CB South, CR South & Hatboro-Horsham were winners in SHSHL playoff action. Hatboro-Horsham/Springfield Township photos courtesy of Michael Rich Photography & CB South/North Penn photos courtesy of Jennifer McDonald.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 4, NORTH PENN 3
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — Nathan Napolitano has been missing from the nets for the Central Bucks South Titans ice hockey team.
He injured his back and sat out for two months, give or take, from his goal-tending spot for South.
But he has played in the last two games, beating Pennsbury on Monday and then stopping North Penn on Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice to earn a 4-3 victory and a spot in the Suburban High School Hockey League championship game against Council Rock South, a 4-1 winner over Pennridge.
The time off was beneficial in more ways than just allowing his back to heal.
“The most important thing is it just gave me that drive to want to come back and play even better because being out for two months is not fun,” Napolitano said. “You want to cherish every moment you’ve got playing.
“I guess it just made me realize what I’m playing for and how much I want it.”
His coach, Shaun McGinty, knows what he has in Napolitano and appreciates how he is working out.
“Nathan’s been out for quite a while,” McGinty said. “He’s working through things with injuries.
“He was able to start against Pennsbury and that was good for him, facing some shots. Obviously, coming in against North Penn, it couldn’t have been written better for the kids.”
South blanketed the North Penn scorers and kept them off the scoreboard. In fact, while the Knights’ three leading scorers did not net a goal, defenseman James Boyle scored all three of North Penn’s goals.
“They (CB South) did a great job,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “They had three or four lines, and they were just rolling out in waves.
“(They were) clogging up the neutral zone on us, playing real strong defense in their zone. There wasn’t time that we had with the puck on our stick.”
Both McGinty and Napolitano agreed that the Titans didn’t do anything different against the Knights scorers.
“It wasn’t anything special,” McGinty said. “It was just good D zone coverage. We really try to focus on that D zone.
“It’s goaltending, D zone and special teams. I just thought we had a very good D zone tonight.”
Napolitano gave credit to his teammates.
“That’s thanks to the defense, thanks to the back check, the whole game effort tonight — and I get the credit,” he said without any ego involved.
Through the first half of the opening period, it looked like neither team was going to score. However, with 12:44 gone in the stanza, Sean Cutter broke the ice for the Titans with an assist from Ryan Frey.
The second period looked a lot like the first. Neither team could put the puck in the net until Boyle tied the game for the Knights on the power play at the 5:46 mark.
Things suddenly got a bit more upbeat in the final period. All told, five goals were scored before the final buzzer.
CB South started it off with a goal from Dominic Gibson with only 2:23 gone in the period. Boyle once again tied it up for North Penn with 7:09 gone.
Three and a half minutes later, Logan Hood untied it for good with an unassisted goal at 10:39. After that, Frey added an insurance goal until, with only 21.5 seconds left in the third period, Boyle notched his third goal. But it was too late for the Knights.
The win moves the Titans into the SHSHL title game against Rock South. The game at Grundy Ice Arena begins at 7 p.m. Thursday evening.
CB South 4, North Penn 3
CB South 1 0 3 — 4
North Penn 0 1 2 — 3
First period: 1, Sean Cutter CBS (Ryan Frey) 12:44.
Second period: 2, James Boyle NP (Danial Cabrales, Sam Norton) 5:46 PP.
Third period: 3, Dominic Gibson CBS (Peter Herring) 2:23; 4, Boyle NP (Nolan Shingle) 7:09; 5, Logan Hood CBS (unassisted) 10:39; 6, Frey CBS (unassisted) 11:16; 7, Boyle NP (Chris Silvotti) 16:38.
Shots: CBS 29, NP 23. Saves: Nathan Napolitano (CBS) 20, Aidan Quigley (NP) 25.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 4, PENNRIDGE 1
The Golden Hawks advanced to Thursday’s title game against Central Bucks South with a hard-fought win over the Rams at Grundy.
