Central Bucks East edged Central Bucks South 3-2 in a classic ice hockey game on Friday night. To view photos of all the action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
.jpg)
By Ben Reese
WARWICK – Nick Esposito didn't know how important his first goal of the young ice hockey season would be.
In fact, he didn't even think about scoring the goal that put his Central Bucks East team ahead of Central Bucks South for the first time in the match, which the Patriots won 3-2 at the Warwick Ice Arena Friday night.
The victory puts East in first place in the Continental Division standings.
“I got the pass from Austin Baty,” Esposito said. “All that was on my mind was 'Shoot the puck and hope it goes in.' I just shot the puck and luckily it went in.”
That goal, with the assist from Baty and Nick Chimera, gave the Patriots a 2-1 lead with only 15 seconds left in the period. Andrew Bily, again with an assist from Baty, would score in the third period to give East a 3-1 lead, enough to hold off South, which scored its second goal soon after Bily's.
Actually, what was on Esposito's mind was the win over South after losing to the Titans 4-3 exactly one week earlier. In that game, South came back for the win.
“It was great (after losing to South last week),” Esposito said of Friday night's victory. “We were coming right after them.
“Last week was a real bummer. We had 10 chances and we couldn't capitalize on them. This week, winning this game was just a huge boost for us.”
His coach, Ken Latchum, couldn't agree more.
“Two weeks in a row,” Latchum said about the nail-biting games against South. “I don't know if I'm going to be able to stand it.
“These two games, back-to-back (South vs. East two weeks in a row). I can use the Christmas vacation.”
Both goalies were superb in the nets. East's Evan Angotti and Jeff Pelkowski of South were solid.
Angotti got the win, stopping 22 of 24 shots on net, while Pelkowski knocked away 29 of 32 shots.
“Evan played awesome,” Latchum said. “I've got two good goalies, but Evan played outstanding tonight.”
Esposito also noticed the sparkling play of his teammate.
“He was incredible,” Esposito said. “He was just making saves left and right.”
South coach Tom Coyne was impressed by his own net-minder.
“He's put two (games) together now that have been really solid,” Coyne said of Pelkowski. “He made some key saves. I know there's one he wants back, but he made a great save on that breakaway and kept us in the game.”
The breakaway that Coyne is referring to came in the third period. East's Austin Chase was lingering near the blue line in the South end of the ice when the puck was thrown out toward him.
Chase gathered it in and charged toward the goal with no one near him. Pelkowski came out of his net and stoned Chase with an outstanding save.
Throughout the entire first period, it looked like the goalies would be the big story on the night. South outshot East 9-5 but neither team could get the puck past the other team's goalie. The period ended in a 0-0 tie.
South broke that tie in the second period. Jake Bauer scored the first goal of the game with assists from Dominic Bova and Kevin Casey with 8:30 gone in the period.
East came right back 5:20 later. Chimera tallied the tying goal with assists from Bily and Chase.
Then Esposito did his thing to give the Patriots a 2-1 lead after two periods. But it was evident that it wouldn't stay that way.
The Pats got what looked like an insurance goal with 4:06 expired in the third period. Bily scored the goal with an assist going to Baty.
But the Titans came right back 33 seconds later. Bauer's second goal of the game, this one unassisted, cut the East lead back to one goal.
But that is how it remained. The East defense didn't allow another goal although, with one minute left n the game, Bauer ripped a slap shot from the point that rang off the crossbar.
Coyne was philosophical after the loss.
“It was a good game,” he said. “I thought our boys fought hard for three periods. (We were) a couple of posts away from winning the game.
“Hats off to East. They played as hard as they did last week. It was down to the last shot as usual.”
CB East 0 2 1 – 3
CB South 0 1 1 – 2
First period
No scoring. Penalties: Andrew Bily (CBE) unsportsmanlike conduct 5:59; Austin Chase (CBE) hooking 7:24; Jake Bauer (CBS) interference 7:46; John Hughes (CBE) tripping 13:18.
Second Period
1. Bauer CBE (Dominic Bova, Kevin Casey) 8:30; 2. Hughes CBS (A. Bily, Chase) 13:57; 3. Nick Esposito CBE (Baty, Nick Chimera) 15:45. Penalties: Jared Conroy (CBS) high sticking 1:31; Shaun Bily (CBE) interference 2:46; Conroy (CBS) roughing 4:29; Brandon Spognardi (CBS) holding 11:24; Mile Pilla (CBS) hooking 14:53.
Third Period
4. A. Bily CBE (Baty) 4:06; 5. Bauer CBS (unassisted) 4:39. Penalties: A, Bily CBE (unsportsmanlike conduct) 5:00; Zach Davis CBE (elbowing) 14:21; Davis CBE (head contact misconduct) 14:21.
