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By Scott Huff
WARMINSTER – The Council Rock North Indians and the Central Bucks East Patriots played rare back-to-back games in Suburban High School Hockey League action.
The final outcome was the same – a Rock North win. However, the road to victory was quite different for the unbeaten Indians (9-0-1) over the Patriots (5-6).
On December 3rd – in a game played at the Warwick Ice Arena – Rock North edged the Pats by a 5-4 margin. But on Wednesday night, in a contest played at the Face-Off Circle – the Indians battled to a 5-0 victory.
“We told the players that we need to develop more of a killer instinct,” said Council Rock North head coach Eric Tye. “The last game with East, we didn’t win the battle along the boards in the third period. But we did that tonight.
“We started to fore check better in the second period,” added Tye. “And that seemed to turn the game around for us.”Rock North had taken an early 1-0 first period lead on a goal at the 11:05 mark. Tim Kroh was assisted on his goal by both Thomas Elmer and Patrick Cunningham.
Brad Chleboski opened the second period with a goal at the 14:07 mark to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Both Max Freeman and Alex Leininger assisted his goal.
A second period flurry of three goals – scored in a 2:55 time span – put the game out of reach for CB East. The goal scorers for Rock North were Elmer, Freeman, and Kroh.
“I think that we developed more of a killer instinct tonight,” said Council Rock North captain Scott Titus. “We got up on the early, and we didn’t let up.”
The third period was scoreless – and the result was a quiet shutout by Rock North goaltender Jessie Goldberg who stopped all 23 shots by the Patriots.
“We wanted Jessie to look good and get the shutout,” smiled Pat Cunningham. “We wanted that zero, and we all worked hard to get it.”“Jessie is an outstanding goaltender,” said Tye. “He is going to keep us in every game.”
CB East coach Ken Latchum was less than impressed by the play of his Patriots.
“We have to learn how to just shoot the puck and get some rebounds,” said Latchum. “We didn’t press them hard enough. We were too fancy, and we’re not a fancy team.”
The win kept the Indians tied for first in the SHSHL with rival Council Rock South with identical 9-0-1 records.
“I admit that I look at the standings to see how they are doing,” said Titus. “They give us something to play for, that’s for sure.”
“Playing them is always something to look forward to,” agreed Cunningham. “They are good – but so are we.”
“People always want to compare us to Council Rock South,” said Tye. “We win by three or four goals, but they seem to win by six or seven goals.
“But we still must be doing okay,” continued Tye. “We still have a zero in the loss column.”
The lone blemish on the perfect season for both North and South game on Thanksgiving Eve when the Indians and the Hawks played to a 2-2 tie.
CB East 0 0 0 - 0
CR North 1 4 0 - 5
Shots On Goal – CB East – 23
CR North – 26
Scoring:
1st Period:
CR North – Tim Kroh (Thomas Elmer and Patrick Cunningham) @ 11:05
2nd Period:
CR North – Brad Chleboski (Max Freeman and Alex Leininger) @ 14:07
CR North – Thomas Elmer (unassisted) @ 9:05
CR North – Max Freeman (Mark McDonald and Brad Chleboski) @ 7:46
CR North – Tim Kroh (Scott Titus and Steven Bullard)
3rd Period:
None
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