Council Rock South defeated Central Bucks South 4-3 in a classic battle to capture the SHSHL National title Thursday at Grundy. Photos provided courtesy of Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports' SHSHL ICE HOCKEY GALLERIES.
By Ben Reese
BRISTOL — Special teams can make or break an ice hockey team.
When they are good, you are generally winning. When they are bad, well, you’re not.
Council Rock South parlayed three power play goals to forge a 3-3 tie with Central Bucks South before Jake Weiner got the Golden Hawks the game-winner to claim the Suburban High School Hockey League AA
championship on Thursday night at Grundy Ice Arena.
The first two power play tallies negated a CB South goal in the first period and the last one tied the game at 3-3 in the third. It might also have set up something else.
While that third power play goal came at the 11:49 mark of the third, Weiner’s finisher came 40 seconds later. After that, the Hawks just kept the Titans off the scoreboard.
“It’s all about patience,” said CR South coach Joe Houk. “We really worked on the power play a lot. My son Jake has been working with the kids.
“You’ve got to commit to patience and make sure you capitalize on it. We’ve done a real good job on our power play the last two games.”
Indeed, they have. Against Pennridge, CR South collected its first goal on the power play, the only chance it had in the game.
Against CB South, the Golden Hawks were three for three in that department, giving them a perfect score with the man advantage.
“We were moving the puck well,” Weiner said. “53 (Jordan Sarne) was burying some of the best shots I’ve ever seen him take.”
Sarne shrugged off much of the praise for his two power play goals.
“During practice, we really worked on it,” he said of the power play. “All the boys just come together.
“We work on our passing, shooting. We just work on everything. It just works out.”
CB South coach Shaun McGinty was philosophical about the defeat.
“The right two teams were here,” he said. “Last night, we fell on top (beating North Penn) and tonight we fell one down. It’s going to happen in games.
“I give my kids credit for losing with respect. We’re on the blue line giving them the respect that they won.”
Houk passed out some praise also.
“I’m just happy for these guys because we fought all year,” the Rock South coach said. “We didn’t play our best hockey all year.
“You’ve got to give those guys (CB South) credit because they’re tough. We persevered and we got the job done.”
Central Buck South broke out of the gate first. Sean Cutter netted the first goal of the game after 6:27 had elapsed.
That lead lasted slightly less than six minutes. Sarne banged home the first goal of the game for the Hawks at 12:20 on the power play.
And he wasn’t done. He collected his second power play goal 3:19 later to put Rock South up by one at the end of the first period.
In the second stanza, the Hawks put a puck in the net only to have it disallowed because the cage had come loose from its moorings.
And, with less than three minutes remaining in the second period, the Titans struck back to tie the score. Keith Waldron, with an assist from Jeffrey Kvecher, beat Rock South goalie Trey Prozzillo.
The score stayed that way through more than half of the third period. But you knew it wouldn’t last.
Joe Slobodrian unknotted the score with 10:01 elapsed in the final period. It put CB South up by a goal.
But then the power play got back into action. Jeremy Rahyer took a pass from Sarne and deposited the puck in the back of the net behind Titan goalie Nathan Napolitano to once again tie the score.
Now it was Weiner’s turn. The senior captain recorded the game-winner at 12:29 to finish things off.
Both teams will advance to the Flyers Cup. Council Rock South, as the No. 1 seed, will not play until Thursday, March 6, at Hatfield Ice at 6:15 p.m. against a team to be determined by games played on Tuesday. Central Bucks South will meet Spring Ford on March 4 at 8:30 at Hatfield.
CR South 4, CB South 3
CB South 1 1 1 — 3
CR South 2 0 2 — 4
First peeriod: 1, Sean Cutter CBS (Jake Stepp, Joe Slobodrian) 6:27, 2, Jordan Sarne CRS (Daniel Filippov, Jackson Mosley) 112:20 PP; 3, Sarne CRS (Jeremy Rayher, Mosley) 15:39 PP.
Second period: 4, Keith Waldron CBS (Jeffrey Kvecher) 13:14.
Third period: 5, Slobodrian CBS (Ryan Frey, Cutter) 10:01; 6, Rayher CRS (Sarne) 11:49 PP; 7, Jake Weiner CRS (Jagger Smith) 12:29.
Shots: CBS 23, CRS 28. Saves: Nathan Napolitano (CBS) 24, Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 20.
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