This week’s ice hockey notebook focuses on the top teams, top scorers and top goalies at the midway point.
By Mike Prince, Sportswriter
With the first two months of the 2012-13 Suburban High School Hockey League season in the books, players from around the league enjoyed a nice, relaxing holiday break lasting from at least Christmas Eve until New Year’s Day, if not longer.
And with the second half of the season beginning this weekend, it’s time to look back at the best teams, scorers and goalies from the first half of the season.
Archbishop Wood forward senior Kevin Neiley finished the 2012 calendar year with 15 goals and 16 assists in seven games, easily putting him in the lead for both goals and points in all of the Suburban One conferences combined. In fact, the next-best goal-scorer to Neiley has only 12 goals, while the next highest point total is only 23.
In the American Conference alone, Neiley’s 31 points are 10 higher than anyone else.
“Kevin is a very talented ice hockey player,” Wood coach Sam Gallen said. “He is as much a playmaker as he is a goal-scorer. He can do things with the puck that very few players I’ve seen can do. He’s very focused, he sees the whole ice and he’s always looking for openings that present themselves. His play speaks for itself.”
Neiley, who is only in his second year on the team, didn’t play in his freshman or sophomore seasons.
Wood’s 6-1-0 league record (7-1-1 overall) puts the Vikings in first place, ahead of Wissahickon for the American Conference lead. They also have one game in-hand over the Trojans.
The Trojans’ success has come in large part to the play of their top-two defensemen, Dustin Rabinowitz and David Pataki, who sit in second and third place in scoring in the American Conference with 21 and 18 points respectively.
Rabinowitz has 11 goals and 10 assists in eight games played, while Pataki has recorded nine goals and nine assists.
“I definitely credit those two guys to a lot of our success,” Wissahickon coach Ryan McLaughlin said. “Besides their physical abilities, mentally, they are very advanced. They are my two captains, and they take on the leadership role. They do whatever needs to be done in the game - whether it be blocking shots or scoring goals, they’ll do it. They’ve been our two best players, and they have to lead by example on and off the ice if our success is going to continue.”
Behind the two Wissahickon defenders, Wood’s Matt Mandes (18 points) and Nick Patton (16), along with Lansdale Catholic’s Michael Longhitano (17) and Andrew Hart (14) round out the top-seven scorers in the conference.
“Kevin, Matt and Nick are on a line together,” Gallen said. “They seem to find each other on the ice pretty well, and they’re a new line for the most part this year. Kevin is part of the team and his success with scoring is definitely part of the line he is on and helps the team very much.”
While the forwards and defensemen are doing their jobs, the best netminders in the American Conference thus far in the season have been Wood’s John Capinas and Upper Moreland’s Jared Burch.
Capinas, through nine games, holds a 7-1-1 record, recording a 2.31 goals-against average and a .832 save percentage while recording two shutouts. Sitting just behind him is Burch, who many call the best goalkeeper in the entire league.
Burch, who holds a 5-2-1 record with one shutout, has a 2.35 GAA with a .906 save percentage.
“A good amount of our success goes to Jared,” Upper Moreland coach Jim Stampler said. “He’s probably the best player in the league and obviously that helps your success. He’s been fantastic. I think we need to tighten up on defense and get our second line rolling and get the point production up to move up in the standings, but Jared has been great for us in net.”
In the Continental Conference, Connor Bechtel has helped Central Bucks South to a tie for the third-place spot, thanks to his conference-leading 23 points. With five goals and 18 assists, Bechtel, a forward, sits above the rest of the pack.
CB South, which currently holds a 4-1-0 record in conference play, also has three more players in the top 15 in scoring, as forwards Dick DeLaurentis (12 points), Mike Pilla (12) and Dominic Bova (11) round out the top-15.
But despite not having the leading scorer, North Penn’s more balanced attack has the Knights in first place with a league record of 6-1-1.
Defensemen Caleb Witzaney and Jeremy Snyder, along with forward Christian Ahn, currently sit in second, third and fourth place, respectively, in the conference in scoring. Witzaney leads the way with 12 goals and 10 assists, while Snyder (seven goals, 12 assists) and Ahn (nine goals, seven assists) sit close behind.
