SOL SHSHL Ice Hockey Notebook (1-15-20)

By Rick Woelfel

Class AA Snapshot—Just three of the 13 Class AA teams in the Suburban High School Hockey League are unbeaten in league play. Two of them, Central Bucks South and Council Rock South, are scheduled to meet Wednesday night at Revolution Ice Garden (7:20 puck drop) in game that is sure to have far-reaching ramifications.

The Titans (8-0-0-1 overall and 6-0 in league play) start the week in first place in the Class AA Division; they have a game in hand on the Golden Hawks (5-3, 5-0) and North Penn, the other team in the division that remains unblemished). They’re paced offensively by Dominic Patrone (10 goals, 12 assists, and Colin Abbonizio (11 goals, eight assists)

The Golden Hawks counter with Antii Autere (seven goals, 17 assists) and Michael Roby (17 goals, seven assists).

All that is well in good but what has the Titans and the Golden Hawks at the top of the standings is their adeptness at keeping the puck out of their own net. The Golden Hawks have surrendered just nine goals in their eight games, just three of them in league play. Senior David Mueller and juniors Brennan Wright and Kyle Schneider offer experience on the blue line.

The goaltender is junior Jimmy Sweeney, who is carrying a 1.05 GAA and a save percentage of .941.

As is often the case, the Golden Hawks have gotten stronger as the season has progressed.

“Usually you get a lot of new faces,” said veteran coach Joe Houk. “They pick up bad habit during the summer.”

Houk has a young team in spots but the underclassmen have been major contributors. Autere and Roby are both sophomores and there is more depth on the roster than has been the case in recent seasons. Four other players on the roster have at least seven points.

“We’re usually a line-and-a-half deep,” Houk said. “This year we’re two-and-a-half lines deep. Everybody is starting to contribute.”

For their part, the Titans have allowed just 13 goals in their nine starts.

The blue-line corps features senior Ryan Gingras and junior Garrett Sklarr.

Goaltender Mason Moyer has a sparkling 1.44 GAA and a .935 save percentage.

The two teams met in a non-league game back on November 14 with the Titans prevailing 2-1. Wednesday’s game will count in the league standings and is sure to be a significant factor in the enhanced Flyers Cup power rankings. For that matter, both meetings will factor into those rankings.

It’s not a stretch to this game matches two teams with legitimate hopes of winning the Flyers Cup.

Jake Lang of Central Bucks West and Robert Seewagon of Neshaminy continue to pace the SHSHL’s Class AA Division in scoring. Lang has 21 goals and 17 assists for 38 points in 10 games while Seewagon has 20 goals and 13 assists for 33 points, also in 10 games.

At the start of the week, three goaltenders had a goals-against average of less than 2.00. Mark Jorgenson of Pennsbury is at 1.00. He’s played exactly the 192 minutes (four full games) needed to qualify for the list of league leaders. Sweeney is next with his 1.05 followed by Moyer at 1.44.

Class A Snapshot - Upper Dublin finds itself in a unique situation. this season. The Flying Cardinals are ineligible to compete in the SHSHL this season because they are impure; that is, they have two players on the 17-man roster who are not Upper Dublin students.

As is often the case when this situation arises, the players involved are goaltenders, James Haak who resides in Philadelphia and Ryan McMorrow who commutes to Upper Dublin practices and games from his home in the Pottsgrove School District. Without them, the Flying Cardinals would not be able to put a team on the ice. With them, they are playing an independent schedule against a mix of Class AA and A opponents that was put together by SHSHL President Kenny Haas

“They bring such great attitudes,” said Upper Dublin coach Anthony Richichi. “They both try really hard.”

Richichi says his team has maintained an upbeat attitude despite having no championship to compete for. “They’re playing really hard and they’re having a great time,” he said.

At the start of the week, the Cardinals were carrying a 4-5 record. They were scheduled to face Pennsbury on Thursday.

Most importantly, there 17 high school students who are getting the chance to play hockey this winter because the right people cared enough to enable them to do so.

Aidan Keogh of Plymouth Whitemarsh leads the A Division in scoring with 14 goals and 22 assists for 36 points. Alex Howieson from Hatboro-Horsham s next with 19 goals and 14 assists for 33 points.

 SHSHL Standings as of 1-6-2020 

Standings are calculated as follows

2 points for a win whether in regulation or OT

1 point for a tie or overtime loss

If a game is tied at the end of regulation there will be five minutes of three-on-three overtime. If the game is still tied it will be recorded as a tie game.

The shootout will not be used

Scoring

Goals Against

Save Percentage