CR South, CB South and Souderton advanced to next Thursday’s Flyers Cup semifinal round.
By BEN REESE
WARWICK -- Council Rock South's ice hockey team had a game plan for its Flyers Cup quarterfinal game against top-seeded Central Bucks East.
The Golden Hawks wanted to slow the Patriots down in the neutral zone. They thought that would allow them to stay with East.
But neither the Hawks nor the Patriots considered the quick hands of South captain Jason Brockman. Brockman picked up the puck in center ice early in the overtime period, skated into the zone and rifled a wrist shot past the ear of East goalie Evan Angotti for the 3-2 win.
It sends eighth-seeded Rock South into the semifinals against Souderton, an 8-4 winner over Haverford, on Thursday at Warwick Ice Arena.
First, let's consider Brockman’s version of the dramatic finish.
"It was at the end of the shift and I was pretty tired," the senior said. "I saw a lane to skate so I just thought I would take it up and rip a shot on net and it happened to go in."
Sounds rather matter-of-fact, doesn't it? It wasn't.
Maybe Brockman can explain it a little better.
"I saw an open lane," he said. "It was at the end of a shift and they were changing.
"I took advantage of it, went up and dodged one of their defenders and it went in
"I was just shooting at the net. I wanted to get it on net and get a rebound. It went top shelf."
East coach Ken Latchum agreed with Brockman.
"Unfortunately, a bad line change at the wrong time," Latchum said about the winning goal. "That kind of hurt."
Now, how about the slow-down technique?
"We put together a game plan," said South coach Joe Houk. "We had to slow them down a little bit.
"You could see from the first period they were frustrated."
Once again, Latchum could only agree.
"We were always getting trapped," he said of South's defensive tactics. "Our guys should have been used to it by now.
"You've got to break that trap. You can't walk into it.
"Get the puck to the blue line, dump it in deep and put pressure on. We did it sometimes and sometimes we didn't do it."
Brockman backed his coach on the strategy.
"We really wanted to play defensive and play smart," he said. "We wanted to get the puck and pressure them, hit them hard.
"They're a very skilled team and we wanted to get them off their game. We didn't want to chase them around and get into a shootout against them."
It certainly wasn't a shootout. In fact, even with the 3:29 that was played in overtime, the two teams combined for only 55 shots, 29 by East and 26 by South.
The Golden Hawks built up a 2-0 lead through the first two periods. Nick Keck scored the first goal with an assist from Brockman in the first period and Parker Defelice, with help from Brockman and Colin Murphy, notched the second in the second period.
But then East came roaring back. Shaun Bily cut the South lead in half with only 59 seconds gone in the third period.
Joe Ridolfi tied the score at the 12:14 mark. He skated around behind the South net and tucked the puck in past Hawk goalie Zach Magro.
That set up the overtime. And Brockman's game-winner.
Houk talked about his pride in his team.
"This is a whole new team," he said. "We didn't get one kid back from last year.
"Nick Keck was my only player from last year. And he didn’t come until a month into the season.
"It's a good team-building thing. We get to play another week."
Houk also felt that a timeout he called late in the game turned things around after East had come back to tie the game.
"We called that timeout," he said. "We kept together; we kept pushing.
"I said, 'Guys, put it on net. They're letting you come up ice.' We just got lucky enough and that one went in."
Brockman had his own slant on things.
"I honestly think we can go all the way," he said. "We were underdogs this entire season.
"Our coach thought we could win the Flyers Cup and states but we kind of kept that to ourselves."
Sorry, it looks like everybody knows about you now.
Council Rock South 1 1 0 1 – 3
Central Bucks East 0 0 2 0 – 2
First Period
1. Nick Keck CRS (Jason Brockman) 10:17. Penalty: Danny Richmond (CRS) elbowing 15:07.
Second Period
2. Parker Defilice CRS (Brockman, Colin Murphy) 14:01 PP. Penalties: Karl Martin (CRS) slashing 1:25; Liam Kolar (CBE) slashing 13:14.
Third Period
3. Shaun Biy CBE (Sean Parahus) 0:59; 4. Joe Ridolfi CBE (unassisted) 12:14. Penalties: Austin Chase (CBE) slashing 6:48; Joe Marcella (CRS) slashing 6:48.
Overtime
5. Brockman CRS (unassisted) 3:29. No penalties.
Shots: CRS 26; CBE 29. Saves: Zach Magro (CRS) 27; Evan Angotti (CBE) 23.
#6 PARKLAND 5, #3 NORTH PENN 2
In yet another upset, sixth-seeded Parkland sent the SHSHL playoff champion Knights home for the season.
The Knights led 1-0 after Derek Heckler’s first period goal (Kevin Saylor assist). The Trojans knotted the score 1-1 with a goal by Benjamin Zager early in the second period, but Ryan Nowicki (Jeremy Snyder/Matt Stella assists) scored to give the Knights a 2-1 lead only to watch Connor Breinich connect on a power play goal to even the score 2-2 at the end of two periods. The third period belonged to Parkland as the Trojans reeled off three consecutive goals for the 5-2 final.
North Penn held a 33-24 advantage in shots.
