After five blowouts in a row, Cherry Hill East Ice Hockey was due for a close game, and that’s exactly what happened against Holy Lenape Valley (HLV). The final score of 4-3 was the first one goal game since October 13th in a 2-1 loss to Clearview. This one, however, went the Cougars way.

HLV started the scoring early with a power play goal to give themselves an early 1-0 lead. But shortly after, Jack Amon (‘18) put his team on the board with a goal and assists from Thomas Papa (‘19) and Michael Martinez (‘18). Almost three minutes later, HLV rebounded to make it a 2-1 game, but East came back again with a tally from Ben Isakovich (‘19) and assists from Papa and Sean McKenna (‘19). HLV would not be silenced though as they made it a 3-2 game before the period ended.

The second period started off with quality chances on both ends and was an even battle for 13 minutes and 27 seconds until Johnny Pearson (‘18)  broke the ice with a goal to tie the game at 3-3 with an assist from Eric First (‘18). In the third period, it was a similar story until Ethan Chase (‘20) sealed the puck with a clutch goal from McKenna and Luke Steele (‘20) to give East their first lead of the night, making the game 4-3. That is all she wrote as that was the final score of a wild one in Voorhees. Luke Martini (‘19) earned the win for the Cougars while improving to 4-0 on the season.

McKenna and Papa each had two points for the Cougars, with Martinez, Amon, Isakovich, First, Pearson, Chase, and Steele all picking up a point as well.

With the win, East now sits in first place in their division fairly comfortably as they are in this position despite playing three less games than the team that sits in second place; so they can gain some separation with a few more wins.

The Cougars play again Monday, November 27 at 9:00 PM. They look to extend their win streak to seven in a rematch against Holy Lenape Valley.