Falcons outlast Ephrata
- 20 January 2007
Falling behind proved to be fateful for Ephrata's hockey team Friday night.The Mounts nearly climbed out of a 3-0 hole but Cedar Crest held them off at the end to skate away with a 4-3 win in a Central Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League Tier 2 game at Body Zone.
Ephrata's Nicholas Fetter scored with 3:20 to play to draw the Mounts within one at 4-3. Ephrata pulled goaltender Devon Williams for an extra attacker in the final minute but could not get the equalizer.
The loss snapped the Mounts' six-game winning streak and was only their second defeat this season, to go along with eight wins. The Falcons (7-3) have now won two straight after losing three in a row.
Cedar Crest senior center Peter Potena scored two goals, the second on a penalty shot in the second period.
But it was the Falcons' ability to score three unanswered goals in the game's first seven minutes that pressured Ephrata to climb a mountain it just couldn't scale.
"We can't wait until the third period to start playing,'' said Ephrata's Frank Gatti, who was standing in for head coach Keith Allen.
Allen missed the game to attend his son's travel hockey tournament in Lake Placid, N.Y. His son is Shane, who happens to be the Mounts' leading scorer.
But Gatti wouldn't use Allen's absence as an excuse.
"He missed a game earlier this year that we won, so we can't use that,'' he said.
Cedar Crest's Alan Wolfe scored just 1:15 into the game, putting a soft shot behind Williams (16 saves). Less than three minutes later, Eric Bajc swooped in from the right wing side and roofed a backhand shot over Williams' left shoulder.
Potena was next, beating Williams high to the blocker side from 15 feet out.
"We wanted to attack early and force them to play in their end,'' said Cedar Crest coach Gary Baylor. "We tried to make them make mistakes in their end and capitalize on them.''
Ephrata's Brandon Pike cut into the Falcons' lead with 5:39 to play in the first. He made two strong moves and although Cedar Crest goalie Philip Potena (14 saves) made an initial stop on Pike, the Ephrata captain scored on the rebound, his team-leading 19th goal of the season.
Peter Potena used his speed to get behind Ephrata's defense early in the second period. When he was tripped from behind on the breakaway, Potena was awarded a penalty shot.
Potena made a deke, stayed with his forehand and beat Williams along the ice for his second goal of the game and 18th of the season.
Ephrata had its chances to close the gap in the second, particularly with a trio of power plays. But the Mounts managed just four shots in the period.
Ephrata had a few more chances in the third. Philip Potena stopped Pike twice five minutes into the period. He also made a save on Chris Lyons' shot but couldn't adjust to stop Keith Sauder, who scored on the rebound to draw the Mounts within two at 4-2.
With the teams skating four-on-four, Fetter kept Crest's Keith Lear from clearing the zone. Fetter then beat Potena on a slap shot from the right point.
Ephrata had one minute and 41 seconds of power play to work with but couldn't get the puck past Potena to tie the score.
The win was sweet for Cedar Crest, which was ousted from the playoffs by the Mounts last season. The two teams may meet again this season in the playoffs.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.