 High School Ice Hockey:
Lenape Fluders into Tier 2 Finals
Sunday, March 3, 2002
By Mike Costantino
SJSports Staff Writer
Chris Fluder scored a hat trick and Lenape received a stellar performance in nets from Jason Herbert as the Indians defeated Moorestown 5-2 in the third and deciding game in the Tier 2 semi-finals. Lenape will now face West Deptford in the leagues first Tier 2 championship; the best of three begins on Monday night at Hollydell. With a packed house on hand at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, Lenape took a 1-0 lead as Fluder skated in and used the defenseman as a screen and his blast from the top of the left circle beat goalie Andrew Miller. Just over three minutes later, Lenapes' Tom Lizzio after winning a face-off and drawing the puck back to point man Eric Schiller, skated to the net and deflected Schillers' shot just under the crossbar and Lenape led 2-0.
Moorestown had two great opportunities to score, both on breakaways. One by Mo Houshiamejad and the other by Greg Custer, but Herbert denied both chances. Late in the period, thanks to hard work by Custer to keep the puck in the zone, Moorestown got on the board as Michael Namnum blistered a shot from the point and Moorestown was to within 2-1. Moorestown kept the heat on and Chris Frynkewicz broke in all-alone but Herbert stacked the pads and denied Moorestown the chance to tie. Fluder scored a power play goal early in the second period to put Lenape up 3-1, but Custer took advantage of a great pass from Matt Wolfe from behind the net to cut the lead to 3-2 heading into the final period. Lizzio put the game away with just over four minutes remaining. After missing a chance in front, the puck took a weird bounce and came back to Lizzio who had the whole net to shoot at and his goal made it 4-2. Fluder added an empty net goal with two seconds left to end Moorestown's season. The Quakes had an excellent first year in the league and could be a team to reckon with next season.
Photos by Art Redd
        
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High School Ice Hockey:
