High School Ice Hockey: Cherokee Has Eastern All Tied Up Monday, November 24, 2003 By Mike Costantino SJSports Staff Writer Kevin Magnin scored with less than five minutes left in the game as Cherokee rallied to tie Eastern 5-5 in a game that had a playoff atmosphere and intensity level that a packed Skate Zone thoroughly enjoyed. Eastern led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Zach Stewart and Chris Lieg. In their first meeting won by Eastern 5-1, Cherokee did not score until the games final minutes and would need to generate some offense and control Eastern’s top line. Patrick McMahon got Clearview on the board scoring a short-handed goal in the opening minutes of the second period to cut the lead to 2-1. Rory Levinson was set-up by Chris Ball three minutes later and Eastern led 3-1 and was going on the power play. However, Cherokee again scored short-handed, this time Steve Sheridan scoring through a screen to bring Cherokee to within 3-2. Coach Rumbos, a former assistant with Eastern, convinced his team that playing solid defense and shadowing Orner would be successful, was key in Cherokee’s performance. After Dan Shaw tied the score at 3-3, McMahon gave Cherokee a 4-3 lead scoring right off a face-off. However, Brandon Tunstall tied the game at 4-4 on a blast from the point. Ninety seconds later Sean Sullivan put Eastern up 5-4 lifting a back-hander under the crossbar. Magnin would tie the game at 5-5 as he re-directed a pass from Dan Steyer. Neither team came close to scoring in the final moments, but the fans saw one of the better games of the season, that was the good news. The bad news is that due to some questionable scheduling, they will not meet again until the playoffs. Photos by Art Redd

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