Ben Reese describes all the action in CB West’s win over Neshaminy in Monday’s opening round of the SHSHL playoffs. Check out the recaps for all four opening round Class AA games. CB West/Neshaminy and CB South/CR South photos provided courtesy of Dara N. King Photography. North Penn/Pennsbury and Pennridge/CB East photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison. Check back for galleries from all four games.
(4) CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 8, (5) NESHAMINY 4
By Ben Reese
WARWICK -- A high school ice hockey game is played in three periods, no matter if it is the first game of the season or the first game of the Suburban High School Hockey League playoffs.
Well, Central Bucks West capitalized on that fact to roll over Neshaminy 8-4 in the opening round of the AA playoffs at Revolution Ice Gardens on Monday night.
TheBucks took over the game in the third period, scoring five times to gain the win and advance to Wednesday’s semifinalswhere theywill face Central Bucks South at Warwick at 7 p.m.
The game was fairly even through the first two periods. West held a 1-0 lead after the first and a 3-2 lead after the second.
What turned on the jets for the Bucks in the third?
"Our seniors were able to rally us on the bench," said Chris Trefz, who scored one of those five third-period goals. "We got our momentum back after a couple of goals."
West coach Dave Baun really had no explanation for it. He just knows that he enjoyed it.
"We've got an emotional team," he said. "As long as we keep our heads and we play five-on-five I think we can play with anybody.
"Neshaminy is a very, very good team. You can see they have a lot of skilled players.
"They play well; they play fast. We had toplay our very best to come out with the win.
"We've got guys scoring who really haven't scored too many goals this season. We look for balanced scoring across our lines and we pretty much have it."
On the other side, 'Skins coach Matt DeMatteo knew what happened.
"They poured it on and we just didn't respond," he said. "We had that one-goal lead and they came roaring back.
"Kudos to that team. They never stopped coming the whole game. They put the pedal to the metal the whole game."
That the Bucks did. They had eight different players score a goal.
Ryan Haywood got West going in the first period. He scored at the 10:26 mark with assists from Keith Orlando and Kyle Burton.
Neshaminy didn't waste any time evening the score in the second period. Rob Seewagen scored with only 2:10 gone to knot the score at 1-1.
Thenext two goals belonged to West. Jake Lang and Burton put the Bucks up 3-1 before Joey DeMatteo scored on the power play with 32 seconds left in the period.
Then came the third.
The 'Skins tied the score on DeMatteo's second goal only 52 seconds into the period. Seewagen gave Neshaminy its first lead of the game at 4:07,but that was it for the 'Skins.
Pavel Serhiayenko tied the game for West at 6:26 and Daniel Poliak untied it 1:18 later, giving the Bucks a 5-4 lead. That was followed by Trefz's goal which was followed by tallies from Joey DeYoung and Matt McCarthy to finish out the scoring.
So, exactly how big was this win for West?
"(It is) absolutely huge," said Trefz, "especially coming off a loss to them. Proving that we can beat them and beat them by a huge margin feels pretty good."
Baun agreed.
"It was really big," he said. "We always expect ourselves to be competitive. This year we probably outkicked our coverage.
"I don't think we were expected to do aswell as we have done. It's a credit to our players especially our returning players who have really picked it up."
The Bucks held a 47-27 advantage in shot, but Neshaminy goalie Steve Glik’s 39 saves kept the Redskins in the game. West goalie Jeremy Kennard recorded 23 saves in the win.
CB West 8, Neshaminy 4
Neshaminy 0-2-2 4
CB West 1-2-5 8
First period: 1, Ryan Haywood CBW (Keith Orlando, Kyle Burton) 10:26.
Second period: 2, Rob Seewagen N (Josh Haines) 2:10; 3, Jake Land CBw (Chris Trefz, Evan Hee) 8:04; 4, Burton CBW (Lang, Trefz) 10:35 PP; 5, Joey deMatteo N (Thomas Gallagher, Haines) 15:28 PP.
Third period: 6, DeMatteo N (Gallagher, Seewagen) 0:52; 7, Seewagen N (DeMatteo) 4:07; 8, Pave Serhiayenko CBW (Burton, Trefz) 6:26; 9, Daniel Poliak CBW (Hee) 7:44; 10, Trefz CBW (Lang) 8:03; 11, Joey DeYoung CBW (unassisted) 10:41; 11, Matt McCarthy CBW (unassisted) 11:42 SH.
Shots: N 27, CBW 47. Saves: Steve Glik (N) 39, Jeremy Kennard (CBW) 23.
(1) CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 3, (8) COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 1
Forget the seedings.
CB South coach Shaun McGinty and his players knew better than to take CR South, the tournament’s eighth and final seed, lightly in Monday’s opening round at Warwick.
“It’s Joe Houk – I know what I’m getting into and so do my boys,” McGinty said in reference to the veteran Rock South coach. “Council Rock South did a nice job at the end of the year. They snuck into the Flyers Cup.
“We got a really tough draw with them in the first round. It’s Joe Houk’s team – you know they’re going to play physical. They’re always going to pressure, they’re never going to trap. It’s definitely what we needed. Our team needed the adversity now because it’s a harder route from here.”