Jagger Smith (Jonah Weston assist) put the Hawks on the scoreboard when he connected on a power play goal with 6:53 remaining in the opening period.
Jake Weiner scored just over a minute into the second period, using assists from Jake Maurer and Smith, and the Hawks led 3-0 when Weiner connected on an unassisted goal late in the period.
Pennridge broke up Rock South’s shutout bid when Joshua Kelly scored an unassisted goal with seven minutes remaining. Jeremy Rayher got that goal back in the game’s closing minutes for the 4-1 final.
Trey Prozzillo earned the win in goal, turning away 24 of 25 shots he faced.
Council Rock South will face Central Bucks South Thursday at 7 pm at Grundy.
Pennridge 0-0-1 1
Council Rock South 1-2-1 4
Shots: Pennridge 25, CRS 33; Saves: Jacob Winton (P) 29, Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 21.
First period: 1. Jagger Smith (CRS) Jonah Weston) 6:53.
Second period: 2. Jake Weiner CRS (Jake Maurer/Jagger Smith) 15:44; 3. Jake Weiner CRS, 3:26.
Third period: 4. Joshua Kelly P, 7:02; 5. Jeremy Rayher CRS, 3:36.
AMERICAN CONFERENCE
HATBORO-HORSHAM 8, SPRINGFIELD 6
The Hatters found themselves on the short end of a 6-5 score entering the third period when they rallied with three unanswered goals to earn the win in Wednesday’s SHSHL American semifinal at Hatfield.
Connor Smith turned a pass from Darius Grazaiani into the tying goal with 5:03 remaining in regulation. Vincent Graziani found the net with an unassisted goal with just under three minutes remaining to give the Hatters a 7-6 advantage. Vincent Graziani’s empty net goal with 1:17 remaining gave the Hatters their final margin of victory. Nathan Nemchinov assisted on the game’s final goal.
Earlier, the Hatters opened up a 3-1 lead in the opening period with Smith, Vincent Graziani and Darius Graziani each scoring a goal. Gabriel Wells each found the net for Springfield to make it a 3-2 game after one period.
Springfield opened the second period with back-to-back goals by Kellen Warman and Tyrel DeFreitas to go on top 4-3. Vincent Graziani evened the score with 4:03 remaining only to see Gavin McManus and Grayson Quinn answer with goals to send Springfield into the final period with a 6-5 lead.
Vincent Graziani’s five-point game (4g, 1a) led the Hatters. Nemchinov had a four-point night, finishing with four assists.
For the Spartans, Grayson Quinn (1g, 3a) and McManus (1g, 3a) both had four-point games.
Eric Miller earned the win in goal, turning away 26 shots. The Hatters held a 44-32 advantage in shots.
Springfield 2-4-0 6
Hatboro-Horsham 3-2-3 8
Shots: Springfield 32, HH 44; Saves: James Sarsfield (S) 35, Eric Miller (HH) 26.
First period: 1. Connor Smith HH (Aiden North/Nathan Nemchinov) 12:55; 2. Ronan Klein S (Owen Quiinn/Grayson Quinn) 9:25; 3. Vincent Graziani HH (Darius Graziani) 8:14; 4. Darius Graziani HH (Nathan Nemchinov) 4:14; 5. Gabriel Wells S (Owen Quinn/Gavin McManus) 00:38.
Second period: 6. Kellen Warman S (Grayson Quinn) 12:11; 7. Tyrel DeFreitas S (Gavin McManus/Grayson Quinn) 10:55; 8. Victor Wilkins HH (Nathan Nemchinov/Vincent Graziani) 8:46; 9. Vincent Graziani HH (William Moffa) 4:03; 10. Gavin McManus S (Christopher Cahill) 2:56; 11. Grayson Quinn S (Gavin McManus) 1:06.
Third period: 12. Connor Smith HH (Darius Graziani) 5:03; 13. Vincent Graziani HH, 2:52; 14. Vincent Graziani HH (Nathan Nemchinov) 1:17.
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