A shorthanded CR North team defeated Abington 3-0. Check out all of Wednesday’s results. To view photos of the Abington, CR North game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Rick Woelfel
One short, explosive sequence and one hot goaltender.
That combination provided enough impetus for Council Rock North to come away a winner Wednesday night.
Justin Fricke scored two goals and Kyle McQuillan stopped all 30 shots he saw as the undermanned Indians bested Abington 3-0 in a SHSHL National Division matchup at the Rinks at Warwick.
North now stands at 4-7-1overall. At 3-6-1 in league play, the Indians are in the thick off the playoff scramble with six conference games still to go.
It was a tenacious performance by a team that was missing five regulars Wednesday night for an assortment of reasons. Coach Eric Tye had just a goaltender and 11 skaters available.
“These kids could have rolled over at two o’ clock this afternoon,” Tye said, “and chosen not to play hard. And they didn’t.
“We set up a way for them to play. We knew we had to keep it as close as we could for as long as possible.”
Fricke noted that he and his teammates were forced to play a different style than usual.
“When you’re missing guys, you definitely have to play more conservatively,” he said. “We had to change our approach to being aggressive or not. Today we tried out the trap and it ended working pretty well.”
The first two periods were scoreless. Abington (1-11, 1-8 in the league) had the greater number of chances, outshooting North 24-12 in that span. But both McQuillan and Abington’s Cole Kramer were superb in goal.
“I knew I had to come up big,” McQuillan said. “(Tye) talked to me before. This was a playoff-scenario game. If we win, it really puts us back in the thick of things.”
The first goal of the game came out of nowhere. Andrew Speeney collected a loose puck midway between the faceoff dots and let go with a wrister that caught a piece of the goal post as it flew past Kramer to give the Indians a 1-0 lead with 3:32 gone in the final stanza. Just 22 seconds later Fricke beat Kramer off a feed from Chad Siegel to give North a two-goal advantage.
At that point, the Galloping Ghosts began unraveling a bit. At the 4:29 mark Justin Adamski drew a two-minute boarding penalty plus an automatic 10-minute misconduct penalty to go along with it. Just 15 seconds later Abington captain Nick Scipione drew another boarding penalty, leaving North with a two-man advantage for 1:45.
The Indians didn’t score during the power play, but the sequence left the Ghosts without Adamski and Scipione for the duration of the game.
Abington coach Pat Croce noted however that his team kept battling.
“One of the things I saw out of this young team is that they were able to collect themselves very quickly (after atimeout),” he said, “and really focus on what they had to do in the third period and try and get on the scoreboard.”
The Indians scored an empty-net goal with :42 to play when Fricke finished off Joe Rutkowski’s dump-in from center ice.
Abington wound up outshooting North 30-21.
Abington 0 0 0—0
C.R. North 0 0 3—3
Third-period goals: Andrew Speeney (CRN) unassisted, 3:32; Justin Fricke (CRN) unassisted, 3:54; Fricke (CRN) from Joe Rutkowski, 15:18 empty net).
Shots: Abington 30, Council Rock North 21; Saves: Cole Kramer (A) 18, Kyle McQuillan (CRN) 30.
Abington 0 Council Rock North 3
GAME DETAILS
SCORING
Abington 0 0 0 0
Council Rock North 0 0 3 3
SHOTS
Abington 10 15 5 30
Council Rock North 6 6 9 21
SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
(no scoring)
Period 2
(no scoring)
Period 3
Council Rock North - Andrew Speeney (unassisted) 3:22
Council Rock North - Justin Fricke (Chad Siegel) 3:54
Council Rock North - Justin Fricke (emptynet) (Joe Rutkowski) 15:18
GOALIES
30 Cole Kramer (ABG) LOSS 47:19 20 18
42 Kyle McQuillan (CRN) WIN 48:00 30 30
Plymouth Whitemarsh 3 William Tennent 7
Alec Dugan assisted on three goals to lead a balanced attack for the Panthers, who received two-point nights from five players. The Panthers seized control early, scoring five goals in the first period and never looking back.
