ICE HOCKEY Canfield beats CVCA

The Cardinals have won six of their past nine games.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- Alex Vrable and Sam Crowe each had a goal and an assist as Canfield High defeated Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy 5-3 in a Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League game Monday at the Ice Zone.
Canfield's Taylor Murdoch added two assists.
The game featured 26 penalties, including 14 by the Cardinals (6-7-1, 4-5 Blue-East Division). It was the second win in four days for Canfield, which is 6-2-1 in its last nine games.
"Give a lot of credit to our goalie, Ryan DeJoe," Coach Joe Villano said. "He had 25 saves and held us in there on quite a few shorthanded occasions.
"Nick Rulli and Andy Davis played excellent," Villano said. "They both did a great job of killing the penalties while generating offense and speed in the process."
The first 15-minute period was almost over before either team scored. But then Crowe, assisted by Murdoch, scored at the 13:13 mark to give Canfield a 1-0 lead.
The period was more noteworthy because of the six penalties whistled by the officials. The Cardinals were given five of the penalties.
Vrable connects: At 13:18 of the second period, Vrable's unassisted goal made it 2-0.
That margin would be shortlived, however, as the Royals' Jared Deliberato, who was just out of the penalty box seconds earlier, scored at 13:58 to cut the Canfield lead in half.
"It is very difficult to get any flow or establish any continuity when you have so many penalties," Villano said. "It mixes your lines up, but to our credit we did an excellent job with the opportunities that were presented to us."
The offenses kicked up a notch and the crowd was treated to five goals, including three by the Cards and nine penalties in the third period.
Rulli's power play goal gave Canfield a 3-1 cushion just 29 seconds into the final period, but CVCA's Aaron Snyder countered with a power play goal of his own at 4:38.
Goals by Davis (7:32) and Jeff Kane (10:29) made it 5-2 in favor of the Cards, with a goal by the Royals' Matt Darusz at 11:32 rounding out the scoring.
The Cardinals out-shot CVCA 36-28, despite getting off just three attempts in the second period.
Adam Snyder had 31 saves for the Royals (11-11-1, 3-7) before leaving late in the game with a penalty.