Talawanda 6 Sycamore 4

The Braves held off the determined Sycamore Aviators posting a 6-4 SWOHSHL win, Friday night at the Goggin.  It took a while for the Braves to get going but three goals inside of three minutes in the second period provided the victory margin.

The game was tied after one period 1-1 with Patrick Gray converting a Matt Finch pass at 6:37.  Talawanda’s three goal burst started at 5:30 of the second stanza with Ryan Marks scoring his first career high school goal.  Gray and Ben Hoover drew assists on the play.  Ben Hoover scored at 7:35 with Marks and Erik Humfleet providing helpers.  Gray scored his second goal (8:09) jamming a rebound past the Aviator goalie with hard working assists from Marks and Hoover.  The Aviators did not fold, connecting at 12:38, to trail just 4-2 going into the third.

The Ave’s scored quickly in the third, narrowing the score to 4-3, just 39 seconds into the period.  Zach Phillips converted a Ryan Gann rebound at 8:05 and the Braves led 5-3.  Sycamore pulled within one just 23 seconds later and actually batted in the tying marker with just over a minute to play.  The puck, however, was knocked in with a high stick and the goal was waived off.  Moments later, Phillips deposited the 6-4 marker into an open net and Braves knotted the win.  Braden Park and Humfleet, who were solid on D, earned assists on the insurance marker.  Daniel Atkin stopped 20 of the 24 shots he faced in the Talawanda goal.