Five players – Sean Ovington, Jack McKeever, Mike Padgeon, Andrew Bean and Charlie Feeney – contributed single goals in the period. A PJ Partington goal made it a 6-0 game just under four minutes into the second period before PW’s Ryan Reed and Brad Keller scored back-to-back goals to close out the period. In the third period, PW’s Jonathan Isely and Ovington exchanged power play goals.
Tennent held a 35-29 advantage in shots. Panther keeper CJ Lineman turned away 26 of 29 shots while his counterpart had Jim Smith had 28 saves on 35 shots.
GAME DETAILS
SCORING
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 2 1 3
William Tennent 5 1 1 7
SHOTS
Plymouth Whitemarsh 8 12 9 29
William Tennent 18 8 9 35
SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
William Tennent - Sean Ovington (Danny Gatto, Chris Kreider) 2:18
William Tennent - Jack McKeever (Alec Dugan) 3:11
William Tennent - Mike Padgeon (Alec Dugan, Jeff Mitchell) 3:25
William Tennent - Andrew Bean (Alec Dugan, Mike Padgeon) 12:59
William Tennent - Charlie Feeney (PJ Partington) 15:42
Period 2
William Tennent - PJ Partington (unassisted) 3:46
Plymouth Whitemarsh - Ryan Reed (Jacob Laudenbach, Christopher Zawislak) 5:49
Plymouth Whitemarsh - Brad Keller (powerplay) (Seth Horry) 13:51
Period 3
Plymouth Whitemarsh - Jonathan Isely (powerplay) (unassisted) 11:51
William Tennent - Sean Ovington (powerplay) (Danny Gatto, Jeff Mitchell) 14:49
GOALIES
1 Jim Smith (PW) LOSS 48:00 35 28
43 C.J. Lineman (WT) WIN 48:00 29 26
Archbishop Wood 5 Pennridge 3
Ryan Meinke (one goal, two assists) and Patrick Cavanaugh (two goals, one assist) both had three-goal nights to lead the Vikings. Pennridge goalie Steven Wilms kept his team in the game, turning away 46 of 51 shots he faced in a standout effort.
Meinke (Matt Mandes assist) put the Vikings on the scoreboard in the opening minute of the game, but the Rams evened the score with an unassisted goal by Aaron Crosson. Cavanaugh scored late in the period to give the Vikings a lead they would not lose.
Cavanaugh and Luke Slater (shorthanded) exchanged second period goals, and the Vikings took a 3-2 lead into the fourth period. Mandes and Jake Barcza scored back-to-back goals to put the Vikings on top 5-2 before Jake Wexler scored a shorthanded goal for the Rams.
The Vikings held a lopsided 51-22 advantage in shots.
GAME DETAILS
SCORING
Archbishop Wood 2 1 2 5
Pennridge 1 1 1 3
SHOTS
Archbishop Wood 2 1 48 51
Pennridge 1 1 20 22
SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
Archbishop Wood - Ryan Meinke (Matt Mandes) 0:07
Pennridge - Aaron Crosson (unassisted) 8:55
Archbishop Wood - Patrick Cavanaugh (Evan Capinas, Jake Barcza) 12:42
Period 2
Archbishop Wood - Patrick Cavanaugh (Ryan Meinke) 13:16
Pennridge - Luke Slater (shorthanded) (unassisted) 15:54
Period 3
Archbishop Wood - Matt Mandes (unassisted) 0:48
Archbishop Wood - Jake Barcza (Patrick Cavanaugh, Ryan Meinke) 8:16
Pennridge - Jake Wexler (shorthanded) (unassisted) 9:11
GOALIES
96 Nick DeRosa (ABW) WIN 48:00 22 19
42 Steven Wilms PR) LOSS 48:00 51 46
Lansdale Catholic 2 Central Bucks South 12
Jake Bauer and Damon Delaurentis both contributed one goal and three assists to lead a balanced Titan attack with four points. Mike Pilla (one goal, two assists), Leo Flick (two goals, one assist), Kevin Casey (two goals, one assist) and Brandon Spognardi (two goals, one assist) each contributed three points.
