April 2, 1985
HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Cherry Hill East High School ice hockey team became the first South Jersey team to capture the Flyers Cup last night when it rallied in the final minute to post a 3-2 victory over Conestoga in the title game.
After Conestoga battled back to knot the contest at 2-2 with five minutes to play, the teams battled until the one minute mark when Steve Kelly scored on on a rebound off a missed shot by Mike Kurlej to give the Cougars the championship. Cherry Hill East, the winner of the Suburban League championship, came back after losing its opener to host Haverford, 2-1 in overtime, in the round robin tournament. The Cougars came back to oust Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia, 9-3, last Tuesday night and then avenged its loss to Haverford, 2-1, on Wednesday night. That set the stage for their showdown with Conestoga last night. Cherry Hill East, finishing with a 33-3- 1 record, trailed Conestoga, 1-0, going into the final period. But early in the final period, the Cougars knotted the game at 1-1 on a goal by Jamie Leach. With eight minutes remaining, Cherry Hill East went ahead, 2-1, when Mike Black scored. Three minutes later, Conestoga knotted the game to set the stage for the furious finish. David Katz turned in a splendid performance in goal for the Cougars. The team posted an 18-1-1 record in winning the Suburban League crown. The Cougars scored over 170 goals this year with the frontline being composed of wingers Kelly, Leach, Jeff Cook, Todd Lehr, Scott Hussy and Chris Angelina along with centers Black, Kurlej and Craig Derringer. The defense, which allowed only 40 goals this season, was composed of Mark and Jeff Chase, Steve Hollander, Mark Desgrossillers and Ken Hoffman. The goalies were Katz and Adam Steinberg.
CREDIT: South Jersey Courier Post
