NEW KENSINGTON — It was the type of start they hope for, but the Knoch hockey team made sure it finished the tasl.

Matt Eshelman's natural hat trick staked the Knights to an early 3-0 lead as Knoch went on to post a 5-1 victory over Bishop McCort Monday at the Valley Sports Center.

The win improved Knoch to 7-1, the lone loss a 2-1 overtime decision to the Crushers Nov. 12.

"Obviously, getting two (first-period) goals against a team like that is big," Knoch coach Joe Honzo said. "They play trap and the longer the game goes, the less chances you get.

"Even though we were 6-1 coming in, I felt we had to have more offense. Matt has played defense all year and we made a move late in the Quaker Valley game (a 3-2 Knights win in their last game Nov. 23). He's a finisher with Neal (Donnelly) and Evan (Gorse)," Honzo added.

Eshelman's first goal came 4:47 into the game off an assist from Ty Honzo. His second came when he rifled a shot past Crushers goalie Jim Stenger.

"The last game we played them, we jumped out to a 1-0 lead and they came back," said senior forward Neal Donnelly. "We let them stay in it. The difference tonight is we put the puck in the net."

The Knights tallied 10 shots in the first period to Bishop McCort's three, but the Crushers got more chances over the next 15 minutes.

Eshelman, however, took a Shayne Hennessy helper and scored with 10 minutes remaining in the second period.

"Matt had those two huge goals early," said senior forward Evan Gorse. "And when we got the tree-goal lead, we didn't want them to come back from that."

Bishop McCort (4-1-1) struck back, thanks to a power play opportunity. A tripping penalty by Knoch's Evan Gorse gave the Crushers the advantage and Zach Barto scored with 3:30 left in the period.

Thirty-two seconds later, McCort earned another power-play chance, but the Knights' defense burned it off.

Any momentum the Crushers had built was gone when Donnelly scored off a Gorse pass with 12.8 seconds left before the break.

Gorse added a short-handed goal with 13:20 left in the game off a feed from Nick Transue.

Knoch goalie Ryan Naples made 25 saves as the Crushers had 23 shots on goal over the final two periods.

Naples had the 1-0 lead the first time against the Crushers but was determined not to let it slip away this time around.

"The difference was we were able to hold them down," Naples said. "Our defense was solid and the offense kept going. Once we got that goal, we were confident."a