Two-goal third period lifts Vikings past Lower Dauphin
WEST GOSHEN >> On the season-long march to its third straight Flyers Cup A finals appearance, the West Chester East ice hockey team has experienced smooth skies and calm winds.
Tuesday night, they hit a bit of turbulence as Lower Dauphin scrapped back after an early deficit to tie the score after two periods, but Joey Cardarelli broke the deadlock early in the third and the Vikings added an insurance tally en route to a 6-4 victory against Lower Dauphin at Ice Line.
“We watched this goalie (Eric West) a lot and we knew he was a stud and it was going to take a lot to beat him,” said East coach Eric Wolf. “We wanted to stay away from up high on him and Joey made a nice low laser. And he did it with his head up, so he saw something. Joey’s all effort with a lot of skill mixed in.”
The top-seeded Vikings booked a spot in the championship game and will face No. 3 seed Hershey, who defeated West Chester Rustin, 5-4 in overtime in the second semifinal Monday, at a time and site to be announced.
West Chester East has been very proficient at fast starts and Tuesday was no different. Seconds into the contest, Trey Jefferis scored off the rush to take an immediate 1-0 lead.
“It’s fun to play with Trey,” said Cardarelli. “You go forward and he takes off and does his thing. He’s scored a first shift goal three games in a row. That’s crazy.”
Cardarelli got on the board with a little over 10 minutes left as Luke Wilson snapped a shot that Eric West made the stop on, but the puck squeezed through his body and Cardarelli was on the doorstep to swipe the rebound into the open net for a 2-0 lead.
East knew how much of a danger the Falcons’ leading scorer Ethan Coots can be. He served notice about that a short time later as he was wide open to the left of East goalie Cam Chandler, but he couldn’t get good contact on shot and it went wide.
Dauphin got on the board with six minutes left in the first period following a turnover by East, Coots made no mistake this time, beating Chandler to the stick side.
Cardarelli then scored the prettiest goal of the night as Jefferis broke in on a 2-on-0. Cardarelli fed Jefferis, who sent it back to Cardarelli for the easy tap and a 3-1 lead after one.
They made it 4-1 early in the second as Luke Wilson banged in a rebound off a shot from Danny Tirendi.
Just when it looked like another coronation in front of their adoring student section, back came the Falcons.
Coots scored on a rebound on the power play to make it 4-2. Then, Chandler made the save of the evening. Coots came in on a breakaway, one of several on the night for Lower Dauphin. He glided in and tried to beat him on the glove side, but Chandler snatched the puck out of the East to keep the Vikings’ lead at two.
“That was nice, going across, and I was trying all I could to take away as much net as I could from him,” said Chandler.
Then, in a rarity for East, they surrendered not one, but two shorthanded goals — one to Ethan Miller and the second to Coots with 23.6 remaining — to go into the locker room tied at 4-4.
“It was a little bit of shock,” Cardarelli said of the mood in the room. “We knew we had to wipe it off right away because we still had a penalty to kill off. Our goalie played outstanding and my linemates helped me a lot.”
After getting a big boost by starting the third period with a huge penalty kill, East drove for the tie-breaking goal.
They got it with 12:31 left in the third as a 2-on-1 resulted in Cardarelli beating West for a 5-4 lead.
“I kind of saw a hole below glove and I shot it right away. I kind of closed my eyes and shot it and hoped it went in. It was a good goal,” said Cardarelli.
The Vikings recorded an insurance goal with 3:10 left as Anthony Logiurato’s shot bounced over West’s shoulder into the net.
East now prepares for a three-peat as the juggernaut continues.
“I’m excited for these guys,” said Wolf. “Now they can pull from the four Ches-Monts in a row. We got pushed around a little bit and it’s now time to get down to buisness.”
West Chester East 6, Lower Dauphin 4
Lower Dauphin 1 3 0 – 4
WC East 3 1 2 – 6
Lower Dauphin goals: Coots 3, Miller.
West Chester East goals: Cardarelli 3, Jefferis, Wilson, Logiurato.
Goalie saves: West (LD) 40. Chandler (WCE) 31.
