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BRISTOL – Michael McCarthy is best known for his offensive prowess on the ice, but Souderton’s leading scorer was asked to assume a different role when the Indians traveled to Grundy Recreation Center for Thursday night’s SHSHL game against Neshaminy.
“I told him, ‘You know what – you’ve got to play defense,’ and he did a great job of playing defense tonight,” coach Tom Coopersmith said. “What happens is the rest of the kids feed off of that because they all look to Mike because he is a good player.“Whatever Mike does – they try and emulate. We told him, ‘They’re all looking at you, and if you do what the coaches are telling you to do, they’re going to follow suit,’ and they did. We played a real good game. We took away the middle, we played good defense.”
While McCarthy helped spark a standout defensive effort, the senior captain still found time to contribute two goals and three assists, but this game was won on the defensive end where the Indians and goalie Drew Politsky frustrated the Redskins all night on their way to an impressive 8-3 win.
“Defense wins games, obviously,” McCarthy said. “You win games, you win championships, and that’s what we’re going for.
“I try to lead by example. I’ll say something in the locker room, and then I’ll try and do what I say on the ice, and hopefully, my teammates will follow. Tonight they (the Redskins) couldn’t get anything going, and that’s what you have to do.”
McCarthy also credited his team’s positive attitude after a tough week that saw the Indians absorb a pair of lopsided losses at the hands of two of the league’s top squads, Council Rock South (9-1) and Pennsbury (7-0).“It’s hard to be positive when you lose like that,” McCarthy said. “But we had a really good outlook on today’s game.
“We said in the locker room we wanted to stress being positive, and that’s what we did out there. When you’re positive, good things happen.”
A first period of end-to-end action suggested this was going to be a war.
The Indians got on the scoreboard first when Corre Sommers turned a McCarthy pass into a goal. Politsky turned away back-to-back shots in a bang-bang sequence in front of the net, but the Redskins came back to score the equalizer on a goal by Shane Thomas (Jordan Ducko, D.J. Bell assists) with 5:31 remaining in the opening period.
In the period, Politsky set the tone for his 25-save effort as he turned away 11 of 12 shots sent his way.
The two teams took a 1-1 tie into the second period, and it took the Indians all of 25 seconds to break it on a goal by Kyle Dusellier (Brian McMullin assist). Another McMullin assist – this one to Alex Nyman on the far post – put the Indians on top 3-1.
Bell found Ducko with a backdoor pass for a goal that made it a 3-2 game at the 9:14 mark, but less than a minute later, Collin Montgomery (McMullin assist) scored on a superb individual effort, and the floodgates were open.
“I think when it was 4-2, they pretty much started to give up,” Sommers said. “Just the effort wasn’t there.”
“To me it looked like our guys almost got discouraged,” Redskin coach Ray Sherno said. “It’s funny – last week we played a really good game (a 10-4 win over Central Bucks South).“Tonight it was the complete opposite. They got frustrated – they were fumbling the puck, and then they put their heads down and weren’t really working hard and coming back after it. That doesn’t usually happen with these guys.”
The Indians closed out the second period with three goals in the final five minutes. First it was Sommers (McCarthy assist) connecting, and then it was McCarthy (James Tierney assist) scoring from the point. A power play goal by Ryan Uchniat (McCarthy, Tierney assists) sent the Indians into the final period with a commanding 7-2 lead.
“We started moving the puck,” Sommers said. “Drew came up with a few big saves for us, and that really helped change the momentum for us.
“Everything started clicking from there.”
The Indians not only outscored the Redskins 6-1 in the second period, they also outshot the ‘Skins 17-6.
“It tough to put a finger on it, but it seemed like they lost their focus,” Sherno said. “They had a couple of chances early, but their goalie made some saves.
“They did do a good job defensively. We’ve been working on taking it wide, but we kept bringing it back to the middle. That’s where they want you to bring it, and we played right into that tonight. It’s kind of disappointing, and I know they’re disappointed too.”
McCarthy (Dusellier assist) scored in the opening minutes of the final period, and the Redskins’ James Rambo (Steven Luongo assist) connected on a power play goal to close out the scoring.“We lost three in a row, so it was nice getting a win here on the road,” Sommers said. “Hopefully, next week we’ll have another strong game against William Tennent, and we’ll see what happens from there.”
While the Redskins saw their record drop to 2-5-2, the Indians evened their mark at 4-4.
“Both teams were very equal,” Coopersmith said. “I said, ‘They’re a good team, and they’re beatable,’ but you guys have got to play your game.
“I told them we have a good enough team to play better than we had been playing. I said, ‘If we play as a team and play together, we’ll be fine.’”
SOUDERTON 8, NESHAMINY 3
Souderton 1 6 1-8
Neshaminy 1 1 1-3
1st Period
S-13:15 Corrie Sommers (Michael McCarthy)
N-5:31 Shan Thomas (Jordan Ducko, D.J. Bell)
2nd Period
S-14:35 Kyle Dusellier (Brian McMullin)
S-12:12 Alex Nyman (Brian McMullin)
N-9:14 Jordan Ducko (D.J. Bell, Shane Thomas)
S-8:31 Collin Montgomery (Brian McMullin)
S-5:06 Corre Sommers (Michael McCarthy)
S-3:18 Michael McCarthy (James Tierney)
S-0:20 Ryan Uchniat (Michael McCarthy, James Tierney)
3rd Period
S-13:35 Michael McCarthy (Kyle Dusellier)
N-9:46 James Rambo (Steven Luongo)
Goaltending Summary
S-Drew Politsky Shots 27, Saves 24, Goals 3
N-Connor McWilliams Shots 34, Saves 26, Goals 8
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