By GORDON GLANTZ
The grudge match on Feb. 7 between Pennridge and Council Rock South had Game of the Year implications written all over it.
At least until they meet again, which they most likely will, whether in the SHSHL playoffs or the Flyers Cup – or both.
Just like Council Rock South came away with a vow to not let it happen again after a 7-3 loss to Pennridge earlier in the season, it’s the Rams now bellowing out the same battle cry after falling in overtime, 8-7.
It was not a game for the fainthearted, with end to end rushes and a calculator needed to track how many times the lead changed hands.
It was a classic case of the unstoppable force against the immovable object.
As well as both teams know each other, it was a relative unknown entity – CR South forward Nikita Volobiev – who made the ultimate difference.
Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna expressed concerns about not having coached against Volobiev before, and those fears were realized.
The Ukrainian-born Volobiev, who didn’t play in the first meeting against Pennridge due to injury, had four goals and an assist.
He won the game at the 4:34 mark of the 3-on-3 extra period with a highlight reel tally.
“On that game-winner, we played him perfectly,” said Montagna. “He ran right over Colin Dachowski and made a great play.”
His dominant performance boosted his stat line to a gaudy 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in just 8 games played with a game looming Thursday against Pennsbury.
Montagna, just two seasons removed from coaching Pennridge to the state title, realizes the next chess move is his to make.
It all revolves around stopping Volobiev, the new focal point of an already-potent attack.
“It’s hard to do something with a guy who is like 6-3, 220,” said Montagna. “Like I said, he was a great unknown for us. We had to the defense that we wanted on Jake Weiner, but we didn’t really account for all the (Ukrainian) kids. We didn’t really know what they had.
“That won’t happen again.”
Without giving too much away, he has a way he wants to go at it for what seems like an inevitable rubber match.
“If we see him again, we have some things that we can try,” said Montagna. “We just had no answer for the (him), but he is going to do that to most players. What we did, defensively, in the first game, worked – minus him.”
The Rams were paced by their top line of Kevin Pico, Andrew Savona and Shane Dachowski.
The unit accounted for all but one goal. Savona had the hat trick and two assists. Pico had 2 goals and 3 assists and Dachowski had a goal and 3 assists.
For the season, the top line has 99 of the team’s 141 goals (70.2 percent).
Said Montagna: “That’s OK, it’s like that. It’s just the way we play. Defensively, we need more from the other lines. It’s asking a lot, though, asking them to go out there and stop some of the best players in the league.”
The thought of breaking up his top line for the sake of balance is not on the table.
At all.
The unit’s production against the likes of Council Rock South was proof.
“They had no answer for our top line,” said Montagna. “When you pass as well as they do, it’s not like you can stick a guy on one of them and shut them down. That was the best game I’ve ever seen them play, and I told them that after the game. I have watched them play a lot of big games. They are just great players who show up in the biggest spots every time.”
A key moment was when Pennridge was unable to take advantage of a 5-on-3 advantage in the third period.
“That was the game right there,” said Montagna. “For whatever reason, there wasn’t a lot of urgency on that. We had to take advantage.”
Montagna believes that his team still secured a top seed for the Flyers Cup just by going to overtime.
He said: “Knowing what that tiebreaker was, and after we didn’t score there (on the two-man advantage), it’s not that we were sitting back, but we wanted to get that game to overtime. We still hold the tiebreaker on that.”
Making Strides
There will be no league playoffs, and certainly no Flyers Cup, for Springfield.
Still, for a squad that entered the season with the modest goal of just winning a league game, the 2023-24 campaign has been encouraging.
On the strength of two authoritative wins over Wissahickon – 9-2 on Jan. 5 and 8-1 on Feb. 1 – coach Don Quinn’s skaters climbed out the cellar in the American Division for the first time since the program’s inception a season ago and will officially finish out of last place.
“I feel we are heading in the right direction,” said Quinn. “We have a good core and come talented freshmen coming into the program next season.”
Quinn gave a special nod to his outgoing seniors – Kenny Granderson, Marcel Camper and Tyler DeFreitas – for helping to steer the ship through some storms.
“We have had great leadership from our seniors all season,” he said. “We will miss them next season.”
The team will return its top seven scorers (stats with one game to go) – Owen Quinn (12 goals, 8 assists), Gabriel Wells (4 goals, 8 assists), Christopher Cahill (4 goals, 8 assists), Thomas Manchester (7 goals, 4 assists), Gavin McManus (3 goals, 8 assists), Grayson Quinn (3 goals, 5 assists) and Ronan Klein (1 goal, 5 assists).
The Second Season
The National Division playoffs will commence Feb. 21 with sixth-seeded Souderton facing third-seeded CB South at 7:20 at Hatfield Ice Blue and fifth-seeded North Penn taking on fourth-seeded CB East with the puck dropping at 8:30 at Hatfield Ice Gray.
The semis will be the following week, with Pennridge and Council Rock South waiting in the wings.
As for the American Division, third-seeded Abington and second-seeded Bensalem will meet at Grundy at 7:20 on Feb. 21.
The winner will take on first-place PW the following week at Hatfield.
At the Finish Line
The regular season scoring title in American Division is all but written in ink for Bensalem’s Alex Hood, who has rung up an astounding 52 points (38 goals, 14 assists) in just 12 games.
The top scoring defenseman, with 9 goals and 14 assists, is Danny Guller of Plymouth Whitemarsh.
In the National, Pico (28 goals, 43 assists) has a five-point lead on teammate Savona (36 goals, 30 assists).
Council Rock South’s Kevin Koles (22 goals, 23 assists) remains the leading scorer from the blue line.
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