SOL SHSHL Ice Hockey Notebook (1-25-17)

Pennsbury, CB South & Upper Moreland are featured in a notebook that includes Brian Good’s three stars as well as the point leaders.

By Brian Good

SHSHL NATIONAL – PENNSBURY:
It’s been just two weeks since Pennsbury was last featured in the Notebook, but a lot has changed for the Falcons in that short period of time. They have just one loss in the month of January and are coming off a 4-1 upset of first-place CR South.
“The players are actually gelling and starting to get used to playing with each other and it’s starting to show,” said Pennsbury head coach Joe Deery, whose team is 2-1-1 after four games this month. “Coach Denny Wilkins, he runs my offense, he and I were able to put some lines together and they’ve come together. Coach Jack Fisher and I have been messing around with the defense, rotating the young guys back there and they’ve become more comfortable playing with each other, which has showed on the ice.”
The Falcons find themselves at 3-8-1, good for fourth place in the division, and while that’s not an ideal record for this time in the season, they started the year 0-6 and have turned it around as of late.
It started with a win against CR North, which gave the team some confidence that they could win games in the league. They followed that with a tough loss to defending state champion CB South, a tie against CB East and a one-goal loss to Truman in a game they could have easily won. They won their next game, which was against CR North again, and then shocked the league by upsetting the first place Hawks this past week.
Coming up, the Falcons have a non-league game against Father Judge, a matchup against one of the hottest teams in the SHSHL, William Tennent, and on Feb. 3 they have their Second Annual Lois Daley Fight Against Cancer Memorial Cup against Truman, with the proceeds from that game going to the Pennsbury Wink 4 Pink Club.
What’s most impressive about the Falcons’ game against CR South was how they won. Pennsbury, which came into the matchup allowing over six goals a game, shut down the conference’s number one scoring offense, holding them to just one goal on 25 shots.
“I told them after the game - it’s a great time to be gelling, but if we could have gotten this type of play early in the year, could you imagine,” said Deery. “We’ve come along well at this point, and I’m proud of how our defense and especially our goalie, Gus Dous, played in that one (against CR South) to hold them to one goal. That’s the type of play that we were missing early on and hopefully we’ve found it now.”
Another problem the Falcons were facing earlier in the year was a lack of offensive consistency and balance. That too, like the lack of defensive cohesiveness, seems to be working itself out.
Nathan Raccagno and Jake Sieger are clearly the offensive leaders on the team and have been all year long, but guys like Jake Machlovitz and Griffin Foll have started to find their groove in the offensive zone and find the back of the net.
“We’ve seen some of the younger players really build their confidence and start to score,” said Deery. “Jake Machlovitz and Griffin Foll are two guys that have stepped up for us lately and the difference has showed.”
Unfortunately, Machlovitz broke his collarbone this past weekend and won’t be able to return for the season, which will hurt on the offensive end. It will be up to Deery and his coaches to find someone to replace his recent hot play if they want to keep winning and sneak into the field for the Flyers Cup.

