North Penn fell to Downingtown East in overtime in a Flyers Cup Class AA quarterfinal game on Tuesday. To view game action photos, please visit the Photo Gallery.
A goal off a scramble in front of the North Penn goal with 33 seconds left in overtime completed a late Downingtown East rally and ended the Knights’ season in heartbreaking fashion in a Flyers Cup Class AA quarterfinal game Tuesday at The Rink at Warwick.
“Everybody was running on fumes, we were 35 seconds away from end of the overtime period,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “They threw the puck in front, and it was just kind of sitting there, and we went to try to clear it out from behind the goalie and I think we ended up hitting it into our own net. It was an unlucky bounce, but that’s part of the game.
“We had two posts in overtime and one in the third period that we just missed. They got the bounces tonight. That’s just part of the game.”
The second-seeded Knights, who trailed heading into the third period, received a goal from Doug Barber (Christian Ahn, Matt Stella assists) and an unassisted tally from Rich Feher on a nice solo effort to take a 4-3 lead. But an unlucky deflection resulted in David DeFazio’s second goal of the game to knot the score at 4-4 with just over two minutes left in the game.
“They took a shot that went off our defenseman’s stick, up over everybody, over the goalie, and it just dropped in the net,” Vaitis said.
The two teams traded goals in the first period, with the Knights scoring and the seventh-seeded Cougars responding shortly thereafter. Junior defenseman Caleb Witzaney put the Knights on the scoreboard first, and DeFazio knotted the score two minutes later. Jeremy Snyder (Stella assist) made it 2-1 with 39 seconds left in the opening stanza, but Downingtown East’s Joshua Collins scored off the ensuing faceoff to make it a 2-2 game after 15 minutes of play.
Geordie Lukas scored the only goal of the second period, giving the Cougars a 3-2 lead and setting up the dramatic third period and overtime.
“Lukas is a real stud back there, he’s right up there with Witzaney, a real playmaker for them,” Vaitis said. “There were some times during the game that him and Witzaney had some one-on-one battles where he tried to beat Caleb, but Caleb stood his ground.”
Downingtown East advances to face third seed Council Rock South – the lone SHSHL team remaining in the Class AA tournament – at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Warwick.
The Knights end the season at 15-6-5 overall (11-3-3 for second place in the SHSHL Continental Division). North Penn graduates just four players off the roster – forwards Barber and Ryan Merk, and defensemen Feher and Ted Stoler.
“The coaches are so proud of the kids, they had a great season,” Vaitis said. “They played a great game tonight, they left everything out on the ice, they have nothing to be ashamed of.
“For some of the guys that were seniors, they’ve been three-year varsity players. We been playing since the beginning of September and the guys continue to battle, continue to practice and work hard. The coaches are so proud of the efforts they put out there. This was, I think, only the second time in North Penn history that we were a number-two seed in the Flyers Cup. For them to accomplish that with some of the bumps in the road we had this year is just fantastic.”
Downingtown East 2 1 1 1 – 5
North Penn2 0 2 0 – 4
Scoring
First period
NP – Caleb Witzaney (unassisted), 8:10.
DE – David DeFazio (Tom Tapper), 6:00.
NP – Jeremy Snyder (Matt Stella), SH, 0:39.
DE – Joshua Collins (unassisted), 0:33.
Second period
DE – Geordie Lukas (Joe Morinelli), 9:37.
Third period
NP – Doug Barber (Christian Ahn, Stella), 13:46.
NP – Rich Feher (unassisted), 8:30.
DE – DeFazio (unassisted), 2:08.
Overtime
DE – Ryan Knight (unassisted), 0:33.
Shots on goal: Downingtown East 25, North Penn 35.
Saves: Chris Heckman (DE) 21; Cody Matthews (NP) 30.
- Log in to post comments
