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By Scott Huff
WARWICK – The chatter around the Warwick Ice Arena wasn’t so much about who was at the Suburban High School Hockey League contest between Upper Dublin and Upper Moreland – but who was missing.Upper Moreland – who skated with just nine skaters and had no back-up goaltender – had on its absentee list three of its best players. Two blue chip Bears were serving suspensions and standout Jordan Storz was at an elite club tryout.
“Jordan is one of the most talented skaters in this league,” said Upper Moreland head coach Doug Burman. “We try to win games with basically two lines, and we got caught a little short tonight.”
Upper Dublin – who was minus regular goaltender Michael Swiren – was forced to start freshman goaltender Jack Deragon. Deragon had a total of one varsity period of experience.
“Michael had a band competition tonight,” said Upper Dublin head coach Chris Seamens. “He is the only tuba player in the band.”The players that were on the ice, though, provided quite a show as the Flying Cardinals (6-4-1 overall) scored a goal off the stick of Stephen Barbera with just 16.9 seconds left in the game to defeat the Golden Bears (11-3-0 overall), 4-3.
“To beat a team the caliber of Upper Moreland is a confidence builder for this team,” said Seamens. “It shows that we can play with the teams that are ahead of us in the standings (Wissahickon and Hatboro-Horsham).”
It appeared that the undermanned Bears would steal a point in the standings when Anthony Moore scored an unassisted goal with just 1:07 left in the game.
The two teams had opportunities to score in the frantic final moments, and with 24 seconds left, Seamens called a timeout. The Cardinals would score less than eight seconds later with the game winner.
“I could lie and tell you I came up with a play in that timeout,” said Seamens. “But seriously, all I wanted to do was give them a rest and hope we could put something on goal.”
Barbera scored the game winner on assists from Brian Markman and Jake Long.“The game was real exciting – especially when you win,” said Long – an Upper Dublin captain. “We knew that we had a young goalie, and we wanted to keep them out of the zone.
“Upper Moreland can score goals,” added Long. “And they took some really good shots on goal, but I thought we did a good job of making them take shots from the blue line instead of in the crease.”
The Golden Bears – who lead the American Division with 105 goals in just 14 games – generated its lowest shot total of the season. And UM’s Bobby Cervone – who leads the SHSHL in total points with 47 – was held off the stat sheet for the first time all season.
“Bobby pressed a little but tonight,” said Burman. “He took some hard shots – but they missed the net. He might have tried to do too much.
“Nobody was going to complain about playing time tonight,” added Burman. “Actually, I was very happy with the way we played the game.”
Both goaltenders – the Cardinals’ Deragon and the Bears’ Jared Burch – were terrific in goal.
“Jared is the backbone of this team,” said Burman of his net minder who stopped 31 Cardinal shots. “He is a very level headed kid who plays the game the right way.”
“Jack doesn’t have a whole lot of experience, but he played a nice game,” said Seamens. “We might have to give him more time.”
Deragon has never played in a competitive ice hockey game before Friday night.
“I play goalie in lacrosse – and I decided the give ice hockey a try,” said Deragon, who managed 16 saves. “My Dad played ice hockey, and I decided to try out for the ice hockey team this year.”
Upper Dublin took a first period lead when Samuel Etskovitz scored on an assist from Markman at the 13:46 mark. It was the only score of the period.Upper Moreland tied the score in the second period on a goal by Matt Hoagland with an assist by Anthony Moore. The Bears took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Brandon Arizini – assisted by Robert Gould.
A flurry of Upper Dublin goals – scored just 16 seconds apart in the second period – regained the lead for the Cardinals. Benjamin Hoffman and Bret Abramowitz were the goal scorers for UD.
“Any time you can beat a team like Upper Moreland, you have accomplished something,” said Seamens. “Now we need to be consistent and carry that over to the next game.”
Upper Dublin 1 2 1 - 4 35 shots on goal
Upper Moreland 0 2 1 - 3 19 shots on goal
First Period:
Upper Dublin: Samuel Etskovitz (Brian Markman) 13:46
Second Period:
Upper Moreland: Matt Hoagland (Anthony Moore) 13:41
Upper Moreland: Brandon Arizini (Robert Gould) 4:20
Upper Dublin: Benjamin Hoffman (Tyler Peskin, Samuel Etskovitz) 1:38
Upper Dublin: Bret Abramowitz (Jake Long, Stephen Barbera) 1:22
Third Period:
Upper Moreland: Anthony Moore (unassisted) 1:07
Upper Dublin: Barbera (Markman, Long) 0:16.9
Goaltending:
Upper Moreland: Jared Burch 31 saves
Upper Dublin: Jack Deragon 16 saves
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