High School Ice Hockey:
Balanced Scoring Leads Eastern To Win

Monday, October 18, 1999

By Mike Costantino
SJSports Staff Writer

Five different players scored for Eastern in a 6-1 victory over Holy Cross in a SJHSIHL game played at the Coliseum on Monday night. For the second straight game, the Vikings had over fifty shots on goal but Lancer goaltender Brian Holland was outstanding in nets and kept Eastern off the scoreboard until the four minute mark. With the face-off in the Lancer zone, Adam Roy directed the puck to Mike Becker who skated in alone and beat Holland for the goal and the 1-0 lead.

With Holy Cross on the power play, Mike Cianfrani weaved his way down the ice and scored a shorthanded goal for Eastern with Adam Esfahani getting the assist and the period would end at 2-0. The second period would begin with Eastern having a five minute power play and it looked like the Lancers would survive, but Drew Tait would score with just fourteen seconds left on the man advantage on a feed from Cianfrani and it was 3-0. And with constant pressure the Vikings would add another goal at the end of the power play when, twenty seconds later, Esfahani would score with Becker and Bob Ianni assisting and a 4-0 lead.

Cianfrani was a force all night, creating opportunities and using his speed to put constant pressure on Holland. If there is a better player in the league, I haven't seen him. John Schellenhammer scored the last two goals for Eastern after Laverty got the Lancers' goal to make the final 6-1.