Central Bucks West was a shutout winner in a rivalry night contest with CB East while Souderton and Pennridge battled to a 2-2 tie at Hatfield Ice on Wednesday night. Check Keith Clemens’ photos of both contests...CLICK HERE.
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 4, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0
Jonah Brous has been an impact player since he stepped onto the ice as a freshman, and the senior goalie was a difference maker in the Bucks’ shutout win over the Patriots in Wednesday’s 11th annual Thanksgiving Eve Classic.
Brous turned away all 25 shots he faced, but if there was a defining moment in the game, it came with the Bucks holding a 2-0 lead over the pesky Patriots and just over five minutes remaining in the second period. East’s Robbie Kern found himself on a breakaway but was stonewalled by Brous. Ten seconds later, Shawn Philipps turned the tables, scoring on a breakaway for the Bucks, and instead of a 2-1 game, the Bucks led 3-0, all but sealing the Patriots fate.
“They’re momentum changers,” said Brous, who was asked if his 25 saves were a season high. “I don’t really try to pay too much attention to that. I just try to go out there every day and give my team a chance to win.”
Brous and the Bucks were victorious on Wednesday, but sophomore goalie Kyle Gilchrist certainly did his part to keep the Patriots in the game, turning away 38 shots.
“Their goaltender was really extraordinary tonight as was Jonah,” West coach Dave Baun said. “The thing with Jonah is that he’s solid positionally, and pucks stick to him so he never looks spectacular.
“He never looks like he’s struggling to make a save. It always looks easy, and that’s really the mark of a great goaltender. When you have a goaltender that makes those kind of saves, it’s easy to take them for granted, but believe me, we never do because he makes great stops and allows us to stay in games and get ourselves together when we’re slipping.”
The Bucks took a 1-0 lead late in the opening period when Joey Rockovich scored, using assists from Matthew McCarthy and Jake Boehm. The Bucks kept the pressure on but couldn’t convert until sophomore Tucker Forte - in front of the net - turned a pass from Dalton Karl into a goal with 6:44 remaining in the second period.
“The puck just came out to me in the slot, and I just put it past the goalie,” Forte said. “It felt really good to get my first of the year.
“Their goalie played really well. He was playing big in front of the net, and we had a hard time getting pucks past him.”
Baun had high praise for his sophomore forward.
“We love the way Tucker players,” the Bucks’ coach said of Forte. “He works so hard in practice,
“You can see he’s not the biggest guy, but he does everything right. He’s a great player, and he’s just the epitome of a coachable player, and it shows on the ice how good he is. He’s a little bit unsung because he’s not a flashy player, but he just does everything right.”
The breakaway by Philipps made it a 3-0 game after two periods, and the Bucks put the finishing touches on the rivalry night win when Rockovich (Joey DeYoung and Jake Boehm assists) scored his second goal less than a minute into the final period.
“It’s a great atmosphere every year,” Brous said. “I’m a senior now, and this is my fourth year playing this game, and every year it’s been a real fun one. It’s something you circle on your calendar. We really wanted to beat them as usual, and we went out there and did our job.”
“It’s just an awesome experience to be in front of all the students and all the parents,” Forte added. “Having everyone watch is just a great experience.”
East assistant coach Josh Wiltshire lauded the strong play of Gilchrist between the pipes.
“Kyle was phenomenal,” he said. “The kid has so much talent. He hasn’t played all year, and it’s just really good to have him back.
“He’s just a phenomenal player, he sees the puck so well, he’s so athletic. He made every save that he needed to, and he kept us in it. He really did.”
With the win, the Bucks – who finished second to state champion Central Bucks South last season – improved to 4-0.
“Every year since I’ve been here we’ve been practicing hard, and slowly but surely we’ve been making it further and further into playoffs and Flyers Cup,” Brous said. “This year the goal is to go to the playoffs again, go to Flyers Cup, make a deep run, but we’re really just taking it one game at a time.
“Our focus is to win the next game every night and see where that takes it.”
The young Patriots saw their record drop to 1-3.
“We only have three seniors, but you know what – these kids skate hard every shift,” Wiltshire said. “I believe that we can hang with anybody, and they feel that way.
“They’re a confident group, they’re a tight-knit group. We really try out there and play for each other. That’s all you can ask for. All of them are great kids, very, very coachable.”
