saultsports 
On Sunday, February 16th, the 2025 Sault Ste. Marie High School Hockey League postseason kicked off with an exciting matchup as the CASS Huskies returned after a five-season absence to face the St. Mary’s Knights at the John Rhodes Centre. In the first game of the best-of-three series, the Huskies secured a crucial 6-4 victory to take a 1-0 series lead.
The Huskies struck first at 8:25 of the opening period when Brody Kleist found the back of the net behind Knights goaltender Liam DuBois. Noah Smith earned the lone assist on Kleist’s first goal of the postseason. CASS doubled their lead with just 28 seconds remaining in the period as Dawson Merling netted his first of the playoffs, assisted by Smith and Stone Shaughnessy, sending the Huskies into intermission with a 2-0 advantage.
Early in the second period, CASS capitalized on a power play at 11:06 when Dom Corbett extended the lead to 3-0 with his first postseason goal, assisted by Hayden Wells. The Knights responded at 7:40, cutting the deficit to two as Kiran Juma scored his first of the playoffs with an assist from Jagur Vommaro. St. Mary’s continued to fight back, and at the 12-minute mark of the third period, Darion Pucci brought the Knights within one, scoring a power-play goal assisted by Rocco Gioia and Brayden Luzzi.
Momentum swung in the Knights’ favour when Gioia netted the equalizer at 10:21, recording his first of the playoffs with Pucci registering the assist. However, the Huskies were quick to respond, and at 4:14 of the third period, Kleist regained the lead for CASS with his second goal of the night, assisted by Corbett and Wells.
With 3:37 left in regulation, the Huskies struck again on the power play as Corbett tallied his second goal of the contest, with Kleist and Tyler Quenneville picking up assists to make it 5-3. The Knights pulled DuBois for an extra attacker in a final push, but Corbett sealed the win with an empty-net goal, completing his hat trick and securing a 6-4 victory for the Huskies.
With the win, CASS takes a 1-0 lead in the series. Game two is set to take place at the Northern Community Centre on Tuesday, February 18th, with puck drop scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The Knights will look to even the series, while the Huskies aim to close it out and advance in the postseason.
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