CB South edged defending champion Downingtown East 3-2 to capture the 2016 Flyers Cup at Hatfield Ice on Thursday. Photos courtesy of Dara King of DNK Photography.
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By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- The gloves went one way and the sticks went another.
And the bodies of the Central Bucks South ice hockey players jammed together near their goal crease in a wild celebration.
The Titans had just beaten Downingtown East 3-2 to win the Flyers Cup, their second championship in three years. The last time South won the Flyers Cup, it also won the state title in 2014.
You would have been hard pressed to find a CB South face without a huge grin and, as they skated around the Hatfield Ice rink in groups of twos and threes, they were like little children at Christmas. As well they should have been.
After all, they had just completed an unbeaten season against AA opponents, losing only to AAA Holy Ghost Prep early in the season. They had also vanquished the 2015 Flyers Cup champion Cougars.
"It feels good," said South coach Tom Coyne. "A little dicey there, but it feels good.
"I just feel great. It's a good moment."
Coyne also had to feel great for the Titans' captain Connor Matsinger. Matsinger, a defenseman, was named the Flyers Cup Most Valuable Player and also was the leading scorer in the tournament.
"Mats, he's a beast," Coyne said. "He was just awesome.
"He's just everything to this team. That's the reason he's our captain."
Jason Bechtel, who scored one of the goals against Downingtown East, heaped praise on Matsinger.
"He deserved it," Bechtel said of Matsinger. "He worked hard all season, all Flyers Cup.
"He led us here. He's our captain. He means everything.
"He keeps us organized, focused. He prepares well. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here right now."
Matsinger humbly pushed aside the praise.
"It doesn't come without my teammates," he said of the scoring title. "They got me the puck when they needed to, when I was open.
"I just shot it, to be honest. Some went in, some of them were wide."
Then Matsinger introduced another element into the equation that is CB South. He talked about "us" and "we."
"That's the motto we followed all year," Matsinger said. "Since Game one.
"He's (Coyne) never said that to us before. He brought out 'us' and 'we' this year and it really stuck especially in the playoffs.
"We'd be saying it in the locker room; we'd be texting it to each other. Focus on 'us' and 'we' and that's all we need."
Coyne explained what this is all about.
"We started this thing right after Christmas," he said. "We knew we were on to something special.
"Every time we go into the locker room, there's two words. There's 'us' and 'we'. That's what we've lived up to."
Most of the scoring came in the first period. Jared Conroy, on the Titans' first shot of the game, connected on a power play goal with 2:41 gone in the opening stanza.
That lead lasted nearly eight minutes until Alex Fox scored for the Cougars to tie the score. Slightly more than five minutes later, Bechtel untied the score to give South a 2-1 lead.
Nick Smith scored what proved to be the game-winner to open the second period. He netted the third South goal on the power play at the 2:28 mark.
But the Cougars kept applying the pressure. They cut the lead to 3-2 when Justin Cohn scored on a power play with 6:54 elapsed in the period.
That was the end of the scoring but not the end of the drama. Both teams rushed the net often in the third period but to no avail.
CB South dominated the all-tournament team, placing four players on the squad -- Bechtel, Damon DeLaurentis, Conroy and Thomas Liberta. CB West goalie Jonah Brous was also selected as was Downingtown East's Justin Cohn.
The Titans will take their show on the road now. They will play in the state championship game at Penn State University on March 19 at 2:30 p.m.
"It's great winning it but to have Coach Coyne going out like this – we really wanted it for him; he really wanted it for us," Matsinger said of his coach, who is retiring at the end of the season.
Coyne knows where he's going and what he's looking for.
"We want to close it out now," he said. "We've got one more to go."
CB South 3, Downingtown East 2
Downingtown East 1 1 0 – 2
CB South 2 1 0 – 3
First period: 1. Jared Conroy CBS (Connor Matsinger, Thomas Liberta) 2:42 PP; 2. Alex Fox DE (Justin Cohn, Collin Harple) 10:25; 3. Jason Bechtel CBS (Matt Stoll, Ryan Boylan) 15:34.
Second period: 4. Nick Smith CBS (Stoll, Matsinger) 2:28 PP; 5. Cohn DE (Fox, Patrick Bobko) 6:54.
Shots: DE -- 25; CBS --- 25. Saves: Jeff Cummings (DE) 22; Kevin Dorozinsky (CBS) 23.
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