Abington defeated Wissahickon to capture the SHSHL Class A title on Thursday. Action photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. Postgame photos by Craig Ostroff.
(#1) Abington 4, (#3) Wissahickon 2
By Craig Ostroff
The seeds for Abington’s undefeated league championship season were laid long before the team laced up the skates for the first time this year.
In fact, it’s been almost a full calendar year that the Ghosts had been planning and working toward this moment.
“This started 363 days ago when we lost to them last year,” Abington coach Ken Brzozowski said, referencing the Ghosts’ loss to Wissahickon in last season’s Class A league title game. “This was a preseason goal we had, our boys played absolutely spectacular throughout the year, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
In a hard-hitting, tightly played battle at Hatfield Blue on Thursday night, the Ghosts reached that goal, scoring three power play goals and holding the high-octane Trojan offense scoreless over the last 27 minutes of play to come away with a 4-2 victory and earn the team’s first league title since it won back-to-back Class AA trophies in 2003 and 2004.
Senior goalkeeper Ben Panella was stellar on this night, turning aside 18 of 20 Wissahickon shots.
Playing the season in a tandem with junior Sam Nemec, Panella got the call tonight and he answered with flying colors.
“I go back to last year, we lost to these guys 4-3 and Ben played an amazing game,” Brzozowski said. “We knew all through this season rotating two goalies all year, this was always the plan: get to this spot, let Ben have this game, maybe let him have a little bit of redemption. This was the best game I’ve ever seen him play and I’ve been coaching him for four years.”
In addition to getting the nod in the biggest game of his high school career, Panella—and the rest of the Ghosts—had some added incentive to capture the league title. This championship may have been for the team and for the school, but more than anything else, it was for former club president and middle school coach Steve Schorr.
“I feel amazing, it was a great opportunity to get the start,” Panella said. “This was a really emotional game for me because a couple years ago our club president and my middle school coach passed away unexpectedly. Since then I’ve been saying to myself, I’m going to win the championship for Steve. I’m super-proud to be able to say we won it for Steve.”
Panella had plenty of help in securing the victory. The Abington defense held the Trojans to 20 shots, and kept them scoreless on the power play, including a two-man advantage for 91 seconds with the Ghosts clinging to a 4-2 lead late in the second period.
“The most important part of our game tonight was the penalty kill,” Brzozowski said. “We absolutely shut them down.”
“Our defense really stepped up, blocking shots, forcing them to the outside. On that 5-on-3, the defense stepped it up huge,” Panella said. “That was a huge part of the game. Our defense was really key tonight.”
And while the Trojans couldn’t find the net with the man advantage, the Ghosts did so three times. Pat Stelacio (Joe Stelacio, Matt Kramer assists) fired a laser from a tough angle that found its way inside the top crossbar late in the first period to give Abington a 2-1 lead. The Ghosts then found themselves on a two-man advantage for 1:15 in the early stages of the second period.
It took Abington 49 seconds for Matt Cholaj to bury a pass across the goal mouth from Pat Stelacio to add to the lead. Just 29 seconds later, with the Ghosts still enjoying a man advantage, Kramer capped off a four-point night by grabbing the primary assist when his shot was saved by Wissahickon goalkeeper Mike Bonanni (13 saves), but Pat Stelacio converted on the rebound to give Abington the 4-1 edge.
“Against a good team like that, you’ve always got to capitalize on your power play chances,” Cholaj said. “Our lines were rolling, our shots were good, and everyone was going hard and it paid off.”
Will Hussa cut the Abington lead to two goals with 10:26 left in the second period when he scored in tight off a Matt Winkowski assist.
Then Panella and the Abington defense went back to work. With the Trojans playing with renewed momentum after the goal—and getting their own 5-on-3 power play—the defending champs kept the puck in the Abington zone for much of the latter stages of the second period. Panella was called upon to turn aside a Hudson Honeycutt shot on a 2-on-1 rush, and he repeatedly flashed the leather to make solid glove saves on Hussa and AJ Pounds.
“Our plan was to keep them wide, let Ben make the saves, get it to our offense so they can go to work,” said senior captain Tom Rourke. “I am so happy for Ben, we’ve been best friends and been playing together since fifth grade. We’ve been in this together since the start, so it’s great to see it all coming together for him. He played an amazing game.”
The Ghosts came out in the third period with a more defensive mindset, and throughout the final frame, numerous players stepped up to preserve the lead.
“We knew it was going to be a grind-it-out game,” said Brzozowski, whose Ghosts battled to a 4-3 win when the two teams last met in 
mid-February. “We knew we were going to get the best game they were going to throw at any team this year.
“Joe (Stelacio) was amazing tonight. In the last minute there, you saw Matt Kramer laying himself out to knock a puck off their stick, Pat Stelacio moving back to defense on our penalty kill, Joe helping out both ends of the ice, taking his responsibilities like he’s supposed to. He’s a senior, and he was playing his heart out.”
Up next for both squads is the Flyers Cup. The Trojans (9-8 overall) are seeded 10th in the Class A Flyers Cup tournament. They will face off against seventh seed West Chester Henderson at Ice Line at 6:45 pm March 7.
Having completed an undefeated league season and 15-1-0 record overall, Abington will skate in the Class AA Flyers Cup tournament. Seeded 14th, the Ghosts will return to Hatfield Blue to face third seed Council Rock South at 8:10 pm March 8.
“This is a big opportunity for us,” Panella said. “I’ve never played in the Flyers Cup. They might think we’re the underdogs, and we probably are, but if we play our game, play like we did tonight, we can make things happen.”
But first, they’re going to take some time to enjoy this title.
“We’ll give it the weekend, and then on Monday get right back into it,” Rourke said.
Abington 4, Wissahickon 2
Wissahickon 1 1 0 – 2
Abington 2 2 0 – 4
First period: 1, Matt Cholaj A (Joe Stelacio, Matt Kramer) 11:41; 2, AJ Pounds W (Dan Hussa, Griffin Lynch) 7:18; 3, Pat Stelacio A (J. Stelacio, Kramer) PP 3:11.
Second period: 4, Cholaj A (Kramer, P. Stelacio) PP 14:28; 5, P. Stelacio A (Kramer, Cholaj) PP 13:59; 6, Will Hussa W (Matt Winkowski) 10:26.
Third period: No scoring.
Shots: Wissahickon 20; Abington 17
Saves: Mike Bonanni (W) 13; Ben Panella (A) 18.
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