GAME DETAILS
SCORING
6_Parkland 0 2 3 5
3_North Penn 1 1 0 2
SHOTS
POWERPLAYS
6_Parkland 2 for 6 : 3_North Penn 0 for 5
SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
3_North Penn - Derek Heckler (Kevin Saylor) 9:56
Period 2
6_Parkland - Benjamin Zager (Connor Breinich, Evan Dratch) 4:52
3_North Penn - Ryan Nowicki (Jeremy Snyder, Matt Stella) 10:54
6_Parkland - Connor Breinich (powerplay) (Ryan Dumbach) 11:57
Period 3
6_Parkland - Brett McHale (powerplay) (Connor Breinich, Morgan Bensinger) 1:01
6_Parkland - Benjamin Zager (Connor Breinich, Evan Dratch) 2:59
6_Parkland - Connor Breinich (emptynet) (unassisted) 15:58
GOALIES
48 Anthony Sorrentino (PKLN) WIN 48:00 33 31
35 Jake Snyder (NP) LOSS 47:59 23 19
#2 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 6, #7 CUMBERLAND VALLEY 4
The Titans used a balanced attack to earn the big win over the Eagles, and with top-seeded CB East eliminated from the tournament, they are the top-seeded team still alive.
Jake Bauer (Dom Bova assist) put the Titans on the scoreboard 2:28 into the opening period, but Cumberland Valley’s Tanner Deardorff knotted the score three minutes later. Goals by Bova (Kevin Casey assist) and Leo Flick (Mike Pilla/Damon DeLaurentis assists) put the Titans on top 3-1 before Matt Fitzgerald scored for Cumberland Valley to make it a 3-2 game at the end of one period.
Jake Kelinson’s goal (Cameron Calista assist) put the Titans on top by two, but once again the Eagles had an answer, using a goal by Steve Capuano to make it a 4-3 game. Casey (Mike Lucas/Bauer assists) and DeLaurentis scored back-to-back goals to close out the period with the Titans on top 6-3.
Cumberland Valley scored the only goal of the third period, but it wasn’t enough.
The Titans held a 31-22 advantage in shots. Goalie Aaron King was credited with 18 saves.
GAME DETAILS
SCORING
7_Cumberland Valley 2 1 1 4
2_Central Bucks South 3 3 0 6
SHOTS
7_Cumberland Valley 7 8 7 22
2_Central Bucks South 14 14 3 31
POWERPLAYS
7_Cumberland Valley 0 for 1 : 2_Central Bucks South 0 for 0
SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
2_Central Bucks South - Jake Bauer (Dom Bova) 2:28
7_Cumberland Valley - Tanner Deardorff (unassisted) 5:59
2_Central Bucks South - Dom Bova (Kevin Casey) 8:51
2_Central Bucks South - Leo Flick (Mike Pilla, Damon Delaurentis) 9:11
7_Cumberland Valley - Matt Fitzgerald (unassisted) 11:53
Period 2
2_Central Bucks South - Jake Kelinson (Cameron Calista) 10:44
7_Cumberland Valley - Steve Capuano (Michael Plummer) 13:12
2_Central Bucks South - Kevin Casey (Mike Lucas, Jake Bauer) 13:29
2_Central Bucks South - Damon Delaurentis (Leo Flick) 13:39
Period 3
7_Cumberland Valley - Jared Lombardi (Steve Capuano) 9:43
GOALIES
45 Addison Antonetti (CV) LOSS 48:00 31 25
30 Aaron King (CBS) WIN 48:00 22 18
#4 SOUDERTON 8, #5 HAVERFORD 4
Daniel Rock was a one-man wrecking crew for the Indians on Friday night, exploding for six goals and also contributing an assist in a stellar performance to lead Souderton into next Thursday’s semifinal.
The Fords actually got on the scoreboard first when Joe Gibbs connected just 34 seconds into the game, but then Rock went to work. His power play goal 4:12 into the period with assists from Alex Politsky and Clay Anders knotted the score. Five minutes later, he gave his team a lead it would not lose when he scored an unassisted goal. Rock closed the period with two more goals, the first with an Anders assist and the second with an assist from Polisky that put the Indians on top 4-1.
Connor McCausland’s goal, using a Tyler Dipietro assist, made it a 5-1 game early in the second period. Haverford broke the Indians’ run with a goal, but Clay Anders (Rock/Politsky assists) and Rock scored to close out the period with the Indians on top 7-2. Rock’s goal was a shorthanded goal.
In the third period, Haverford scored a pair of goals, but Rock put the finishing touches on a monster performance with a goal in the closing minutes, once again using a Politsky assist.
The Indians held a 34-27 advantage in shots.
GAME DETAILS
SCORING
5_Haverford 1 1 2 4
4_Souderton 4 3 1 8
SHOTS
5_Haverford 4 8 15 27
4_Souderton 18 14 2 34
POWERPLAYS
5_Haverford 0 for 0 : 4_Souderton 0 for 0
SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
5_Haverford - Joe Gibbs (Mickey McShane) 0:34
4_Souderton - Daniel Rock (powerplay) (Alex Politsky, Clay Anders) 4:12
4_Souderton - Daniel Rock (unassisted) 9:38
4_Souderton - Daniel Rock (Clay Anders) 11:56
4_Souderton - Daniel Rock (Alex Politsky) 15:34
Period 2
4_Souderton - Connor McCausland (Tyler Dipietro) 4:00
5_Haverford - Joe Moran (unassisted) 10:29
4_Souderton - Clay Anders (Daniel Rock, Alex Politsky) 11:02
4_Souderton - Daniel Rock (shorthanded) (unassisted) 12:31
Period 3
5_Haverford - Shane Moran (powerplay) (Joe Moran) 0:33
5_Haverford - Michael Gibson (Stephen McCrossin, Joe Moran) 5:50
4_Souderton - Daniel Rock (Alex Politsky) 13:39
GOALIES
31 Joey Harant (HAV) LOSS 48:00 0 0
38 Dawson Anders (SOU) WIN 48:00 0 0
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