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Cherokee Chiefs Articles 2015-2016
2015-2016 Tier 1A & JVA Champions
The Flyers alumni extracted some revenge after last year’s last second defeat to Cherokee as they defeated the Chiefs alumni 9-4 in the exhibition game played on Sunday in front of a packed Skate Zone crowd. Scott McKay, Cherokee Coach and President, could not have envisioned this event growing so quickly in the last two years. Since incorporating the annual Jeff Burd fundraiser and including the Flyers game, this event has become a must see event though it happens over Christmas break. Jordan Grant led the Flyers alumni scoring three goals Aaron Huffnagle led the Chiefs with two goals.
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Now in existence for over 10 years, the Jeff Burd Memorial Fund along with the guidance from the Cherokee Chiefs Ice Hockey Club continues to strive to expand its programs and offerings to the community. Cherokee alumni will battle the Flyers alumni on Sunday, December 27th at 4:05PM at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Tickets for the game are $20 and $30 if you're planning on attending the after party. We hope that you will be able to take part in a very exciting event that they are offering this year and experience firsthand the pride we take in supporting their causes.
To say Clearview has struggled in their first ten games would be an understatement, having won just one game and overall standing at 1-6-3. Well on Friday night they played Cherokee and saw the return of the Lauk brothers, Eric and Ryan along with the return of team captain Anthony Dellerose from an arm injury. Eric Lauk would score a hat trick and Dellerose would assist on all three goals, Ryan would assist on one goal and play a strong game on defense in front of goalie Ross Higgins. Their opponent was Cherokee with Matt Bidini in nets sporting a 5-0-0 record and giving up just one goal per game. The game was scoreless until the final minute of the period when Andrew Sphuler threaded a long pass to Anthony Manzo and he broke in and beat Bidini for a 1-0 lead.
Cherokee scored seven goals in the first period and went on to defeat Riverfront 10-0 in action played in Voorhees. Anthony Salvatore, Max Zeligson and Jeremy Ambrose scored two goals each to pace the Chiefs offense. Matt Bidini faced only six shots in goal, improved to 5-0-0 on the season. Also scoring for the Chiefs were Sam Libetti, Kyle Horner, Andrew Cardinali and Trevor Ligekis. With the win Cherokee improved to 5-1-1 and moved to within two points of first place Washington Township.
Six different players scored for Cherokee as they defeated rival Moorestown 6-1 in Tier I action in Voorhees. Jeremy Ambrose put Cherokee ahead 1-0 midway through the opening period, but Moorestown would capitalize on the man advantage as Robert Wildish scored on the power play with less than three minutes left in the period. Cherokee would use a three goal second period to pull away; first Andrew Cardinali would connect in the first two minutes to give the Chiefs a 2-1 advantage. Two minutes later Cherokee would get a power play goal from Sam Liberti and the lead was 3-1. Johnny Butkus would score an unassisted goal midway through the period and the lead was 4-1 after two.
Scott Veneziale scored twice and assisted on the third goal as Black Horse defeated Cherokee 3-2 last night at the Skate Zone and earned their first win of the season. Dylan Ringheiser got the win in goal playing well as both goals scored were on the power play. Veneziale scored in the opening seconds of the game to give Black Horse the early 1-0 lead. Cherokee would tie the game at 1-1 at the five minute mark of the second period with Johnny Butkus scoring on the man advantage. Zachary Faust would capitalize for Black Horse on the power play moments later to give them a 2-1 lead and Veneziale would make it 3-1 in the final two minutes of the period.
Anthony Salvatore broke a 1-1 score with less than four minutes remaining in the game to give Cherokee a 2-1 win over Washington Township in a battle of the last two league champions. Township scored the only goal of the first period as Joseph Ricchezza scored his first goal of the season, unassisted just three minutes into the game. Township had a golden opportunity to add to that lead with a two-man advantage late in the period but failed to capitalize. Cherokee would tie the score at 1-1 at the six minute mark of the second period with Sam Libetti getting the equalizer.
Cherokee scored three goals in the first period and went on to defeat Black Horse 8-3 in JVA action played in Voorhees on Sunday night. Eric Zeigler and Mike Deford each scored two goals to lead the Chiefs attack on offense. Zeigler opened the scoring early in the first to put the Chiefs up 1-0. Goals by Cody Sherman and Josh Aubrey, just one minute apart late in the period gave Cherokee a 3-0 advantage after one. Jeffrey Gordon scored a power play goal for Black Horse four minutes into the second period to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Boomer Miller scored two goals, both short-handed and the Chiefs added three power play goals as they opened up the regular season with a 6-2 win against Black Horse. Zachary Faust scored both Black Horse goals. Faust scored just over one minute into the game to give Black Horse an early 1-0 lead, but Cherokee would bounce back less than one minute later as Miller scored his first short-handed goal to tie the game at 1-1 with Kyle Horner getting the assist. After giving up the early goal, Matt Bidini would settle down and had a solid game in his debut. Anthony Salvatore gave Cherokee a 2-1 lead scoring a power play goal at the ten minute mark and just over one minute later Max Zeligson made it 3-1as he intercepted a clearing pass and went top shelf for the only even strength goal of the night for the Chiefs.
With the start of the 2015-2016 SJHSHL season on September 25th, the league and its president Mike Pontonio are trying to bring purity back to the league. In hockey terms purity is defined as all the players on your team go to the same school, plain and simple. With the rising costs and some many travel teams available, playing for your high school doesn’t mean as much as it used to. Although for a core group, it still has some meaning.