ODENTON - The Archbishop Spalding Cavaliers and Calvert Hall Cardinals squared off in MIAA action at Piney Orchard Ice Arena Friday evening (December 22nd).  This time, the rink looked a little different than usual.   "I FIGHT FOR" posters donned the glass around the home team's zone.  Accompanied by balloons, t-shirts, decorative banners, and more, the rink was a sea of lavender and white for Archbishop Spalding's 3rd Annual Hockey Fights Cancer game. 

Festivities included an Honored Heroes Ceremony, photo booth, Hockey Fights Cancer items sale, 50/50 raffle, silent auction items, and concluded with a ceremonial puck drop between Calvert Hall's Tyler Chin and Archbishop Spalding's Duke Sweeney.

On the ice, Spalding and Calvert Hall battled in front of a large crowd of supporters and onlookers.  The second of three regular season matchups, the Cavs and Cardinals dueled for points in the highly contested MIAA "A" conference.  The Cardinals took game one of the regular season series, by a score of 3-0, earlier this season at Mt. Pleasant.

A physical first period saw a lot of special teams play from the Cavs and Cardinals.  Calvert Hall's power play peppered Spalding's goalie, Evan Snyder, in the first period but Spalding's Ryan Sellars opportunistically sparked the Cavaliers with a short handed goal with 6:25 on the clock in the opening period. 

Spalding doubled its lead in the second period, cashing in on a power play goal of its own in the second period when Ezra Bowen buried a bouncing rebound in front of the Calvert Hall net.  The Cardinals continued their hard work and responded when Mikey Tanton's breakout pass launched Nate Reynoso on an odd-man rush.  Reynoso's shot bounced off Snyder's pad and was subsequently redirected into the net by Luke Bonaccorsi, putting the Cardinals on the board and within striking distance with 7:12 remaining in the second period.  Calvert Hall continued to press for the remainder of the period but could not find the back of the net before the second intermission and ice cut.

Spalding's Andrew Reece extended the Cavaliers lead back to two just 24 seconds into the third period.  Reece would add his second goal of the night later in the third period to give the Cavaliers their largest lead of the night.  A late with power play goal, by Calvert Hall's Jack Tanton brought the final score to 4-2, Cavaliers.

Thank you to Coach Paul Kansler (Calvert Hall), Coach Rob Trantin (Spalding), the Spalding HFC committee (Amy Babst, Gwyn Reece, Liz Johnson, and Linda Maldonado), all donors, and all who attended for an outstanding evening.

All proceeds for the evening will be donated to the American Cancer Society.

Photos: Archbishop Spalding Cavalier Club