge save off a clear breakaway. Following that save, the Ruggiero-Todaro-Brodzik line forced the play inside the Blades' blue line. Working hard, Brodzik and Todaro pushed the puck to the front of the net where Ruggiero deflected it off the post.

Rutherford scored his second back-handed goal of the game to give his team a two-goal lead as the third period started to wind down. As the game came to a close, Amherst picked up a late penalty and Rutherford scored off a deflected shot on the Wheatfield power play with just one second left in the game.