Philadelphia Rolls Over Baltimore in Maccabi In-Line Hockey

BROOMALL–Tuesday afternoon at the Marple Sports Arena Complex, action continued as the Philadelphia in-line hockey team shut down the Baltimore delegation 7-2.

In a matchup of last year's Maccabi hosts against this year's, Philly jumped out to a three-goal first period lead and never trailed.

Head Coach Eric Keene said his team, which didn't compete for safety reasons at last year's outdoor games, played their best match of the young tournament.

"We did really well today. We made some adjustments to our lines, switched guys around and improved our chemistry, and that made a difference," said Keene, who played hockey collegiately at West Chester University and competed in the 2001 Main Line-hosted Maccabi games.

His Philadelphia team controlled the puck early and drew first blood at the 10:50 mark with a slap shot by Brett Katz. Katz got on the board again a little over a minute later to give the hosts a 2-0 lead then.

Thirty seconds into celebrating his own goal, Katz watched as teammate Evan Goldstein slapped one by the right shoulder of the overmatched Baltimore goalie for a 3-0 advantage.

Baltimore answered back with a goal of their own at the 7:15 mark, but Philly added two more before the period closed for a 5-1 lead after one.

After the fast and furious initial period, the game settled into a sort of holding pattern in the second: each defense bore down, and much of the action became centered between the blue lines. The dearth of goals came not so much from a failure to take advantage of opportunities as from a shortage of any such chances.

That changed with four minutes remaining in the match. Baltimore got one in the net to cut the Philly lead to three, before Philly got a pair of quick goals from Tyler Kraft and Lower Merion High School's Will Levin to put the lead at 7-2, where it would stay.

"Our goal is to make it to the gold medal game," said Keene, who added that Philadelphia last won when Orange County hosted the Maccabi games. Until that gold medal round comes, he and the rest of the team will be California Dreamin'.