PW edged Wissahickon in a key SHSHL battle. Check out all the recaps. Photos of the Wissahickon/PW game are provided courtesy of Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for a gallery of action photos.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- It might be a little early in the season to be talking about battles for first place.
But Plymouth Whitemarsh and Wissahickon did a good job of making that conversation relevant. The Colonials and the Trojans were both 5-1 coming into Wednesday night's game at Hatfield Ice.
They were tied with Archbishop Wood with 10 points in the Suburban High School Hockey League's Varsity A Division. With that going in, it was certain that one team would pick up an advantage. Plus both teams considered the game to be a rivalry, which just added to the mystique.
The Colonials rode the two third-period goals by John Sciarrone to a 6-5 win over Wissahickon. Those two points put PW atop its division since Archbishop Wood was idle on Wednesday.
"Every game is important to us," said PW coach Josh Aiello. "When you have two teams that are tied with 5-1 on the year and the team (we are tied with) is Wissahickon, it doesn't get any bigger than that.
"It's always one of the biggest games. We know they're going to come out hard. We know there's a rivalry between them and us. PW's been ready for it and up for it all year. I knew it was going to be a competitive game."
Plymouth Whitemarsh captain Chris Zawislak couldn't have agreed with his coach more.
"This is a huge win for PW," he said. "As far as wins go, this shows some resiliency as a team."
But Zawislack went even farther than Aiello.
"I think this is going to be a real turning point going forward,” he said. “I think this is going to be the driving force for us going forward.
"This game will show everybody in the division what PW is made of. It's going to show everybody who plays in the SHSHL what PW's got."
What the Colonials have is a high scoring offense. Entering the game, they had scored 60 goals in six games and tacked on six more against the Trojans.
That has been the result of hard work and persistence by both coaches and players. The Plymouth Whitemarsh hockey program has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years.
"When these seniors were freshmen, we had one win all year," Aiello said. "Their sophomore year, we had a few more wins and last year we went 9-9-1 overall.
"Now we're at a point where PW is 6-1. I'm proud of these guys for working so hard."
As captain, Zawislak has seen this growth.
"In the last few years, we've made a complete turnaround," he said. "My freshman year, we won one game and we've steadily increased that. It's a lot of hard work and it's all culminating in success this season."
When the game started, it looked like that hard work might be for naught. Wissahickon scored the first goal of the game as Jake Flancer found the net after only 23 seconds of play.
But the Colonials came back. They scored slightly more than nine minutes later when Luke Brzozowski beat Trojan goalie Jake Modelevsky to tie the score.
However, Wissahickon rebounded less than two minutes later, scoring on a power play. It was Flancer's second goal of the period.
Plymouth Whitemarsh came alive in the second period. The Colonials outscored Wissahickon 3-1 to take a 4-3 lead in the third period.
In the third period, the two teams scored twice each. But it was Sciarrone's goal with 8:18 gone in the final stanza that decided the game.
Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington also knew the importance of the game.
"(A win) would have been real important considering we were a little short-handed," said the Trojans’ coach, who had had 13 skaters available. "A win would have been sweet, but it's early enough in the season."
But he also realized that his team had some problems.
"We didn't get the puck deep enough," Harrington said. "It wore down our players. They (PW) did a good job of keeping us penned in our zone."
The teams will meet again later in the season. Who knows? That might just decide the division title at that point.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 3 2 – 6
Wissahickon 2 1 2 – 5
First period: 1, Jake Flancer W (Erik Hesse) 0:23; 2, Luke Brzozowski PW (John Sciarrone) 9:50; 3, Flancer W (Nolan Piatkowski) 12:08 PP.
Second period: 4, Colin Franzoni PW (Nathaniel Slowik, Brzozowski) 2:00; 5, Brandon Pham PW (unassisted) 7:31; 6, Dean Keller PW (unassisted) 11:23; 7, Matt Cade W (Piatkowski) 14:24 PP.
