Ben Reese recaps all the action in Pennridge's 8-2 win over Abington. CB East/CB West photos provided courtesy of Dara N. King Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
By Ben Reese
WARWICK -- Sometimes teams need a stern talking-to after a not-so-successful stretch during a game.
Everyone knows about Knute Rockne's halftime talk to his Notre Dame team. You know, the "win one for the Gipper" speech.
Vince Lombardi was known for his rousing talks to his Green Bay Packers. Just about every coach in every sport has put together a speech to spur his team to greatness.
Pennridge ice hockey coach Jeff Montagna - while not Rockne or Lombardi - watched while his team struggled through a less-than-sterling first period against Abington Wednesday at Revolution Ice Garden. The Ghosts held a 1-0 lead and had taken the play to the Rams.
Between the first and second periods, Montagna got his point across to his players. They responded by scoring six goals in the second period en route to an 8-2 victory.
"I just told them that you cannot start a game that way," the Rams’ coach said. "You cannot step on the ice and act that way to start a game.
"They deserved to be down more than two (goals) and I told them that. I basically told them that it was unacceptable. To their credit, they responded."
And how.
The Rams scored two goals in the space of 19 seconds to open the period, one on the power play. They added four more tallies - including a short-handed goal - to grab a commanding lead.
"They have to understand that you have to start every game off like they played that second period," Montagna said. "Getting two goals in the first 30 seconds got us going a little bit. We got two goals early and got Abington on their heels and it just opened up stuff for us."
Blake Stewart, a team captain, knew something wasn't right in the opening period.
"We just realized that we had to start playing as a team (rather) than as individuals," he said. "It showed all season that when we start clicking together and getting our chemistry together we can come out and score as many goals as we want. That first period we just came out and tried to do everything on our own."
Abington coach Ken Brzozowski tried to alert his players about what was going to happen in the second period.
"They (Pennridge) just came out on fire," he said. "We talked about the intensity that they were going to come out with and that we needed to match it.
"They got the two quick goals and from there it was just tough sledding for us from that point on."
The game started out very well for the Ghosts. Joe Stelacio scored an unassisted goal with only 16 seconds elapsed in the game.
The Abington defense also contributed. It held Pennridge to only eight shots in the period.
But then the second period started. Andrew David scored for Pennridge at the 11-second mark on the power play, and Richie Shanks followed that up with a goal eight seconds later.
And the avalanche was on. Aeryk Lehrhaupt scored short-handed at 4:18 and Stewart, Shanks and Aidan Boyle added to the total for a 6-1 Ram lead heading into the third period.
Shanks scored a third time for a hat trick in the third and Boyle got his second. Griffin Carpenter scored for Abington.
Pennridge lost a lot of talent to graduation last year. The Rams, who got to the Flyers Cup semifinals last year, lost their two top scorers (Eric Slater and Michael Walker) and a strong goalie (Luke Stranick).
They didn't start the season off well but have rebounded. Pennridge has won four in a row now and is above .500 in league play.
But it hasn't been easy. The Rams are just beginning to realize how good they can be.
"You can see them getting more comfortable with each other," Montagna said. "You can see them gaining confidence.
"I don't think they knew what they were (after losing so much from last year). I don't think they knew what they were.
"We started off with Neshaminy and CB South. That's a tough road to go when you're not sure who you are as a team.
"We're starting to find guys on this team who are scoring as the first option, second option. That's key for me putting guys in the right holes, who's filling the holes of the guys who left."
Brzozowski has a similar problem. But his is on a different scale.
"I've got 15 freshmen and sophomores and no seniors on this team," he said. "We've had spells where we've played really well like the first period.
"If we can get them to play like (they played in the first period) for three periods of hockey, our future is going to be bright.
"We've set small goals and we've got a little bit of work yet to do this year to reach some of those goals. Hopefully we can continue to work hard in practice and take what we're doing in practice and execute it in games."
