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The opening round of any tournament can sometimes amount to little more than a formality.
This was one of those times.
Friday night's CPIHL Tier II Viola Cup Championship first-round double-header at the York Ice Arena saw it's two winners score a combined 19 goals; the less fortunate squads mustered only two.
Headlining the night was regular-season Tier II York Champion West York's 12-2 drubbing of Pequea Valley.
The top-seeded Bulldogs got off to a fast start as CPIHL Tier II scoring champion Matt Javitt scored just 49 seconds into the contest. West York added four more goals, with Javitt picking up two assists. The Bulldogs let up one of those two goals allowed in the first period, but still had a commanding 5-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
The Bulldogs were able to land a staggering 17 shots on goal in the first period; Pequea Valley managed only four. West York outshot the Braves 40-18 on the night, one of the main reasons it was able to coast to victory.
Another reason might have been the Bulldogs' 5-3 hard fought victory over rival Kennard-Dale on Wednesday night to clinch their regular season crown. Coach Chuck Warner considered Wednesday night's game a good tune-up for the playoffs, and the dividends showed immediately.
In the days leading up to Friday's contest, Warner stressed to his team the importance of staying focused and not taking any opponent lightly regardless of seed.
"It's the playoffs where anything can happen," said
Warner also added, "I've been drilling it in their heads for about the past two weeks that it's one game at a time, you prepare for that team and nobody else."
West York piled on three more goals in the second period, and it was Eric Knoll's goal with 5:38 left in
the third that produced the games final margin and "mercy rule" early ending.
Javitt added six assists to go with his lone goal, giving him an impressive seven points on the night to lead his team. Jared Gettel also had an outstanding night for West York notching a hat trick and two assists for five points.
The Braves were led by Dallas Miller, who scored both of the Pequea Valley goals.
Rams shutout Lions: Earlier in the night, 11th-seeded Red Lion gave sixth-seeded Kennard-Dale all they could handle for two periods before surrendering a hat trick to Ram freshman Geoff Kemp en route to a 7-0 win.
Kemp picked up his first goal of the night on the power play in the first period. After that, however, the Rams would have a hard time finding their offense and the Lions seemed to find theirs.
In fact, the Lions would have likely taken a lead had it not been for the stellar play of Kennard-Dale goalie Greg Kemp. Red Lion was able to fire 23 shots on goal in the first two periods, all turned away by Kemp.
The Lions even outshot their foe 23-19, and seemingly had the higher seed on the ropes.
Kemp stood tall through various Lion assaults late in the second period, including a dramatic save in the period's final seconds. With 6 seconds remaining, Red Lion forward James Rosenberger took the puck from deep in his own zone and flew up ice towards Kemp, getting a break-away shot off just before the buzzer.
Geoff Kemp found the net just before the 10 minute mark of the third period, and then completed his hat trick with a short-handed goal less than a minute later. Kemp scored the Rams first three goals, but it turned out because of his brother's effort in net, the Rams only needed his first.
--- Lower Dauphin 5, Central York 3: At Twin Ponds East in Harrisburg, the Panthers couldn't quite recover from the four-goal, second-period onslaught by Lower Dauphin.
Central's Jason Cleaver had two goals and one assist in the third period.
His second goal allows Monday's Tier 1 playoff game against Palmyra to be played at the York City Ice Rink, beginning at 7 p.m.