If anyone can relate to East’s growing pains, it’s Baun.
“We went a couple of years and didn’t win a game,” the Bucks’ coach said. “It was a real struggle, and you just have to set your goals at something that is reasonably attainable.
“We did that, and we worked through it. The thing about high schools sports that’s so beautiful is that everyone should be able to enjoy a time at the top and a time at the bottom. We had our time at the bottom, and hopefully, now we can have our time at the top. That’s the way it should work.”
Central Bucks East 0-0-0 0
Central Bucks West 1-2-1 4
Saves: Kyle Gilchrist (CBE) 38, Jonah Brous (CBW) 25.
1st Period
12:13 Central Bucks West: Joey Rockovich (Matthew McCarthy, Jake Boehm)
2nd Period
9:15 Central Bucks West: Tucker Forte (Dalton Karl)
11:08 Central Bucks West: Shawn Philipps
3rd Period
0:58 Central Bucks West: Joey Rockovich (Joey DeYoung, Jake Boehm)
SOUDERTON 2, PENNRIDGE 2
Dawson Anders drew appreciative cheers from a group of Souderton ice hockey alums – members of the 2014 Flyers Cup finalist squad - as he emerged from the Indians’ locker room after Wednesday’s rivalry night war against Pennridge.
The senior goalie had just delivered a dazzling 51-save effort, using every inch of his 6-foot, 3 ½-inch frame to keep the high-powered Rams at bay.
“He was amazing,” coach Matt Montagna said. “He asked me if he could play tonight. It wasn’t his turn, but he said he wanted to play. I said, ‘We have to stop pucks, whoever plays.’
“Before the game, I said, ‘Try to have fun, just relax and let it hit you.’ He did a really good job of letting it hit him in a lot of spots. His arms weren’t flailing, he didn’t open up. He was awesome, and good for him. He’s so competitive yet so calm, and he’s a good leader. People don’t know that about him.”
The Rams held a lopsided 53-27 advantage in shots, but Anders negated that advantage.
“You have to give them credit,” Pennridge coach Kenny Doak said. “Their goalie played unbelievable.
“He just stood on his head. We made him look like (former New Jersey Devils goalie) Martin Brodeur. I was telling the kids on the bench – ‘Forty shots and we have one goal. We’re not playing Martin Brodeur.’”
Anders turned away one shot after another, including numerous in bang-bang sequences as he was pummeled with shots from the outset.
“I just try to stay focused, have fun and try not to think too much,” he said. “Rivalry night with a decent crowd – it’s really exciting.”
From the outset, the Rams sent a barrage of shots at Anders.
“I coach a fast-paced game,” Doak said. “I’m sort of a finesse coach. I don’t get caught up in all the banging.
“I want to run and gun, and I’ve got the forwards to do it.”
The Rams held a 21-14 advantage in shots in the opening period, but neither team found the net.
Early in the second period, Matthew Guinette fired a shot that found the opposite corner of the net for a goal that put the Rams on top 1-0.
“He had the puck, and I’m yelling ‘Shoot’ because the goalie slid off the post, and I could see that far side,” Doak. “You put a puck at the goalie’s feet – they hate it.”
“That was a bad goal – bad on my part,” Anders said. “That was rough, but I just tried to do what I was doing – stay focused.”
That 1-0 led stood until early in the third period when Souderton’s Tyler Johnson – on a strong individual effort - scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway.
“We told them if you can kill (the penalty), we’ll win the game, and they killed it and scored a shorthanded goal,” Montagna said. “We have killed penalties well all year, and we did it again today.
“The problem was they took (Gabe) Evans out of the game when he was in the box for 10 minutes, and he’s our top scorer. Then we had a defenseman get four penalties, and he had to sit.”
The Rams – benefitting from the fact that the Indians were shorthanded – held a 43-23 advantage in shots when Johnson connected on the equalizer at the 14:02 mark of the final period.
“That was awesome,” Anders said of Johnson’s goal. “It took a weight off my shoulders. I knew they could do it.”
The Rams regained the lead with 6:42 remaining when Guinette scored his second goal, this time using assists from Troy Crosson and Dylan Lowery. That 2-1 lead stood for all of eight seconds as Joshua Reeves came up with a steal off the ensuing faceoff and took it in for the score.
