North Penn earned an important win over Neshaminy. Ben Reese recaps all he action. Check out Thursday’s recaps.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- It would be unfair to say that North Penn dominated Neshaminy in the Knights' 8-2 win over the 'Skins at Hatfield Ice Thursday night.
But, in truth, after a first period that saw the two teams battle to a 1-1 tie, North Penn DID dominate Neshaminy. The Knights spent most of the night in the Redskins’ offensive zone, peppering goalie Steve Glik with 52 shots.
And Neshaminy had only six shots on goal for the game. None of them came in the third period.
"We talk about if we can spend 60-70 percent of the time in the offensive zone, typically you're going to win a lot of hockey games when you do that," North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis said. "The big thing for us is not necessarily getting the puck in the zone and getting that first shot but getting the puck in the zone and cycling it, creating traffic and getting chances that way."
That is exactly what North Penn did. The Knights kept circling the net, cycling the puck around and around before firing a shot on net.
"Before the game, our coach told us we needed to cycle the puck a lot," said Andrew Galetta, who had one goal and two assists. "I thought we did a good job doing that.
"We needed to get as many shots as we could. We knew they had a good goalie and we wanted to put as many shots on (goal) and test him early."
North Penn put 19 shots on goal in the first period and 19 more in the second. Of those 38 shots in the two periods, five of them found the back of the net for goals.
Although Neshaminy would never use it as an excuse, the 'Skins were playing with a very short bench. All told, they were missing five players from their regular roster.
"We're missing three or four guys," Neshaminy coach Matt DeMatteo said, underestimating his losses. "Two lines against a team with a solid three lines and six defensemen
"The first period, we played them tough. But you could see as the legs started going, everything else started going. We were gassed. We had nothing left."
Neshaminy's missing players cover all areas of the spectrum. There are two concussions, one broken leg, one illness and "another is on a cruise," said DeMatteo.
"We're a young team to begin with so we make young-team mistakes," he said. "We have two seniors on the team; we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores.
"For these guys, it's kind of like trial by fire. To try to play a team like this with two lines and two defensemen, it's tough."
The Knights took advantage of it. They had six different players score goals.
"It’s nice to see multiple people getting points," said Galetta. "We have two very strong lines and we try to spread it out. We've been trying to switch it up lately and get points from different people and I think it worked tonight."
Vaitis couldn't help but agree.
"We have a lot of depth up front," he said. "When we can get the lines rolling like they were tonight, it creates a lot of traffic for us in the zone.
"It's just us maintaining control of the puck. When we can do that and we have guys moving to open space, using our speed, we create a lot of havoc for the other team in their zone."
It all worked to perfection for North Penn. But it didn't start out that way.
Neshaminy broke on top late in the first period. Thomas Gallagher scored his seventh goal of the season unassisted at the 14:59 mark for a 1-0 lead.
Forty seconds later, the score was tied. Tyler Greenstein, with assists from Galetta and Joshua Kaufhold, knotted the score for the Knights.
Things started to go wrong for the 'Skins midway through the second period. Jake Nelson scored two straight goals for North Penn 45 seconds apart and then Kaufhold and Galetta hit the nets to boost the score to 4-1. Only a Gallagher goal kept Neshaminy from being shut out for the period.
Needless to say, the Knights kept up the pressure in the third period. Nathan Oh, Greenstein and Will Hughes all added goals with Hughes' tally coming with just two seconds left in the game.
The victory keeps North Penn in the hunt for a playoff spot in the Continental Conference of the Suburban High School Hockey League. The loss was the sixth of the season for Neshaminy.
North Penn 8, Neshaminy 2
Neshaminy 1 1 0 – 2
North Penn 1 4 3 – 8
First period: 1, Thomas Gallagher N (unassisted) 14:59; 2, Tyler Greenstein NP (Andrew Galetta, Joshua Kaufhold) 15:39 PP.
Second period: 3, Jake Nelson N (unassisted) 7:03; 4, Nelson NP (Jared Albano, Nathan Oh) 7:48; 5, Kaufhold NP (Greenstein) 9:27; 6, Galetta NP (Oh, Nelson) 10:57; 7, Gallagher N (Joey DeMatteo) 15:24.
Third period: 8, Oh NP (Nelson) 1:38; 9, Greenstein NP (Galetta) 3:23; 10, Will Hughes NP (John Kim) 15:58.
Shots: N 6, NP 52. Saves: Steve Glik (N) 44, Andrew Zanoni (NP) 4.
LOWER MORELAND 8, HARRY S TRUMAN 7
The Lions and Tigers found themselves locked in a wild one. The outcome wasn’t determined until Lower Moreland’s Coleman Peppelman scored in the closing seconds of the third period. The goal – assisted by Adam Bostock and AJ D’Orazio – was the sixth of the game for Peppelman, who also had an assist in an impressive seven-point night.
The Lions held a lopsided 48-25 advantage in shots on goal, but keeping the Tigers in it was goalie Kyle Huth, who turned away 40 of 48 shots.
The Tigers took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Codey Gordon, but Peppelman answered with back-to-back goals to give the Lions a 2-1 lead at the end of one period.
