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By Ben Reese
WARWICK — Luck has a lot to do with ice hockey.
A team can get a lucky bounce and gain a win, or a player can pick up a lucky goal.
Both things happened to Council Rock South and Blaize Pepe on Wednesday night at Revolution Ice Garden.
Pepe got a lucky bounce and scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lift the Golden Hawks to a 5-4 decision over Central Bucks South.
However, neither Pepe nor CR South coach Joe Houk would classify the victory as lucky. They had to work very hard for it.
Did that luck come in the overtime?
“It was three-on-three,” Pepe explained. “There was a lot of space on the ice.
“I missed the first one (shot) but we stuck with it. We got it to the point. A lucky bounce and it went to me, a wide-open net, and I put it in. It feels great.”
Houk was philosophical.
“A couple of the goals were lucky but the harder you work, the luckier you get,” he said. “And you get rewarded for it.”
In that overtime?
“I think we were working hard,” said Houk. “I told the guys to just go after the puck because they (CB South) were dead tired. We ended up getting a lucky bounce.”
For those who don’t know what overtime is in an ice hockey game, the teams play three a side for five minutes. The first goal wins the game.
Titans coach Shaun McGinty has an appreciation for overtime hockey.
“The overtime was back and forth,” he said. “Three-on-three is awesome.
“We had our chances too. I consider the overtime as a wash, and they found the back of the net first. We had just as many chances as they had and didn’t bury the puck.”
The third period set things up for the overtime. CB South jumped off to an early 1-0 lead in the first period and then added three more in the second to one for the Hawks.
Going into the third period with a 4-1 lead, it appeared that the Titans had the game well in hand. But it turned out they didn’t.
The Golden Hawks scored three times in the final period while holding CB South scoreless to tie the game at 4-4. Try as they might, neither team could break the tie in what was left of the third.
With 3:36 left in the overtime period, Pepe got some help from his teammates. Kevin Koles and Daniel Vergules worked together to get the puck to Pepe and he beat CB South coach Jason Magaruh for the game-winner.
A lot hinged on that third period for CR South. How did they turn it around?
“(CB South) came out and they played hard and they played with energy, and they kind of caught our guys off guard,” Houk said. “We had to buckle down and just stick with it.
“Finally in the third period, we just changed a couple things around. Momentum swung our way and they started to get tired.”
Pepe agreed with his coach.
“We were down 4-1 going into the third but our team is resilient,” he said. “We knew we were going to come back.
“We just stuck to our game. The bounces didn’t go our way, but at the end of the day, we were just the better team in that game.”
McGinty knew that CR South was coming on in the third period.
“They came on heavy,” McGinty said. “We were getting outworked.
“We were losing one-on-one battles. They controlled the last seven minutes of the third period going into the overtime.
“They built that momentum. They capitalized on outworking us in the third period.”
In the first period, the Titans put the only goal on the scoreboard. Aydin Thierolf banged in a rebound of a Adam Cusick shot with 6:19 gone.
The second period belonged to CB South. Jake Stepp, Aidan Gaffney and DJ Lindenmuth all tallied goals for the Titans to offset the lone Hawk marker from Michael Constantini.
But in the third, CR South came roaring back. Julian Wagenmann, Koles and Sam Cherkassky all hit the back of the net to tie the game.
Then came the overtime.
“We don’t see overtime much,” said Houk. “There’s nothing pretty in overtime.”
Unless you win.
CR South 5, CB South 4
CB South 1 3 0 0 — 4
CR South 0 1 3 1 —5
First period: 1, Aydin Thierolf CBS (Adam Cusick) 6:19.
Second period: 2, Jake Stepp CBS (Brad Cannon, Colin Mendham) 2:22 PP; 3, Michael Constantini CRS (Daniel Vergules, Julian Wagenmann) 11:21; 4, Aidan Gaffney CBS (Cusick) 15:11 PP; 5, DJ Lindenmuth CBS (unassisted) 16:11.
Third period: 6, Wagenmann CRS (Chase Tovsky, Kevin Koles) 3:16 PP; 7, Koles CRS (unassisted) 7:26; 8, Sam Cherkassky CRS (Constantini, Blaize Pepe) 10:43.
Overtime: 9, B. Pepe CRS (Koles,Vergules) 3:36.
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