CB South, North Penn, CR South, Upper Moreland and Archbishop Wood all earned wins in Flyers Cup play Thursday. To view photos of the North Penn/Conestoga game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD – Caleb Witzaney wants to make sure that his high school ice hockey career ends on a high note.
The North Penn senior got off to a good start in that direction as he led the Knights to an 8-1 win over Conestoga in the first round of the Flyers Cup at Hatfield Ice Thursday night.
Witzaney scored four goals and added two assists as the second-seeded Knights advanced to the second round, where they will play 10th-seeded Wilson, a 3-1 winner over Souderton. The game will be played at Hatfield, on Monday, Mar. 11, 7:45 p.m.
“He's a phenomenal player,” North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis said of Witzaney. “You can kind of see it in his eyes.
“I think he's got a little bit of an agenda on his mind and that's us winning a Flyers Cup here and hopefully a state championship. He's really playing at an elite level.”
Witzaney also has some extra impetus to keep North Penn on the ice.
“It's definitely a different feeling (than last year) because it could be your last game potentially,” he said. “I try and play as hard as I can.
“I don't want to lose knowing it was my last game.”
Witzaney also offers Vaitis some flexibility with his play. The coach can play him on the wing or back on defense.
“Right now he is playing up front for us,” said Vaitis. “On power plays and penalty kills, he plays back on defense.
“Depending on the situation in the game, we are able to move him back on defense. He's got that flexibility where we can put him anywhere and he's still an elite hockey player no matter where we put him.”
Witzaney is enjoying his new-found position.
“It doesn't matter where I play,” he said. “Whatever he (Vaitis) tells me to do I'll do.
“I've been playing D my whole life but it's fun to play offense, too. It's always nice to get a couple of goals.”
Well, he got more than a couple goals against Conestoga out of the Ches-Mont League. His six points paced the Knights to the victory.
But he also had some help from his linemates. Nick Capasso has been a rock on the other wing and the return of Matt Barkley added assistance.
“It's good to have Barkley back,” Witzaney said. “He wasn't there last game.”
In fact, Witzaney made sure his two linemates got into the scoring column. He assisted on both Capasso's goal and Barkley's score in the first period.
“We got Matt back tonight which was nice,” Vaitis said, “because we were able to put him with Witzaney and Capasso and kind of get some balance across two lines.”
Capasso and Barkley gave North Penn the lead in the first period. Capasso got the first one, scoring at the 4:52 mark, and Barkley followed nearly six minutes later at 10:49.
Jeremy Snyder finished up the scoring in the first period. Barkley got an assist as did Kevin Saylor on Snyder's goal with 12:29 gone in the opening stanza.
But that first period almost wasn't what it turned out to be. Two penalties were called on the Knights in the first 2:12 of the period, putting them at a five-to-three disadvantage.
It was a situation where the Pioneers could have broken the game open early. But the Knights killed off both penalties.
“It was nice to see us kill that off and get back to five-on-five,” Vaitis said. “We started a little slow there, but we kind of turned it on there toward the end.”
The Knights put two more on the board in the second period. And Witzaney got them both.
After Michael Switucha had scored for Conestoga to cut the North Penn lead to 3-1, Witzaney got into another gear.
He took a pass from Alex Peterson and slid the puck past Conestoga goalie Andrew Turner with 6:40 gone in the period for his first goal of the game. It got the lead back to three goals.
Forty-five seconds later, he put on a show. He took the puck and skated through the entire Conestoga team before depositing the puck in the net with a backhand. Goalie Cody Matthews got the assist on the play.
He also got things going in the third period, scoring two goals 35 seconds apart. He tallied the first one at the 8:09 mark off an assist from Dalton Bideau and the second came at 8:45 with an assist from Barkley.
Peterson finished up the goal parade in the third period. Matt Stella and Snyder set him up for the goal with 5:35 left in the game.
Witzaney didn't play in the final five minutes of the game. Vaitis kept him on the bench for some well-deserved rest.
“He plays a lot of minutes for us, so I try to give him a break here and there,” the coach said. “Tonight was a night where I could sit him for a couple of minutes and kind of rest him up. It was an opportunity to get the other guys some more time and kind of rest him a little bit to keep him fresh.”
