File photo courtesy of Tracy Valko: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f710114994
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — The Suburban High School Hockey League season isn’t over. There are still games to be played and playoff positions to be determined.
But the league has published its playoff schedule and teams are beginning to gear up for the stretch run. Council Rock South’s 2-1 win over Central Bucks South on Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice certainly felt like a playoff game.
“I guess you can (say that),” said CR South coach Joe Houk. “I told the guys before the game about preparing for the rest of the season. We’ve only got four games left.
“You’ve got to play your A game. I thought we did a good job.”
CB South coach Shaun McGinty went along with Houk on the playoff feeling.
“This was obviously a heavy tilt for both teams, a playoff-like atmosphere,” McGinty said. “They played well; they’re a good team.”
When the Golden Hawks opened up the scoring with only 39 seconds gone in the first period, it might have appeared to some that this game was going to be a shoot-em-up. It was anything but that.
The two teams struggled with their offenses. Rock South netted its two goals in the first period and the Titans got their goal in the second stanza.
In all, the Hawks outshot the Titans 42-18. But neither team could mount a huge offensive output.
“Our biggest problem is scoring goals,” Houk said. “When you get 45 shots, you should have quite a few goals.”
Hawk captain Kevin Koles knows what that is like.
“I think we doubled their shots and I think that is what led to our success,” he said. “We had a lot of zone time. They couldn’t put pucks on net, and our goalie played great and we finished it out.”
That one word was the key to the entire game — the goalie. Both goalies played outstanding games.
Council Rock South’s netminder, Trevor Rakszawski kicked out 17 of the 18 shots he faced. Titan freshman Nathan Napolitano had a much busier night, facing the 42 shots and stopping 40 of them.
“Our goaltender was outstanding tonight,” said McGinty. “Obviously, the shot total was huge, but he made a lot of big saves to keep the team in (the game).”
Houk liked his goalie as well.
“We’ve got a hot goaltender,” he said. “They (CB South) get the puck in deep. They challenged us.”
But he also had praise for Napolitano.
“Their goaltender - hats off to the kid,” Houk said. “He played his butt off.”
One part of Rock South’s game plan was its forechecking. And it was very effective.
“We struggled getting out of our own zone,” said McGinty. “We struggled getting past the blue line.
“They held the red line like it was their blue line. They had a plan in place and were able to execute.”
Koles certainly appreciated the work done in the forecheck.
“Our forwards are doing the right thing,” he said, “obviously helping us out and that’s all we can ask for.”
The Golden Hawks, as noted, got on the board first, Jake Weiner, with help from Nikita Volobuiev and Illia Mukhin, scored with only 39 seconds elapsed in the game.
Volobuiev got the second Rock goal at the 14:05 mark with an assist from Dan Filippov. That was it for the Hawks’ offense.
CB South finally got in the scoring column in the second period. Ryan Montagna notched the goal with helpers going to Sean Cutter and Jeffrey Kvecher. And that was that.
Obviously these two teams will meet in somewhere in the playoffs. And it promises to be more of the same.
“They can come out just as hard as us,” Koles said. “We’ve just got to play our game and do the little things correct and come out on top.
“That was our goal coming into the season. Put pucks on net; good things happen when shots are on net.”
CR South 2, CB South 1
CR South 2 0 0 — 2
CB South 0 1 0 — 1
First period: 1, Jake Weiner CRS (Nikita Volobuiev, Illia Mukhin) 0:39; 2, Volobuiev CRS (Dan Filippov) 14:05.
Second period: 3, Ryan Montagna CBS (Sean Cutter, Jeffrey Kvecher) 3:09 PP.
Third period: No scoring.
Shots: CRS 42, CBS 18. Saves: Trevor Rakszawski (CRS) 17, Nathat Napolitano (CBS) 40.
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