CB East earned its first rivalry night win in four years over archrival CB West, and Pennridge was also a winner at Hatfield Ice. Check out the recaps of some of Wednesday night’s SHSHL rivalry games. CB East/CB West and Souderton/Pennridge photos provided by Keith Clemens Photography; Wissahickon/Upper Dublin photos provided by Geanine Jamison. CLICK HERE for a gallery of photos.
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 4, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 2
Rob Kern didn’t need a whole lot of words to describe his emotions after the Patriots’ win over their neighboring rivals in a spirited rivalry night battle at Hatfield Ice. His smile told the story.
“As a senior, this is a big deal,” said Kern. “We’ve played them seven times now, Senior Night too. This is our second win. It’s big on Thanksgiving. That’s a good team over there.”
This was the first time Kern and his fellow seniors walked away with the trophy that is awarded the winner of the rivalry night game and remains in the possession of that team for the year. East had not only lost three straight Thanksgiving Eve contests to West, they’d been outscored 19-2 in those losses.
“This is huge,” Kern said. “This is my last year of hockey. I’m going into the Air Force, so this is a big deal winning as a senior. It was great to get the win.”
“This means a lot,” East coach Ken Latchum said. “These kids have been itching to get this trophy back for years.
“A couple of these kids have played three, four years, and they’ve never beaten West on Thanksgiving Eve. They wanted it and they deserved it.”
Kern had a hand in three of his team’s four goals, assisting on a pair and putting an exclamation point on the win with an empty net goal with .5 seconds remaining.
All night long, the Bucks struggled to generate offense against a pesky Patriot defense. The key, according to Kern, was simple.
“Just staying on them – backchecking hard and just making sure we have a guy on every player on their team,” he said. “And then when we get a chance to shoot – just shoot the puck. I think that was really big and crashing the net. It worked.”
The Bucks were also throwing some serious defense at the Patriots, and neither team got on the scoreboard until Asher Zenstein (Tyler Godown assist) fired a shot that found the net with 10:30 remaining in the second period.
“It gets you so hyped up,” Kern said of getting on the scoreboard first. “It’s important in a game of this magnitude.”
With just over five minutes remaining in the second period, the Patriots added a goal when Sean Groman scored with an assist from Kern. East took that 2-0 lead into the final period. The Patriots held an 18-15 advantage in shots through two periods.
“We have a very inexperienced team,” West coach Dave Baun said. “Part of it is youth and part of it is new players. I think tonight it really showed.
“I think a part of that is because of the atmosphere. We can usually tell how well we’ll play by our warm-up, and our warm-up was terrible. It was just sort of a precursor of what was to come. We just didn’t really play well.”
Things got interesting when West sophomore Pavel Serhiayenka scored with assists from Owen Shields and Christopher Trefz to make it a 2-1 game less than two minutes into the final period. The Patriots got that goal back when Kern assisted on a second Gorman goal that gave East a two-goal advantage with just under nine minutes remaining in regulation.
Emotions ran high all night and finally bubbled over with 4:38 remaining in the final period. When the dust had settled, the Patriots were down two players.
“It’s a lot,” Kern said. “We’ve all grown up playing each other. We all know each other, and it gets to some of the players. That wasn’t the best look, but that’s part of the game, and it happens. In a game like this, the emotions sometimes get the best of you.”
“We stayed disciplined up until that last four-minute mark,” Latchum said. “I’m hoping these kids learn from that – that you’ve got to stay disciplined. It’s a must.”
Two minutes later, the Bucks capitalized with Christian Young finding the net, using a Christopher Trefz assist to make it a 3-2 game.
“On a 5-on-3, we should be able to move the puck, but we can’t complete passes,” Baun said. “East played well – I’m not taking anything away from them, but when it was 5-on-3, it wasn’t that they were doing anything to make a difference. We just couldn’t connect a pass because our basic skills were lacking.”
Kern scored an empty net goal just before the final horn sounded for the 4-2 final.
Latchum lauded the defensive efforts of Connor Keiser and Chris Mangiacapre.
