High School Ice Hockey: West Deptford Outworks Eastern in First Round Monday, February 14, 2005 By Mike Costantino SJSports Staff Writer West Deptford proved last night that hard work, good goaltending and few penalties go a long way as they defeated Eastern 3-2 in opening round playoff action at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. From the opening period, West Deptford did not look like the 12th seeded team, the last one to make the playoffs, they played as if they belonged and they sure shocked the Vikings. West Deptford carried the play in the first period as they out-shot Eastern 11-8 and scored with just over a minute remaining as Tyler Chellew put home a rebound of a shot by Kevin Walsh. The Vikings responded twenty seconds later as Torin Lawson got the equalizer with the assists going to Chris Ball and Chris Lieg. The second period the Vikings seem to realize that West Deptford, despite its record during the regular season, were not to be taken lightly. And when Anthony Grey went end-to-end to score and give the Vikings the lead at 2-1, it seemed like Eastern would start to grind it out and take control of the game. But thanks to strong net play by Jacob DeHart, the Vikings would not score again. With less than five minutes left in the period following a turnover, West Deptford tied the game at 2-2 as Anthony Cavicchia scored after Robert Becker stole the puck at the blue line and found Cavicchia down low. Heading into the third period all the pressure was on the heavily favored Vikings and you could sense the confidence building among the West Deptford players. Less than two minutes into the final period, with Eastern down a man, Walsh shot the puck from the point and with Ryan Doner screened, the puck wound up in the net and West Deptford led 3-2. Eastern cam close a few times but either DeHart made a big stop or the puck just trickled wide. West Deptford moves on to play Rancocas Valley and Eastern will move into the loser bracket. Photos by Art Redd