Senior Marshall Tiger defenseman Parker Schmitt fighting off Irondale Knights defender and securing the puck in Friday’s night action

MARSHALL–The Marshall Tigers boys hockey team had their season opener against the Irondale Knights in the Thanksgiving Classic. The Tigers would fall to the Knights 3-1 on Friday afternoon.

In the opening period, things were going very well for the Tigers. The Tigers outshoot and outhit the Knights all game long. The Tigers would score first with just 4:34 left in the period. The goal was by junior defenseman Talan Planter and it was assisted by senior defenseman Gavin Peterson to give Marshall a 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately, that was the last goal the Tigers would score on the evening.

The Knights would net the equalizer just 28 seconds later, giving them a one all tie. That score would stay the same through the end of the first period.

The second period began much like the first. The Tigers would continuing implementing a bruising style and getting a lot of shots on goal. However, the shots were to no prevail. Although the Tigers outshoot the Knights 28-13 in the contest, the Knights would score two goals in the second period in a span of four minutes.

As much as the Tigers continued to put pressure on the Knights goalie, none of their shots were going into the net Marshall was down by two goals after two periods

In the third period, the effort was evident and the body checks continued to be delivered by the Tigers. The Tigers we’re fighting uphill though and it was too big to climb as the Knights held on for the win, 3-1.

“For an opening game, I thought we played really well,” Tigers boys head coach Michael Weiss said. “Our defense breaking the pick out did a great job with the regroups. I thought we did a good job tonight, we just struggled getting it into the net and hitting the goalpost a few times.”

Weiss also added that on the Knights goals in the second period, the team had a couple of miscues. Weiss advocated through film study the miscues can be easily fixed. Weiss continued to stay positive, forget about the loss and get ready for the quick turnaround tomorrow as they wait on the opponent who they’ll face

The Marshall Tigers boys hockey team will be back in action tomorrow at 2 p.m.