BENSALEM 4, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 3 (OT)
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — On the 82nd anniversary of the aerial attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it would have been fitting to have the winning goal in the Bensalem-Plymouth Whitemarsh ice hockey game scored by a young man ready to join the United States military.
In fact, two-thirds of the way through the third period, that young man – Tim Murphy - scored a goal that put PW in front 3-2. But it didn’t end there. Two and a half minutes later, a Bensalem goal tied the game.
And then Alex Hood happened after the game entered overtime. The leading scorer in the American Division tallied his second goal of the game with 1:38 gone in the five-minute overtime to give Owls the 4-3 victory and wole possession of first place.
Hood took a pass from teammate Alex Bazylevich on the left side of the ice and fired the puck past PW goalie Julian Lucks to end it.
“We’re like a dynamic duo out there,” Hood said of his association with Bazylevich. “We just find each other out there and make plays happen.
“I’m really close with him. It was cool to hook up with him on the overtime winner.”
The two goals scored by Hood give him 22 for the season in only six games. That figures out to be roughly 3.7 goals per game all adding up to around 45 goals in the 12-game league schedule.
So how did that game-winner come about?
“I was skating up the ice,” Hood said. “I saw (Bazylevich) skating up, hit him with the sauce (the puck).
“All three of their kids were puck-watching, so I went back door and he found me like he always does and I put it in the back of the net.”
Sound like a pretty complicated move overall. Something the coach drew up?
“That was all ad libbed on their part,” said PW coach Bill Hood, Alex’s father. “I wish I could take credit for that but that was all them.”
As the score indicates, it was a battle throughout. Both teams were fighting for the top spot in the league standings.
“I knew they were a good team,” coach Hood said. “I knew it was going to be a close game.
“I thought we definitely hung with them. It was a gutsy effort on our part to come back.”
PW coach Dave Cox was philosophical about the loss.
“Not a fun way (to lose a game) but it’s a battle,” he said. “First time seeing this team and it’s going to be a fun, exciting season.
“It’s a good team. It’s an exciting team to watch and play. Good competition for us. We’re really looking forward to that next game.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh broke out first, scoring with only 55 seconds elapsed in the first period. David Brannigan scored the unassisted goal.
But the Owls came right back. Alex Hood notched his first goal of the game at the 2:21 mark off assists from Cole Salayda and Brandon Stahl.
The score stayed at 1-1 for the rest of the first period and most of the second. That is until Jason Segal scored with only 44 seconds remaining in the second period to give PW the 2-1 lead going into the final stanza.
Salayda got Bensalem back even with his goal at the 4:47 mark, tying it up at 2-2.
Then that young man with the military future, Murphy, scored to put the Colonials on top 3-2 with 10:27 elapsed and only 6:33 remaining until the end of regulation. A win was within PW’s grasp.
However, Lucas Gonzalez had other ideas, knotting the score once again with assists from Justin Rapone and Alex Hood and sending the game into overtime.
And that is where it ended. Alex Bazylevich hooked up with Alex Hood to finish it off.
Bensalem 4, Plymouth Whitemarsh 3
Bensalem 1 0 2 1 — 4
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 1 1 0 — 3
First period: 1, David Brannigan PW (unassisted) 0:55; 2, Alex Hood B (Cole Salayda, Brandon Stahl) 2:21.
Second period: 3, Jason Segal PW (Tim Murphy, Daniel Molony) 16:16.
Third period: 4, Salayda B (Lucas Gonzalez, Hood) 4:47; 5, Murphy PW (John Zawislak, Molony) 10:27; 6, Gonzalez B (Justim Rapone, Hood) 12:59.
Overtime: 7, Hood B (Alex Bazylevich) 1:38.
Shots: B 25, PW 35. Saves: Ricky Gonzalez (B) 32, Julian Lucks (PW) 21.
- Log in to post comments
