Pennsbury/Pennridge photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f1064915949
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — Brendan Macainsh was made for the wide-open spaces.
At least the wide-open spaces on an ice hockey surface.
That couldn’t have been more evident than Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice in one of the semifinals of the National Division of the Suburban High School Hockey League.
Macainsh had so much space on the ice in Pennsbury’s 8-5 victory over Pennridge that he scored four goals, three of them in the first period. He also added an assist.
Did he expect to see that much space on the ice?
“Not at all,” the Falcon senior said. “I thought they were going to have two guys on me. I thought I was going to be dishing the puck to a bunch of people.”
But that didn’t happen. Instead, Macainsh added four goals to his league-leading total of 34.
It was also a little unexpected to Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley.
“I think the way they play defensively, they do give you a little space,” Daley said of Pennridge. “Usually, they are so good in their defensive zone that you can’t get pucks on net.
“I think that was the difference tonight. We just found a way to get them there.”
Macainsh’s first foray into the Pennridge defensive zone came with 2:49 gone in the first period. He took a breakaway in against Ram goalie Jacob Gilbert, who stoned him.
That didn’t bother Macainsh.
“If I’m going to get those chances in the game with (my teammates) setting me up, I’m not going to miss all of them,” he said. “Once I saw what he was guarding the first time, I knew what to go to every other time.”
Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna knew his team was in trouble giving Macainsh room to roam.
“The last thing we talked about before we went to the opening faceoff,” Montagna said. “If you’re going to give that team that much space, if you’re going to give that team with that much skill room to operate and if you’re going to leave one of the best goal-scorers in the league open like that, you’ll get exactly what happened.”
Macainsh’s outburst was actually part of the Falcons’ offensive plan. It was a pretty good one.
“Ever since I started coaching six years ago, I’ve always been a shoot-first mentality and that’s how we always set our offense,” said Daley. “You get pucks on net, typically good things happen.”
Macainsh was in total agreement.
“We came into the game, and we wanted to get shots on net, and we wanted to make sure they didn’t get as many shots on our goalie,” he said. “You put pucks on the net, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Montagna was impressed with the play of the Falcons.
“They were phenomenal tonight,” he said. “That was the best game I’ve seen them play.
“As well as they played, we would have had to play at a different level than obviously we did. All credit to Pennsbury and the way they played but we were terrible.
“They took advantage of every mistake we made. We deserved to be beaten (by) more than we did.”
After being stopped at the 2:49 mark of the first period, Macainsh came right back, netting his first goal of the night at 3:19, also on a breakaway. Dane Fitchett tied the game at 1-1 at 5:08 of the first.
Macainsh notched his second goal on the power play at 7:36. Just six seconds later, the Rams again tied the game on Shane Dachowski’s goal.
However, Macainsh wasn’t done, finishing off the first period scoring at 15:51 in a short-handed situation.
The Falcons’ offense kept rolling in the second period. Justin Martin at 4:52 and Shane Gleisner at 8:49 got things going for Pennsbury.
Pennridge got one back when Andrew Savona fired one past Falcon goalie Aaron McDaniel at 9:22. But Macainsh negated that with a short-handed goal at 10:03 and dished off an assist on Andrew Falkenstein’s goal at 11:02.
Pennridge tried to get back into the game in the third. The Rams got goals from Shane Dachowski and Josh Kelly, but Falkenstein added another for Pennsbury.
So Macainsh contributed five points to his team’s victory, almost enough to beat Pennridge by himself.
“Brendan is a special player,” said Daley. “I wish I could take credit for it but he’s just a special player.
“I know we’re never out of games especially when he’s cooking like that. He’s just a natural game-changer. When you give him space, that’s what happens.”
The Falcons now advance to the National Division championship game tonight at Grundy on Thursday at 7:20 p.m. They will face Council Rock South, an 8-2 winner over Neshaminy.
Pennsbury 8, Pennridge 5
Pennsbury 3 4 1 — 8
Pennridge 2 1 2 — 5
First period: 1, Brendan Macainsh Pb (unassisted) 3:19; 2, Dane Fitchett P (Colin Dachowski) 5:08; 3, Macainsh Pb (Chris Sarver) 7:36 PP; 4, Shane Dachowski P (Kevin Pico) 7:42; 5, Macainsh Pb (Andrew Falkenstein) 15:51 SH.
Second period: 6, Justin Martin Pb (Sarver) 4:52; 7, Shane Gleisner Pb (unassisted) 8:49; 8, Andrew Savona P (Pico) 9:22; 9 Macainsh Pb (Sarver) 10:03 SH; 10, Falkenstein Pb (Macainsh, Sarver) 11:02.
Third period: 11, S. Dachowski P (Savona, C. Dachowski) 7:41; 12, Falkenstein Pb (unassisted) 9:58; 13, Josh Kelly P (Nate McKean) 16:24.
Shots: Pb 32, P 35. Saves: Aaron McDaniel (Pb) 30, Jacob Gilbert (P) 20, Jacob Winton (P) 4.
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