North Penn’s reunited first line propelled the Knights to a 7-1 win over Pennridge on Wednesday.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- North Penn got the band back together.
The Knights reunited their first line of Alex Peterson, Jake Heckenberger and Derek Heckler Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice. Pennridge would rather have heard a different tune.
That line scored all of North Penn's goals in the 7-1 victory and recorded all the points. Heckenberger notched a hat trick and Peterson and Heckler each contributed two goals.
But that's not all. Peterson had four assists, Heckler three and Heckenberger two.
To top it off, Peterson's two goals gave him 30 for the season. The four assists and six total points bring his season point total to 57.
"It's very nice to see Alex, Jake and Derek playing together again," North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis said. "They're very talented and we're very fortunate to have them play together for the last two years.
"It's very nice to watch them out on the ice. When you get all three of them out there together, they can really make things happen."
That "happening" started early. Heckenberger scored his first goal with only 29 seconds gone in the first period, using assists from Peterson and Heckler.
Forty-one seconds later, Heckler was credited with a goal. Pennridge goalie Mike Weaver made the initial save on a shot, the puck shot straight up in the air, bounced off a Pennridge player and into the net. Heckler had last touched it for the Knights and was credited with the goal.
Heckenberger, for one, was glad to be back where he played last year.
"It feels good to be back playing with my linemates," he said. "We've been playing together for a long time, since we were little on club teams."
But it was those club teams that had kept the line apart. This was only the fourth game Heckenberger has played with the Knights.
"With my club team (the Philadelphia Revolution) it was hard to make a commitment," Heckenberger said, "but now my season's coming to an end so it's easier to play both teams."
Vaitis appreciates the return of his high-scoring winger.
"At the beginning of the season, he was playing for a high end travel team and he wasn't sure if he could play school and travel," the coach said. "We're fortunate that he was able to make it all work and play the second half of the season with us. We had a pretty potent offense before, but adding Jake is a pretty big lift for us."
Unfortunately for the Rams, they ran into a buzz saw with the reunited line.
"Going into the game, that was something we had talked about," Ram coach Matt Stabile said about the line of Peterson, Heckenberger and Heckler. "We couldn't seem to get it reeled in.
"They're an extremely talented line. Obviously, the numbers don't lie."
Oh, those numbers. With North Penn holding a 2-0 lead after only 1:10 had been played, things didn't look good for Pennridge.
But the Rams didn't wilt. They came right back in the first period with a goal from Josh Finlayson, off a feed from brother Joe, to cut North Penn's lead in half.
But then those numbers Stabile was talking about came roaring out. North Penn scored four unanswered goals in the second period and one in the third to wrap up the win.
Peterson opened and closed the second stanza with goals. Heckenberger and Heckler added the two middle scores for the Knights.
Heckenberger finished up the goal scoring in the third. He completed his hat trick with an unassisted goal on the power play only 46 seconds into the period.
"When they get possession of the puck, they know where the other two guys are going to be," said Vaitis. "They know where they need to move to get open for the guy who's got the puck."
For Heckenberger, it goes beyond the ice.
"We have chemistry because not only are we good on the ice but we're good friends off it too," he said. "We know where each other is going to be all the time."
All but lost in the shuffle was the standout effort of Knight goalie John Roberts, who turned away 30 of 31 shots he faced.
Wednesday's loss leaves Stabile with some work to do with the playoffs coming up.
"Moving forward, there's things we're going to need to work on to keep them from doing what they did to us tonight," he said. "We let them dictate the play.
"We got out of the game that we needed to play. They controlled the game. They played an excellent game and we didn't have the answer tonight."
Right.
North Penn 7, Pennridge 1
Pennridge 1 0 0 – 1
North Penn 2 4 1 – 7
First period: 1. Jake Heckenberger NP (Alex Peterson, Derek Heckler) 0:24; 2. Heckler NP (Peterson) 1:10; 3. Josh Finlayson P (Joe Finlayson) 8:05.
Second period: 4. Peterson NP (Heckenberger, Heckler) 1:50; 5. Heckenberger NP (Peterson) 7:43; 6. Heckler NP (Peterson, Heckenberger) 11:39 PP; 7. Peterson NP (Heckler) 12:22.
Third period: 8. Heckenberger NP (unassisted) 0:46 PP.
Shots: P -- 31, NP -- 33. Saves: Mike Weaver (P) 22, Luke Stranick (P) 4; John Roberts (NP) 30.
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