North Beats Voorhees, Improves Record to 7-1

The North Hunterdon Ice Hockey Club improved its record to 7-1 with wins over Voorhees and Hatfield last weekend. On Saturday, the Ice Lions downed Voorhees 2-1 in front of a standing room only crowd at Aspen Ice in Flemington. North junior defensemen Mark Schwanda opened the scoring 2:33 into the second period after taking a pass from Jordan Gionos and cutting into the high slot to beat Voorhees goaltender Colin Burt on the screen. Alec Schleicher then scored at the 4:05 mark of the third period with assists from freshman Zach Bennedsen and junior Ben Marchesini. Voorhees ruined Kyle Fischbach’s bid for his second consecutive shut out with just 2:55 remaining in the game when Voorhees senior Evan Cullinane scored with help from Derek Prince. Prince then had a chance to tie the game with 17 seconds left after being awarded a penalty shot on a controversial call but North’s Fischbach forced Prince to shoot high and secured the victory for North. Fischbach made 23 saves for the win while Voorhees goaltender Colin Burt turned away 26 North shots.

Parents and students from both North Hunterdon and Voorhees are working hard to have ice hockey added as a sanctioned sport at their respective schools. The North Hunterdon Voorhees Region School Board does not support this effort in any way, but after watching a thrilling game Saturday night, many fans left the rink asking “why not?”

On Sunday the Lions traveled to Hartfield Pennsylvania where they defeated the Hatfield Hawks 3-1 in a non-league game. Zach Bennedsen, Ben Marchesini and Mark Warner all scored with Schleicher, Marchesini and Casey Lotz getting assists. Junior goaltender Eric Sydow, who was out of the lineup for the last month nursing an ankle injury, made 13 saves for his second victory of the season. The North defense unit has allowed only eight goals in the last six games.

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