Top-seeded Central Bucks South saw its season end in Monday’s quarterfinal game of the Flyers Cup while Council Rock South advanced to Thursday’s semifinals.
WARWICK – The Central Bucks South ice hockey team reached new heights this season, accomplishing more than any previous Titan team had ever done.
But the dream season came crashing to an end on Monday at the Warwick Ice Arena, when the top-seeded Titans fell, 2-0, to ninth-seeded Cherokee in a Flyers Cup Class AA quarterfinal matchup.
“It’s tough. It never gets easy,” said South coach Tom Coyne. “I feel for those guys. This isn’t where they wanted it to end, and as coaches we didn’t want it to end, either. It’s one of those seasons you hope would never end.”
The Titans were victimized by a hot goalie. Chiefs’ keeper Dan Navarra was simply unbeatable. The two teams battled through a scoreless first period, with South firing 12 shots on goal while the Chiefs managed just a pair. But Navarra’s often-acrobatic saves and a defense that cleared away several rebounds kept the South Jersey Ice Hockey League Tier I champions even.
“He played well,” Coyne said of the Chiefs’ goalie. “I thought for sure we were going to chip through. We just needed to sink one to get the momentum. It’s a momentum thing in this game, if you can steal the momentum, but we just couldn’t sink one.
“It’s not like we played flat or left something out there. We poured it out there, we just never got an ounce of momentum and sometimes you’ve just got to credit your opponent.”
“It was frustrating,” said junior forward Connor Bechtel. “We outshot them by a decent amount, but that goalie just stood on his head, and we couldn’t get one past him. As the shots came, he seemed to get more and more confident.”
Cherokee scored with seven minutes left in the second period when Dylan Bradley poked the rebound of a Zach Tiernan shot past the outstretched pad of South keeper Adam Calabrese.
South’s best chance to tie the game came on a Dominic Bova blast that hit Navarra near the right shoulder. Navarra couldn’t contain the puck, but managed to cover it up before Nick DeLaurentis could poke at the rebound.
A minute later, the Chiefs added to their lead when a rebound popped over to Cole Zucker, who deposited it into a yawning cage.
Bechtel had one last chance to give the Titans some momentum in the final minutes when he and DeLaurentis came in on an odd-man rush, but another stellar Navarra save denied the opportunity.
South ends the season at 22-4-2. The Titans completed a 16-0-1 Continental League slate and earned the team’s first SHSHL Class A Championship.
“I’m really proud of that group of guys,” Coyne said. “They took all my crap all year, everything I threw at them. They worked really hard.”
“It’s amazing what we did with such a young team,” Bechtel said. “And I think we have a promising future.”
The Titans will lose just four players – captain Tim DiRugeris, goalkeeper Calabrese, defenseman Karl Zimmerman and forward Brett Roberts – to graduation.
“We’ll start again,” Coyne said. “We have some real bright hopefuls coming up as ninth graders next year. There’s not a whole lot of puzzle pieces that need to be put into place.”
NOTES … Central Bucks South defenseman Bobby Mallon missed the game due to injury … This was the first time this season that the Titans were shut out. Prior to this game, Central Bucks South had scored three or more goals in every game but two this season.
Cherokee 0 1 1 – 2
Central Bucks South 0 0 0 – 0
Scoring
First period
No scoring
Second period
C – Dylan Bradley (Zach Tiernan, Brian Miller), 7:09.
Third period
C – Cole Zucker (Miller, Bradley), 5:30.
Shots on goal
Cherokee 2 3 10 – 15
Central Bucks South 12 5 7 – 24
Saves: Dan Navarra (C) 24; Adam Calabrese (CBS) 13.
Rock South picks up the pace, downs Boyertown
Even though third-seeded Council Rock South trailed 11th-ranked Boyertown 1-0 after one period of Monday’s Flyers Cup Class AA quarterfinal at Bucks County Ice Arena, the Golden Hawks were not worried.
“The first period, I wouldn’t call it flat, but every team’s different, and we tried to come out with a game plan,” said South coach Joe Houk. “We buckled down, said, ‘We’re a better team than this,’ and we got a little more aggressive around the net. We were getting rebounds all over the place (in the first period) but we could never capitalize on it.”
It took less than a minute into the second period before Steve Junod scored his first of two to tie the score and swing the momentum firmly into the Golden Hawks’ corner.
“We got off to a slow start,” Junod said. “After that first period we picked it up and took over the rest of the game. We started forechecking harder, threw pucks at the net, crashed the net and got a couple nice bounces.”
South took the lead five minute later when Nick Keck fed a highlight-reel pass to Mitchell Vaysman, who fired in the go-ahead goal.
Special teams led the way the rest of the game. The Golden Hawks found themselves killing off five penalties over the last two periods, including 1:06 of a 5-on-3. Not only did the Hawks successfully kill the penalties, they scored a shorthanded goal when Junod scored on a pretty passing play with Kyle Walter.
“Our defense was really solid, and the forwards came back, made sure we got the puck out,” Junod said. “The defense moved the puck up quickly, and they were always there clearing the puck.”
“That one shorthanded goal was key,” Houk said. “That really put the pressure on them.
“Our kids are getting better and better as the tournament goes on. They battle hard, and our PK is one of the betters in the league. (Boyertown is) a good team, I just don’t think they had the legs we had. Justin (Houk, 16 saves) played solid again, and as the game went on, I think our defense played the best they’ve played all year.”
Council Rock South advances to the Flyers Cup semifinal, where it will face the winner of Tuesday night’s quarterfinal between North Penn (2) and Downingtown East (7). The semifinal is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Warwick Ice Arena. In the other semifinal, 5th seed Conestoga will battle ninth-seeded Cherokee for the right to play at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday in the Flyers Cup final.
Boyertown 1 0 0 – 1
Council Rock South 0 3 1 – 4
Scoring
First period
B – John Maniscalco (Robert Weinberger, George Harris), PP, 5:50.
Second period
CRS – Steve Junod (Nick Keck, Dan Margolin), 14:01.
CRS – Mitchell Vaysman (Junod, Keck), PP, 9:02.
Third period
CRS – Junod (Kyle Walter), SH, 11:12.
CRS – Jared Hershman (Jake Nevin, Dan Ufberg), EN, 1:15.
Shots on goal
Boyertown 9 3 5 – 17
Council Rock South 10 17 9 – 36
Saves: Jake Evan (B) 32; Justin Houk (CRS) 16.
In other games:
Class AA
#5 Conestoga 4, #20 Washington Township 0
Class A
#1 West Chester Rustin 5, #9 Downingtown West 3
#12 Lansdale Catholic 2, #13 Archbishop Carroll 1 OT
#3 Springfield 4, #6 West Chester East 3.
#7 West Chester Henderson 10, #2 Methacton 2
Upcoming schedule
Class AA
Quarterfinal
North Penn (2) vs. Downingtown East (7), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Hatfield Ice Rink.
Semifinals
Council Rock South vs. North Penn/Downingtown East winner, 6:30 p.m., Warwick Ice Arena.
Conestoga vs. Cherokee, 8:45 p.m., Warwick Ice Arena.
Final
7:30 p.m. Sunday, Wells Fargo Center.
Class A
Semifinals
West Chester Rustin vs. Lansdale Catholic, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, IceLine 1.
Springfield vs. West Chester Henderson, 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, IceLine 1.
Final
6:30 p.m. March 19, IceLine 1.
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