Shots: CBE 32, CBS 24. Saves: Evan Angotti (CBE) 22, Jeff Pelkowski (CBS) 29.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 7, ABINGTON 0
Tristan Wieczorek (two goals, one assist) and Sam Kroh (one goal, two assists) both had three-point games to lead the Indians, but the big story of the night was the glittering 34-save effort of goalie Kyle McQuillan, who posted a shutout between the posts.
Wieczorek scored the only goal McQuillan would need on a power play eight minutes into the game. The Indians took that 1-0 lead into the second period when they exploded for four goals with Joe Rutkowski, Wieczorek (shorthanded), Justin Fricke and Sam Kroh each scoring single goals. Jimmy Brennan and Colton Snow closed out the scoring in the third period with one goal each.
Council Rock North1 4 2-7
Abington 0 0 0-0
Scoring Summary
Period 1
CRN – Tristan Wieczorek (powerplay) (Sam Kroh, Mark Trosti) 8:05
Period 2
CRN – Joe Rutkowski (Andrew Speeney) 5:23
CRN – Tristan Wieczorek (shorthanded) (Mark Trosti) 10:35
CRN – Justin Fricke (unassisted) 14:47
CRN – Sam Kroh (unassisted) 15:20
Period 3
CRN – Jimmy Brennan (Sam Kroh, Tristan Wieczorek) 10:25
CRN – Colton Snow (unassisted) 12:04
Shots
Council Rock North7 15 15-37
Abington 9 16 9-34
Goalie Saves
Kyle McQuillan (CRN) 34; Thomas Meehan (A) 17, Cole Kramer (A) 13.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 4, NESHAMINY 3
The Golden Hawks took a 3-1 lead into the third period only to watch the Redskins rally to knot the score. A goal by Steven Bollendorf (unassisted) in the closing second propelled the Golden Hawks to the dramatic win.
Neither team scored in the opening period, but Colin Murphy put the Golden Hawks on the scoreboard with a goal just over four minutes into the second period. Nick Foster answered with the equalizer. Justin Adams and Eric Higgins scored goals within a one-minute span to send the Golden Hawks into the final period with a 3-1 lead.
Ian Dixon and Matt Kaleck scored late goals to knot the score only to watch Bollendorf win it at the final horn.
The Golden Hawks held a 38-36 edge in shots in the evenly played contest.
Neshaminy 0 1 2-3
Council Rock South 0 3 1-4
Scoring Summary
Period 1
(no scoring)
Period 2
CRS – Colin Murphy (David Keebler, Alex Keck) 4:22
N – Nick Foster (Eric Graham) 6:09
CRS – Justin Adams (Jason Brockman, Matt Bulack) 9:28
CRS – Eric Higgins (Dylan Varian, Chad Wiener) 10:26
Period 3
N – Ian Dixon (Nick Foster, Mark Hullings) 11:56
N – Matt Kaleck (Eric Graham, Ian Dixon) 12:30
CRS – Steven Bollendorf (unassisted) 15:58
WILLIAM TENNENT 8, LOWER MORELAND 1
Jack McKeever scored two goals and assisted on another while four of his teammates had two-point nights to lead a balanced Panthers attack.
The Panthers scored all the goals they would need in the first period when Brendan Sherwood and Jack McKeever (power play) both found the net to spot Tennent a 2-0 lead.
That lead grew to 5-0 at the end of two periods, thanks to goals by Andrew Bean, McKeever and Rob Knott. Michael Carrelli (power play), Sherwood and Blake Bagdon each scored to put the Panthers on top 8-0 before the Lions broke up their shutout bit in the closing minutes.
The Panthers held a lopsided 47-10 advantage in shots.
Lower Moreland 0 0 1-1
William Tennent 2 3 3-8
Scoring Summary
Period 1
WT – Brendan Sherwood (unassisted) 3:01
WT – Jack McKeever (power play) (Charlie Feeney) 9:33
Period 2
WT – Andrew Bean (Alec Dugan) 0:27
WT – Jack McKeever (PJ Partington, Danny Gatto) 2:46
WT – Rob Knott (Chris Kreider) 3:33
Period 3
WT – Michael Carrelli (powerplay) (Jack McKeever) 6:59
WT – Brendan Sherwood (Blake Bagdon, PJ Partington) 10:08
WT – Blake Bagdon (Alec Dugan) 10:27
LM – Dan Abel (power play) (Matt Gallagher, Joel Toledo) 13:51
Shots
Lower Moreland 5 4 1-10
William Tennent 16 18 13-47
Goalie Saves
Eric Spahr (LM) 39; CJ Lineman (WT) 9.
- Log in to post comments
