CB South picked up a decisive win over Pennridge in SHSHL action Wednesday. Photos provided courtesy of Dara N. King Photography. Check back for a gallery of King’s action photos.
By Ben Reese
WARWICK – It’s no secret that you can't allow Central Bucks South's ice hockey team to get off to a quick start if you expect to beat the Titans.
That was shown in two of the past three years when South claimed both the Flyers Cup and the PIAA Championship.
Well, the Titans got off quickly against Pennridge on Wednesday night at Warwick Ice Arena, scoring three times in the first period. They rode those goals to a 7-1 victory over the Rams.
"We had a very strong first period," said South coach Shaun McGinty. "With that strong start, it's easy to build off momentum.
"The team we were playing against, (Ken) Doak is a good coach and the boys are big so I wanted my boys to come out and play fast, really just keep moving and make them play our game."
Doak, Pennridge's coach, saw it a little differently, but not by much.
"They came to play and we didn't come to play," he said. "They jumped on us quick and we didn't respond.
"We let them bowl over us and they kept the throttle down and we didn't match their tempo, their speed. We didn't match anything. We just didn't look good tonight."
The Titans followed the three-goal first period with two more in the second and finished up with two more in the third. Pennridge scored its lone goal in the third stanza.
Matt Stoll led the way for the Titans. He scored twice and added three assists.
But he also gave an indication of why South came out roaring. Last week, South was beaten by cross-district rival CB West 5-2 and the defeat stung.
"Coach always talks to us about remembering a loss," Stoll said. "We kept that in the back of our heads.
"We're going to play like we're playing West so every game is going to be like we're playing West. That's our mentality for the rest of the year."
"We got beat against West because they were able to counter our mistakes," McGinty said. "But that's hockey."
The South team that took the ice Wednesday night bore a striking resemblance to the 2015-16 state championship team. It was fast and physical, firing shots on goal and forechecking to a fare-thee-well.
"There are steps throughout the season that we're trying to hit," McGinty explained. "The back end of our season is a strong schedule which is great because we're going to be playing all strong teams going into the playoffs.
"This is another step for us in the right direction. We're looking for games like this to hit the marks we want to hit."
Both McGinty and Stoll had high praise for goalie Kevin Dorozinsky. He only faced 10 shots all night, stopping nine of them.
"He's been a stud in net for us," said Stoll. "CB South is just like a goaltender school. We just seem to have them."
"Our goaltending was great tonight," McGinty said. "Even though he wasn't tested (by a large number of shots), he made three clutch saves.
"When you get low shots like that and your goalie is cold, it's really hard. He's got a tough job."
For the first nine minutes of the first period, there was no scoring. Both goalies, Dorozinsky and Pennridge's Luke Stranik, were solid.
But then, with 9:05 gone in the opening stanza, the Titans struck. Reis Braccio, off assists from Jake Anastasia and Stoll, netted the first goal of the game.
The second and third goals came quickly after that. Stoll scored at the 13:56 mark and Josh Sklar hit the nets at 15:47.
In that first period, CB South fired 20 shots at Stranik. Pennridge could manage only five.
Stoll got his second goal after six minutes had elapsed in the second period, scoring unassisted. Frank Carter notched the second Titan goal in the period on the power play with an assist from Stoll.
Luke Slater put Pennridge on the board early in the third period. He took a pass from Nathan Runk and beat Dorozinsky with only 2:11 gone in the period.
CB South's final two goals came on the power play. Colin Abbonizio scored both of them with Stoll and Carter getting the assists.
In the final tally, the Titans peppered Stranik with 44 shots. Fourteen of them came in the final period.
Is this another South team readying itself for a run at the playoffs? Is it like last year's winner?
"Every year is a different team," McGinty said. "Would last year's team beat this team? I don't have the answer to that.
"The answer is we have a nucleus. We have good leadership; we allow the leadership to pass down.
"We have a lot of freshmen playing. More importantly than they're getting ice time, they're around the locker room, around those boys, listening to their wise words and helping them to come along so when it's their turn to lead, it just continues to carry."
Maybe all the way to championships.
CB South 7, Pennridge 1
Pennridge 0 0 1 – 1
CB South 3 2 2 – 7
First period: 1, Reis Braccio CBS (Jake Anastasia, Matt Stoll) 9:05; 2, Stoll CBS (Anastasia, D.J. LoVerdi) 13:56; 3, Josh Sklar CBS (Colin Abbonizio) 15:47.
Second period: 4, Stoll CBS (unassisted) 6:02; 5, Frank Carter CBS (Stoll) 121:04 PP.
Third period: 6, Luke Slater P (Nathan Runk) 2:11; 7, Abbonizio CBS (Stoll) 10:51 PP; 8, Abbonizio CBS (Carter) 13:04 PP.
Shots: P 10, CBS 44. Saves: Luke Stranik (P) 37, Kevin Dorozinsky (CBS) 9.
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 8, ABINGTON 2
Declan Cole and Timothy Cordero both had four-point nights to lead the Vikings to the decisive win. Cole had three goals and one assist while Cordero finished with one goal and three assists in a contest the Vikings dominated from start to finish.
Cole (Cordero assist) found the net just over a minute into the game. Kyle Burke got that one back for the Ghosts, scoring with assists from Elijah Coston and Andrew Profit, but the 1-1 tie lasted for less than three minutes. Cordero scored the go-ahead goal 12:21 into the period, and less than a minute later, teammate Evan Capinas found the net, using a Joseph Hill assist. The Cole-Cordero combination in the period’s final minute put the Vikings on top 4-1.
In the second period, Cole (Nicholas Romano assist) and Tomas Hill (Brendan Cullura/Evan Capinas assists) each scored a goal. Hill’s goal came on a power play and put the Vikings on top 6-1.
James Casper (Cole/Cordero assists) and Joseph Hill (Tomas Hill/Cullura assists) scored in the opening minutes of the final period to up the Vikings’ advantage to 8-1. Burke connected for his second goal of the night to close out the scoring.
Wood goalie Joseph Danig was credited with 12 saves in the win. Abington’s Jacob Snellenburg recorded 34 saves.
Abington 1-0-1 2
Archbishop Wood 4-2-2 8
Shots: A 14, AW 42
Saves: Jacob Snellenburg (A) 34, Joseph Danig (AW) 12.
First Period
AW: Declan Cole (Timothy Cordero)
A: Kylel Burke (Elijah Coston/Andrew Profit)
AW: Timothy Cordero
AW: Evan Capinas (Joseph Hill)
AW: Declan Cole (Timothy Cordero)
Second Period
AW: Declan Cole (Nicholas Romano)
AW Tomas Hill (Brendan Cullura/Evan Capinas)
Third Period
AW: James Casper (Declan Cole/Timothy Cordero)
AW Joseph Hill (Tomas Hill/Brendan Cullura)
A: Kyle Burke
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