By Gordon Glantz
Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna has trained himself to neither dwell on victories nor losses too much.
However, the way last season ended, with a one-goal loss to Pennsbury in the Flyers Cup finals, still leaves him with a bitter taste in his mouth.
It was no disrespect to Pennsbury, which had a hot goalie and fell a goal short in the subsequent state final.
The angst was about his team just not playing up to its potential.
“I think they all knew we let one get away,” he said. “The only way we are going to do this is by doing things the right way. That’s thrown around a lot in sports, but it’s the truth.
“When I lose a game, I walk out of the rink and get in my car and forget about it. It’s done. It’s over. But I still can’t believe we lost that game. It will lay with me for as long as I coach. These kids had an opportunity to do something that most kids never have an opportunity to do. We let it get away.”
And the truth is that this year’s edition has been, in the most literal sense of the word, unbeatable.
Through 11 league games, Pennridge sat at a perfect 11-0 when 2023 ended. Other than fights to the finish with Council Rock South and (9-1) and CB South (7-2-1), most of the wins were easy.
All told, Montagna’s team came into the New Year having outscored opponents, 90-24.
Worried about complacency?
“I’m not,” he said. “From last year to this year, it has not even been a little bit of an issue. They’ve blown out the teams they should blow out and, against the top teams, they’ve shown up.
“I attribute that to a very bad taste from last year, knowing they let one get away from them. For the seniors, this is their shot at it, and they are playing like it. That is probably what I am happiest about.”
In reflection, the mindset of being defending state champions from the previous season cast a shadow over last year’s team.
Even though they nearly got back to the place to have a chance to repeat, there were inherent issues, like taking too many penalties, that came back to haunt the team.
“It was a struggle all year for me,” said Montagna. “I don’t think the players or myself really knew how hard it was going to be to come back from the previous year. I thought we spent a lot of last year not doing the right things.
“It’s a completely different feeling around the team this year. For myself and the players, we didn’t appreciate how hard it was going to be coming back last year. There was an expectation for them to be perfect and that’s an unattainable goal. It was hard for us to adjust to it.”
Top Heavy? Not Really
A look at the statistics would suggest that Pennridge is being carried by its top line of Andrew Savona (23 goals-22 assists-45 points), Kevin Pico (15-29-44) and Shane Dachowski (18-20-38).
Montagna says all is not as it appears.
In most games, he has willingly rolled four lines and three defensive pairs (with various JV guys rotating in as the sixth defenseman).
“I get irritated when we are looked as a one-line team, just because of the way those guys are scoring,” he said. “They do carry us, offensively, no doubt. But we have a bunch of guys on this team that have played varsity and have been through it, and they play great defense. You have to have that.”
Among those who have been chipping in with secondary scoring are James Rush (10 goals, 5 assists), Nolan Shaw (5 goals, 6 assists) and Ian Brouse (3 goals, 3 assists).
But all through the four lines and three defensive pairs, there has been responsible play in the team’s own end.
“Everybody wants to score goals, but I don’t care how good the top line is,” said Montagna. “If you don’t have the other lines keeping the puck out of your own net, you’re not going to win games. You’re not going beat good teams. I feel they get shortchanged in this whole deal. I keep hearing about how we are a one-line hockey team. It’s not true. If we were, I wouldn’t be playing four lines.”
However, this is not to lessen the impact of the top line, which is playing together for the second straight season.
“They are as dominant of a high school line as you will ever see,” said the coach. “What makes them so good is that they can beat you by moving the pucks and spreading out, but they can also beat you one-on-one. That’s what makes them so dangerous. It’s really hard to shut them down because of their ability to move the puck and to pass the puck and know where they are going to be on the ice. It is almost impossible to truly shut them down.”
And if skaters from other lines pick up the scoring as the season progresses, it will be seen as a bonus.
“It’s not that I’m not concerned about it, but it’s a formula that has worked so far,” said Montagna. “We are going to win because our top line scores and everyone else plays defense.”
On the Blue Line
Just as the forward lines fall into the place behind the top line, the defense has been all that that Montagna could expect.
As of the end of the end of the 2023 portion of the season, it has been hard to play run and gun with his high-scoring team.
“Our defense has been great,” said the coach. “I have five varsity defensemen and rotating guys at that swing spot.”
The top defenseman, logging a lot of minutes in all situations, is Colin Dachowski (6 goals, 10 assists).
Other stalwarts are Tyler Manto (1 goal, 6 assists), Nick Young (1 goal, 9 assists), John Mikuluch III (5 assists) and Jared Garber (3 assists).
“That’s been the biggest change for us, from last year to this year,” said Montagna, whose team will be back at with CB East (6-3) on Jan. 4. “We are way better, defensively. That’s a result of my top five guys returning.
“In high school hockey, they are just not enough defensemen. When you can return all of your defensemen from the previous year, and they are all already good players, that’s just a huge advantage we have from the previous year.”
The Backstop
None of it – the scoring, the depth, the defensive play, the improved discipline with taking bad penalties – would mean much without solid goaltending.
That is what Pennridge has been getting in Jacob Winton, who has started 10 of 11 games (1.90 goals against average, .923 save percentage, 6 shutouts).
“He came in this year knowing he is going to play every game, and he has been absolutely phenomenal,” said Montagna. “The style we want to play, where you want to just line up and try to outscore us, you can play that when you have a goalie as good as he has been back there.”
The Bottom Line
For many teams in the SHSHL, the goal is to be in contention for a playoff berth.
For others, it is an invite to the Flyers Cup.
For Pennridge, two years removed from a state title, it goes beyond that.
After last season, and the way it all ended, why not?
“The Flyers Cup and state title are the only things we care about,” he said, pointing to rematches with Council Rock (Feb. 7) and CB South (Feb. 14) as essential for seeding.
And while the wins over those two prime rivals were exciting and provided some breathing room, they were still December games.
“Those games mean nothing in the grand scheme of things,” said Montagna. “When you get to February and March, it doesn’t really matter what you did back then, but those two games told us that we were going in the right direction. We can do this. We have the players to do this. We have the formula to do this.”
Power Trios
While Pennridge top line makes up the top three scorers in the National Conference, three Council Rock South skaters – Kevin Koles (16 goals, 18 assists, 34 points), Jake Weiner (16 goals, 14 assists, 30 points) and Blaize Pepe (11 goals, 15 assists, 26 points) – were next at the close of the 2023 portion of the season.
Next were Souderton’s Maxwell Ryon (16 goals, 9 assists, 25 points), CB East’s Corey Kosick (15 goals, 6 assists, 21 points), Souderton’s Seth Grossman (12 goals, 8 assists) and CB South’s Gavin Nisenzon (12 goals, 8 assists).
It should be noted that Ryon has played 9 games while Kosick and Grossman have appeared in 8.
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