By: Ellie Hazelwood
The Ottawa West Golden Knights hit the ice for the start of the regular season, at the Barbara Ann Scott Arena, against the Renfrew Timberwolves.
With a new season comes a new captain with assistants. Before the game started, those people were announced. Congrats to assistant captains: Will McCulligh, Jason Ward, and Blake Egan. An extra congratulations to captain, Antonio Zito.
“Captain life is nice,” Zito said. “I’ve been part of this organization for three years, going into my fourth, so it feels good that my coaches, and especially my teammates trust me to be in the leadership position.”
Shortly after the Golden Knights lined up at centre ice, for the crowd to meet the 2026-2027 team, it was puck drop.
The first period consisted of chances for both teams, but no goals.
In the second period, the chances continued. Former Golden Knight Johnny Sammon, nailed a goal on one of those opportunities for the Timberwolves.
The Knights were done 1-0 going into the third, but that didn’t stop them. They didn’t give up.
Gavin McCarthy tied it for the boys just 33 seconds into the final period. Six minutes later, Zito got one to put the Golden Knights ahead.
“I made the breakout pass, and then we went down, and the puck just popped out,” Zito said. “I was kind of hesitant to push for it, because I didn’t know if the guy was going to come out, but he kind of just left it. I just was like, ‘we need something going here’, so I just tried to fire it on net, and it worked out.”
Zito’s goal played out well, that’s for sure, as it sealed the deal, on the win for the boys.
It was a close game, but it was also a big win for the Knights. They went in with a determined mindset, and it showed for the team, along with goalie Carter Overhoff, who had 45 saves.
“I didn’t know what the team was going to look like in our first game,” Overhoff said. “But we all just came in, just wanting to win the game.”
It was a great season opener for the boys, but it wasn’t the end of the first week for them, quite yet.
The Golden Knights were back at it, the next day, for their first away game, against the Winchester Hawks.
The Knights opened the scoring, and were up 2-1 at the end of the first period, with goals from McCulligh and Egan.
Behind in the second period, the boys didn’t give up, they kept working hard, and McCulligh ended up nailing his second of the game, because of it.
By the end of the third, the Knights unfortunately fell short 8-4. That’s not to say there weren’t glimmers in the game, though.
For one, McCulligh got his first hat trick of the season. Overhoff was strong in net, with 43 saves. Those were definitely part of the good in the game.
Besides, the season is just getting going, and the Golden Knights have a way of even making tough games good, and fun to watch, so… the Ottawa West Golden Knights are just getting started.
