North Penn defeated CR South in a battle of SHSHL heavyweights on Thursday night. To view photos of the CR South/NP game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD – North Penn ice hockey coach Kevin Vaitis got exactly what he expected Thursday night.
His Knights hosted undefeated and defending PIAA champion Council Rock South at Hatfield Ice, and Vaitis expected the game to be a high-scoring shootout.
It was.
The Knights got the final three goals of the game and beat the Golden Hawks 8-5. It is the sixth win of the season for North Penn and the first league loss for South.
“That was a huge win for us,” Vaitis said. “They were 6-0.”
But this isn't the first time North Penn has knocked off South.
“We beat them in the Suburban League playoffs last year and knocked them out,” said Vaitis. “They went on to win the Flyers Cup, though. They've gone undefeated this year until tonight.”
As for the shootout, it was just as Vaitis suspected.
“I did,” he said when asked if he expected the game to be a high-scoring affair. “They have a lot of offense up front. They have a lot of good players.
“We knew it wasn't going to be a 2-1 game. It was going to be a shootout. That's what we got into and we just kept on working.
“Even when we got down 5-2, we knew there was a lot of hockey left to play. We've scored 49 goals in six games so we know we can put the puck in the net. And we did it again tonight.”
Caleb Witzaney, North Penn's defensive stalwart, also realized what the Knights had to do to get the win.
“We just wanted to go in there with all the energy we had,” Witzaney said. “They probably thought we were just like a middle-of-the-road team and they could just walk all over us, but I thought that we played hard, fought hard.
“We went down early, but we came back and we had all the momentum. We just kept fighting.”
A lot of the credit for the fight has to go to Witzaney. With the Knights playing a bit shorthanded, he moved up to the wing for several shifts during the second and third periods and got North Penn on the right track.
“We kind of kept that (moving Witzaney to wing) under our hat a little bit,” said Vaitis. “ I was a little nervous early on because I didn't think it was working, but it started to work in the third period.”
Did it ever.
The Knights trailed after one period 3-2 and were down 5-2 six minutes into the third before roaring back with three straight goals to enter the third period tied 5-5.
In the third, Christian Ahn got one past South goalie Andrew Depuy with 6:30 left in the game off assists by Matt Barkley and Jeremy Snyder to give the Knights their first lead of the game.
Then Witzaney took over. He scored the seventh goal of the game for North Penn with 3:37 remaining by deking around a defenseman and then batting a backhand into the upper right corner of the net.
Witzaney finished off the scoring for the Knights in the final seconds. The Golden Hawks had pulled goalie Depuy with 1:59 left in the period, and North Penn missed on several attempts to get the puck into the empty net before Witzaney accomplished the task with 8.4 left on the clock.
North Penn got outstanding defense in that third period also. The Knights didn't allow the top scoring team in the SHSHL to dent the nets at all.
“Cody (Matthews, the North Penn goalie) came up huge in the second half of the second period and the entire third period in addition to the defense,” Vaitis said. “Ryan Nowicki, Dalton Bideau, Jeremy Snyder – they played phenomenal for us back there.
“Matt Mette has been fighting a cold. He wasn't 100 percent, but he was out there giving it everything he had.”
In the final scheme of things, Witzaney paced the offense with a hat trick and a pair of goals for North Penn. Other multiple point-getters for the Knights were Nick Capasso with a goal and two assists, Nowicki with a goal and two assists and Snyder with three assists.
For the Golden Hawks, Jake Wiener and Drobot both had two goals with Drobot adding an assist.
The Knights were also slightly undermanned. They were missing several players including a couple of forwards, which probably assisted in getting Witzaney up to the front line.
“We were missing a couple players,” Vaitis explained. “Matt Fox was sick; Alex Peterson and Derek Heckler were away. We were missing some guys.”
But, in the end, it didn't seem to matter.
CR SOUTH 3 2 0 – 5
NORTH PENN 2 3 3 – 8
First Period
Goals:1. A.J. Drobot (CRS) 12:06, assist Kyle Walter; 2. Kevin Saylor (NP) 6:34, assist Ryan Nowicki; 3. Drobot (CRS) 4:23 (SH) assist Jake Wiener; 4. Nick Capasso (NP) 4:05 (PP), assist Nowicki, Dalton Bideau; 5. Jeff Frese (CRS) 2:19, assist Drobot. Penalty: Mitch Vaysman (CRS) 5:18 unsportsmanlike conduct.
Second Period
Goals:6. J. Wiener (CRS) 13:18 (PP), assist Thomas Kozior, Vaysman; 7. J. Wiener (CRS) 13:04, assist Kozior, Vaysman; 8. Caleb Witzaney (NP) 10:06, assist Capasso, Jeremy Snyder; 9. Matt Stella (NP) 8:19, assist Capasso, Witzaney; 10. Nowicki (NP0 34.6 (PP) assist Stella, Witzaney. Penalties: Nowicki (NP 14:47, holding; J. Wiener (CRS) 2:26 interference.
Third Period
Goals:11. Christian Ahn (NP) 6:30, assist Matt Barkley, Snyder; 12. Witzaney (NP) 3:37, assist Snyder; 13. Witzaney 8.4 (EN) unassisted. Penalties: Erik Lesser (CRS) 14:49 holding and cross checking (double minor); Stella (NP) 12:15 holding; Snyder (NP) 10:53 holding; C. Wiener (CRS) 10:53 roughing; Saylor (NP) 10:38 tripping; NP team 2:34 too many men on ice; Kozior (CRS) 1:45 elbowing and 10-minute misconduct; Snyder (NP) 47.8 high sticking.
Shots on goal:Council Rock South 30,North Penn 45.
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