Reid Yagar and the Cardinals have quietly moved up the standing all season and look forward to a second seed in the NVSHL playoffs beginning Feb 18th.
A pair of exciting 7-3 Ireton victories last week, coupled with a Westfields loss to Paul VI on Friday night, has guaranteed the Ireton Varsity Ice Hockey team a spot in the upcoming NVSHL playoffs. Playing Varsity for the first time since the 2005-2006 season, the Cardinals will finish 2nd in the 6-team Smythe division, behind only Briar Woods. The team currently sports a 5-3-1 league mark with one game remaining. The turn of events was quite an accomplishment for a team who started the season 0-2 and was picked by many to finish well out of the playoff picture.
The week started on Monday with an afternoon contest at the Mt. Vernon Rec Center against a combined Loudoun County/Fredericksburg Christian squad. The teamwork that has been prevalent the last couple of weeks was again present for this game, as 5 of the 7 goals scored by the potent Cardinal offense featured 2 assists. The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Reid Yager and Nick Tangora.
Second period goals by Dillon Roach and Dave Souliotis offset a pair of goals by the LC/FC squad to stake the Cardinals to a 4-2 lead heading into the third. Early in the final stanza goals by a pair of Freshmen, Stephen Gerke and Duke Roach, just over a minute apart blew the game open. A final tally by Nick Tangora completed the scoring for the Cardinals. Duke Roach led all scorers with 4 points (1 G, 3 A), and Nick Tangora (2 G, 1 A), Stephen Gerke (1 G, 2A) and Dillon Roach (1G, 2 A) had 3 points each. Yager and Souliotis rounded out the scoring with 1 goal apiece and Tom Cyrnak, James Smith and William Chastain each picked up single assists. Robert Chastain picked up the win in net.
Friday night brought a key matchup against division rival Mountain View at Skatequest Reston. The Wildcats jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead but that would be their only lead of the game. They would not score again until late in the third period and for Mountain View it would be too little and much too late. In the interim, the powerful Cardinal offense pumped in 7 goals, 6 of them by Senior Reid Yager. Yager, part of the top penaltykilling forward tandem, scored 4 of his 6 goals short-handed and kept the Wildcat power play unit on their heels all night.
Tom Cyrnak picked up the other tally at even strength in the middle period. Dan Tangora and Dave Souliotis each chipped in with 2 assists on the night, while Cyrnak, Ian Rush and Allen Boelke were credited with single assists. Robert Chastain stopped 19 of 22 Wildcat shots for the victory.
The Cardinal Hockey team wraps up the regular season this week with a pair of games. Monday night brings the Herndon Hornets to the friendly confines of the Mt. Vernon Rec Center for a 5:45 pm tilt, closing out the league schedule. Friday night the team finishes up their non-league slate by welcoming Bishop O’Connell to Mt. Vernon. The game will serve as Senior Night for the Ireton squad, with the festivities starting at 7pm, followed by the game. The NVSHL playoffs will begin on Friday night, February 18th. The League will announce the playoff schedule next week.
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