Truman defeated Wissahickon in a rematch of last year’s SHSHL ‘A’ championship game. Pennridge also defeated Wood.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- There is no love lost between the Truman and Wissahickon ice hockey teams.
That was evident Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice as the Tigers hung a 10-0 mercy-rule defeat on the Trojans. Truman pretty much settled things in the first period with six unanswered goals.
"We were a little pumped up," Truman's Kyle Bennett said. "We're rivals with this team.
"We're in first place and (they're) in second place, and we want to stay on top because other teams want to beat us."
Truman coach Bill Keyser agreed.
"These are our rivals," he said. "We're the No. 1 and No. 2 teams.
"We know them well and we knew we had to come out and play them hard because the last game against them was a one-goal game.
"In the last game, Mike Roarty was injured and didn't play. He played tonight and it made a little difference because it opened up a couple guys."
One of the guys it opened up was Bennett. He came into the game with 16 goals and six assists and came out of it with 19 goals and eight assists, scoring a hat trick and adding two assists, all in the first period.
"Kyle came out pumped up," Keyser said. "He was hot tonight.
"He was on his game. Everything was working for him tonight."
For Bennett and his teammates, that quick start is nothing new.
"We came out pumped up and got on the board early," he said. "We like to get going early. We always try to get the first goal and keep it going."
For Wissahickon coach Mike Wolf, it was just a game in which nothing went right. And he could take some solace in what happened between the two teams last year.
"This is payback for what we did to them last year in the playoffs," Wolf said. "Unfortunately, we didn't have our whole team and they took advantage of that and kicked our (butts)."
In the Suburban High School Hockey League Class A championship game last February, the Trojans beat the Tigers 11-4.
"They're big, they're strong, they're physical and they've got more players than we have," Wolf continued. "If they move the puck as a team, which they do, they're going to take advantage of our weaknesses. They scored easy goals."
And Truman scored a lot of them.
In addition to Bennett's three goals in the first period, Colin Roberts, James Johnson and Ross Koenig also hit the nets for Truman. Bennett assisted on both Roberts' and Johnson's goals while Koenig scored his unassisted.
That first period was the end of the night for Wissahickon goalie Noah Katz. He was replaced in the second period by Jake Modelevsky, who allowed the final four goals in the second period.
However, Modelevsky played well. Truman had a flurry of shots early in the period and could have hit the 10-goal mark a lot sooner than it did.
"He did extremely well," Wolf said. "I was pleased to see that.
"(Modelevsky) has been a notch below Noah and Noah had a bad night and he (Modelevsky) came in and played great."
In the second period, the Tigers finished off the scoring. Roarty notched two unassisted goals, Koenig netted his second and Codey Gordon notched his first of the night.
Keyser had some praise for his goalie, also. Kyle Huth didn't have a difficult night in net, facing only 13 shots, but he did stop everything that came his way.
"Kyle has come a long way from last year to this year," Keyser said. "He worked hard over the summer.
"He wants to be our goalie and I gold him I'd stand behind him. He's earned the spot to be the No. 1 goalie for Truman."
Things got chippy in the second period. Several penalties were called and four players -- three from Wissahickon and one from Truman -- were ejected.
Truman 10, Wissahickon 0
Truman 6 4 X – 10
Wissahickon 0 0 X – 0
First period: 1. Kyle Bennett T (Codey Gordon) 1:52; 2. Colin Roberts T (Bennett) 7:31 PP; 3. Bennett T (Co. Gordon) 8:24; 4. Bennett T (unassisted) 11:07; 5. James Johnson T (Bennett) 12:24; 6. Ross Koenig T (unassisted) 14:08 PP.
Second period: 7. Michael Roarty T (unassisted) 0:36; 8. Roarty T (unassisted) 10:48 PP; 9. Koenig T (Johnson) 11:38; 10. Co. Gordon T (unassisted) 12:17.
Shots: T -- 27; W -- 13. Saves: Kyle Huth (T) 13; Noah Katz (W) 6; Jake Modelevsky (W) 11.
PENNRIDGE 10, ARCHBISHOP WOOD 0
If ever a win qualified as a team effort, the Rams’ shutout win over the Vikings certainly fit the bill as four Pennridge players finished with three points or more. Patrick McGinley led the way with the hat trick to go along with an assist. Nathan Runk (one goal, two assists), Troy Crosson (three goals) and Michael Walker (two goals, one assist) each had three-point games.
Crosson collected the hat trick in the opening period, scoring all three of his goals in a 10-minute span – two with assists from Michael Padgeon and the third with a Luke Slater assist.
The Rams put the game completely out of reach with a four-goal second period that included goals by Runk, Walker, McGinley and John Bird. In the final period, McGinley added a pair and Walker scored a single goal for the 10-0 final.
Pennridge goalie Mike Weaver turned away all nine shots he faced in the shutout win.
Archbishop Wood 0-0-0 0
Pennridge 3-4-3 10
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