First Posted: 1/3/2015
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Junior Knights hit their holiday break leading the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League Dowd Division pack by seven points with the help of two players from Wyoming.
Wyoming residents J.P Natishan, who plays forward and defense, and Erik Yenchak, a defenseman, are among the 11 Luzerne County players on the 24-man roster.
The Knights 22-9-0-0 to lead the second-place Philadelphia Little Flyers by seven points. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton won three games the weekend of Dec. 19-21 to extend its winning to seven games and make it 10 wins in the last 11. The Knights return to action Jan. 10 at 4 p.m. with a home game at the Revolution Ice Centre against the Philadelphia Junior Flyers.
Both Natishan and Yenchak are 17-year-olds playing in a league with players up to 20 years old, many of whom are in their final preparations for college hockey careers.
Natishan scored his fourth goal of the season Dec. 20 in a 10-2 rout of the Brewster Bulldogs. The 5-10, 145-pounder also has six assists while playing in all 31 games.
“Natishan’s been great for us this year,” said Knights coach Matt Pinchevsky, who expects Natishan, as one of the youngest ’97 birthyear players, to grow more before his junior hockey days are over. “He’s proved he can play even with his under-sized frame.
“I would like him to finish the season as a forward. He’s a pest. His mindset on the ice is, ‘I bet you can’t beat me,’ whether that’s playing with the puck, playing without the puck, a footrace or a physical battle.”
Natishan shows his toughness blocking shots in a way that is only surpassed on the team by captain Connor Vance.
“If Connor Vance is the king of blocking shots, then J.P. is certainly the prince both as a forward and on defense,” Pinchevsky said. “He’s a key penalty killer, which kind of goes hand-in-hand with the anticipation and blocked shots that he brings to the table.”
Pinchevsky said Natishan has an equal chance of being a defenseman or forward as he moves to higher levels of hockey.
“I couldn’t tell you his true position at the next level,” the coach said.
Natishan came up through the Knights Midget (U-16) and Bantam (U-14) teams.
Yenchak, who also played on the Knights Midget teams the past two seasons, has also been able to make a successful transition to junior hockey at a time when he could still be playing on youth (U-18) teams.
The 5-11, 180-pound defenseman has played in 21 games, producing a goal and three assists.
“He’s developing at a rapid rate,” Pinchevsky said. “He’s played in all situations for us. He has an absolute cannon of a shot.
“He’s not afraid and he’s a smart player. He has a good mind for the game.”
The Metro League team is one of many in the Knights program that plays out of the Revolution Ice Centre in Pittston.
The other junior team plays in the Eastern Hockey League, which generally plays at a slightly higher level although both are part of USA Hockey’s Tier III junior hockey. The Eastern League Knights team, made up entirely of players that have come in from outside the area, recently had a 14-game winning streak to help take the lead in the South Division with a 22-7-2-0 record.
The Knights also have teams in the Atlantic Youth Hockey League and won a 2012 USA Hockey national title on the Bantam level.
