Undefeated Briar Woods scored late to tie the surging Cardinals Friday 3-3
The Bishop Ireton varsity Hockey team traveled to the Ashburn Ice House last Friday night for an important matchup with the division-leading Briar Woods Falcons. Despite missing 2 key starters, the Cardinals gave the powerful Falcon squad all they could handle. In a back and forth contest that kept all in attendance on the edge of their seats, a goal by Briar Woods with just over a minute left in the contest tied it at 3 and that’s the way it ended despite a furious offensive push by the Ireton group in the waning seconds.
The Cardinals opened the scoring just over 10 minutes into the first period on a beautiful 3-way passing play, bringing the Ireton faithful to their feet in the process. Dillon Roach picked up his 4th goal of the season, the recipient of pinpoint passes from Reid Yager and Stephen Gerke. With the crowd still on their feet just over a minute later, Duke Roach found himself in the right place at the right time, poking in a rebound of a Yager shot and netting his 2nd. The Falcons, undefeated until a loss last weekend, came storming back in the second period. They knotted the score at 2 before the Ireton defense, led by the tandems of Dan Tangora/William Chastain and Allen Boelke/Ian Rush, made sure that it went no further. The Cardinals had several good scoring chances late in the period thwarted by the Briar Woods goalie.
The third period saw more of the same, with both teams trading quality scoring chances. With just under 2 minutes to go in the game and the Cardinals on a power play, leading scorer Reid Yager snapped in a shot to put Ireton up 3-2, and give Ireton hopes for a major upset. Briar Woods had other ideas however, pulling their goalie after gaining control on the ensuing face-off, and poking in a loose puck on a wild goalmouth scramble with 67 seconds left in the game. The Cardinal offense pressed hard to retake the lead in the last minute but the Briar Woods defense held firm.
Robert Chastain was stellar in net on this night, turning back 26 of 29 Falcon shots. Reid Yager paced the offense with 3 points, as the Cardinals outshot Briar Woods, 39-29. The tie allowed Ireton, 3-3-1 in league play, to keep pace in the tightly-contested Smythe division of the NVSHL. The Cardinals’ playoff push continues Monday, Jan 31st with a 5:45 pm tilt against the Loudoun County/Fredericksburg Christian team at Mt. Vernon Rec. Center.
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