February 7, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Chestnut Hill Academy skates by Haverford JV
by TOM UTESCHER

A home ice victory last Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 30) kept the Chestnut Hill Academy hockey team unbeaten in the 2008 calendar year, as the Blue Devils attained a 5-2 mark on the season with a 4-2 win over the Haverford School junior varsity.

Because Chestnut Hill had beaten the Ford JV’s by an 8-1 count when the teams first met back in December, CHA sat out seniors Joe Breen and Mike Marino for last week’s rematch. This had the desired effect of giving Haverford (0-7-2) a fighting chance, and although the visitors never led, they tied the match up at 2-2 late in the second period before markers by Chase Ginsburg and Zach Baron put the game away for the home team.

Bobby Petrushansky, Chestnut Hill’s sophomore goaltender, turned aside Haverford’s other 17 shots, while Fords keeper Bob Donovan faced a total of 36 shots from the Ice Devils.

The engine of the Haverford bus was still warm when its passengers fell behind in the game. The CHA stickmen struck just 18 seconds into the action, with John L. Harris and Juan Gaskins earning assists on a goal by Alex Schultz.

The visitors actually fared better when they were missing a man, holding the Devils at bay to kill off a pair of penalties later on in the opening period. Near the end of their second man-down stint, the shorthanded Fords gave Chestnut Hill a scare when Henry Blynn carried the puck briskly through the slot and fired just a little outside the upper right corner of Petrushansky’s cage.

The Ice Devils still held a 1-0 edge as the second period got underway, but just over five minutes in Haverford’s Toby Blumberg leveled the score with an assist from Sam Bowen. CHA lost a player to the penalty box two minutes after that, and towards the end of their man-up opportunity the Fords had Bowen launch a shot that pinged off the post of the Devils’ den.

As round two wound down, the teams exchanged unassisted goals, with Ben Pulley putting Chestnut Hill up 2-1 with 3:07 on the clock, and Graeme Nicholls pulling Haverford even once more with 1:41 remaining. However, there was still time for one more goal in the frame. Harris took the puck alongside the cage on the left, then passed it out to the front of the net for Ginsburg, who deposited what proved to be the gamewinning goal with 1:12 to go.

Chestnut Hill almost picked up an insurance goal at the beginning of the third stanza, but Haverford’s Donovan was able to stop a promising shot by CHA’s Sander Smith. Each side had a few chances to alter the scoreboard during the ensuing minutes, but the 3-2 count held up until Haverford called time-out with 1:11 left to play in the game.