Pennsbury notched an important win over CB East. Ben Reese recaps all the action. Neshaminy/CB West photo provided by Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
PENNSBURY 5, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 2
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- It's getting close to crunch time in the Suburban High School Hockey League.
Playoffs are just around the corner, and they will be followed up by the Flyers Cup.
That's why Wednesday night's 5-2 win by Pennsbury over Central Bucks East was a big one for the Falcons. And why the defeat was also big for the Patriots.
"It's huge especially after the last three weeks," said Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley, whose team had lost three straight. "We've been sliding a bit, but this is huge for the playoffs.
"I think going into tonight we were the eighth seed. That (win) gives us two points and the game next week against Tennent to give us the best position we can (get).
"We definitely went through a lull there. They needed that momentum. It started with our game against Truman and it definitely carried over to tonight. Everyone was fired up."
The Pennsbury players certainly knew that the victory was an important one.
"It's big," Falcon captain Ben Dous said of the win. "We came out here and I thought we played really well.
"We've got a little bit of momentum going into the end of the season. We need to put a little bit of a run together."
Pennsbury certainly came out with guns blazing. The Falcons scored three goals in the first period and fired 19 shots at CB East goalie Chris McIntyre.
But that was part of the game plan.
"Our intent most nights is to get a ton of shots," Daley said. "The thing I try to preach to the kids is 'You're not scoring if you're not shooting.'
"A dipsy-doodle in the slot is good, but a shot on net and a rebound is a goal. I'd rather take the high percentage play than the good-looking play."
In that first period, the Falcons seemed to get to every puck first. They carried play to the Patriots in the Pennsbury offensive zone for most of the 16 minutes.
While things appeared to settle down a bit in the second and third periods, the Falcons still carried play. They added single goals in the second and third but allowed two to East in the third.
"We dug ourselves a hole," said East assistant coach Mike Capps, who was filling in for the absent Ken Latchum. "A lot of credit to Pennsbury.
"They played us hard and they played us right. They were aggressive.
"They chipped it by us and went on breaks. They played well. They deserved to win."
Capps also acknowledged that the defeat could hurt the Patriots heading toward the playoffs and Flyers Cup.
"It hurts a little bit because we have no practice on Monday because of Presidents Day," he said. "We have one more game against Upper Dublin that we can't overlook. We've got to put it to them so we go into the playoffs on a winning streak."
In the opening period, Pennsbury notched its first two goals on power plays. Shane Siegmund netted the first one and Erik Eisler got the second before Beau Yedman tallied the third goal at even strength.
Jake Machlovitz scored at the 7:37 mark of the second period to up the Falcon lead to 4-0. East came back with a pair of goals from Sean Gorman to draw within two goals, but Dous got an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left to seal the win for Pennsbury.
For the Falcons, it was a good way to snap a losing streak.
"We really just had to get back to basics," said Dous. "We were working on forechecking and backchecking in practice.
"I thought we did a great job putting pressure on their defense tonight. That really made it easier to get pucks."
After next week’s games, the SHSHL playoffs begin with the AA quarterfinals on Feb. 24, the A and AA semifinals on Feb. 26 and the finals of both levels on Feb. 27.
Pennsbury 5, CB East 2
Pennsbury 3 1 1 -- 5
CB East 0 0 2 -- 2
First period: 1, Shane Siegmund P (Ben Dous, Beau Yedman) 6:45 PP; 2, Erik Eisler P (Jake Machlovitz, Dous) 11:39 PP; 3, Yedman P (Eisler) 13:55.
Second period: 4, Machlovitz P (Siegmund) 7:37.
Third period: 5, Sean Gorman CBE (unassisted) 5:18; 6, Gorman CBE (Aiden Schmidt) 11:48; 7, Dous P (Yedman) 15:38 EN.
Shots: P 37, CBE 28. Saves: Topher Seiler (P) 26, Chris McIntyre (CBE) 32.
NESHAMINY 8, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 6
The Redskins opened up a 7-3 lead early in the third period only to watch the Bucks come roaring back with three unanswered goals, but that’s where the comeback ended. A late goal by Charles Potash iced the win for the Redskins.
Neshaminy’s Noah Seewagen turned a Max Gallagher pass into a goal three minutes into the game, and when Joey DeMatteo connected on an unassisted power play goal, the Redskins led 2-0 less than six minutes into the game.
Christopher Trefz (Evan Hee/Keith Orlando assists) cut that lead in half with a goal 9:12 into the opening period, but the Redskins closed it out with back-to-back goals by DeMatteo and Matt Buchinski (power play) to go on top 4-1. DeMatteo’s goal was shorthanded with a Thomas Gallagher assist.
Matthew Duke scored with a DeMatteo assist six minutes into the second period to give the Redskins a four-goal advantage, but the Bucks closed out the period with a pair of goals to make it a 5-3 game. Keith Orlando found the net on the power play, using a Trefz assist, and Trefz scored with assists from Orlando and Ben Morris.
Dan McColgan (Seewagen/Ryan McColgan assists) and Buchinski scored within a 70-second span early in the third period, and the Redskins had a 7-3 advantage. Cooper Guerin (Daniel Poliak assist), Orlando (Trefz/Geoff Diaz assists) and Poliak (Reese Dalzell assist) reeled off three straight goals for the Bucks to pull to within one with six minutes remaining. They did not score the rest of the way as the Redskins held on for the win.
DeMatteo’s three-point game led a balanced Neshaminy attack. Trefz and Orlando both had four-point games to lead the Bucks.
Brian Nelson recorded 37 saves in a winning effort in goal for the Redskins. West goalie Jake Coddington kept his team in it with 46 saves.
Central Bucks West 1-2-3 6
Neshaminy 4-1-3 8
Shots: CBW 43, Neshaminy 54. Saves: Jake Coddington (CBW) 46, Brian Nelson (N) 37.
First period: 1, Noah Seewagen N (Max Gallagher) 2:55; 2, Joey DeMatteo N, 5:40; 3, Christopher Trefz CBW (Evan Hee/Keith Orlando) 9:12; 4, Joey DeMatteo N (Thomas Gallagher) 12:42; 5, Matt Buchinski N, 14:50.
Second period: 6, Matthew Duke N (Joey DeMatteo) 6:02; 7, Keith Orlando CBW (Christopher Trefz) 12:11; 8, Christopher Trefz CBW (Keith Orlando/Ben Morris) 12:43.
Third period: 9, Daniel McColgan N (Reobert Seewagen/Ryan McColgan) 2:06; 10, Matt Buchinski N, 3:13; 11, Cooper Guerin CBW (Daniel Poliak) 5:30; 12, Keith Orlando CBW (Christopher Trefz/Geoff Diaz) 6:31; 13, Daniel Poliak CBW (Reese Dalzell) 9:45; 14, Charles Potash N, 15:32.
NORTH PENN 10, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 0
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