Actually, it looked like the Pioneers were also in need of some rest, or at least less Witzaney.
“He's been a pleasure to coach and hopefully we can put another couple wins together,” said Vaitis.
Conestoga 0 1 0 –1
North Penn 3 2 3 – 8
First Period
1. Nick Capasso NP (Caleb Witzaney) 4:52; 2. Matt Barkley NP (Witzaney) 10:49; 3. Jeremy Snyder NP (Kevin Saylor, Barkley) 12:24. Penalties: Matt Stella NP (interference) 1:15; Witzaney NP (roughing) 2:12; Noah Helgenberg C (interference) 5:02; Matt Mette NP (interference) 7:33; Helgenberg C (high sticking) 12:24.
Second Period
4. Michael Switucha C (Albie Austin) 2:07; 5. Witzaney NP (Alex Peterson, Barkley) 6:40; 6. Witzaney NP (Cody Matthews) 7:25. Penalties: Helgenberg C (tripping) 2:14; Ryan Caldwell C (checking from behind) 6:11; Caldwell C (unsportsmanlike conduct misconduct) 6:11; Ryan Nowicki NP (interference) 8:15; Austin C (hooking) 9:23; Saylor NP (tripping) 14:37.
Third Period
7. Witzaney NP (Dalton Bideau) 8:09; 8. Witzaney NP (Barkley) 8:45; 9. Peterson NP (Stella, Snyder) 10:25. Penalties: None.
Shots: C – 15; NP – 41. Saves: Andrews Turner C 33; Cody Matthews NP 10; Jake Wolff NP 4.
CLASS AA
#1 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 8, #17 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0
The top-seeded Titans jumped out to 2-0 lead at the end of one period and never looked back on their way to the big win.
Connor Bechtel and Brandon Spognardi led the Titans with three points each. Both scored a pair of goals and contributed an assist. Bobby Mallon and Michael Pilla each contributed a goal and an assist. Jared Conroy and Dominic Bova both added a goal while Jake Bauer, Brandan Clements, Nick DeLaurentis and Tom Kelly each had an assist.
The Titans held a 29-15 advantage in shots. Jeff Pelkowski was perfect in goal with 15 saves on 15 shots while East’s Steve Gilchrist turned away 21 of 29 shots.
Central Bucks South will take on ninth-seeded Council Rock North in Monday’s quarterfinal round at Warwick at 6:30 p.m.
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0 0 0-0
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2 4 2-8
Scoring Summary
Period 1
CBS-Brandon Spognardi (Tom Kelly) 0:00
CBS-Connor Bechtel (unassisted) 10:17
Period 2
CBS-Dominic Bova (Jake Bauer) 4:18
CBS-Michael Pilla (Nick DeLaurentis, Connor Bechtel) 7:37
CBS-Bobby Mallon (Brendan Clements) 9:26
CBS-Connor Bechtel (Michael Pilla) 13:47
Period 3
CBS-Jared Conroy (powerplay) (Brandon Spognardi) 2:39
CBS-Brandon Spognardi (Bobby Mallon) 4:20
Shots
Central Bucks East 8 5 2-15
Central Bucks South8 11 10-29
Goalie Saves
Steve Gilchrist (CBE) 21; Jeff Pelkowski (CBS) 15
#4 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 6, #20 SPRING-FORD 1
The Golden Hawks took just four shots in the opening period but scored on all four of them while the Rams never so much as managed a shot in the period. They took a 5-0 lead before the Rams got on the scoreboard.
Kyle Walter and AJ Drobot led the Golden Hawks with three points each. Drobot had a pair of goals and an assist while Walter had one goal and two assists. Nicholas Keck had a goal and an assist, and Mitchell Vaysman had a pair of assists.
The Golden Hawks held a 41-30 advantage in shots. Rock South goalie Justin Houk turned away 29 of 30 shots he faced while Spring-Ford’s Christopher Hunsberger stopped 35 shots.
Rock South will take on fifth-seeded Cherokee in Monday’s quarterfinal round at Warwick at 8:15 p.m.
