Atlantic Youth Hockey League

PITTSTON, PA — It was an exciting weekend in hockey as teams scrambled to establish an early pole position in their respective divisions. 

WB/Scranton Jr. Knights have established early separation as the team to beat in the division. They started the weekend with a 2-0 sweep in a doubleheader against the North Jersey Avalanche. In their first of two games, Grayson Epenshade dished out assists on three of his team’s goals en-route to a dominant 5-1 victory. The Knights scored three unanswered goals in the first period before putting the Avalanche away with two more in the third. The Avalanche were no doubt hoping the score would be different when the teams met again later in the day, and it was; this time it was an 11-1 victory for the Knights. Avery Fixman had a whopping four goals, Brendon Matysczak had a hat trick, and Epenshade threw in another two goals and two assists to continue his impressive day.  The Knights then rounded out their weekend with a third crushing victory over the New jersey Colonials 8-0. The Knights are rolling right now, with a tie being the lone blemish on their record.

As for the Avalanche, they had to quickly put the losses behind them and rebound in a match against the Long Island Royals. In a dynamic first period, both teams struck early and often; the Royals had the first two goals minutes into the period, but the Avalanche struck back with two goals of their own. A last-minute goal from Matthew Stampfel made it 3-2 Royals heading into the second, but the Avalanche’s David Kliger tied it yet again less than a minute into the period. A power play goal by Christian Semetsis gave the Royals the lead yet again, but this time it was Max Niejadlik’s turn to respond with an unassisted goal with less than two minutes to tie the game at 4-4. Neither team was able to score in overtime, and the thrilling clash ended in a 4-4 stalemate.  

In other news around the division, Philadelphia Hockey Club continued their winning ways with a 3-1 victory over the Valley Forge Minutemen. Brian Vega scored every one of his teams three goals, including two clutch ones in the third period, to propel his team past the Minutemen. Both the Royals and the Philadelphia Hockey Club are undefeated thus far, with the Royals’ aforementioned tie being the only thing separating these teams as they jockey for 2^nd place behind the cruising Scranton Jr. Knights.