Ephrata to face E-town for Crown
- 24 February 2007
With a mass of flying bodies, sticks and skates in front of him, somehow Ephrata goalie Devon Williams remains calm. Calm enough to find a puck coming through a sea of legs or caroming off of a stick.Williams stayed focused and was a key in Ephrata's 4-1 victory (boxscore ) over Lampeter-Strasburg in the first round of the Central Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League's Tier II playoffs Friday night at the Lancaster Ice Rink.
In the nightcap, Elizabethtown got a pair of goals from Michael Van Horn and three points from Zach Lokey to defeat Penn Manor, 5-3.
E-town (14-2-1) will meet Ephrata (11-6) in the Lancaster/Lebanon/Berks South Division championship game at a time to be determined Friday at the Lancaster Ice Rink.
"I'm thinking I'm trying to do my best to do my job,'' said Williams, talking about the occasional craziness in front of him.
Ephrata's Brandon Pike blocked a shot by Tyler Collins in the Mounts' zone and the pucked bounced off of Pike's pad and past Collins. Pike raced in on the breakaway and scored to give Ephrata a 2-1 lead early in the second period.
"The whole team picked it up after that goal,'' said Ephrata coach Keith Allen. "It turned the game around.''
Williams, nicknamed Devo, made back-to-back saves on Alex Hershey and Pioneers leading scorer Matt Kramer to preserve the Mounts' slim lead in the second.
"We knew the next goal, whether it was us or them, was really going to swing the momentum in the game,'' said L-S coach Larry Collins.
Ephrata got that goal, picking up breathing room in the third when Kyle Sauder spun around in the high slot and beat L-S goalie Andrew Shaubach over the shoulder with a wrist shot.
Williams finished the game with 30 saves. The Mounts played without second-leading scorer Shane Allen, who was serving the second of a three-game league suspension for multiple penalties.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.