This week’s notebook looks ahead at Thursday’s Flyers Cup semifinal matchups and also highlights Council Rock North.
By Mike Prince, Sportswriter
Despite a 9-0 loss to Central Bucks South in the Flyers Cup quarterfinals, Council Rock North coach Eric Tye couldn’t help but look back at his team’s season without any regrets.
“People looked at our team before the season and didn’t think we’d win two games,” he said. “We wish the end could’ve ended better, but 19 teams are going to lose their last game, and we won a Flyers Cup game. That’s the best part of this season – our seniors winning that game.”
The Indians won their first round Flyers Cup matchup, marking the team’s first win in the tournament since 2010. This season, they won seven regular season games, were awarded the No. 6 seed in the Suburban One playoffs and the No. 9 seed in the Flyers Cup.
And next year, they will return a goalie who Tye not only believes will lead this team to even more success, but who still has three seasons left to help prove CR North to be a dangerous team to face.
Behind seniors Hayden Richards and Mike Leininger, Kyle McQuillan, a freshman, patiently waited for it to be his turn to be the starter. And though he only started one game this past season – allowing just one goal in 48 minutes while stopping 29 of 30 shots – Tye said he learned from two of the best goalies he could learn from before making the leap to starter.
“The credit this year goes to the captains and assistant captains who got the kids on the right page, but a lot of it goes to the goalies,” the Indians’ coach said. “The returning guys learned a lot of stuff from those who are graduating.
“Two of my goalies are graduating, but that’s not even an issue,” Tye said. “Kyle is here for three years. He’s just technically sound. He knows how to get the angles, he knows how to play the rebounds and he’s just a good, young kid. He didn’t sit there and moan or complain about not playing at all. He has a great attitude and learned more than he already had going for him.”
As for the loss to CB South, Tye realizes there is a reason why the Titans have been awarded the top seed two years in a row in the Flyers Cup.
“They’re…they’re good,” said Tye with a laugh. “I don’t know how many different ways there are to describe it. They’ve been the No. 1 team for two years now, and we all know why. They have four lines of force up front and I don’t know who is going to beat them.”
As for a team whose season is still alive, North Penn, coming off an 8-4 win over Wilson on Monday, will be facing Parkland High School this Thursday at 8:45 p.m. at Warwick Ice Arena in hopes to advance to its first Flyers Cup final in five years.
After losing that final, then assistant coach Kevin Vaitis took over the program, and is looking to bring his team to the promised land for the first time since taking over before the 2009-10 season.
One season ago, the Knights were knocked out in overtime in a Flyers Cup quarterfinal, but he believes his team’s confidence this year is the biggest difference between then and now.
“You can kind of see it in some of the player’s eyes and how we play on the ice,” Vaitis said. “I think that is one thing that is very different than last year. There’s something with this team where they know they’re a good hockey team and they go out there and know that they have to play their best to win.
“The last two games, we’ve really been able to start strong. Last year, I think we took a couple teams for granted and we wound up losing in overtime in the second game after barely winning in overtime in the first game.”
The Knights, who are just one win away form advancing to the tournament’s championship game, have received solid contributions at both ends of the ice.
“Matt Barkley and Matt Stella have been huge for us contributing up front, but with Cody (Matthews) in net and Jeremy (Snyder) playing defense like has he been, they solidify us when we have lapses and they help us be more consistent,” Vaitis said. “They helped us to get organized in the second period the other night when we had lapses. Those guys are major contributors.”
And even though the Knights have already accomplished more than they did last year, Vaitis said that his team is in absolutely no way satisfied.
“This team is certainly one step closer and better than they were last year,” he said, “but we’re not satisfied with just reaching the semifinals. We want to win Thursday night and we want to win next week. We’ve never won it before. This year, we just know we’re a good hockey team and we have so much talent, so hopefully we can do something with that.”
Looking ahead: In the Class AA bracket, North Penn, which is coming off an 8-4 win over Wilson on Monday, will face Parkland on Thursday night at 8:45 at Warwick Ice Arena. The No. 2 seeded Knights are led by forward/defenseman Caleb Witzaney, who finished the SHSHL season with 29 goals and 25 assists in 18 games, good for second overall in the entire league.
Matthew Stella, who was third in the Continental Conference with 17 goals and 27 assists, is coming off a four-goal performance against Wilson in the second round of the Flyers Cup playoffs. Matt Barkley is also coming off a big game, scoring three times on Monday. Goalkeeper Cody Matthews, who split time with Jake Wolff throughout the season, stopped 35 Wilson shots to earn the win and help boost the Knights to the semifinals.
If the Knights, who have never won a Flyers Cup, can get past 11th-seeded Parkland, they will play the winner of the Central Bucks South – Cherokee game, the other Class AA semifinal, which will be played at 6:30 on Thursday at Warwick Ice Arena in the first game of the doubleheader.
The Titans were awarded the No. 1 seed for the second consecutive season. This semifinal will feature a rematch of last year’s Flyers Cup playoff which saw CB South lose to then ninth-seeded Cherokee by a score of 2-0, ending the Titans’ hopes at a championship.
The Titans are coming off an 8-0 win over CR North on Monday, a game which saw SHSHL scoring leader Connor Bechtel tally three goals and one assist.
Bechtel recorded 24 goals and 38 assists in 18 games, giving him eight more points than any other player in the entire league. CB South also has received big contributions from forwards Mike Pilla and Nick DeLaurentis, who tallied 43 and 42 points respectively this season.
Titans’ goalkeeper Jeff Pelkowski stopped nine shots against the Indians on Monday to earn the shutout victory. CB South, which is coached by Tom Coyne, has outscored its opponents 16-0 in two Flyers Cup games thus far.
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