Upper Moreland extended its unbeaten streak to eight with its 7-2 win over Upper Dublin on Thursday night.
By Mike Prince, Sportswriter
Upper Moreland has certainly turned things around since an early-season 9-3 loss to Archbishop Wood.
After playing to a 3-3 tie against the Vikings on Monday in a makeup game, the Bears had extended their unbeaten streak to seven games, going 5-0-2 during that time while slowly climbing up the standings in the Suburban High School Hockey League’s American Conference standings.
And with Wood idle until next week, the Bears took advantage of their opportunity to creep even closer to the team that has remained atop the conference standings since the beginning of the season.
Thanks to a huge game by forward Matthew Iehle and yet another outstanding effort by goaltender Jared Burch, Upper Moreland was able to defeat host Upper Dublin by a score of 7-2 in an American Conference meeting at Wintersports Ice Arena on Thursday night.
The win leaves the Bears (9-2-2) just two points behind Wood for the top spot in the conference, while also extending Upper Moreland’s unbeaten streak to eight games. The Bears’ last loss came against Abington all the way back on Nov. 29.
“I don’t know what to say about this streak,” Upper Moreland coach Jim Stampler said. “It’s been a long time coming for this team. They’re finally starting to play like a team and play like winners. They come into a game like tonight, and they realize how hard they have to play in every game to keep winning.”
It was the second win for the Bears over Upper Dublin this season, with the other a 3-1 win on Dec. 6, which coincidentally started the Bears’ unbeaten streak.
In Thursday’s meeting, after a quiet opening several minutes saw neither team produce many quality scoring opportunities, the Bears opened the scoring with six minutes and 18 seconds to play in the opening period, as Matthew Baumgardner and Nick Park assisted on a goal by Iehle to put Upper Moreland up 1-0.
When it appeared that Upper Dublin (4-7-1) would escape the first period trailing by just one, the Bears made the Cardinals pay with less than a second remaining, as Jordin Holmes took a pass from Iehle and beat Upper Dublin goalie Zach Hanson to put the Bears up 2-0.
The Cardinals had an excellent opportunity to get on the board when they were given a 4-on-3 power play roughly five minutes into the second period, but everything they put towards the net was denied, and Upper Moreland was able to escape the shorthanded situation without allowing a goal
But the failed power play didn’t slow the Cardinals down, as two minutes later, Eric Baker was able to put one past Burch on Upper Dublin’s 11thshot of the night at the 7:18 mark of the period.
It didn’t take very long for the Bears to swing things back in their favor, and Iehle was again involved, this time assisting along with Holmes on a goal by Colton Arizini to put the Bears up 3-1.
The Bears opened the game up early in the third period when Arizini and Colin Burch assisted on a goal by Kyle Landis with 13:52 showing on the clock to put Upper Moreland up 4-1.
“We kind of just broke down there tonight, and there wasn’t much else we could do,” Upper Dublin’s Gil Lederhandler said. “We fought our hardest and that’s all that matters. We gave a real good effort in the third period and now we just have to keep on fighting and get as many wins as possible down the stretch.”
Less than two minutes after Landis put the Bears up by three goals, Iehle recorded his fourth point of the game with an assist on a goal by Jake Park, which put Upper Moreland up 5-1. Baumgardner also tallied his second assist of the game on the goal.
Less than three minutes after that, Iehle and Baumgardner teamed up again, with Iehle scoring his second goal of the game to put the Bears up 6-1. Upper Dublin managed to beat Burch one more time before the end of regulation, as Lederhandler took a pass from Kenneth Hawk and scored a shorthanded goal.
When all was said and done, Iehle’s two goals and four assists and Burch’s 22 saves led the way for the Bears. Baumgardner scored a power play goal late in regulation (with an assist to Iehle) to cap a four-point night for the forward.
“We played really well as a team and beat their trap like we did last time,” Iehle said. “Overall, it was a really good team performance. We’ve been playing hard in the past and we’re doing pretty well.”
UPPER MORELAND 2-1-4 7
UPPER DUBLIN 0-1-1 2
Period 1
UM- Matthew Iehl (Nick Park, Matthew Baumgardner) 9:18
UM – Jordin Holmes (Matthew Iehl) 15:59
Period 2
UD – Eric Baker (unassisted) 7:18
UM – Colton Arizini (Matthew Iehle, Jordin Holmes) 12:41
Period 3
UM – Kyle Landis (Colin Burch, Colton Arzini) 2:08
UM – Jake Park (Matthew Baumgardner, Matthew Iehle) 3:45
UM – Matthew Iehl (Matthew Baumgardner) 6:41
UD – Gil Lederhandler (shorthanded) (Kenneth Hawk) 10:01
UM – Matthew Baumgardner (power play) (Matthew Iehle, Nick Park) 12:58
GOALIES
Jared Burch (UM) 22 saves; Zach Hanson (UD) 25 saves
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