The second period saw the two teams combine for nine goals. Truman went on top 3-2 after goals by Steven Avellino and Gordon. AJ D’Orazio and Peppelman scored in a span of less than a minute to put the Lions back on top 4-3, but Avellino and John Saxton answered with goals to put the Tigers on top 5-4. Again, Peppelman answered, this time scoring a pair of goals, but an Avellino goal knotted the score 6-6 heading into the final period.
Adam Bostock scored to put the Lions on top 7-6 at the 9:34 mark of the period, but Robert DiCrosta (Avellino assist) connected on a power play goal at the 13:28 mark to knot the score. It looked like the two teams would be forced to settle for a tie, but Peppelman had other ideas, connecting on the game winner.
Avelliono’s five-point night (three goals, two assists) led the Tigers.
Harry S Truman 1-5-1 7
Lower Moreland 2-4-2 8
Shots: Truman 25, LM 48
Saves: Kyle Huth (HST) 40, John Duesler (LM) 18.
First Period
HST – Codey Gordon
LM – Coleman Peppelman (Bryce Fazio)
LM – Coleman Peppelman
Second Period
HST – Steven Avellino
HST – Codey Gordon (Steven Avellino)
LM – A D’Orazio (Coleman Peppelman)
LM – Coleman Peppelman
HST – Steven Avelliono
HST – John Saxton (Decklyn Dailey)
LM – Coleman Peppelman (Noah Gazzara)
LM – Coleman Peppelman
HST – Steven Avellino (Decklyn Dailey)
Third Period
LM – Adam Bostock
HST – Robert DiCrosta (Steven Avellino)
LM – Coleman Peppelman (Adam Bostock/AJ D’Orazio)
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 6, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 4
The Indians raced out of the gate to a 3-0 lead after one period and never relinquished the lead.
Cavan Tully, Harrison Treiman and John Vanni each scored a goal in the first period. Treiman added an assist in the period. William Sohn and Daniel Guest also had assists.
The Bucks trimmed that lead to one in the second period. Matt Clark put the Bucks on the scoreboard when he connected on a shorthanded goal with a Christopher Trefz assist 3:52 into the period. Joey Rockovish (Jake Boehm/Matthew McCarthy assists) found the back of the net to make it a 3-2 game. Zac Herman’s power play goal with an assist from Treiman sent the Indians into the third period with a 4-2 lead.
Daniel Poliak (Owen Shields assist) scored to pull the Bucks to within one, but Herman got that goal back, using a Tully assist. The two teams exchanged goals in the closing minutes as the Indians held on for the win.
Central Bucks West 0-2-2 4
Council Rock North 3-1-2 6
Shots: CBW 30, CRN 26.
Saves: Jeremy Kennard (CBW) 20, Rex Goldberg (CRN) 26
First Period
CRN – Cavan Tully (Harrison Treiman)
CRN – Harrison Treiman (William Sohn)
CRN – John Vanni (Daniel Guest)
Second Period
CBW – Matt Clark (Christopher Trefz)
CBW – Joey Rockovich (Jake Boehm/Mathew McCarthy)
CRN – Zac Herman (Harrison Treiman)
Third Period
CBW – Daniel Poliak (Owen Shields)
CRN – Zac Herman (Cavan Tully)
CBW -
CRN – Daniel Guest (Ian Rice)
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 3, LA SALLE II 0
Twenty-four hours after their big win over Pennridge, the Titans shut out La Sale II in a non-league game. Oscar Levin was credited with the shutout in goal.
Contributing one goal each for the Titans – who held a 50-14 advantage in shots – were Joseph DeLaurentis, Matt Stoll and Evan King.
Wednesday, Jan. 17
UPPER DUBLIN 5, HATBORO-HORSHAM 2
The Flying Cardinals opened up a 3-0 lead early in the second period and never looked back.
Oren Serafin’s shorthanded goal 11:05 into the first period put the Cards on the scoreboard, and they led 2-0 after one period, thanks to a late goal by Ari Nordlinger.
Seth Lerner’s power play goal with a Nordlinger assist gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead 48 seconds into the second period before Jacob Mueller put the Hatters on the scoreboard at the 7:43 mark. It was a 3-2 game after Ben Heywood scored with assists from Aidan Esack and Nathan Reilly.
A shorthanded goal by Lerner (Ben Rosenthal assist) and Nordlinger’s second goal of the game, this one with a Daniel Katz assist, gave the Cardinals their final margin of victory.
Liam Nixon turned away 31 of 33 shots he faced in goal to earn the win for the Cardinals. Hatboro-Horsham goalie Joe Gambino recorded 37 saves.
Upper Dublin 2-1-2 5
Hatboro-Horsham 0-2-0 2
Shots: UD 42, HH 33.
Saves: Liam Nixon (UD) 31, Joe Gambino (HH) 37.
First Period
UD – Oren Serafin
UD – Ari Nordlinger
Second Period
UD – Seth Lerner (Ari Nordlinger)
HH – Jacob Mueller
HH – Ben Heywood
Third Period
UD – Seth Lerner (Ben Rosenthal)
UD – Ari Nordlinger (Daniel Katz)
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