D. Bracey hat trick, Manes' goaltending send MJ to semis

Mt. Juliet took its scoring machine into the quarterfinals of the Greater Nashville Area Scholastic Hockey League tournament Monday night and outlasted Ravenwood 4-1.
The Golden Bears featured strong defense and the play of freshman goalie Andrew Manes to keep the defending GNASH champions at bay. Manes and defensive standouts James Lynch and Brandon Thompson along with the fore-checking by Mt. Juliet's forwards kept Ravenwood off the scoreboard until well into the second period.
Mt. Juliet put two goals on the board in the first period. The first was by Jeong Choe from Lynch and Brian Lawson and the second by Drew Bracey on a pass from Michael Burns.
Another Bear goal was added just 15 seconds into the second period when Justin Bracey passed to Tommy Lynch in the corner, who rocketed a pass across the rink to Drew Bracey, who buried the puck into the net.
Ravenwood scored with 11:32 left in the period on a breakaway.
The game then became a defensive struggle as the teams incurred numerous penalties as the result of physical play.
Drew Bracey scored the final goal when he took a pass and headed down the rink on a breakaway. A Raptor pulled him down as he was shooting and a penalty was called. Bracey took the puck at center ice and skated toward the net. As the goalie dropped, he put the puck over the glove to finish off his hat trick.
Manes stopped 26 of 27 shots to help move Mt. Juliet into Sunday's 3:45 p.m. semifinal at Nashville's Centennial Sportsplex.