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Verona blanks Vipers in curtain closer

By WiPH Staff, 03/01/12, 10:36PM CST

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Matsushima shines in Wildcat win.



The Verona Wildcats proved to be too much for the Sparta, West Salem, Bangor Vipers on Thursday night in the final quarterfinal game of the night, as they rolled to an 8-0 victory to set up a semifinal matchup with top ranked Notre Dame Academy.

Verona controlled the early play, holding Sparta without a shot for the first several minutes of the game. Zach Jones broke the scoring open at 9:05 in the first period on a nice feed from Player of the Year finalist Eddie Matsuhima.

The Wildcats tallied one more first period goal, when Michael Stevens found the net with assists from Matsushima and Cole Gastel.

At the end of one it was 2-0 Wildcats, and they had outshot the Sparta squad 13-1.  The Sparta team hung in and played the Wildcats tough until Eddie Matsushima took one in unassisted at 3:08 in the second period.  

Verona took a penalty about 30 seconds later, but the Sparta squad seemed taken out of their game by the Matsushima  goal, and while they threatened a few times late in the third period to score, they were never in it again.

Verona added two more second period goals, the first Zac Keryluk from Charlie Parker and Tarek Baker, followed by Louie Ellis from Alex Watzki.

The Wildcats added three goals in the third: Matsushima from Ellis and Watzke, Keryluk from Gastel, and Baker from Philippe Fromberger.

The Sparta, West Salem, Bangor team was making its first trip to the state tournament, and they couldn’t have pulled a more unfavorable matchup.  Verona is the fastest team in the state and that speed overwhelmed them.  When a Viper player got behind the Verona defense, they couldn’t break free. When they got into the offensive zone, they couldn’t create space.

Sparta goalie Julian Grosskopf played a good game for the Vipers, but their swarming offense was able to beat Sparta’s defense to all the rebounds and was too much to handle. Verona goalie Matt Opsal turned away all 11 shots he faced and was assisted by his defense with about a minute left in the third on a puck that squeaked through his legs.

Now the third ranked Wildcats will take on the top ranked Notre Dame Academy Tritons in the second boys semifinal matchup on Friday.

WiPH Game Summaries