SPRING-FORD 0 1 0-1
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 4 1 1-6
Scoring Summary
Period 1
CRS-Nicholas Keck (powerplay) (unassisted) 3:21
CRS-AJ Drobot (Kyle Walter, Nicholas Keck) 11:11
CRS-Jevon Fillette (Mitchell Vaysman) 11:35
CRS-Kyle Walter (shorthanded) AJ Drobot) 14:15
Period 2
CRS-AJ Drobot (Tyler Eline, Kyle Walter) 8:34
SF-Thomas Kisela (Tyler Murphy, Stephen Krieble) 14:51
Period 3
CRS-Paul Cloud (Mitchell Vaysman) 8:09
Shots
Spring-Ford 0 21 9-30
Council Rock South 4 27 10-41
Goalie Saves
Christopher Hunsberger (SF) 35; Justin Houk (CRS) 29.
CLASS A
#8 UPPER MORELAND 3, #9 GARNET VALLEY 2 (2 OT)
In the most dramatic game of the night, the Golden Bears used a goal from Kyle Landis (Jordin Holmes/Nick Park assists) in the second overtime to earn the win.
Garnet Valley led 1-0 after one period, and although Matt Iehle (Nick Park assist) knotted the score early in the second period, the Jaguars answered and took a 2-1 lead into the third period. Upper Moreland’s Colton Arizini scored a late goal (Matt Iehle assist) to knot the score and send the game into overtime.
Garnet Valley held a 45-31 advantage in shots, an advantage that was negated by the 43-save effort of UM goalie Jared Burch.
The Golden Bears will face top-seeded West Chester East in a quarterfinal game at Iceline in West Chester on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
GARNET VALLEY 1 1 0 0 0-2
UPPER MORELAND 0 1 1 0 1-3
Scoring Summary
Period 1
GV-Nico Gricco (Steven Nakrasius) 6:44
Period 2
UM-Matt Iehle (Nick Park) 1:46
GV-Dylan Ely (Jeff Enright, Tyler Kennedy) 8:34
Period 3
UM-Colton Arizini (Matt Iehle) 15:48
Overtime
(No scoring)
Overtime 2
UM-Kyle Landis (Jordin Holmes, Nick Park)
Shots
Garnet Valley15 10 10 10 0-45
Upper Moreland 7 7 5 6 6-31
Goalie Saves
Jordan Sivick (GV) 28, Jared Burch (UM) 43.
#6 ARCHBISHOP WOOD 5, #11 UNIONVILLE 4
Unionville took a 2-1 lead into the second period when the Vikings exploded for three goals to go on top 4-3. The two teams exchanged goals in the third period as the Vikings held on for the win.
The Vikings were led by the four-point efforts of Kevin Neiley, who had one goal and three assists, and Matt Mandes with two goals and two assists. Ryan Meinke finished with three points on one goal and two assists.
The Indians held a 27-24 edge in shots, but Viking goalie John Capinas turned away 23 shots. His counterpart, Joshua Seder, had 19 saves.
The Vikings will face third-seeded Springfield in a quarterfinal game on Monday at Aston Ice Works at 7:15 p.m.
UNIONVILLE 2 1 1-4
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 1 3 1-5
Scoring Summary
Period 1
AW-Nick Patton (Ryan Meinke) 0:20
U-Ryan Kowash (John Kumpf) 4:05
U-Zachary Lyons (Matthew Kowash, Daniel Lyons) 15:21
Period 2
U-Nicholas Ward (powerplay) (Zachary Lyons, Trevor Dycio) 1:07
AW-Kevin Neiley (powerplay) (Matt Mandes, Troy Potts) 3:20
AW-Ryan Meinke (powerplay) (Matt Mandes, Kevin Neiley) 4:26
AW-Matt mandes (Ryan Meinke, Kevin Neiley) 14:13
Period 3
AW-Matt Mandes (Kevin Neiley) 5:11
U-Nicholas Ward (powerplay) (Gabe Masters, Quinten Curtis) 14:04
Shots
Unionville 8 7 12-27
Archbishop Wood 6 10 8-24
Goalie Saves
Joshua Seder (U) 19; John Capinas (AW) 23
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