“The kids are keeping their sticks on the ice and they’re forechecking,” the Patriots’ coach said. “For us to win, we’ve got to pressure them. We’ve got to do a lot of pressure, and the last two games, that’s what they’ve been doing. It was a good win.”
Central Bucks East 0-2-2 4
Central Bucks West 0-0-2 2
Shots: CB East 31, CB West 27
Saves: Chris McIntyre (CBE) 25, Nicholas Ritz (CBW) 27.
1st Period
No Score
2nd Period
CBE-Asher Zenstein (Tyler Godown)
CBE-Sean Gorman (Rob Kern)
3rd Period
CBW-Pavel Serhiayenka (Owen Shields)
CBE-Sean Gorman (Rob Kern)
CBW-Christian Young (Christopher Trefz)
CBE-Rob Kern
PENNRIDGE 7, SOUDERTON 1
The Rams – according to coach Jeff Montagna - are searching for an identity, and the first-year coach is hoping Wednesday’s no-doubt-about-it rivalry night win is the first step in establishing that identity.
“I think they’ve struggled a little bit with expectations too,” Montagna said. “They returned a lot of guys, and they thought it would be a little different to start the season. They probably needed a game like tonight.”
The win was the first of the young season for the Rams, who fell to Neshaminy (5-4) and tied North Penn (4-4).
“The game against Neshaminy and the game before against North Penn we got caught off guard,” Pennridge senior Michael Walker said. “We haven’t had a whole lot of great time in practice – we haven’t been practicing well, but after the Neshaminy game, we did some thinking and we’ve been practicing much better. We’re more efficient practicing and just kind of getting everyone together.”
The Rams, according to Walker, are still adjusting to the change in coaching styles – Tom Coyne took over the team midway through the season last year, and the veteran coach is now an assistant under Montagna.
“Different coaching, different styles,” Walker said. “Different coaches roll the lines different and have different strategies. It’s a big switch. Everybody is not completely used to it. We got our coach six months into last season. It was kind of a fresh start for everybody, and this is the season to test it.”
Montagna came to Pennridge after coaching Souderton’s middle school team, and Wednesday’s win was bittersweet for the first-year coach.
“I coached a lot of these guys at Souderton – it’s tough,” said Montagna, noting that his team’s strong showing Wednesday was a step in the right direction. “They didn’t play badly in the first two games, but they didn’t have a lot go well.
“It hasn’t been easy. It’s been very frustrating, and I think identity is the right word – who they are exactly. Me and Tom (Coyne) are still getting used to it. Even though it’s a lot of the same team, it has a few different parts. One of the guys we’re missing from last year – Patrick McGinley – we’re trying to replace him. He was a great player, a great leader.
“I told them tonight – have some fun. Forget how many seniors you have, forget what everyone thinks, just have some fun with this. I told them - it doesn’t really matter what happens in the first two games. It doesn’t really matter what your record is in November. If we keep dwelling on that, we’re in trouble. Hopefully tonight was a step in the right direction. We’ll see.”
The Rams seized control of Wednesday’s game from the outset, scoring three unanswered goals and outshooting Souderton 26-2 in the opening period. Scoring one goal each for the Rams were Michael White (Evan Kehoe assist), Bryson Egan (Walker assist) and Walker (Frankie Rota assist). Egan’s came on a power play. Eric Slater scored in the opening seconds of the second period with assists from Walker and Jake Weisbecker, and the Rams led 4-0. A goal by Michael Eissler (Nick Eissler and Rota assists) sent the Rams into the final period with a 5-0 lead.
Thomas Harris (John Gray assist) broke up the Rams’ shutout bid with a goal in the opening minutes of the final period, but Pennridge freshman Andrew David scored his first varsity goal with assists from Aeryk Lehrhaupt and Rota. The assist was Rota’s third of the game. Slater closed out the scoring with an unassisted power play goal.
“Rolling the lines and getting everybody out there so everyone has a chance to play – people who don’t typically get out there got out there tonight,” Walker said. “Since we were ahead, we let them go out there and have some fun.