Third period: 8, Sean Garry W (Piatkowski) 2:27 SH; 9, Sciarrone PW (Joe Eisenlohr, Chris Zawislak) 3:18; 10, Piatkowski W (unassisted) 5:14; 11, Sciarrone PW (Pham) 8:18.
Shots: PW 38; W 26. Saves: Cole Shula (PW) 21; Jake Modelevsky (W) 32.
PENNRIDGE 8, NORTH PENN 1
Patrick McGinley scored two goals and assisted on three others to lead the Pennridge attack with five points. Nathan Runk (one goal, two assists) and Troy Crosson (two goals, one assist) both had three-point nights for the Rams, who notched the important win.
Five minutes into the contest, Pennridge went on top 1-0 when Troy Crosson (Luke Slater assist) found the net on a power play goal. Just over six minutes later, the Knights returned the favor when Andrew Galetta scored a power play goal, using assists from Joseph Hawks and George Boyle.
That 1-1 tie lasted all of 17 seconds before McGinley (Runk/Josh Finlayson assists) scored a goal that put the Rams on top 2-1 at the end of one period. Second-period goals by Crosson and Runk made it a 3-1 game, and the Rams sealed the Knights’ fate with four unanswered goals in the final period. Michael Walker, McGinley, Anton Kozitskiy and Eric Slater each scored single goals for the Rams, who held a 43-20 advantage in shots.
Luke Stranik turned away 19 of 20 shots he faced to earn the win in goal for the Rams. Caleb Floyd was credited with 35 saves for the Knights.
North Penn 1-0-0 1
Pennridge 2-2-4 8
Shots: North Penn 20, Pennridge 43.
Saves: Luke Stranik (P) 19, Caleb Floyd (NP) 35.
First Period
P: Troy Crosson (power play) (Luke Sater)
NP: Andrew Galetta (power play) (Joseph Hawks, George Boyle)
P: Patrick McGinley (Nathan Runk, Josh Finlayson)
Second Period
P: Troy Crosson (short handed) (Patrick McGinley)
P: Nathan Runk (Patrick McGinley, Dylan Lowry)
Third Period
P: Michael Walker (Zach Snyder)
P: Patrick McGinley (Nathan Runk)
P: Anton Kozitskiy (Troy Crosson)
P: Eric Slater (Michael Walker, Patrick McGinley)
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 7, PENNSBURY 0
Joseph DeLaurentis scored one goal and assisted on three others for four points to lead the Titans. Matt Stoll and Colin Abbonizio both contributed one goal and two assists for three points each.
The Titans controlled play from the opening face-off but held just a 1-0 lead after one period. Joshua Sklar accounted for South’s only goal, finding the net 2:14 into the contest with an assist from DeLaurentis. In the second period, the Titans received a power play goal from DeLaurentis (Stoll, Abbonizio assists) as well as a goal from Stoll (Tyler Boylan, Aidan Ehresman assists) within a 94-second time span to go on top 3-0.
In the fourth period, the Titans received goals from Reis Braccio, Abbonizio, Stephen McMillan and Sklar (power play).
The Titans held a 45-7 advantage in shots. South goalie Kevin Dorozinsky was forced to make just seven saves in the shutout win while Pennsbury’s Brandon McCaffrey was credited with 38 saves.
Central Bucks South 1-2-4 7
Pennsbury 0-0-0 0
Shots: CB South 45, Pennsbury 7.
Saves: Kevin Dorozinsky (CBS) 7, Brandon McCaffrey (P) 38.
First Period
CBS: Josuah Sklar (Joseph DeLaurentis)
Second Period
CBS: Joseph DeLaurentis (power play) (Matt Stoll, Colin Abbonizio)
CBS: Matt Stoll (Tyer Boylan, Aidan Ehresman)
Third Period
CBS: Reis Braccio (Matt Stoll, Tyler Boylan)
CBS: Colin Abbonizio (Joseph DeLaurentis)
CBS: Stephen McMillan (Frank Carter)
CBS: Joshua Sklar (power play) (Colin Abbonizio, Joseph DeLaurentis)
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