Abington defeated PW in a shootout. Ben Reese recaps all the action. PW/Abington photos provided courtesy of Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — If you have been attuned to the sports world the past few years, you have heard of the transfer portal.
NCAA football teams have been bulking up their rosters with players who began their careers at other institutions.
There is nothing like that for high school sports. But student-athletes can transfer between schools on a much more limited basis.
One such transfer came up big on Wednesday night for Abington in a Suburban High School Hockey League game against Plymouth Whitemarsh at Hatfield Ice.
Patrick Stelacio scored four goals for the Ghosts to lead them to a 9-7 victory over the Colonials.
Patrick started his scholastic hockey career in the Abington school district but then transferred to Roman Catholic High School in the Philadelphia Catholic League. However, for his junior year, he transferred back to Abington.
And Ken Brzozowski, the Ghosts’ ice hockey coach, for one, is very happy that he did.
“Patrick is a special player,” Brzozowski said. “His brother Joe plays for the team as well.
“I watched Patrick grow up and play middle school hockey for Abington. I was really disappointed when he decided to go play at Roman Catholic. The fact that he came back this year (is) a huge addition to the team.”
It was a big decision for Patrick but one which he is glad he made.
“Roman just wasn’t for me,” he said. “I wanted to play with my brother at Abington.
“I’ve got a lot of friends here. I thought it was the right move,”
So, obviously, did his brother.
“Any time you get to play with your brother, it’s a special feeling,” Joe said. “(He scores) four goals and the all-around player that he is, it’s just great to have him on the team.”
Patrick actually had a hat trick in the first period. He tallied the first goal of the game and the final two markers of the 
opening stanza. He added a fourth goal in the third period.
What kind of player is Patrick?
“He’s a multi-positional type of player,” said Brzozowski. “I can place him anywhere. He’s really that kind of X factor for us this year.
“We put him on a line where he was going to get more help and support. This was the outcome of that.”
In a game where 16 goals were scored, it stands to reason that there would be several players with multiple goals. And there were.
For the winning Ghosts, Matthew Kramer netted a hat trick in the second period alone. PW’s Luke Weikel led all scorers for the game with five goals.
Neither Brzozowski nor Colonial coach Josh Aiello really expected the type of game this turned out to be.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Brzozowski said. “We knew it was going to be a close game.
“I thought we had control of the game and then they came back and scored three goals there. They actually scored those three goals against our first line.”
The three goals he referred to came in the third period. Trailing 8-3, PW scored three straight goals in the span of 35 seconds to make the game very close at 8-6.
“I didn’t expect a shootout but you have two teams that are able to put the puck in the net,” Aiello said. “I didn’t expect this, but this is not a surprise that there were 16 goals scored in the game tonight.”
Six goals were scored in the first period alone. And, as stated, Patrick had three of them and Weikel had two. The lone goal scored by someone other than those two came from Abington’s Sam Paulik.
Abington continued the goal onslaught in the second period, tallying four more. Kramer notched his hat trick and Joe Stelacio added a goal for the Ghosts while Weikel had the lone PW goal.
The Colonials scored the first three goals of the final period. In fact, Danny Smith was involved in all three for PW.
Smith scored an unassisted goal at 6:16 of the period. Weikel scored at 6:30 and Timothy Murphy scored at 6:51 with Smith assisting on those two tallies.
Patrick Stelacio finished up his scoring at 7:22 of the third and Weikel netted his fifth goal at 15:50.
In the final total, Weikel finished with a five-point night for the Colonials and Aidan Keogh had four points. Patrick and Joe Stelacio each had four-point games as did Kramer for the Ghosts.
Abington 9, Plymouth Whitemarsh 7
PW 2 1 4 — 7
Abington 4 4 1 — 9
First period: 1, Patrick Stelacio A (Griffin Carpenter) 2:04; 2, Luke Weikel PW (Matthew Flynn, Aidan Keogh) 3:09; 3, Sam Paulik A (unassisted) 7:34; 4, Weikel PW (Conlan Carpenter, Keogh) 10:03 PP; 5, P. Stelacio A (unassisted) 12:22; 6, P. Stelacio A (unassisted) 12:41.
Second period: 7, Weikel PW (unassisted) 0:28 PP; 8, Matthew Kramer A (Joe Stelacio) 2:12 SH; 9, J. Stelacio A (Kramer, Brian Murdoch) 8:50; 10, Kramer A (J. Stelacio, Paulik) 12:04; 11, Kramer A (J. Stelacio, Paulik) 16:39.
Third period: 12, Danny Smith PW (unassisted) 6:16; 13, Weikel PW (Smith, Keogh) 6:30; 14, Timothy Murphy PW (Smith, Keogh) 6:51; 15, P. Stelacio A (Ian Heydt) 7:22; 16, Weikel PW (Isaac Mishkin) 15:50.
Shots: PW 32, A 34. Saves: Kolton Galie (PW) 10; Christopher Maslij (PW) 15; Ben Panella (A) 25.
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