“It’s high school hockey. It’s what we make of it.”
Luke Stranick and Ryan Pico combined for the win in goal for the Rams. Jonathan Pritchard kept the Indians close with a stellar 51-save effort.
Souderton 0-0-1 1
Pennridge 3-2-2 7
Shots: Pennridge 58, Souderton 16
Saves: Luke Stranick (P) 11, Ryan Pico (P) 4, Jonathan Pritchard (S) 51.
1st Period
P-Michael White (Evan Kehoe)
P-Bryson Egan (Michael Walker)
P-Michael Walker (Frankie Rota)
2nd Period
P-Eric Slater (Michael Walker/Jake Weisbecker)
P-Michael Eissler (Nick Eissler/Frankie Rota)
3rd Period
S-Thomas Harris (John Gray)
P-Andrew David (Aeryk Lehrhaupt/Frankie Rota)
P-Eric Slater
PENNSBURY 2, NESHAMINY 2
The Redskins scored a late goal and rode the hot hand of goalie Steve Glik, forcing the Falcons – who dominated the game statistically – to settle for a 2-2 tie in Wednesday’s rivalry game. The Falcons took 40 shots to just 18 for the Redskins, but Glik negated that with his 38-save effort.
The Falcons got on the scoreboard just over four minutes into the game on a goal by Shane Siegman (Connor Coyne/Jake Sieger assists). Nine minutes later, the Redskins evened the score when Thomas Gallagher found the net, using assists from Joey DeMatteo and Josh Haines.
Pennsbury’s Erik Eisler (Siegmund assist) scored the only goal of the second period, and the Falcons took a 2-1 lead into the final period. With 6:37 remaining, Matteo scored the equalizer. Neither team scored the rest of the way.
Topher Seller earned the win in goal for the Falcons, turning away 16 shots.
Pennsbury 1-1-0 2
Neshaminy 1-0-1 2
Shots: Pennsbury 40, Neshaminy 18.
Saves: Topher Seller (P) 16, Steve Glik (38)
1st Period
P-Shane Giegmund (Connor Coyne/Jake Sieger)
N-Thomas Gallagher (JoeyDeMatteo/Josh Haines)
2nd Period
P-Erik Eisler (Shane Siegmund)
3rd Period
N-Joey DeMatteo
HARRY S TRUMAN 7, ABINGTON 2
Steven Avellino was a difference maker in Wednesday’s contest. The Truman sharpshooter scored the game’s first goal and then four straight to blow open a close game and close out the contest.
Avellino spotted the Tigers a short-lived 1-0 lead. Joe Stelacio (Daniel Staley/Perry Carpenter assists) and Elijah Coston (Ethan Weilheimer assist) scored back-to-back goals to put the Ghosts on top 2-1. A goal by James Gallagher (William Findlay assist) knotted the score after one period.
Robert DiCrosta (Donald Trohm/Decklyn Dailey) scored the go-ahead goal 4:37 into the second period. It turned out to be the game-winner. Avellino’s power play goal gave the Tigers a 4-2 lead after two periods. The third period was all Avellino, who used assists from DiCrosta and McCartney on the first two goals and closed it out with an unassisted goal.
Jeremy Wedul earned the win in goal for the Tigers, turning away 20 of 22 shots he faced.
Harry S Truman 2-2-3 7
Abington 2-0-0 2
Shots: Truman 33, Abington 22
Saves: Jeremy Wedul (HST) 20, Mason Large (A) 20, Ben Panella (A) 6.
1st Period
HST-Steven Avellino
A-Joe Stelacio (Daniel Staley/Perry Carpenter)
A-Elijah Coston (Ethan Weilheimer)
HST-James Gallagher (William Findlay)
2nd Period
HST-Robert DiCrosta (Donald Strohm/Decklyn Dailey)
HST-Steven Avellino
3rd Period
HST-Steven Avellino (Robert DiCrosta)
HST-Steven Avellino (Jeremy McCartney)
HST-Steven Avellino
- Log in to post comments
