Neshaminy used a big third period to earn a 10-6 win over CB West on Thursday night. Check back later this weekend for photos of Friday’s Neshaminy/LC game.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD – Neshaminy's ice hockey team added something to its game Thursday night.
The Redskins came out and got very physical with Central Bucks West and handed the Bucks a 10-6 defeat at Hatfield Ice.
If any of the spectators expected a tight defensive battle between two teams that have gone through difficult seasons, they would have been wrong. What they got was quite an offensive show.
And that physicality that Neshaminy exhibited contributed a lot to that. The booms of bodies hitting the boards resounded around the rink.
“It's not our intended style,” said Rich Sherno, the assistant coach who took over the reins of the team in the absence of head coach Sean Slack. “We just try to put the puck in the net, but it's nice to see when they come out and play physical.
“We haven't been doing that all season. I was kind of happy to see that, playing physical without taking penalties.”
Gary Tippy, who scored three goals, went along with his coach.
“We're not typically physical in every game,” he said, “but this game we really stepped it up and showed that we wanted to play.”
But then senior captain Jordan Ducko went the other way.
“We've always been a kind of physical team,” Ducko said. “We've got some smaller players, new guys, but we're trying to take the body as best we can to teach them that it's a physical game and to get into it.”
Ducko has just recently returned to play after missing almost half of the season. He had bruised bones in his wrist and torn cartilage and a hyper-extended elbow.
The Redskins missed their captain.
“He was injured most of the season (so far),” Sherno said. “There's a big difference in the games that he played and the gamed he didn't play. His leadership on and off the ice is really important to that team.”
With the leadership provided by Ducko and the goal-scoring of Tippy, Neshaminy came out strong, especially in the third period. After two stanzas, the Redskins led 5-4 but then scored five goals in the final period to sew up the victory.
“We came out strong (early in the third period) and then we let up a little bit,” said Tippy. “Then we ended strong and put four goals in the back of the net to finish off the 10-6 game. We had a rough season, but I'm glad we came out with a win on this one.”
Tippy led the way on offense for Neshaminy with his three goals. Matt Kaleck added two and five other players also scored.
The game was tight until the third period. Neshaminy held a two-goal lead midway through the second period, but the Bucks rallied to get within one goal going into the third.
However, in the third, West couldn't keep up with the Redskins. While Neshaminy was scoring those five goals, the Bucks could only manage two.
West broke into the scoring column early in the first period. With only 3:08 gone in the stanza, Tanner Ginn batted the puck past Neshaminy goalie Ed DiCrecio off an assist from Eric Schwass for a power-play goal.
That lead didn't last long. A little over 5:30 later, Tippy notched his first goal of the game, taking a pass from Nick Sweeney and sliding the puck past West net-minder Justin Angelo.
West saw one of its players head to the penalty box for roughing with 5:23 left in the first period. Nine seconds later, Neshaminy had its first lead as Nick Sabatini scored on the power play with an assist from Nick Foster.
The Bucks came right back very early in the second period. With only 37 second elapsed in the period, Pat Smith tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play goal.
Less than a minute later, West took the lead again. At the 1:31 mark, Ginn scored his second goal of the game with the assist going to Schwass again.
But Neshaminy scored the next three goals to retake the lead. First, it was Foster with an assist from Steven Lee.
Then it was Ducko off a pass from Nick Foster. The fifth goal for the Redskins was also the second for Tippy, good enough for a 5-3 lead.
West got one of those back before the end of the period. At 14:29 of the second, Austin Siemion got the Bucks within one goal.
Then came the explosive third period. Smith scored his second of the game only 2:19 into the period to tie the score at 5-5. It didn't stay tied long because six seconds later Kaleck untied it with his first goal of the period.
West came back to tie the game again. Siemion and Smith collaborated on the tying goal with Siemion putting the puck into the net.
But that was the last offensive gasp for the Bucks. They didn't score again.
But the Redskins did.
Nick Verdi, Eric Graham, Kaleck and Tippy all scored in the final six minutes of the stanza to seal the victory for Neshaminy. Tippy's goal completed his hat trick.
“It's the first hat trick of my life,” he said with a big smile. “I'm a senior and this is my second to last game. I just wanted to get out there.”
Sherno had nothing but praise for Tippy.
“Tippy's been scoring goals for us,” Sherno said. “He's been playing good.”
Tippy, though, wanted to share the spotlight.
“It was a great offensive performance by everyone,” he said. “We all had a great game. We all came out strong and played the game right.”
Neshaminy 2 3 5 – 10
CB West 1 3 2 – 6
First Period
1. Tanner Ginn CBW (Eric Schwass) 3:08; 2. Gary Tippy N (Nick Sweeney) 8:46; 3. Nick Sabatini N (Nick Foster) 10:46 PP. Penalties: Erick Graham N (slashing) 2:33; Brian Dormer CBW (roughing) 10:37; Foster N (interference) 15:57.
Second Period
4. Patrick Smith CBW (Austin Siemion) 0:37 PP; 5. Ginn CBW (Schwass) 1:31; 6. Foster N (Steven Lee) 3:40; 7. Jordan Ducko N (Graham) 4:43; 8. Gary Tippy N (Foster) 11:03; 9. Siemion CBW (Ryan Shapiro) 14:29. Penalties: Ginn CBW (unsportsmanlike conduct) 3:30; Lee N (unsportsmanlike conduct) 3:30; Siemion CBW (unsportsmanlike conduct) 5:08; Foster N (unsportsmanlike conduct) 5:08; Ramsey Sayres CBW (holding) 7:11; Lee N (cross checking) 14:53.
Third Period
10. Smith CBW (Siemion) 2:19; 11. Matt Kaleck N (Foster) 2:25; 12. Siemion CBW (Smith) 6:46; 13. Nick Verdi N (Foster) 9:59; 14. Graham N (Ducko) 10:05; 15. Kaleck N (Mark Hullings) 12:18; 16. Tippy N (Kaleck, Ducko) 13:55. Penalties: Ginn CBW (unsportsmanlike conduct) 1:58; Sweeney N (unsportsmanlike conduct) 1:58.
Shots: N – 57, CBW – 52. Saves: Ed DiCrecio N 46; Justin Angelo CBW 47.
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