Hatboro-Horsham defeated regular season champion Plymouth Whitemarsh to capture the SHSHL American title. (Photo provided courtesy of Hatboro-Horsham ice hockey.)
By GORDON GLANTZ
The Hatboro Horsham ice hockey team began the SHSHL season as the great unknown in the American Division.
After a 5-2 upset win over Plymouth Whitemarsh Wednesday at the Hatfield Ice Arena, the Hatters skated away as playoff champions.
“It just feels surreal,” said sophomore goalie Eric Miller, whose heroics keyed the victory. “It’s just crazy how we got to this point.”
Crazy, indeed.
This was a team that was in its first year of “legitimacy” after playing with combined teams with other schools the previous two years, which meant HH was not eligible for the postseason.
“I feel ecstatic, but even more ecstatic for all these guys here,” said HH coach Shane Smith. “I’ve been with a lot these guys from middle school through to high school. The fact that that the seniors are getting to graduate while winning this thing, I just couldn’t be any happier for these guys.”
Back on Halloween night, when the two teams met to open the season, this seemed like an unlikely conclusion. The Colonials posted an authoritative 11-6 win over the Hatters.
While the Colonials also won the next three meetings between the two, the trend showed the Hatters as more competitive, with the last two games ending in narrow one-goal wins for a PW team that had only lost one game -- to Springfield, 4-2 -- in the second to last game of the regular season.
“Everybody believed in themselves,” said Smith. “Maybe they beat us a few times, but you can’t beat the same team over and over again. Eventually, we knew that one was going to go our way, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”
The Hatters, who edged past Springfield one night earlier to get to the final, were a team with nothing to lose and everything to gain – especially with a Flyers Cup invite sitting in their hip pocket.
Beating PW, in a game in which they never trailed, was the net result of continual improvement.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more from my senior season,” said senior captain Victor Wilkins. “Everyone stepped up tonight. It was huge. We were firing on all cylinders all night.”
The Hatters came out smoking – with seven of the game’s first eight shots -- and went up, 1-0, when Joseph Mangin Jr. scored his first of two goals a little less than five minutes into the game.
“That was huge,” said Smith. “That totally helped our cause. Getting out first put them back on their heels, and it meant we could afford to stay aggressive.”
The Hatters improved their lead to 2-0 after one, via a goal by Wilkins. The fact that the Hatters were leading in shots, 15-7, was indicative of how they came out on a mission and took control early.
“That was my whole thing before the game,” said Wilkins. “We had to come out strong. That’s what we did, and it helped us through the whole entire game.”
The Colonials, with plenty of firepower, tilted the ice in their favor in the second period, outshooting the Hatters, 21-6, but were still trailing, 3-2, after two periods.
“We got into a little bit of a lull in the second period,” said Smith. “They were keeping in our zone but, with that lead, the boys felt a little more comfortable. We were able to weather the storm there, which was something we struggled with a bunch this year.”
HH reclaimed any momentum it lost in the second period just 51 seconds into the final frame. That’s when Wilkins notched his second goal, with Evan Snow dishing out his second helper.
“That was huge,” said Smith of the breathing room provided by the quick goal. “That set the tone for the third period for us. Once that happened, there was a total momentum change. Our guys felt it and wanted it, and we obviously had the result to show for it.”
Wilkins’ second goal was a perfect case of practicing what he preached between periods.
“That was the icing the on the cake,” said Wilkins, who also had an assist in the win. “I told the boys, after the second period, that we have to come out firing and, if we score the first goal in the third, it’s over with.”
With 7:03 to play, Mangin Jr. scored his second goal from Vincent Graziani to add further insurance and bring the score to its final resting place, 5-2.
Although the Colonials outshot the Hatters, 11-8, in the third. nothing was getting past the stone wall that was Miller.
His play not only typified his individual vast improvement, but that of the team from that Halloween night until the second to the brink of March.
“That kid, from the beginning of the season until now, is a completely different goalie,” said Smith of Miller. “He’s not a club goalie or anything like that. He just plays high school hockey here with us. What he was able to come out and accomplish tonight was unreal. That was just so big for our team.”
Miller’s 37 stops only tell part of the story, as many of those were of the highlight reel variety.
“When he was making those saves, it just built all of our energy,” said Smith. “It started going from, ‘Let’s win this one’ to ‘Let’s win this one for Eric.’”
To put Miller’s heroics into perspective, PW averaged 6.8 goals a game on the road to a 15-1 record and first-place finish.
“I was definitely locked in,” said Miller, who credited his defense for standing tall and blocking shots in front of him. “I just made the big saves at the right times.”
Slap Shots: Luke Smith and Daniel Guller scored the second period goals for PW, with Cooper Kanze and Charles Spouse adding assists. … PW goalie Julian Lucks notched 24 saves on 29 shots. … William Moffa also scored for HH while Francis Stanchek and Cole Meyer also had assists. … Both teams will be back in action March 3 in the A bracket of the Flyers Cup. PW, seeded No. 8, will face Springfield-Delco at 6 p.m. at Hatfield Blue while Hatboro-Horsham, seeded 14th, will take on Radnor at Ice Line.
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