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Ephrata routs Rams for Viola Cup
- 12 March 2006
Scouting reports were minimal, so the Ephrata High School hockey team wasn't sure what to expect when it met Kennard-Dale in the biggest game in the Mounts' hockey history.Ephrata's players had seen the Rams' scores in the paper and on the internet.
But was that enough of a read?
Where there might have been mystery, there was soon swift evidence that Ephrata was a far superior team to their opponents from York County.
Having many more skilled players, Ephrata blew out Kennard-Dale 10-1 to win its first Viola Cup, emblematic of the Central Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League's Tier II championship Friday night at the Hersheypark Arena.
Ephrata junior Shane Allen scored five goals and teammate Brandon Pike had two goals and five assists in leading the Mounts to the rout.
Ephrata's Jeff Bohler helped set the tone in the first game. His check on Kennard-Dale leading scorer Beau Roeder behind the Ephrata net enabled Pike to grab the puck and feed Allen, who scored on a breakaway 3:30 into the game.
"We wanted to score that first goal,'' Allen said. "Then we started getting more and more, so it worked out for us.''
Allen and Pike made for a particularly lethal combination. Pike assisted on four of Allen's five goals.
"We've played together for so long,'' said Allen, "street hockey, ice hockey, whatever.''
Ephrata scored four goals in the first period and K-D managed only five shots, the first of which didn't come until nine and a half minutes into the game. One of Ephrata's goals heading into the game was to keep the Rams' shots to a minimum because Sam Wiest was playing his first game of the season in net.
"The whole team played amazingly,'' said Wiest, who was subbing for Devon Williams. "It was the best defense I've seen all year.''
Wiest finished with 17 saves. Ephrata, meanwhile, unleashed a 50-shot barrage on K-D goalie Greg Kemp.
Ephrata pushed its lead to 8-0 before Jeff Hartman scored the Rams' lone goal in the final minute of the second period. But with the Mounts enjoying a seven-goal lead, the third period was played with a running clock.
"It feels great,'' said Jeremy Martin, one of only three Ephrata seniors. "We've never gotten farther than the first round so this feels great.''
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.