Newark, Del. — The Kingsway Regional (N.J.) Dragons used a three-goal second period to surge past the Appoquinimink Jaguars, 6-3, in first-round Flyers Cup action on Monday night (March 11) at the Patriot Ice Center, while Delaware Military Academy handily beat Moorestown, N.J., 5-2, in their quarterfinal matchup.
Kingsway Regional 6, Appoquinimink 3
After a lengthy ice maintenance delay pushed the start of the game back to nearly 9:45 p.m., the underdog Dragons out-hustled Appoquinimink to overcome a 2-1 deficit in the middle period and foil any hopes of a late rally from the Jaguars.
Left winger Jason Player, who had a hand in four of the six Kingsway goals, was the catalyst of the game-tying goal 7:05 into the second period, when he fed Corey Owens a long headman pass up the middle of the neutral zone, setting up an easy chip shot from the left edge of the crease. Player himself then redirected the rebound of a mid-range Brian Barnett shot past Appoquinimink goalie Vincent Paloni to give the Dragons a 3-2 lead with just under three minutes left in the frame. After a two-on-one attack which led to an apparent Appoquinimink goal was disallowed due to an offside infraction, Matt Owens connected off a Player feed from the top of the right circle in the final 44 seconds of the period to increase the Dragons’ lead to two.
The Dragons’ momentum continued early in the third period, when Player notched his second tally of the game with a power-play goal — a snipe from the right dot set up by Corey Owens — 22 seconds in. Appoquinimink scoring leader Jonny Schwarz crashed the net to finish a Nathan Panchisin wrist shot from the top of the left circle 3:38 in to cut the Kingsway lead to 5-3, but an odd-man rush the other direction leading to Corey Owens’s second goal of the night four minutes later sealed victory for the Dragons.
Dom Mendek also scored for Kingsway, while Panchisin and Anthony Poehlmann contributed Appoquinimink’s first-period goals. Mike Lieze stopped 24 of 27 shots faced in the Dragons’ win, while Paloni saved 25 of 31 in defeat.
Kingsway advances to play two-time defending Flyers Cup champions Salesianum on Tuesday (March 12); game time at the Patriot Ice Center is scheduled for 7:40 p.m.
Delaware Military Academy 5, Moorestown 2
Early penalty trouble for Moorestown enabled the Seahawks to establish an early 2-1 lead by way of power play goals from Justin McGee and Lukas Cook, with the latter sparking a four-goal run that put the Seahawks out of Moorestown’s reach, 5-2. Cook and Alex Maglio scored twice apiece in the penalty-laden contest, while Anthony Guerrieri backstopped the Seahawks to victory with 32 saves.
