It's been happening for much of this young season, but the first period has not been too kind to the Parkland ice hockey team. Fortunately for the Trojans, the slow starts have not resulted in any losses thus far.

Four goals in the second period, and two in the third helped Parkland break free from the Diocese squad, which consists of Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, and Notre Dame Green Pond, 7-0 last Monday night at the Lehigh Valley Ice Arena. The goaltending of Jordan Lorah was also a key to the victory. His 28 saves on 28 shots helped secure the win, and his second shutout on the season.

"He played terrific tonight, the best goalie in the league," said head coach Matt Chandik. "Not to be biased but I think we have the second best goalie in the league too in Anthony Sorrentino. They learn so much from having each other around."

Lorah needed to be big all game, especially early on when the Trojans (7-0) were being outshot and were not scoring on their opportunities. Parkland's first shot was not until 5:20 into the game, but with 2:33 left in the first period Andrew Lessig smacked a wrister that deflected off a defender's stick and sneaked under the leg of the Diocese goalie, who may have thought it was going wide. It was Lessig's first career goal.

The second period was much different for the Trojans. Although they were still outshot 12-9, they made the most of their chances.

Andrew Loomis received a pass from Evan Dratch wide open right in front of the net for his first career goal to open up the second. Dratch also connected, along with two goals from Ben Zager.

Timmy Doe found the back of the net in the third period, and the Trojans put the game away with Zager's third.

"All season we've been dreadful in the first period," Chandik said. "We talk about it every week. We just play so much better in the second and third periods. We're just slow starters."

This is a much different team from the one a year ago which won the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Ice Hockey League, and made a deep run in the Flyers Cup.

"We have some younger guys that are playing big roles this year that they're not used to," said Chandik. "This is what high school sports are all about. We develop our team from the youth level, and we lost a lot of guys from varsity last year."