SHSHL CONTINENTAL – CB SOUTH:
It’s always interesting to see how a team follows up a championship season. Lots of times, after a championship year, there can be letdown or complacency. That has not been the case so far this year for defending state champion CB South as the Titans have earned a 10-3-0 record on the year, good for second place in the SHSHL Continental, and they look to be playing as well as almost anyone right now.
However, even with their strong play, the Titans have spent almost the entire year trying to catch undefeated CB West in the division standings. Head coach Shaun McGinty knows that’s something the Titans can’t control and isn’t worth worrying about.
“It’s not frustrating for us at all, and it’s kind of just how it is this year,” said McGinty. “We’re competitive and obviously don’t want to lose or be behind, but I don’t read the paper, I don’t look at results. We just have to worry about our team and our goals throughout the year and The Titans’ best chance to propel themselves back into first place came two weeks ago when they took on West. Unfortunately for the Titans they came out on the losing end of that matchup, dropping the game 5-2, but it wasn’t for a lack of good play from the team.
“They capitalized on things we were doing wrong and made plays, but we played a tough game,” said McGinty. “Their goaltender (Jonah Brous) played really well, we had 40 shots and I believe they had 27. Our power play was clicking, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net and they scored when they had the chance.”
The loss to West is nothing to worry about for South. The Titans still boast the league’s best offense, averaging over seven goals a game, and they have some of the most talented players in the league.
They bounced right back with a 7-1 win against Pennridge and then dropped a tough 4-3 loss to “AAA” defending state champion La Salle.
The Titans are exactly where they want to be and are led by two of the best forwards in the league in Matt Stoll and Joe DeLaurentis.
Stoll leads the SHSHL “AA” in points (33) and assists (17) and is tied for second in goals with 16 while DeLaurentis has 10 goals and 10 assists.
Those are some great numbers for having only played 11 games each, but what coach McGinty is most impressed with is how everyone around Stoll and DeLaurentis is playing.
“We’re playing good team hockey and not relying on one line or one pair of defensemen,” said the Titans’ coach. “When I can, I roll four lines. Joey DeLaurentis does everything for us but I have (Nick) Morelli that I rely on to do a bunch of things, I have Josh Sklar who plays offense for me, defense for me and his points may not be at the top, but I can play him at five positions and that’s huge. I have Matt Millanesi and Colin Abbonizio who are freshman and playing outstanding. Those kids may not get the points necessarily, but they have been just as important for us.”
As the season comes to a close and the teams prepare for the playoffs, the Titans may have a chance to leap frog the Bucks or they may not. No matter where they finish the regular season, they will surely be a team that makes a run and challenges for another Flyers Cup victory.

SHSHL AMERICAN – UPPER MORELAND:
Last year, there was no Upper Moreland varsity ice hockey team in the SHSHL. Due to dwindling numbers and a lack of interest in the district, the club was forced to not participate.
This year, the Bears are back, and while it’s great to see them return to the SHSHL American, they’ve taken their lumps and are still looking for their first win.
“This year we were able to put together a squad but we’re very inexperienced,” said Upper Moreland head coach Jeff Keenan. “We have a total team of 11 players, including a goalie, all with varying levels of experience, but this year is really just about getting a team back out there and improving week after week.”
What’s perhaps toughest to deal with for the Golden Bears’ organization is the fact this team hasn’t always struggled. In the 2013-2014 season, they won the SHSHL American division with a record of 16-3-1, but their numbers have been trending downward since then.
“It’s cyclical for us,” said Keenan. “We’re a very small school so in order for us to really compete we have to have a large percentage of our kids actually playing hockey in the school. This year and last year the numbers have been down, but three years ago we were able to do very well based on our numbers.”
The Bears have probably struggled most in the defensive zone, where they give up close to 45 shots a game. Their goaltender Trevor Frazier has actually had a pretty solid year in net, but when he’s facing almost 50 shots a night, he stands little chance at making a difference.
Next year, the team is set to graduate six skaters, but luckily, they have a fairly strong middle school program that will be funneling kids in to try and rebuild the program from the ground up.
The main thing for Upper Moreland is to just get their kids experience playing varsity hockey. Once their players get their legs underneath them and get used to the pace they can start to compete again at the level they were three years ago.

SHSHL 3 STARS OF THE WEEK

1.     John Sciarrone, F, Plymouth Whitemarsh– 4 Goals 1 Assists
Plymouth Whitemarsh continued its dominance of the SHSHL American with a 14-2 win over Lower Moreland this past week. Sciarrone was the leading goal scorer on a team that can score at any time. This was a breakout game for Sciarrone, who hadn’t found the back of the net since Dec. 14 and has the Colonials looking as strong as ever as the season comes to a close.

2.     Declan Cole, D, Archbishop Wood – 3 Goals 1 Assist
The only team in the SHSHL American that has been able to match the play of Plymouth Whitemarsh this season has been Archbishop Wood, and the Vikings continued that pace with their 8-2 win over Abington. Cole scored a hat trick for the Vikings, who now have a ridiculous five players with more than 22 points on the season, with Cole being one of them.

3.     Jake Sieger, F, Pennsbury –  3 Goals 1 Assists
Sieger didn’t earn the third star by scoring more points than everyone. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t even the top scorer on Pennsbury this past week, but he earned it by showing up when it mattered most. After the Falcons beat CR North to start the week, they pulled off what may be the upset of the season, beating CR South 4-1 behind a two-goal effort from Sieger.

SHSHL LEAGUE WEEK 7 LEADERS