High School Ice Hockey:
Eagles and Cougars Reach Exciting 7-7 Tie

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998

By Gregg Williams
SJSports Staff Writer

If you're tired of the clutching and holding of the NHL, come out and watch end to end play, big hits, great saves, great plays, fast skating, and players who give it their all on every shift. It is the South Jersey High School Hockey League.

On Friday, January 30th the Cherry Hill East Cougars (SJHSIHL Tier I) and the Edgewood Eagles (SJHSIHL Tier II) faced off at Hollydell Ice Center in a very exciting game that left no one a loser. Some of the eager fans, like Mrs. Anita Bullock and Mr. Douglas Roemer, said the 7-7 tie was truly entertaining.

The game looked gloomy for Edgewood, with only eight skaters and one goalie (recovering from the flu) able to play that night. Of the eight players, one player only had a single hockey glove to wear. Cherry Hill's prospects didn't look terrific either, with two players sitting out for 12 and 14 minutes each. This was a carryover from an incident in their last game.

Edgewood's Hindley took the opening puck from end to end with some great moves and was stopped only by goalie Pasquarello with a great save. With 10:14 left, Cherry Hill's Gunther, the #2 scorer in SJHSIHL, blistered a shot from the top off the left circle over the right shoulder of Edgewood's goalie, Troendle, sending the water bottling flying. This started East off with a 1-0 lead. Thirty seconds later, East's Vurcason scored again with an assist by Davis. With 6:41 left, and Edgewood's Glick, leading scorer in SJHSIHL, scored a power play goal with an assist from Pistone and Henley. The period ended with East leading 2-1, and Edgewood adding some JV Team players who had just arrived after playing an earlier match at Medford.

Edgewood started the second period with heavy pressure on East, but like the NHL, goalie Pasquarello made another save, and Gunther was able to score unassisted, his second of the game, with 13:26 remaining. Ten seconds later, East's D'Anella scored assisted by Pierson (2nd of the game). Edgewood rebounded by scoring the next 3 to tie the game. Glick (2nd of game) was assisted by Sypherd and Henley (2nd of game). The next goal was set up by the gritty defenseman Phalen, who took a big hit, got up and was able to keep the puck in the zone to help set up Hindley (#3 scorer in SJHSL) with an additional assist by Susini. The game was tied by a shorthanded goal by Glick (hat trick) unassisted, with a tricky left right left with 10:18 remaining. East scored the next 2 goals, both on the power play, by Vurcason (hat trick), assisted on one by Gunther. Edgewood again scored 3 to take the lead of 7-6 at the end of the second. Susini scored, assisted by Hindley, Henley scored, assisted by Glick and Sypherd, and Glick scored his fourth of the game assisted by Henley and Nutter (one of the JV players, who left everything on the ice). Although it was a high scoring game, both goalies had made terrific saves against the two top scoring teams in the SJHSIHL. Edgewood's Troendle made the save, but ended up on the bottom of a pile on when East's Gunther was downed by Edgewood's Green on a breakaway. East's Pasquarello made a diving save on a 5 on 3 and suffered a pulled leg muscle.

The third period was shortened to eight minutes because of limited ice time. Again, both goalies came up big with several key saves. East scored with 1:53 left by Fehder, shorthanded and assisted by Robuto. Although both teams were tired, the game continued with the same intensity as at the start, end to end plays, great skating, hitting and saves. With 20 seconds left, Edgewood's goalie, Troundle, made a terrific save on Gunther and was able to give Edgewood a 3 on 1 break with Glick and Hindley. The clock ran down as Pasquarello made the final save.

The players, coaches, fans, and reporters alike were very excited by this great game of speed, passing, hitting and saves. "What a game" was a common remark, as was the quote from Bob Johnson, "A great day for hockey".