Editor posted on January 07, 2011 20:40
The rivalry between Washington Township and Clearview was renewed on Friday night as the team met at Hollydell in front of a capacity crowd and around 14 policemen. Township came back from a two goal deficit to win 5-4. Kevin Mello paced the Township attack with two goals. Ed Moore and Taylor Olson led Clearview with two goals each. Clearview jumped out early as they capitalized on the power play just over one minute into the game with Moore burying a nice feed from Eric Mitchell. Later in the period Clearview made it 2-0 as Olson scored his fifth goal of the season. It was at this point that the game changed, Township Coach Glick called a timeout and reminded his team of the game plan, immediately after the timeout, Mello scored his first of two goals to cut the lead to 2-1.
Just about one minute later, with Clearview down a man, Eddie Sarin blasted a shot from the point that was deflected by Mike Lorence and just like that we were tied at 2-2. Not sure if Coach Glick was channeling Flyers Coach Laviolette, but you couldn’t have picked a better time to use the one time out you get each game.
Sarin gave Township its first lead of the night at the four minute mark of the second period thanks to some hard work from Ben Basalma to keep the puck in the zone, Basalma, had another strong game and his play has made Township a very dangerous team. Ryan McCusker got the start in nets, as he seems to be emerging as the number one goalie. After Sarin’s goal McCusker made several big stops in the period as Clearview launched a season high 24 at him, including a breakaways by Bob Campbell and Joe Paul.
Early in the third period, with a power play that began at the end of the second period, Mello scored his second goal of the game, again with Basalma doing the work and the lead was 4-2. Moore got Clearview to within 4-3 at the five minute mark, and Clearview had life. Then with a chance to tie the game as Clearview went on the power play with four minutes left, Basalma scored a short-handed goal on a nice pass from Sarin and the lead was two at 5-3. On the same man advantage Clearview score with just over two minutes left as Olson got his second of the night to cut the lead to 5-4. McCusker shut the door and despite pulling the goalie in the final minute and hitting the post, Clearview fell one goal short.
Notes: With tickets sold prior to the game and the amount of police at the game, the crowd seemed very subdued. These teams are scheduled to meet again in two weeks, but I’m hearing the game will be moved to Voorhees.
Written by Mike Costantino
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