First Game Rivalry
By Taylor Nyman, Intern
Souderton Area High School
The SHSHL season officially got underway on Thursday with a first game rivalry between Souderton and North Penn. North Penn topped Souderton by a score of 8-4.
Less than ten seconds into the affair, Souderton went down a man with a quick penalty and seemed to stay that way the whole first period. Five of their eight penalties came in the first. North Penn couldn’t capitalize on the penalties but ended the period up 2-0 with scoring from Dan Corrado and Brandon Fishman.
The second period was a little more even with both teams trading goals. Souderton scored two quick goals, from Rodney Anders and Travis Mckay within the first few minutes of play. After that, it was up and down the ice between the teams until North Penn went on a run scoring three unanswered goals from Dave Heggan, Jim McKelvie, and Caleb Witzaney.
It looked as if North Penn was going to end the period up 6-3, but with one second left Kyle Dusellier scored an unassisted goal, his second of the night, to give Souderton some energy going into the third.
That energy, however, was dashed a little after a quick goal from Corrado for his second of the game. A few minutes later Souderton received another penalty, and this time North Penn used it to go up by four with a power play goal from Witzaney, also his second goal. This goal stood as the final score.
“We jumped on them early, and I think that took some wind out of their sail,” North Penn head coach Kevin Vaitis said of his team’s play.
“Looking to win every game that we can,” is coach Vaitis’ goal for his team this year. He also hopes to win the league championship, and his second goal is “to get into the Flyer’s Cup and looking to win the Flyer’s Cup.”
Last year’s young team ended on a high note, and coach Vaitis hopes to continue this year. With several returning players, coach Vaitis is excited to see some of the younger players on his team like Caleb Witzaney and Christian Ahn and also goaltender Cody Matthews.
He also liked how well the defense played in the offensive zone getting “lots of shots from the defense.” In order to improve his squad, coach Vaitis wants to work on turnovers in the defensive zone.
With new personnel on the bench for Souderton, head coach Matt Montagna and assistant coach Richard Curtis just want “this team to compete all the time and just get better and continue to get better.”
This Souderton team is very young with only three seniors in the lineup - Kyle Dusellier, Travis Mckay, and Jim Tierney. Several first-time varsity players were thrown into the mix as well.
Coach Montagna is taking this season “game by game,” hoping the team will continue to work hard and improve.
“They didn’t stop. They didn’t quit,” he said.
The team’s work ethic is their strength coach Montagna explained.
“Their weakness is their speed, the speed of the game,” the Indians’ coach said.
He went on to say that getting up to speed with the game will come and that “they need to stay out of the penalty box.” The Souderton team played a little scattered at times, but after all the first period penalties, coach Montagna just told them to “calm down” and it seemed to work.
Next up for North Penn is a League game against William Tennent. This game is set for Oct. 14, at 7:20 pm. Souderton plays the following night at Warwick against Central Bucks South at 6:50 pm.
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