CLASS A
WISSAHICKON 10, HATBORO-HORSHAM 6
By Ben Reese
WARWICK -- It isn't often that – in a game with 16 goals scored - it can be said that one goal made a big difference.
Well, it could be said about Wednesday night's Suburban High School Hockey League A Division semifinal between Wissahickon and Hatboro-Horsham at Hatfield Ice. The Trojans won the game with an eight-goal explosion in the third period, 10-6.
With the score tied at 5-5 and with six goals already scored in the period, it appeared that the game was going to go down to the wire. It looked like one of those "whoever scores last wins" games.
At that point, Wissahickon's A.J. Pounds arrived on the scene, and less than a minute after the Hatters had tied the score at five, Pounds bounced one past HH goalie Joe Gambino to give the Trojans a 6-5 lead.
Three Wissahickon goals followed in rapid succession and the game was decided even though there was still one period to play. Pounds' goal came at 13:17 of the second off an assist from Bryan Garry.
"I just shot the puck and was going in for a rebound," said Pounds. "I just got a lucky bounce."
But that lucky bounce got you and your teammates headed in the right direction.
"I think it was just a lucky bounce," Pounds said again. "We found out that we could beat this team. The shots kept coming and we started passing and hitting back door and it led to a win."
Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington, while happy about the goal and the outcome, has pretty much come to expect that kind of thing from Pounds.
"He knows how to get open," Harrington said. "He knows where to be and he's easy to find.
"The second period was fabulous. Everything started going in. We had a lot of chances but we just couldn't get it past (Gambino)."
In the second period, the Trojans took 17 shots on goal. Eight of them went in.
Hatter coach Gianni LaFratta was happy about the first period, which saw his team take a 3-1 lead. But he wasn't pleased with what came next.
"The boys, at one point, said 'What are we going to do. What's our plan?'” I said to go back to the original plan, what we did in the first period,” LaFratta said. "We had guys in the slot and we kept everything to the outside. We got that three-goal lead and the little things started to fall apart.
"They got away from their game. They got excited, got ahead of themselves and got away from the game."
Harrington was concerned about the first period.
"I thought the first period was pivotal for our team," he said. "I thought if we could just get through the first period – we had so many opportunities and couldn’t finish.
"I was afraid that they would just break and say that we're not going to be able to do this."
The second period proved him wrong.
In the first period, the Hatters broke quickly, scoring with only 1:28 gone in the stanza. Nick Long scored the goal.
Aidan Esack took care of the next two goals. He scored at 3:31 and again a 6:07 and the Hatters had a 3-0 lead.
Alex Carrozza finally dented the nets for the Trojans. He took a pass from Nolan Ryan and beat Gambino to cut the deficit to two goals.
Garry opened the scoring in the second period to cut the HH lead to one goal but Alex Howieson got that one back for the Hatters to make it a 4-2 game.
At that point, Wissahickon really got rolling. The Trojans scored seven of the next eight goals to forge a 9-5 lead.
Pounds scored at 10:23 followed by Garry at 10:32 and then Carrozza at 11:27 on the power play. After Seth Lerner scored for Hatboro-Horsham, Pounds got what turned out to be the game-winner with Ryan and Garry (twice) following it up.
The third period almost seemed like an afterthought. Only two goals were scored, one by each team. James McCoy tallied for the Hatters and Garry finished things off with an empty-net goal.
Gambino recorded 37 saves for the Hatters while Chris Shea had 21 in the win for the Trojans.
The Wissahickon victory sets up a championship game against Plymouth Whitemarsh on Thursday. It should be an interesting game since the last time the two teams met it turned out to be a 14-12 Colonial win.
Wissahickon 10, Hatboro-Horsham 6
Wissahickon 1 8 1 -- 10
Hatboro-Horsham 3 2 1 -- 6
First period: 1, Nick Long HH (unassisted) 1:28; 2, Aidan Esack HH (Alex Howieson, Jack Steinberg) 3:31; 3, Esack HH (Marcus Soucy) 6:07; 4, Alex Carrozza W (Nolan Ryan) 10:06.
Second period: 5, Bryan Garry W (Michael Bonanni) 3:23; 6, Howieson HH (Tarek Elsabaggh, Seth Lerner) 4:38; 7, AJ Pounds W (Ty Schiff) 10:23; 8, Garry W (unassisted) 10:32; 9, Carrozza W (unassisted) 11:27 PP; 10, S. Lerner HH (James McCoy, Howieson) 12:19; 11, Pounds W (Garry) 13:17; 12, Ryan W (unassisted) 15:40; 13, Garry W (Pounds, Schiff) 15:49; 14, Garry W (Pounds) 16:41.
Third period: 15, McCoy HH (unassisted) 4:13; 16, Garry W (unassisted) 15:36 EN.
Shots: W 47, HH 27. Saves: Chris Shea (W) 21, Joe Gambino (HH) 37.
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 12, HARRY S TRUMAN 2
CLASS AA
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 4, NORTH PENN 2
The Golden Hawks scored three unanswered goals in the opening period. That proved to be the difference in the game as the Knights would get no closer than two goals the rest of the way.
Bill Harrelson put the Hawks on the scoreboard 1:43 into the game, using an Andrew Darling assist. Less than a minute later, David Vergules found the net with an assist from Julian Wagenmann. A goal by Antii Auteer (Brennen Wright assist) gave the Golden Hawks a 3-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.
Joshua Kaufhold’s power play goal put the Knights on the scoreboard midway through the second period, but Michael Roby Jr. (Kyle Boss assist) got that goal back when he scored 14:21 into the period. In the closing seconds of the period, Ryan Cunningham connected on a power play with a Tony Tuozzo assist.
Neither team scored in the third period.
Rock South goalie Jimmy Sweeney was credited with 22 saves in the win. He turned away all 10 shots he faced in the final period to preserve his team’s two-goal advantage. North Penn’s Nick Ebbinghaus recorded 27 saves.
With the win, Council Rock South earned a date with top-seeded Central Bucks South in Thursday’s SHSHL AA title game at Hatfield ice.
Council Rock South 3-1-0 4
North Penn 0-2-0 2
Shots: CRS 31, NP 24. Saves: Jimmy Sweeney (CRS) 22, Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 27.
First period: 1, Bill Harrelson CRS (Andrew Darling) 1:43; 2, David Vergules CRS (Julian Wagenmann) 2:19; 3, Antii Autere CRS (Brennen Wright) 2:30.
Second period: 4, Joshua Kaufhold NP, 7:36; 5, Michael Roby Jr CRS (Kyle Boss) 14:21; 6, Ryan Cunningham NP (Tonoy Tuozzo) 15:53.
Third period: No score.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 5, NESHAMINY 2
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