Pennridge defeated North Penn in SHSHL action Thursday. Check out the recap.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- In any high school sport, the health of the players is vital.
Obviously, no one wants a high school student-athlete to be sidelined from playing a sport or missing time in the classroom.
For the Pennridge ice hockey team, that has been the problem all season. Through the first 12 games of the 16-game season, the Rams have played with a less-than-complete lineup.
That all changed on Thursday night. Pennridge had its full compliment of players and used them all to beat North Penn 9-1 at Hatfield Ice.
"This is what we expected coming into the season," said Pennridge head coach Ken Doak. "We're healthy and we have a full bench.
"Coming into the season, that's why I put four lines together on the team. I wanted to have three lines that could score at any time and have a fourth line that would give the other three lines a break."
With everyone on hand, the Rams put together a dominant offensive effort against the Knights.
Josh Finlayson led the way with three goals and linemate Luke Slater added four assists.
Finlayson is as happy as his coach that everyone on the roster is now available to play.
"This is the first game where we're all healthy," Finlayson said. "We have a couple guys banged up, but it's good to get everyone back."
The victory was very important to the Rams and their hopes of making the Suburban High School Hockey League playoffs and the Flyers Cup. One of the teams they are trying to stay ahead of is North Penn.
"The seniors know that time in expiring," Doak said. "They know that this is the home stretch now. If you want to go far and get to the Flyers Cup, you have to step it up.
"If we can get good defensive play and good goaltending, that's what it takes. If we can get good defense and good goaltending, the sky's the limit for these guys.
"You see that when we're firing on all cylinders, we're pretty potent. I'm starting to read the riot act in the locker room. Don't let this go; this is your last hurrah."
North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis knows something about good defense and good goaltending. On Thursday night, those weren't happening for the Knights, who gave up nine goals to Pennridge on the heels of giving up nine goals to Central Bucks West in their previous game.
"Offensively I thought in the first period we were actually doing some good things," Vaitis said. "We were getting some decent scoring chances, but we just weren't getting the pucks to go in.
"In the last two games, defensively, we have just not played well, giving up 18 goals. We've got to play tougher and stronger and be tougher to play against in our own zone."
Vaitis was forced to pull goalie Kate Winstanley after the first period after she gave up five goals. Caleb Floyd started the second period and finished the game, allowing four goals of his own.
"She had some unlucky bounces," Vaitis said of Winstanley. "We didn't play well at all in front of her. We've got to do a better job in our own zone defensively helping out both goalies."
Some of that had to do with the offensive storm that Pennridge threw at North Penn. The Rams scored three goals in less than three minutes to open the first period and then added two more later in the stanza.
Nathan Runk got things started, scoring after only 39 seconds. Patrick McGinley followed up at 1:22 and then Michael Walker at 2:51.
Troy Crosson finished up the scoring in the first. He hit the nets with 10:56 gone on the power play and then got an unassisted goal at the 12:08 mark.
The two teams split the second period. Finlayson notched his first goal on the power play in the second and Jared Albano got one back for North Penn later in the period.
Finlayson got his final two goals in the third period. Hunter Ditty completed the scoring for the Rams with 13:31 gone in the final stanza.
Luke Stranik turned away 31 of 32 shots he faced in goal for the Rams.
Doak had praise for Finlayson and his goal-scoring.
"He's doing well," Doak said. "He's been playing with Luke Slater who was really getting a lot of goals in the beginning and (Finlayson was) getting a lot of assists. He's starting to come into his own."
North Penn would agree.
Pennridge 9, North Penn 1
Pennridge 5 1 3 – 9
North Penn 0 1 0 – 1
First period: 1, Nathan Runk P (Luke Slater) 0:39; 2, Patrick McGinley P (Troy Crosson, Zack Snyder) 1:22; 3, Michael Walker P (McGinley, Dylan Lowry) 2:51; 4, Crosson P (Eric Slater) 10:56 PP; 5, Crosson P (unassisted) 12:08.
Second period: 6, Josh Finlayson P (L. Slater, Matthew Guinette) 4:30 PP; 7, Jared Albano NP (Nathan Oh, Alex Ebbinghaus) 7:07.
Third period: 8, Finlayson P (L. Slater, Runk) 1:39; 9, Finlayson P (L. Slater) 9:50; 10, Hunter Ditty P (Evan Kehoe, Michael Ferrello) 13:31.
Shots: P 25, NP 32. Saves: Luke Stranik (P) 31; Kate Winstanley (NP) 6, Caleb Floyd (NP) 10.
Wednesday, Jan. 25
WISSAHICKON 7, ABINGTON 4
Matt Wilson scored three goals and assisted on another to lead the Trojans with a four-point night. He couldn’t have picked a better time to score his goals, scoring all three in the third period to swing momentum in the Trojans’ favor.
Abington led 3-2 after two periods only to watch that advantage erased less than a minute into the third period when Wilson scored on a power play. Jake Flancer’s goal 4:31 into the period with a Matt Cade assist put the Trojans on top 4-3, but Abington’s Tim Burke had an answer, scoring with an assist from Kyle Burke to knot the score.
