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Mounts earn key victory over E-town
- 05 February 2006
The Ephrata High School ice hockey team has its eyes on repeating as
division champs in the Central Pennsylvania Interscholastic Ice Hockey
League.Problem was, prior to Friday night, the Mounts were going to have trouble accomplishing their goal while looking up at Elizabethtown in the standings.
Friday night was their chance to do something about their situation, with the Bears lining up across the red line from them at the Lancaster Ice Rink.
E-town had beaten Ephrata in the teams' first meeting, 6-3. On this night, however, the tables were turned in a big way.
Ephrata forwards Shane Allen and Brandon Pike each scored a pair of goals and Mounts goalie Devon Williams kicked out 15 of 16 shots to lead Ephrata to a 7-1 victory.
With the win, the Mounts (12-1-1) leapfrog Elizabethtown (12-3) in the CPIHL Tier II Lancaster/Lebanon/Berks South Division. If the Mounts can beat Lampeter-Strasburg and Penn Manor in their final two regular-season games, they will claim the division for the second straight year.
"This time, we came out to play,'' said Ephrata coach Keith Allen. "I told the players before the game, lose tonight and you don't have a shot at (repeating). Win, and you've got a chance.''
The Mounts took Allen's words to heart. They had a rocky start, though, as E-town went up 1-0 when Sarah Keller skated in from the right side and knocked her own rebound past Williams for a 1-0 Bears lead.
E-town goalie Mitchell Reinhold (23 saves) kept the Mounts at bay through most of the first period, making saves on shots by Tim Wanner and Pike.
But with 1:33 to play in the period, Jeremy Martin snuck a rebound past Reinhold to knot the score at 1-1. Just 40 seconds later, Sam Wiest slipped a pass to Kyle Sauder, whose shot went over Weinhold's shoulder for a 2-1 Ephrata lead.
"Cody Bowen, who hadn't played hockey before this year, made the play that led to that second goal,'' Allen said. "He caused a turnover at center ice that led to that goal. That picked up the bench just knowing Cody was in on that play. Everybody's been cheering for him all year long.''
Another boost to the Mounts occurred midway through the second period when a good forecheck caused an E-town turnover in the Bears' end. Pike gathered the puck and scored a shorthanded goal.
Michael Cox made it 4-1 for the Mounts before the second period ended.
Shane Allen helped put the game out of reach in the first minute of the third period. Off the faceoff to open the period, Allen swooped in from the left wing and scored as just eight seconds ran off the clock.
Allen scored again 28 seconds later, snapping a rebound of Pike's shot over Weinhold.
Allen and Pike have made for a dangerous duo this season. Pike is the third-leading scorer in the league with 35 goals and 22 assists for 57 points entering Friday night's game. Allen is right behind him on the list of scorers with 30 goals and 22 assists for 52 points.
The Mounts' defense did a good job of keeping E-town's Zack Lokey off the scoresheet. Lokey, who had a hat trick for the Bears in their win over Ephrata earlier in the season, leads the CPIHL in scoring with 34 goals and 27 assists for 61 points.
Ephrata killed off a 5-on-3 E-town power play late in the third and Pike finished the scoring with a power play goal.
"It was just like last year,'' Pike said. "They beat us the first time and then we beat them. We needed to step it up tonight.''
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.