Abington defeated Central Bucks West in SHSHL action on Thursday night. To view photos of all the action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD – In past seasons, discipline wasn't a word that would be associated with the Abington ice hockey team.
But, with a lot of hard work, the Ghosts are trying to iron out that part of their game. It was much in evidence Thursday night when they beat Central Buck West 5-2 at Hatfield Ice.
The two teams played a scoreless first period with the West goalie, Justin Angelo, and his defense mates stopping Abington's every foray down the ice. Last year, that would have frustrated the Ghosts and caused them to begin making mistakes.
But this year is different. While they took seven penalties, none of them proved costly.
“They're really learning to just be composed and keep their heads and not retaliate,” said Abington coach Pat Croce. “I think it's got to do with a good core leadership group.
“The coaches can say a lot of things, but it comes down to the players enforcing it among themselves and that seems to be working.
“They're really trying to change the way people look at the club. Last year, we were looked upon as a group that was a little bit undisciplined. Now they're trying to change that.”
Matt Berman, who led the Ghosts' offense with a hat trick, agrees with his coach.
'”We always had a bad reputation,” he said. “I think we're definitely starting to get rid of that.
“I know we had a lot of penalties, every single year a lot of them. I think we're trying to keep them down this year and start playing more as a team now.
“We're communicating. We're passing better. We're starting to become a full team instead of just teammates. We're starting to get together now.”
Bouncing back from that scoreless first period, the Ghosts got some offense going in the second. They scored twice and West also put a pair of goals in the net.
It was in the third period that Abington really got its offense in gear. And it was a small change that Croce thinks did the trick.
“We saw a couple of things we wanted to change up with lines so we made a change in the third period,” he said. “We moved (Erik) Walther to the line with Berman. That seemed to open things up because it added a little more speed to that second line.”
It also added some firepower. Abington scored three times in the third stanza to ring up the victory.
Berman notched two of his three goals in the third. He put the Ghosts on top to stay with his first goal of the period with less that three minutes gone in the period.
Then he added the final marker with slightly more than a minute and a half remaining in the game. In between, Alex DeCristofano tallied the team's fourth goal.
A look at the final score might indicate that Central Bucks West didn't play well. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The Bucks, who haven't won a league game, held Abington scoreless in the first and played the Ghosts to a standoff in the second. The third proved to be their downfall.
A large part of the credit should go to the West goalie, Angelo. He stopped 38 shots for the game.
“He never played hockey before,” West coach Dave Baun said of his junior goalie, who first came out as a freshman. “He's a great kid and he works hard, and that's why he's become a good goalie. If the kid is dedicated and has some athletic ability, he can work miracles sometimes.”
Both Croce and Berman noticed Angelo's play.
“He made a lot of great saves,” Croce said. “He was always square and in position, cutting down the angles. He really kept them in it.”
While Berman appreciated the game that Angelo had, he also had a theory on why the goalie looked so good.
“I was watching when I was on the bench and most of the shots we were taking were going right into his breadbasket,” Berman said. “Any other shot we most likely could have gotten in but, for some reason, we weren't shooting at the corners.”
West took the lead in the second period when Patrick Smith scored with 13:23 remaining off a feed from Austin Siemion. But the Ghosts came right back and scored with 8:56 left as Walther put the puck past Angelo with an assist from James Campbell.
With 4:05 remaining in the period, the Bucks once again took the lead as John McCleerey scored off a pass from Smith. However, once again, Abington bounced right back with Berman netting his first goal with assists going to DeCristofano and Nick Scipione.
In the third, Berman scored with 13:10 left in the period with Walther and DeCristofano getting the assists and again with 1:32 remaining with an assist from Paul Abendroth. DeCristofano's goal came at the 2:56 mark with assists by Abendroth and Campbell.
Abington 0 2 3 – 5
CB West 0 2 0 – 2
First Period
No scoring. Penalties: Brian Scipione (A) 8:56 high sticking; Tanner Ginn (CBW) 3:47 boarding; Anthony Pronzato (A) 3:47 charging; Brian Scipione (A) 3:47 unsportsmanlike conduct.
Second Period
1. Patrick Smith (CBW) 13:23 (Austin Siemion); 2. Erik Walther (A) 9:28 (James Campbell); 3. John McCleerey (CBW) 4:05 (Smith); 4. Matt Berman (A) 2:10 (Alex DeCristofano, Nick Scipione). Penalties: DeCristofano (A) 12:29 elbowing; Brian Dormer (CBW) 8:56 holding.
Third Period
5. Berman (A) 13:10 (Walther, DeCristofano); 6. DeCristofano (A) 2:56 (Smith, Ryan Shapiro); 7. Berman (A) 1:32 (Smith). Penalties: Smith (A) 11:56 boarding; N. Scipione (A) 11:33 interference; B Scipione (A) 29.7 high sticking.
Saves:Cole Kramer (A) 16, Justin Angelo (CBW) 38. Shots: Abington 43, Central Bucks West 18.
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