Heart has been the one word that head coach Rich Crowley reiterates about his team. The Salisbury/Whitehall hockey team never quits and always plays to the final whistle, even with the challenge of facing some of the top teams.

Last Monday night Salisbury/Whitehall stayed with the number 1 team in the league Parkland for a majority of the game, and came away with a late goal for their efforts in a 5-1 loss at Lehigh Valley Ice Arena.

"The team has heart," Crowley stated. "They want to play, and they love the game. You can't teach that. We went down early, but we always felt that we had a chance."

On their senior night, the Trojans controlled the tempo and the opportunities on net. Parkland outshot Salisbury/Whitehall 46-16. The score could have been much worse if not for the goaltending of Tristan Collins (41 saves).

"Luckily we have a kid like Tristan," noted Crowley. "He did a great job keeping us in the game."

One of his key saves came on a shorthanded breakaway when he stood his ground and stopped Zach Zager to keep the score at 1-0.

Nicholas Chandik, however, did get passed Collins on a breakaway in the opening period, and Evan Dratch added a one-timer that Collins had no chance of stopping in the second period.

On the scoreboard it showed the disparity in shots and score, but almost all of Salisbury/Whitehall's shots put pressure on the Trojans goaltenders.

"We were trying to stretch the goalie a little bit," added Crowley. "We wanted to create avenues on the left side of the rink. If you can dominate one side of the rink, you can put pressure on a team. We had 16 shots, which isn't a lot, but we created a lot of opportunities."

Gavin Carey found the back of the net off a pass from Stephen Gober for a much deserved goal with 1:36 remaining.

These same two teams will be squaring off Wednesday in a make-up game, and then the final game of the season will be Monday, February 25th against Becahi/Central Catholic.