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Cherry Hill takes Game 1
HillBillies' Salo outduels playoff ace Hasek, leads Cherry Hill to 1-0 lead
Golden State acquired three-time playoff MVP Dominik Hasek from Baltimore just for the playoffs, but even he couldn't stop red-hot Tommy Salo, as Cherry Hill won 5-1 and took a one-game lead in the Salcedo Trophy Finals. Salo posted a 2-0-1 record with a 1.28 goals-against average and a 94.4 save percentage.
Miroslav Satan was the top scorer, netting 4 goals with 2 assists, while Al MacInnis added 4 assists for Cherry Hill. Ziggy Palffy scored a goal and 4 assists, and Mark Parrish added 2 goals and 2 assists, but it was not enough for Golden State to edge Cherry Hill.
One win away
Cherry Hill is only one win away from claiming its first IHA Championship, officially breaking the Minnesota-Baltimore strangehold on the Salcedo Trophy. Remarkable would be one way to describe it: the HillBillies were virtually without sniper Martin Straka for the whole year. With an unheralded but dangerous lineup, the HillBillies are shaping up to be the IHA equivalent of the New England Patriots.
However, Chris Osgood gets the nod for Game 2, keeping the semi-rotation style employed during the regular season. Also inserted into the lineup are Peter Nedved and Gary Roberts for the injured Robert Lang and Jere Lehtinen.
Meanwhile, the Golden State Gravediggers are in desperation mode, and must get the Dominik Hasek they traded for in the offseason. The lineup stays the same for the Gravediggers, except for the replacement of Adrian Aucoin with Igor Kravchuk on defense.
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