That’s when Wilson went to work, scoring back-to-back goals in a 61-second span – the first on a power play – to give the Trojans a lead they would not lose. Sean Garry (Wilson assist) tacked on an insurance goal for the 7-4 final.
Earlier, Nolan Piatkowski scored to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead, but Spencer Heuges (Perry Carpenter/Thomas Panella assist) evened the score with a goal at the 10:21 mark. Cade’s power play goal with a Noah Harrington assist put the Trojans on top 2-1 early in the second period, but goals by Nikolai Portner (Heuges assist) and Heuges gave the Ghosts a 3-2 lead.
Michael Henderson turned away 19 shots in a winning effort in goal for the Trojans while Jacob Snellenburg recorded 33 saves for the Ghosts.
Wissahickon 1-1-5 7
Abington 1-2-1 4
Shots: Wissahickon 40, Abington 23.
Saves: Michael Henderson (W) 19, Jacob Snellenburg (A) 33.
First Period
W: Nolan Piatkowski
A: Spencer Heuges (Perry Carpenter/Thomas Panella)
Second Period
W: Matt Cade (Noah Harrington)
A: Nikolai Portner (Spencer Heuges)
A: Spencer Heuges
Third Period
W: Matt Wilson
W: Jake Flancer (Matt Cade)
A: Tim Burke (Kyle Burke)
W: Matt Wilson
W: Matt Wilson
W: Sean Garry
WILLIAM TENNENT 6, NESHAMINY 5
The Panthers won a thriller, using a Jack McKeever goal (Sean Ovington/Blake Bagdon assists) at the final horn to eke out the win. Tennent took a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead into the final period and upped that to 5-1 after a McKeever goal (Ovington assist) two minutes in. The Redskins responded with four straight power play goals in a nine-minute span to knot the score.
Aric Miller (Anthony Sabatini assist) got the ball rolling with a goal at the 6:14 mark. Five minutes later Sabatini scored with a Miller assist. Nicholas Ruggero’s power play goal with a Sabatini assist at the 12:35 mark made it a 5-4 game, and the two teams were deadlocked when Joshua Haines connected on a power play goal at the 15:06 mark, setting the stage for McKeever’s last-second heroics.
Ovington’s five-point night (two goals, three assists) led the Panthers. McKeever contributed the hat trick while Dern had a pair of assists. Chris Kreider also contributed a goal while Chris Bremer, Andre Trozzi, Bobby Markus and Bake Bagdon each had an assist.
For the Redskins, Sabatini finished with three points on a goal and two assists while Miller and Haines both had a goal and an assist. Ruggero and Joey DeMatteo both added single goals.
Eric Lineman stopped 15 of 17 shots in goal for the Panthers in the win. Steven Glik had 43 saves on a night that saw the Panthers hold a 49-20 advantage in shots.
William Tennent 0-4-2 6
Neshaminy 1-0-4 5
Shot: WT 49, Neshaminy 20.
First Period
N: Joey DeMatteo (Joshua Haines)
Second Period
WT: Sean Ovington (Chris Bremer/John Dern)
WT Jack McKeever (Andre Trozzi/Bobby Markus)
WT: Chris Kreider (Sean Ovington)
WT Sean Ovington (John Dern)
Third Period
WT Jack McKeever (Sean Ovington)
N: Aric Miller (Anthony Sabatini)
N: Anthony Sabatini (Aric Miller)
N: Nicholas Ruggero (Anthony Sabatini)
N: Joshua Haines
WT: Jack McKeever (Sean Ovington/Blake Bagdon)
Non-league
FATHER JUDGE 8, PENNSBURY 5
The Falcons battled the Crusaders to a 3-3 tie after one period, and it was a 4-4 game heading into the final period when the Crusaders closed it out with a 4-1 tear.
Collin Furey led the Crusaders with the hat trick.
For the Falcons, Nathan Raccago had a pair of goals, and Ben Dous added a goal and an assist. John Bezilla scored a power play goal, and Dawson Belmont had a short-handed goal for the Falcons. Cameron Polo, Jake Sieger and Griffin Foll each had one assist.
August Dous was credited with 32 saves in goal for the Falcons.
Father Judge 3-1-4 8
Pennsbury 3-1-1 5
Shots: FJ 40, Pennsbury 21.
Saves: Nick Kilpatrick (FJ) 15, August Dous (P) 32.
First Period
FJ: Tom Scannell (Justin Anderson)
P: Nathan Raccagno (Griffin Foll/Jake Sieger)
P: Ben Dous
P: Dawson Belmont
FJ: Vince Moser (Sean Paris)
FJ: Collin Furey
Second Period
FJ: Justin Anderson (Justin Smith)
P: John Bezilla (Cameron Polo)
Third Period
FJ: Collin Furey
FJ: Collin Furey
FJ: Vince Maroney (Justin Anderson)
P: Nathan Raccagno
FJ: Tom Scannell (Justin Smith)
- Log in to post comments
