By GORDON GLANTZ
As clear as mud.
That’s what the playoff picture looked like as of Tuesday night when it came to the sixth and final spot in the SHSHL’s National Division.
CB East coach Jeff Mitchell thought his team had the slight inside track on Council Rock North.
Then again, he wasn’t 100 percent sure.
Just when it looked like tiebreakers would come into play, the picture cleared itself up.
When Pennridge defeated Council Rock North, 9-1, on Wednesday, dropping the Indians’ record to 3-5-1 in the league and 5-10-1-1 overall, it appeared to put the Patriots in the postseason.
Unofficially, anyway.
“Nothing official yet, but it looks very promising for us,” said CB East coach Jeff Mitchell, via text Thursday morning. “(I’m) 99 percent sure we are in.”
The reality, though, is that any postseason experience would be gravy for coach Mitchell’s young squad.
“I lost five seniors from last season, and all five were key role players and goal scorers and playmakers,” said Mitchell. “I would say that 60-70 percent of my team is under 16 years old.”
Mitchell went on to say his senior goalie Matt Mangiacapre (6-7, 3.21, .911 save percentage) is the team MVP.
“You can quote me on this,” said Mitchell. “I think he’s probably the best goalie in the league - consistency-wise and with his overall attitude.”
Mitchell will also be losing standout forward Stephen DeRugeris (7 goals, 5 assists in 11 games), who has missed a lot of games this season with nagging injuries but is back for the stretch run, and depth forward Christian Asimakopolous (1 goal) to graduation.
“I’m excited, more or less, for next year,” said Mitchell, himself a graduate of William Tennent who then ended up playing junior hockey at a high level and turned down a chance to go semi-pro for a team in Wyoming.
The youth of this year’s team has been evident in a season that made the coach feel like it was a rodeo out West.
The Patriots started off 4-0, then lost four straight, then went 3-0-1 in their next four before going 1-3 heading into the Pennridge game Thursday.
“We have kind of struggled to find an identity this year,” explained Mitchell, whose day job is as a construction estimator for a large general contractor. “We have just had a hard time - since the beginning of the year - keeping momentum up.”
Mitchell attributes a lot of the uneven play to youth. Even with some talented club-level underclassmen, all the ingredients are currently in place.
“We have a lot of skill and talent, but we’re lacking that size and physicality you need to be one of those top four teams in the league,” he said. “I go back to Pennsbury. On paper, they are not some crazy highly skilled team, but they have size and they have some age. The guys have also been playing together for a while.
“The same thing goes for Pennridge and Council Rock South, which has nine triple-A (travel players) and they all have size to them.”
On the positive side, the Patriots have rarely been blown out.
“We’ve been scoring goals, and the games that should be close are close games,” said Mitchell. “We are not like 10 steps behind anyone or anything.”
The leading scorer for the Patriots is Corey Kosick (15 goals, 10 assists), a junior.
“Whenever we are struggling, offensively, Corey just puts us on his back,” Mitchell said. “He is going to do whatever he can to take the puck 180 feet and put the puck in the back of the net on the other end. He is just natural goal scorer.”
With DiRugeris hopefully healthy for the duration, Mitchell is able to drop Kosick to the second line – with younger players Charlie Keiser (4 goals, 4 assists) and Gavin Widmer (6 goals, 5 assists) – for balance.
“I brought Corey down with those guys to kind of help mature the line a little bit more,” said Mitchell. “It helps to give Gavin and Charlie a better idea of chemistry and speed of play.”
On the blue line, Mitchell said D.J. Brown and Carter Keiser are his anchors. Each had 2 goals and 4 assists heading into this week.
“D.J. Brown was a freshman last year, and he was our best defenseman,” said Mitchell. “He was very well-rounded, overall.”
Mitchell has coached Carter Keiser since he played at the U14 level and has coached three of the four Keiser brothers (Chase and Connor, who now plays at West Chester, are the older ones, and Chase is the only one he didn’t coach) during his three seasons as head coach.
“Carter, last year, was a little timid,” said Mitchell. “He didn’t really commit on 50-50 calls. That was his only fault. This year, it’s completely different. As soon as he makes a decision on something, he is going for it.”
Mitchell also singled out defenseman Kyle McIntyre (1 goal, 6 assists) as an unsung hero.
“He does not play club hockey and has never played club hockey,” said Mitchell. “He has only ever played middle school and high school for East, but the way I’ve seen him grow over the last three years is second to none. You don’t see too many kids who don’t play club who are a staple, and you don’t have to worry about them.
“His decision-making, for somebody who doesn’t really have a lot of experience, is second to none. You can’t really teach a hockey sense to kids. With Kyle, I don’t really know what it is. It could be from watching his brothers play and being around the game as much as he has been, but he just never puts us in a bad position.”
Earning It
In the American Division, the final playoff berth was decided on the ice.
Abington and PW were locked in, but the third sport came down to a Wednesday night showdown between Quakertown and Wissahickon.
The Panthers ended up skating away with a 7-2 win, and they will face the Colonials in the first round, with a meeting with the powerhouse Ghosts on the line.
Quakertown, to its credit, did earn a 2-2 tie with Abington earlier in the season (Dec. 23).
But that is putting the cart way before the horse, as the defensive-minded Panthers are 1-2 against the Colonials this year.
All the games have been close.
PW scored a 7-5 win on Dec. 7. Quakertown responded with a 5-3 win on Dec. 16, only to have PW answer back on with a 3-2 win in last meeting between them on Jan. 25.
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