The Crusaders got on the scoreboard first, thanks to an early goal by Alex Slowik, but the Titans answered with back-to-back-to-back goals by Spognardi, Alex Stoll and Casey to go on top 3-1. They extended that lead to 5-1 after goals by Flick and Bauer and took a 7-2 lead into the third period when they went on a 5-0 tear.
The Titans held a 50-17 advantage in shots.
GAME DETAILS
SCORING
Lansdale Catholic 1 1 0 2
Central Bucks South 3 4 5 12
SHOTS
Lansdale Catholic 8 8 1 17
Central Bucks South 19 16 15 50
SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
Lansdale Catholic - Alex Slowik (Michael Longhitano, Bill Pezzutti) 1:59
Central Bucks South - Brandon Spognardi (unassisted) 7:09
Central Bucks South - Alex Stoll (Brenden Clements) 10:14
Central Bucks South - Kevin Casey (Dominic Bova, Jake Bauer) 15:40
Period 2
Central Bucks South - Leo Flick (Damon Delaurentis, Brandon Spognardi) 4:00
Central Bucks South - Jake Bauer (powerplay) (Thomas Liberta, Mike Lucas) 11:04
Lansdale Catholic - John Volpe (powerplay) (Anthony Valerio) 11:04
Central Bucks South - Dominic Bova (Jake Bauer) 15:14
Central Bucks South - Damon Delaurentis (Mike Pilla) 15:30
Period 3
Central Bucks South - Kevin Casey (Jake Bauer) 1:34
Central Bucks South - Leo Flick (powerplay) (Mike Pilla, Damon Delaurentis) 5:42
Central Bucks South - Mike Pilla (Damon Delaurentis, Leo Flick) 7:23
Central Bucks South - Brandon Spognardi (Kevin Casey, Jared Conroy) 8:31
Central Bucks South - Brenden Clements (Mike Lucas) 10:02
GOALIES
35 Helen Cooney (LC) LOSS 48:00 50 38
27 Nick Madson (CBS) WIN 48:00 17 15
Truman 4 Neshaminy 4
In a classic SHSHL battle, the Tigers and Redskins spent the game exchanging goals with Neshaminy’s Nick Foster scoring a late goal to force Truman to settle for the tie.
Truman’s Mike Roarty and Neshaminy’s Mark Hullings exchanged goals in the first period, and it was a 2-2 game after two periods, thanks to goals by Truman’s Zach Bennett and Mark Kruise. The Redskins took a 3-2 lead on a goal by Nick Sabatini 3:29 into the final period, but just over a minute late, Roarty and Bennett scored back-to-back goals in a 70-second span to put the Tigers on top 4-3. That lead held until 13:49 into the period when Foster delivered his late-game heroics, scoring an unassisted goal.
The Tigers held a 36-28 advantage in shots. Neshaminy’s Matt Lucas was credited with 32 saves, and Truman’s Christian Morlando turned away 24 shots.
GAME DETAILS
SCORING
Truman 1 1 2 4
Neshaminy 1 1 2 4
SHOTS
Truman 10 19 7 36
Neshaminy 10 8 10 28
SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
Truman - Mike Roarty (Zach Bennett, Justin Vickery) 0:38
Neshaminy - Mark Hullings (Eric Graham) 4:14
Period 2
Truman - Zach Bennett (Justin Vickery, Billy Keyser) 13:02
Neshaminy - Mark Kruise (Nick Verdi) 15:09
Period 3
Neshaminy - Nick Sabatini (Ian Dixon, Nick Foster) 3:29
Truman - Mike Roarty (unassisted) 4:48
Truman - Zach Bennett (Justin Vickery) 5:56
Neshaminy - Nick Foster (unassisted) 13:49
GOALIES
21 Christian Morlando (TRU) TIE 48:00 28 24
40 Matt Lucas (NESH) TIE 48:00 36 32
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