Knights at State Tournament

FAHA Knights Bring Home the Hardware

By BOB ELEY - beley@newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — The Fairbanks Amateur Hockey Association Knights Tier 3 PeeWee (age 12 and younger) picked the right time of year to play its best hockey of the season.

The team brought home the championship trophy from the Alaska State Hockey Association 2013 PeeWee C State Tournament last weekend with a hard-fought win against the Anchorage Hockey Association Comets.

 

In three tournaments in the regular season — The Turkey Shootout, Fairbanks Fest Bantam D and the President’s Day Invitational — the FAHA squad had finished in the runner-up position. In the final tournament of the season, the Knights were able to keep up their intensity, overcome injuries to three players and went undefeated to claim the state title.

 

The Knights opened the tournament with four round-robin wins against the Homer Glacier Kings (3-2), and three shutouts against the AHA Comets Green (5-0), the Palmer Pioneers-Ketterman (7-0), and the Kenai Ice Hawks (10-0) to earn a top seed into the semifinals. The Knights skated to a hard-fought 4-2 win against the Homer Glacier Kings in the semifinals and defeated the AHA Comets 6-3 in the title contest.

 

The state championship roster features goaltender Garrett Simmons, defensemen Carson Coiley, Dylan Tompkins, Amy Hughes, Jesse Keith, Jacob Strle, and Clayton Stevens; and forwards Aidan Grogan, assistant captain, Matias Szumigala, assistant captain, Isabel Hughes, Stephen Trujillo, Daniel Parsons, Deondric Henderson, Travis Brase, Antonio Szumigala and captain Brandon Groesbeck.

 

The Knights are coached by Arthur Hughes with Gerald Hughes, Kevin Coiley and David Szumigala serving as assistants. The Knights are managed by Ellen Daley.

 

In six tournament games, the Knights scored 35 goals on 200 shots and held their opponents to 83 shots and only seven goals. Simmons earned the tournament’s Goalie MVP Award. The Knights finished the season 34-8-4 with every player on the team earning a point during the state tournament, and every player scoring at least one goal during the season.

Presidents Day 2013

The PeeWee Tier III Knights took second place in the Anchorage Presidents Day Tournament.

They made their way through the Anchorage Comets, Palmer Pioneers, Homer, Kenai Ice Hawks to make it to the Championship Game against Homer....

Next stop STATE!

Travis Goal!

YEAH!!!

Presidents Day 2013 - PeeWee C - Second Place

Fairbanks Fest 2013

The Fairbanks Knights - PeeWee C Team took second place in the Bantam (U14) Division of the 2013 Fairbanks Fest Tournament.

They beat the Healy - Coal Kings, Delta - Huskies, Fbks Knights - Weier, Fbks Knights - Atkinson, and Anchorage Comets teams to advance to the Championship Game on Monday January 21. Delta fought hard and deserved their 4-2 victory.

National Anthem line up

GO KNIGHTS!

Goal! Brandon

It looks good...but believe it or not this WASN'T a goal!

GOAL! Szumigala brothers

Battling for the puck (Travis is #10).

Christmas & New Years 2012-13

Family

Friends

and
FUN!

Turkey Shoot 2012

The Fairbanks Knights took second place in the 2012 Anchorage Turkey Shoot Hockey Tournament. They were undefeated heading into the Championship Game with wins over the Palmer Pioneers, Anchorage Comets, Wasilla Wild and Alaska Icebreakers. They faced a second Comets team in the finals and battled to a 3-3 tie, but Anchorage scored with 90 seconds on the clock to pull ahead for a 4-3 win.

Entering Ben Boeke Ice Rink

Go Knights!

Travis Rebound

Travis GOAL!

Chalk Talk

Jesse Goal

2012 Turkey Shoot - 2nd Place - PeeWee C Division