Ben Reese recaps all the action in Wednesday’s showdown between two of the SHSHL’s elite teams. Photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos. CLICK HERE to view Suburban One Sports' ICE HOCKEY GALLERIES.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 6, PENNRIDGE 5 (OT)
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — You knew it had to end like this. It was like it was meant to be. Tied after three periods, going to overtime.
Neither team scored through the first 4:57 of the overtime period before Council Rock South’s Jeremy Rayher beat his friend and Pennridge goalie JacobWinton to give the Golden Hawks the 6-5 victory.
The ironic part of the whole thing is that the two are teammates on their club team.
“He's my goalie," Rayher said of Winton.
Until Wednesday night when things changed.
“I played it like he’s a regular goalie,” Rayher said, “Made a move and tucked it in.”
CR South coach Joe Houk enjoyed that winning goal.
“Jeremy made that beautiful move on their goaltender,” Houk said. “It was really awesome.”
But it was the action that led up to that moment that made this a game to enjoy.
The Hawks took a 1-0 lead after one period and then scored the first goal in the second period. Pennridge came roaring back, scoring two shorthanded goals by Shane Dachowski to tie the score.
“Those two shorties really killed us,” Houk said of the short-handed goals. “Nobody ever scores shorties against us.”
Rock South netted the next goal for a 3-2 lead, which didn’t last long. The Rams once again came back, this time taking the lead themselves with two straight markers before the Hawks tied the score again at 4-4.
In the third period, the Golden Hawks grabbed the lead again, scoring at the 5:01 mark. However, once again, the Rams evened the score slightly more than six minutes later, sending the game into overtime.
Overtime consists of three-on-three hockey. Unless something happens.
And it did.
A Council Rock South player was called for a holding penalty and was sent to the penalty box.
But instead of it becoming three-on-two hockey, it becomes four-on-three hockey with Pennridge getting the extra skater.
“They (the officials) had no choice but to call that penalty because it was a penalty,” Houk explained. “I told them (his players) ‘Don’t sit back, because if that puck goes out of the zone, it’s a one-on-one or a two-on-two, it’s not four-on-three.’
“We looked like the ones on the power play. We had three different opportunities before they even had one. We persevered and ended up on top.”
The second period could have killed Rock South. Even though the Golden Hawks scored three times, Pennridge scored four.
It was the play of Shane Dachowski that brought the Rams back into the game. He tallied the two shorthanded goals and added a third to tie the score at 3-3 before James Rush gave Pennridge the short-lived lead until Jake Weiner knotted the game at four for the Hawks.
Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna had nothing but praise for his players but singled out Dachowski for his efforts.
“He’s gotten better at controlling his emotions,” Montagna said of Dachowski. “He knows on this team that he has to.
“In these situations, we cannot afford to lose him. In games like this, he’s always there.
“He always shows up. He puts the puck in the net. It doesn’t matter how the other teams are keying on him, he always finds a way.”
Rayher and his teammates knew how important this game was.
“We let a little go during the second period,” he said. “Coming into the third period, I think we just got more hyped because they’re our rivals, so we just pushed a little harder and then won in OT.
“Back to March ‘23, they beat us in the Flyers Cup, so we wanted it really bad. I think it took all our heart to win this and we wanted it more.”
David Filippov got things started for Rock South. He beat Winton at 13:50 of the first period with assists from Peter Pereborow and Jake Weiner on the power play.
Weiner added the second goal in the second period before Dachowski notched his two shorthanded tallies. Jordan Sarne and Weiner netted the two other Hawks goals while Dachowski finished off his hat trick and Rush added the tying marker.
In the third, it was Jonah Weston for South and Nick Young for the Rams. Then they headed for overtime.
For 4:57 it was a stalemate. Then Rayher beat his club buddy, and it was over.
CR South 5, Pennridge 4
CR South 1 3 1 1 — 6
Pennridge 0 4 1 0 — 5
First period: 1, David Filippov CRS (Peter Pereborow, Jake Weiner) 13:50 PP.
Second period: 2, Weiner CRS (Pereborow) 1:23; 3, Shane Dachowski P (unassisted) 3:10 SH; 4, Dachowski P (Jared Garber) 7:02 SH; 5, Jordan Sarne CRS (Jeremy Rayher, Pereborow) 8:37 PP; 6, Dachowski P (Joshua Kelly, Landan Bishop) 10:52; 7, James Rush P (Kelly) 12:06; 8, Weiner CRS (Wesley Mallon) 14:40 PP.
Third period: 9, Jonah Weston CRS (Sarne) 5:01; 10, Nick Young P (unassisted) 12:15.
Overtime: 11, Rayher CRS (Filippov) 4:57.
Shots: CRS 47, P 38. Saves: Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 33, Jacob Winton (P) 41.
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