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 High School Ice Hockey:
Too Much Brew, Not Enough Sprinkle As Township Beats Clearview
Friday, December 19, 2003
By Mike Costantino
SJSports Staff Writer
Fred Brewer netted five goals to lead Washington Township over Clearview 10-5 in a wild and physical game played at a jammed pack Hollydell on Friday night. These two long time rivals, gave the fans their money’s worth and then some as the teams combined for 15 goals, 34 penalties, 3 fights and numerous checks. Jimmy Sprinkle led Clearview with four goals as the freshman sensation continues his torrid season. The key for Township tonight were face-offs, as they scored four of their goals off draws, with Billy Choy winning three draws.
The first period was close checking with each team scoring a goal, but each only managing six shots. Sprinkle gave Clearview a 1-0 lead as he stole a clearing pass in the slot and wristed a shot short side. That lead lasted just over three minutes as Brewer tied the game at 1-1 on a feed from Jason Pelle. The second period was more wide open as the teams combined for seven goals, with Township taking two goal leads only to see Clearview battle back. First, with Township on the power play, Andrew Rohach won a face-off and fed the puck to Dave Smetaniuk at the point and his slap shot found the net and Township led 2-1.
Moments later Choy won another face-off for Township and drew the puck back to the point, skated to the net, and was able to screen out the goalie and Brewer’s slap shot slid into the net for a 3-1 lead. Township would let Clearview back in the game taking consecutive roughing penalties and were down two men for ninety-two seconds. Sprinkle scored twice during the power play, both from in close to tie the game at 3-3. With their team now back in the game, the Clearview faithful began chanting expletives deleted at the Township throng, with Township responding in verse. The game turned back in Township’s favor, with Choy winning another face-off and Brewer blasting a shot from the point for a 4-3 lead, and his third of the game. Just over a minute later, Pelle scored a power play goal from in close banging home his own rebound to put Township back up by two goals at 5-3. With the period winding down, Bill Dunbar threaded a pass to Sprinkle, and his breakaway goal put Clearview back to within 5-4 after two periods.
Township took control early in the period scoring three goals in the first two minutes. Josh Courant ripped a shot from the top of the circle, twenty-five seconds into the period, with Clearview down a man. Then Kyle Stokes and Choy scored within seconds of each other to break the game open at 8-4. Mike Wolk scored on a breakaway for Clearview at the eleven-minute mark to give them some life at 8-5. However, Brewer added two more, one on the power play and his last one off a draw won again by Choy as Township closed out its best performance of the season with a 10-5 win.
Notes: With the win, Township moved into third place just two points behind Clearview and they have a game. Other than the fight that occurred, this was one of the best games of the season and it was nice to see the rink packed the fans vocal but not out of control. Can someone explain to me why this is the only meeting that was scheduled during the regular season? And wouldn’t it be nice to have an alumni game with past Clearview and Township players playing each other, have an all-star weekend or maybe some skills competition than would generate some revenue for the league. Finally it’s hard to believe that Sprinkle is only a freshman, this kid has the potential to be one of the best.
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