“This is my third year of coaching Caleb, and last year I said he was the best defenseman in the league,” North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis said. “Now, he just might be the best overall player in the league. The main thing about him this year is that he can singlehandedly turn the game around for us, and when he gets the puck, he’s such an elite player that he can always make something happen. And on defense, he just shuts down other teams’ top players.
“As for Jeremy, he’s a junior who is really coming into his own. He’s been very rock solid for us on defense and he’s great from the point. He does a tremendous job with the puck and getting it to guys like Christian (Ahn). Christian keeps getting better and better for us ever since scoring seven goals in two games for us in the playoffs last year. He’s a very strong player who doesn’t get knocked off the puck, and he has a quick burst to him that really helps.”
Souderton, which is one point behind North Penn in the standings, has forwards Alex Politsky (six goals, 10 assists) and Daniel Rock (11 assists, four assists) in the top seven in scoring in the league. Forward Brannon Evans sits in a tie for 11thplace with North Penn’s Alex Peterson with 13 points.
While North Penn’s scoring has come from a number of players, one of the main reasons the Knights are in first place is because of the play of their two starting goaltenders, who have split time and sit at 1-2, respectively, in the conference.
Cody Matthews has won all five games he has started, posting a 2.00 GAA and a .897 save percentage to lead the league. Jake Wolff sits immediately behind him with a 2-1-1 record in four games, along with a 2.25 GAA and a conference-leading .920 save percentage.
“I have had Cody and Jake for four years, and it’s their third year on varsity,” Vaitis said. “They were alternating in net and this is their senior year and they’ve come in very focused since the beginning of the year and just worked hard at practice and in games, and it shows with the results we’re getting. I’ve said it for the last two years that we have two of the top goalies in the league if not the two best goalies, and it makes my job fairly easy with either of them being in net.”
In the National Conference, with Council Rock North (13 points) and Council Rock South (12) leading the way in the standings, CR South forwards Mitchell Vaysman and Alexander Drobot are atop the scoring leaders with 18 and 15 points, respectively.
Vaysman’s nine goals and nine assists put him in first place in the offensive statistics column, while Drobot’s six goals and nine assists put him in second.
“Mitchell is basically a power forward,” CR South coach Joe Houk said. “He’s only a freshman and one of our best playmakers on the team. He has a lot of skills and is an asset to our team’s success and probably has one of the better shots in the league. He handles the puck very well and is coming up big for us this year with a lot of big goals early in the season.
“Alexander is on our top line and has a great shot. His speed and agility and vision on the ice help him make up for his size, and he has such a willingness to compete, which helps him. He sees the ice very, very well and is a very strong skater. It’s hard to knock him down.”
William Tennent forward Clint Aussprung is tied with CR North forward Mike Shander for third place in scoring in the National Conference with 13 points apiece. Aussprung’s eight goals put him in a three-way tie for second place in the conference in goals scored.
CR North’s two goalkeepers are at the top of the National Conference goalie leaders, with Hayden Richards leading the way with his five starts. Richards posted a 3-1-1 record with two shutouts, a GAA of 2.20 and a conference-leading .931 save percentage. Three goalies sit ahead of Richards in GAA, all of which have only started one game.
Behind Richards is the other Indians’ goalkeeper, Mike Leininger, who has won both of his starts while posting a 2.50 GAA and a .922 save percentage.
“They’re both huge for us,” CR North coach Eric Tye said. “We’re not where we are without those two kids. They’re both big-time goalies and they both always want to play. I think the cool thing about them is that they get along really well and they’re buddies. They’re always encouraging each other in net and helping each other and it’s a great thing to see.”
As of this week, 15 varsity games alone are scheduled in the SHSHL, possibly the best matchup of the week being Council Rock South, the two-time defending Class AA Flyers Cup champions, facing Central Bucks East on Thursday night. In American Conference action, Lansdale Catholic and Upper Dublin were set to square off on Thursday night. Pennridge and Souderton also met on Thursday night, while Friday will see a quality National Conference matchup when Pennsbury and Council Rock South will face each other.
Perhaps the biggest matchup on Friday night’s schedule is North Penn and Souderton. The Knights have only lost one game this year – to Souderton – and they will visit them on Friday in hopes to make up for the early season defeat.
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