Baden Barber’s goal boosts Springfield past Garnet Valley

HAVERFORD TWP. — The Skatium rocked, rattled and rolled with goals, checks, and end to end action Wednesday when top seeded Garnet Valley battled with fifth seed Springfield in the semifinal round of the boys ICSHL Central playoffs.

When all was said and done, Springfield exited with a 4-3 upset on a third-period goal by Baden Barber. The tenacious play of Cougars goalie Matthew Rizzi, who made six of his 21 saves in the final frame and the all-around grit of the Cougars totally suited the Rocky music blaring over the speakers at game’s end.

“Exciting, to say the least,” Cougars coach Dan Dilbeck said. “We kind of had a roller coaster of a season. About a month ago we kind of brought the team together and they started to believe in one another. They put the hard work in, and this was just a culmination of everything they’ve worked for throughout the season. We’ve been down before. We spotted (the Jaguars) a 2-0 lead, but we were able to come back. They just never got down on one another. They never got down on themselves. They just continued to believe.”

The Central championship is Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Skatium against the winner of the semifinal between Haverford (3rd seed) and defending league champion Penncrest (5th). That game was played late Wednesday.

After an emotional couple of periods ended with the teams tied at 3, it looked there would be overtime. The Jaguars had some solid chances but couldn’t beat Rizzi. Each time he made a save in the final frame a vocal crowd of Cougars fans chanted “Matthew … Rizzi.”

“To see where he came from last year to where he is this year,” Dilbeck said, shaking his head. “He’s fantastic. He’s our brick wall back there.”

The Cougars (12-8-0) struggled slightly in the first period against a Jaguars squad that was every bit as hungry to win a Central League title.

The Jaguars got started with 8:28 left in the first period when Nick Skiadas deposited a feed from behind the through a pile of bodies and Razzi. Lathan Hutchinson and Jake Robinson got the assists.

The Garnet Valley lead became 2-0 just 95 seconds later when Nolan Stott found the back of the net, Jake Robinson and Kaden Longo assisting.

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Springfield Cougars celebrate 4-3 win over Garnet Valley Wednesday in ICSHL Central League semis at the Skatium.