North Penn defeated Council Rock South to capture the program’s first ever Flyers Cup. Ben Reese recaps the action. Photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports' SHSHL ICE HOCKEY GALLERIES.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — All it took was a short-handed goal, an aggressive offense in the third period, and North Penn accomplished something for the first time in its 50-year history of scholastic ice hockey.
Cole Pluck netted the short-handed tally to open the third period, which led to four more goals for the Knights and enabled them to get an 8-2 victory over Council Rock South. That bought the first Flyers Cup championship for North Penn in it hockey history.
The Knights had a tenuous 3-2 lead entering the third period. Things didn’t look good when the referee whistled a North Penn player for a foul and put him in the penalty box.
But that all changed at the 5:36 mark of the period. Pluck, with an assist from James Boyle, skated in and beat Rock South goalie Trey Prozzillo.
That goal upped North Penn's lead to 4-2 and opened the flood gates. The Knights tallied four more goals and put the Flyers Cup title away.
“It was huge,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis of the short-handed marker. “It opened everything up.”
It was obvious the Knights weren’t trying to kill off the penalty. They were attacking.
“We needed a goal,” Pluck said. “They were pressing up and their ‘D’ just stepped up and I went around him.
“We like to play offense on the kill. If we can get to the middle, just go for the goal.”
Pluck’s goal was followed by a goal from Sam Norton. That upped the lead to 5-2 and kept things rolling.
“The short-handed goal was big,” Norton said. “It gave us energy and really defeated them.
“The boys were buzzing there (in the third period). We got a few big hits, a few big plays and before, we knew it, momentum was ours and we just drew on it.”
That was exactly what Vaitis wanted.
“We’ve been working on that,” he said of being aggressive in short-handed situations. “Some teams try to be really aggressive on that, and we tried to capitalize on it. That’s exactly what we did on Cole’s goal.”
It obviously didn’t turn into an enjoyable evening for CR South coach Joe Houk. He’s gotten his teams close but not close enough.
“We played catch-up the whole entire game,” Houk said. “They were the better team tonight. We ran out of gas.
“We gave it everything we had. We’ve been saying for the last three, four years that we’ll be back next year but we just can’t get over the hump.”
What happened in that third period?
“Two shots on goal,” Houk said. “We had 15 shots in the second period and then we couldn’t generate offense.
“They played some of their best hockey coming down through the playoffs and then the Flyers Cup. Then we just ran out of gas.”
That’s one thing North Penn appeared to have plenty of. The Knights fell behind very early in the first period when Rock South’s Jake Weiner beat NP goalie Andy Norton with only 54 seconds gone in the opening stanza.
But North Penn rallied. One minute and two seconds later, Pluck scored his first goal of the game to knot the score at 1-1. And almost five minutes later, Sam Norton untied the game.
North Penn only had nine shots on goal to 12 for the Golden Hawks. But the Knights had the lead — for a short time.
At the 3:34 mark of the second period, Weiner netted his second goal to tie the game again, this time at 2-2. It stayed that way for slightly more than two minutes before Danny Cabrales untied it and gave NP the lead for good.
Then came the third period. Pluck’s short-handed marker and Sam Norton’s goal got everything rolling in the right direction for the Knights.
Nolan Shingle notched the next goal on the power play. It was followed by goals from Declan Leahy and Luke Haftel to blow the game wide open.
Sam Norton was named the MVP of the Flyers Cup and winner of the Bobby Clarke Award. He was also named to the all-tournament team along with teammates Pluck, Boyle and his brother Andy Norton with the Golden Hawks’ Jake Weiner and Jake Maurer rounding out the team.
The Knights will travel to Pittsburgh to face Erie Cathedral Prep for the Pennsylvania AA Championship on Saturday.
North Penn 8, Council Rock South 2
North Penn 2 1 5 — 8
CR South 1 1 0 — 2
First Period: 1, Jake Weiner CRS (Wesley Mallon) 0:54; 2, Cole Pluck NP (James Boyle) 1:56; 3, Sam Norton NP (Boyle) 6:50.
Second period: 4, Weiner CRS (Jonah Weston, Jagger Smith) 3:34; 5, Danny Cabrales NP (Declan Leahy) 5:56.
Third period: 6, Pluck NP (Boyle) 5:36 SH; 7, S. Norton NP (Pluck) 8:40; 8, Nolan Shingle NP (Pluck) 13:14 PP; 9, Leahy NP (unassisted) 14:05; 10, Luke Haftel NP (Derek Lugara) 14:40.
Shots: NP 30, CRS 34. Saves: Andy Norton (NP) 32, Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 22.
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