Photo provided courtesy of Tracy Valko: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/p129175516
Wednesday’s CR South/Pennridge game will be livestreamed on WBCB. To view the game, click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/live/6FwrhqIIKC8?si=7Feyrj9T11-8uLRk
By GORDON GLANTZ
The date was Dec. 13, 2023.
Three months ago, but it seems like a lifetime.
Christmas decorations going up, the Eagles were just showing hints of their horrific freefall and the harshest of the winter weather had yet to rear its ugly head.
That night, at Hatfield Blue, the ice turned red when Pennridge posted a 7-3 win over rival Council Rock South.
And now, come Wednesday (7:20) at Grundy B, they meet again.
For one team, it will mostly be about getting even.
“It should be a nasty one,” promised Council Rock South Joe Houk, who plans to give the nod in goal to Trevor Rakszawski (2.04, .884), whose only loss in 10 starts was against Pennridge. “We want to get a little bit of payback from our first game. There were a lot of penalties in that one. Basically, we skated two full periods shorthanded. They scored four power plays on us. It was just one of those games. We couldn’t buy a break.”
Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna, is well aware that his team is the prey and not the hunter.
“The one thing you don’t want is an angry Joe Houk,” said Montagna. “It’s tough enough to play against his team, and even harder when they are playing with revenge.
“It’s the type of a game where he wasn’t too happy with the penalties in the first game. He felt like they deserved better in that game, which they probably did.”
Beyond that, though, there is more on the line Wednesday than Council Rock South exacting revenge.
First place in the National Division carries with it more than just ceremonial bragging rights, especially with both teams already looking at first-round byes in the SHSHL playoffs.
“It’s probably for top seed in the Flyers Cup, and that adds some importance to it,” said Montagna, whose team dropped a heartbreaker to Pennsbury in the Flyers Cup final last year (Pennsbury then lost a heartbreaker in the state final). “If we get that top seed, we’re at Hatfield all the way through. We could be looking at going from first to third or fourth with a loss.”
Pennridge, according to Montagna, hit a bit of a funk until its most recent 9-1 win over Pennsbury.
Thrown in there were some narrow wins and the only blemish on a perfect season, that being a 3-3 tie against CB East Jan. 4.
The tying goal was not only scored just before the buzzer but with two men down and East playing with an open net.
“We struggled with some teams that we maybe we shouldn’t have struggled with the way we did,” said Montagna. “The CB East game was a really weird game. They tied it with like .6 seconds left in the game after two just atrocious calls by the refs in the final 30 seconds, giving them a 6 on 3. They just got into the goalmouth and tied the game up.
“I think we needed that one a little bit, though. That first Council Rock South game put a bull’s eye on our back, and teams played us really well. They came at us. But, you know, the one thing we are good at it is knowing how to win games. We are good at dealing with that adversity and figuring things out, because it’s not always going to be pretty.”
For Council Rock South, the gauge is not from wins, many by lopsided scores that have brought the mercy rule into play, but in some of the nuances that could haunt a team when clashing with another titan.
Still, focus is a concern. This is a team that has outscored opponents, 149-28, which is the biggest gap in the division.
“We just try to improve,” said Houk, who has an astounding 12 players scoring at more than a point per game. “I try to keep them levelheaded. We’ll be ready. We just have to play our game, you know. I think we have some speed and skill, and I don’t think they can keep up with, but they seem to have a way around things.
“Joe (Montagna) is a good coach, and he always has his kids ready for us.”
On the ice, and playing a lot of minutes, will be two of the premier defensemen in the league – Council Rock South’s Kevin Koles (22 goals, 22 assists) and Pennridge’s Colin Dachowski (10 goals, 16 assists).
“Kevin Koles, along with Dachowski from our team, are the two best defensemen in the league,” said Montagna, who also touted the unheralded blue line play of Nick Young (1 goal, 9 assists) and John Mikulich (7 assists) in his supporting cast. “(Koles) is great defensively, and probably even better, offensively. They already have so much firepower on that team already, and then you throw in his firepower from the back end, and it makes it really difficult to play defense against.”
Houk is not shy about touting Koles and what the senior brings to the table.
“He puts some points up for me,” said Houk. “He reads the ice really well, brings it up in the play often, but he knows when to do and when not to do it. He has a rocket shot, too. He’s a really good player.”
While there is plenty of frontline firepower – with Pennridge paced by the trio of Kevin Pico (26 goals, 20 assists), Andrew Savona (33 goals, 28 assists) and Shane Dachowski (24 goals, 30 assists) and Council Rock South spearheaded by the likes of sophomore Jake Weiner (25 goals, 18 assists) and Blaise Pepe (16 goals, 22 assists) – both coaches concur that this one could come down to secondary scoring.
That would bring Council Rock South’s Gavin Nisenzon (12 goals, 13 assists) and Chase Tovsky (9 goals, 14 assists) along with Pennridge’s James Rush (12 goals, 8 assists) and Nolan Shaw (6 goals, 10 assists) into the picture.
“We had some things we did against them last game that worked out really well, and we’re going to do it again this game,” said Montagna. “If we are going to get beat, I don’t want to get beat by the top guys. Let someone else do it. But, you know, it’s hard. They roll three lines out there, and they all can put the puck in the net.
“So, for us, it’s the same thing as before – defense and discipline. If we stay disciplined, we give ourselves a good chance. If we don’t stay disciplined, we’re probably going to lose that game. We have to play differently against them than we do against anybody else.
“We don’t have the firepower of CR South, so it’s hard to rely on that top line to score all of our goals all of the time.”
A Council Rock South weapon to watch, and one that Montagna didn’t see the first time around because of a shoulder injury, is Nikita Volobuiev.
“He’s a power forward, man,” said Houk. “He can roll.”
Volobiev has been rolling at a highly productive rate (6 goals and 10 assists in just 7 games) and is a bit of an X-factor because he didn’t play in the first meeting with Pennridge.
“He’s good,” said Montagna, who will be counting on Jacob Winton (2.40, .902) in goal. “We are talking about things you want to do against him, but he’s an unknown for me. I haven’t coached against him. Me and (Houk) know each other so well, so it’s probably going to take a little bit of time to figure out what to do with him as well.”
According to Houck, he likes slotting Weiner with Volobiev and Illya Mukhin (11 goals, 16 assists).
Volobiev, who speaks little to no English, and Mukhin are two of several first- and second-generation Ukrainian imports on the team.
“There is a small area over by the high school, a townhouse development, and they have been over there for years,” said Houk. “With all the stuff, going on overseas, I got Nikita who came over a few years ago and ended up settling in Council Rock South because he has family over here. With Nikita and Illya, it did have to do with the war there. It gets to a certain point, and they say, ‘Here’s a gun.’ They had to get out of there.”
And, over here, with the war not at their front door, the focus shifts to making the most of the stretch run for a Council Rock South squad with nine seniors.
“We got a team that we think can go pretty far but, like I told the kids, ‘You don’t want to be responsible for beating yourselves,’” said Houck, whose team won the league last year but also fell, as did Pennridge, to Pennsbury in the Flyers Cup.
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