Central Bucks West defeated Council Rock South 4-2 on in SHSHL action Wednesday. To view game action photos, please visit the Photo Gallery...CLICK HERE.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- Central Bucks West has opened the season on some kind of tear.
On Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice, the Bucks put their perfect 5-0 record on the line when they faced a Council Rock South squad that owns a share of the top spot in the National Conference standings.
When the dust had settled in a classic battle between the SHSHL powers, the Bucks had notched their sixth win, beating the Golden Hawks 4-2 in what was a one-goal game until the Bucks scored an empty net goal late.
West coach Dave Baun gives a lot of credit for the Bucks’ quick start – as well as their ability to win close games - to the leadership provided by the seniors. He singled out five seniors.
"One of the things we have is great leadership," the West coach said. "Our seniors are fantastic.
"(Ryan) Trefz, (Johnny) McCreadie, (Eric) Schwass, (Mike) D'Argenio and Eddie Shields - those kids are just great leaders.
"They don't panic; they don't get down on their teammates; they're just outstanding leaders. That brings you through games when you're not doing your very best."
Trefz, the Bucks’ captain, agreed.
"(Leadership) helps in a close game," he said. "We just know who to look to."
Baun and Trefz could also have mentioned junior goalie Jonah Brous. Rock South pelted Brous with 35 shots with only two getting past him.
And those two were not picture-perfect goals. One was a deflection of a shot from the point and the other seemed to climb up Brous and land behind him in the net.
"We count on him night in and night out," said Trefz. "If it were not for him, our record might be different.
"I think we have a real strong team all around. It starts with our goalie."
Council Rock South coach Joe Houk knew where things were going when the game started.
"Goaltending is the issue," the Golden Hawks’ coach said. "We threw everything at that kid (Brous) but he saved everything.
"He played a good game. He made a lot of point-blank saves."
While Brous was keeping West in the game, it was the offense that got the job done. The Bucks scored two goals in the first period and added singletons in the second and third.
The first goal should have given Houk an idea of the way the game was going to go. With 5:57 remaining in the opening stanza, McCreadie fired the puck into his offensive zone from the red line that got past the goalie for a 1-0 West lead.
"When you let in a goal from the red line, you just can't battle back from that," Houk said. "You come out and its nothing-nothing and their first goal goes in from the red line…"
With only 1:03 left in the first period, West added another goal. Shawn Philipps took a pass from Trefz and beat goalie Christian George to give the Bucks a 2-0 lead after one period.
Michael Kauffman cut the deficit by one with his goal on the power play for Rock South in the second period. Alex Keck got the assist.
But the Bucks got that back shortly after. Philipps notched his second goal of the game on the power play to give West the two-goal lead again.
Jake Houk put the Golden Hawks a little closer in the third period. He scored the unassisted goal from a scrum in front of the West net as the puck seemed to hop over Brous.
But Dalton Karl finished off the scoring for the Bucks. After South had pulled its goalie in favor of a sixth skater, Karl took the puck away from two Golden Hawk defenders and slid it into the empty net.
Despite the undefeated record and the strong play, Baun wasn't happy with the way things went down.
"Tonight, I thought they outworked us," he said. "I think they played a little bit better than us.
"It was just too bad for them that we had Brous and Philipps. We played well enough to win.
"Overall, I think we need to play better as a team if we want to get where we want to go."
Right now, CB West has gone a long way toward reaching that goal.
Central Bucks West 4, Council Rock South 2
CR South 1 0 1 – 2
CB West 2 1 1 – 4
First period: 1. Johnny McCreadie CBW (unassisted) 5:57; 2. Shawn Philipps CBW (Ryan Trefz) 14:57.
Second period: 3. Michael Kauffman CRS (Alex Keck) 6:59 PP; 4. Philipps CBW (Dalton Karl, Luke McCleerey) 10:35.
Third period: 5. Jake Houk CRS (unassisted) 4:45; 6. Karl CBW (McCleerey) 15:51 EN.
Shots: CRS 35, CBW 20. Saves: Christian George (CRS) 15; Jonah Brous (CBW) 33.
- Log in to post comments