The two teams were deadlocked 1-1 heading into the final period when James Schuler (Stephan McMillan and Matt Milanesi assists) and Reis Braccio (DJ LoVerdi assist) each scored a goal in a four-minute span, propelling the Titans the win.
“It’s basically our style of game with the short shifts, rolling with three or four lines,” McGinty said of his team’s ability to take command in the third period. “It gives us the opportunity to burn guys (on the other team) out.
“I think they did a great job of blocking shots tonight. The idea is 25 to 30-second shifts, give our guys the opportunity to wear the other team out. I think our power play looked much better than it did against Pennridge last week, and that’s nice to see.”
Earlier in the game, in the second period, the two teams exchanged goals, breaking a scoreless tie. David Mueller turned an Andy Stoychev pass into a goal 17 seconds into the period to give the Golden Hawks a 1-0 lead, but Braccio got that back for the Titans, scoring an unassisted goal 4:30 into the period.
The Titans held a 31-17 advantage in shots. Goalie Oscar Levin turned away 16 of 17 shots he faced to earn the win. Rock South’s Jimmy Sweeney recorded 28 saves.
CB South will face Central Bucks West in Wednesday’s semifinal round at Warwick (7 p.m.).
CR South 0-1-0 1
CB South 0-1-2 3
First period: No scoring.
Second period: 1, David Mueller CRS (Andy Stoychev) 0:17 PP; 2, Josh Weber CBS (Reis Braccio) 4:30.
Third period: 3, James Schuler CBS (Stephen McMillan, Matt Milanesi) 4:37; 4, Braccio CBS (DJ LoVerdi) 8:25.
Shots: CRS 17, CBS 31. Saves: Jimmy Sweeney (CRS) 28; Oscar Levin (CBS) 16.
(2) PENNRIDGE 6, (7) CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0
The Rams took a 1-0 lead into the second period when they blew the game wide open with a five-goal burst.
Michael Eissler’s goal with a Jeff Manto assist 11:48 into the opening period turned out to be the game-winner. If the Rams needed insurance, they got plenty in the second period.
Bryson Egan (Michael Walker assist) scored 1:43 into the period, and less than a minute later, Walker scored with an Eric Slater assist. A goal by Jeff Manto (Nick Eissler assist) 5:20 into the period put the Rams on top 4-0. A power play goal by Blake Stewart (Slater assist) was followed by an Evan Kehoe goal (Tommy Pichardo assist), and the Rams had their final margin of victory.
Pennridge goalie Luke Stranick turned away all 10 shots he faced to earn the shutout win. The Rams held a 39-10 advantage in shots.
Pennridge will take on North Penn in Wednesday’s semifinal round at Hatfield Ice at 6:50 p.m.
Central Bucks East 0-0-0 0
Pennridge 1-5-0 6
First period: 1, Michael Eissler P (Jeff Manto) 11:48.
Second period: 2, Bryson Egan P (Michael Walker) 1:43; 3, Michael Walker P (Eric Slater) 2:06; 4, Jeff Manto P (Nick Eissler) 5:20; 5, Blake Stewart P (Eric Slater) 8:27; 6, Evan Kehoe P (Tommy Pichardo) 8:41.
Third period: No scoring
Shots: CBE 10, Pennridge 39. Saves: Chris McIntyre (CBE) 33, Luke Stranick (P) 10.
(3) NORTH PENN 4, (6) PENNSBURY 2
Josh Kaufhold and Nathan Oh scored third-period goals as North Penn rallied from a 2-1 first-period deficit to beat Pennsbury 4-2 Monday night in a SHSHL Class AA quarterfinal at Hatfield Ice. The third-seeded Knights (11-3-3) will face Pennridge in Wednesday’s semifinals.
Jake Nelson gave the Knights an early lead when he scored just 2:02 into the first period, but Ben Dous scored twice for the sixth-seeded Falcons (7-8-3) to give them a 2-1 lead after one period.
Greenstein tied the game for North Penn with 4:51 left in the second session.
Nelson scored what proved to be the winning goal on a power play with 9:09 left in regulation. Oh scored into an empty net with four seconds remaining.
Nick Ebbinghause turned away 23 of 25 shots in goal to earn the win for the Knights. Pennsbury’s Topher Seiler was credited with 21 saves.
The Knights and the Falcons will meet again next Wednesday in the opening round of the Flyers Cup tournament.
Pennsbury 2-0-0 2
North Penn 1-1-2 4
First period: 1, Jake Nelson NP (Tyler Greenstein) 2:02; 2, Ben Dous P (Jake Siger) 11:34; 3, Ben Dous P (Jake Sieger/Erik Eisler) 12:51.
Second period: 4, Tyler Greenstein NP (Jared Albano/Luke Van Why) 10:09.
Third period: 5, Joshua Kaufhold NP (Nathan Oh) 6:51; 6, Nathan Oh NP (Jared Albano/Jake Nelson) 15:56.
Shots: Pennsbury 25, NP 33. Saves: Topher Seiler (P) 21, Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 23.
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