Mr. Ice Hockey posted on February 19, 2018 23:17
Andrew Lavdas stopped 28 shots as Cherokee defeated Moorestown 3-1 in front of a packed house on Monday night in an elimination game in the Tier I bracket. The Chiefs built a 3-0 lead through two periods largely on strong goal tending and the play of their second line, but had to hold on at the end as Moorestown would make some noise late in the game. The Chiefs jumped out to a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game with Samuel Berger putting home a rebound of a shot by Mike Deford, with Jake Kelley also getting an assist. Later in the period that line would once again put pressure down low and Kelley would grab a rebound in the slot and his goal made it 2-0, Berger and Eric Ziegler assisting. Lavdas meanwhile was strong in nets and gave up very few rebounds. Midway through the second period the Chiefs broke in 3-on-2 and Jeremy Ambrose found Sam Libetti at the top of the circle and he blistered a shot under the crossbar for a 3-0 lead.
Early in the third after a turnover behind the net Moorestown would capitalize as Elias Sulpizio would score from in close to cut the lead to 3-1. Moorestown found new life with the goal and would keep the pressure offensively in the zone but Lavdas did not budge. Moorestown Coach Sporer gambled at the three minute mark and pulled the goalie and the extra man created numerous chances and the Chiefs would commit two penalties in the final minute and the Quakes skated 6 men to 3 but could not penetrate the wall known as Lavdas and Cherokee survived.
Notes: Moorestown lost only one game all season, but lost their last two and will now wait until early March to try and rebound with play as the top seed in Flyers Cup. Cherokee is used to doing things the hard way as historically they have lost one game in the double elimination and then went on to win numerous titles. In order to retake the title from Eastern they will have to beat them twice as the Vikings have not lost a game in the tournament. Their first opportunity comes Friday night at Voorhees. Don’t miss it!
Written by Mike Costantino