Two teams on different ends of the standings spectrum, working toward the same thing -- improvement.
Pennridge 8, Abington 2
Pennridge 0 6 2 -- 8
Abington 1 0 1 -- 2
First period: 1, Joe Stelacio A (unassisted) 0:16.
Second period: 2, Andrew David P (Ryan Schuler, Richie Shanks) 0:11 PP; 3, Shanks P (David) 0:19; 4, Aeryk Lehrhaupt P (Jeff Manto) 4:18 PP; 5, Blake Stewart P (Michael White) 5:51; 6, Shanks P (David, Conrad Frisch) 10:02; 7, Aidan Boyle P (Jack Lowery) 14:21.
Third period: 8, Griffin Carpenter A (Tom Rourke, Stelacio) 0:35 PP; 9, Shanks P (Frisch) 10:16; 10, Boyle P (unassisted) 13:06 PP.
Shots: P 45, A 26. Saves: Ryan Pico (P) 24, Ben Panella (A) 37.
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 5, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 0
Central Bucks East got a masterful performance in goal from Chris McIntyre en route to a 5-0 win over Central Bucks West Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice. The junior stopped all 55 shots he saw as the Patriots tightened their hold on a place in the Class AA Flyers Cup field.
Sean Gorman scored two goals for East, which improved to 9-2-1-1 overall and 6-2-1-1 in Class AA divisional play. West dropped to 6-4-2-1 overall and 3-4-2-0 in the division.
Connor Keiser and Phil McIntyre scored goals to give East a 2-0 first-period lead. Keiser scored his second goal of the game at the 8:31 mark of the third period just moments had failed to capitalize on a 1 minute, 39 second two-man advantage. Gorman added two goals in the third period.
East coach Ken Latchum feels his team is taking some steps forward as the stretch run of the season approaches.
“We’re starting to hit a good stride,” he said, “a very good stride. “Tonight they were hyped, they were playing as a team.”
West coach Dave Baun praised McIntyre’s effort in goal.
”Their goalie was not only good statistically,” he said, “He was technically superb. “I don’t think in all my years coaching I ever saw a team get 55 shots and not win, let alone lose 5-0.”
Central Bucks East 2-0-3 5
Central Bucks West 0-0-0 0
NORTH PENN 8, SOUDERTON 0
The Knights opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period and never looked back on their way to the shutout win.
Tyler Greenstein (Joshua Kaufhold/Ryan Cunningham assists) put the Knights on the scoreboard 2:24 into the opening period, and three minutes later, Kaufhold scored with a Tony Tuozzo assist.
The second period belonged to the Knights, who reeled off five unanswered goals to go on to 7-0. Thomas Boyle, Zachery Cline (Luke Van Why assist), Greenstein (Kaufhold/Tuozzo assists), Joe Morrissey (Quinn Holt assists) and Tuozzo each scored a goal.
Midway through the third period, Zachery Cline found the net with a Chase Mueller assist to close out the scoring.
Nick Ebbinghaus turned away all 11 shots he faced in a winning effort in goal for the Knights. Souderton goalie Jonathan Pritchard recorded 37 saves.
Souderton 0-0-0 0
North Penn 2-5-1 8
Shots: Souderton 11, NP 45. Saves: Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 11, Jonathan Pritchard (S) 37.
First period: 1, Tyler Greenstein NP (Joshua Kaufhold/Ryan Cunningham) 2:24; 2, Joshua Kaufhold NP (Tonoy Tuozzo) 5:14.
Second period: 3, Thomas Boyle NP, 5:47; 4, Zachery Cline NP (Luke Van Why) 9:55; 5, Tyler Greenstein NP (Joshua Kaufhold/Tony Tuozzo) 12:05; 6, Joe Morrissey NP (Quinn Holt) 13:58, 7, Tony Tuozzo NP, 15:57.
Third period: 8, Zachery Cline NP (Chase Mueller) 8:03.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 10, WILLIAM TENNENT 0
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