“I don’t know what Josh was doing, but he stole the puck, and he went in and scored,” Montagna said. “Their second goal was on me. I didn’t put guys in a good position. That was my fault that they scored.
“I thanked Josh for that. The kids didn’t do a bad job. It was my fault.”
On the other side of the ice, Doak was lamenting his team’s turnover.
“That was a bad turnover,” he said. “When you score a goal like that in a game like this, the faceoff draw is huge because you don’t want them coming right back and coming down your throat.
“It’s sort of like in baseball when you score three runs in an inning and you give them three in the bottom of the inning. The bottom of that inning is huge. The same thing with that faceoff in hockey – when you score a goal, you have to clamp down that next shift, and we didn’t. It was a turnover on us, and it ended up in the back of the net. Props to them. They made us turn the puck over.”
With just over three minutes remaining, Anders turned away back-to-back shots, and he delivered his final save on a breakaway with less than a minute remaining.
“They played us really well,” Doak said. “We’re a powerhouse on offense – we pound the puck, but the pucks didn’t go in for us today.
“We had lots of opportunities to shoot the puck more, and they want to toe draw in front of the net and make that perfect, pretty goal. All we have to do is move the puck a little bit more in the front of the zone.”
Both teams boast identical 2-1-1 records.
“It hurts a little bit knowing there was a soft goal that we could have had a win, but you never know what happens if that didn’t go in,” Anders said. “A point’s a point like Montagna says.”
The senior goalie acknowledged that there’s a different feeling in his final season.
“You want to make the games last,” he said. “It makes it a lot more fun, but if you have a bad game, it hurts a lot more because you think ‘Is that how it’s going to go the rest of the season?’”
While Anders stole the spotlight, Montagna also tipped his hat to defensemen Reeves and Thomas Tierney.
“They never, ever came off the ice,” the Indians’ coach said. “That was fun though.
“I love that stuff. You put up (53) shots you should win the game. We stole a point, and this group needs that. This group has to find a little success. This is a good jump for them. These kids have been together since they were little, and they haven’t had that much success.
“They had big shoes to fill (after the 2014 Flyers Cup finalist squad). They didn’t win a game the following year and then had five wins. Now we’re 2-1-1. I’ll take it.”
Pennridge 1-0-1 2
Souderton 0-1-1 2
Saves – Dawson Anders (S) 51, Luke Stranik (P) 25.
1st Period:
No score
2nd Period:
14:25 Pennridge: Matthew Guinette unassisted
3rd Period
14:02 Souderton: Tyler Johnson unassisted
6:42 Pennridge: Matthew Guinette (Troy Crosson, Dylan Lowery)
6:34 Souderton: Joshua Reeves unassisted
ABINGTON 11, LOWER MORELAND 5
In a contest that featured 16 goals, neither team scored in the opening 16 minutes, but things changed in a hurry in the second period. Coleman Peppelman put the Lions on the board with a power play goal, using an assist from Arthur Rubinshteyn. Two minutes later, Perry Carpenter (Elijah Coston and Spencer Heuges assists) scored an empty net goal to knot the score, and just over a minute later, the Ghosts took a lead they would not lose when Heuges turned a Carpenter pass into a goal. Ryan Gosselin (Luke DeCristofano/Carpenter assists) scored 13:54 into the period, opening the floodgates for three unanswered goals in a two-minute span to close out the frame. Burke (Gosselin, Jacob Snellenburg assists) and Nikolai Portner also scored single goals for the 6-1 Abington lead. The Lions would get no closer than three goals the rest of the way.
Abington was led by the five-point night of Carpenter (three goals, two assists) while Heuges (two goals, two assists) and Gosselin (one goal, three assists) both had four-point games. Brennan Bostock led the Lions with two goals and one assist.
Abington 0-6-5 11
Lower Moreland 0-1-4 5
Saves: Jacob Snellenburg (A) 24, Ryan Hoffman (M) 27.
1st Period
No Score
2nd Period
2:24 Lower Moreland: Coleman Peppelman (Arthur Rubinshteyn)
3:12 Abington: Perry Carpenter (Elijah Coston, Spencer Heuges)
5:08 Abington: Thomas Panella (Nikolai Portner, Tim Burke)
6:10 Abington: Spencer Heuges (Perry Carpenter)
13:54 Abington: Ryan Gosselin (Luke DeCristofano, Perry Carpenter)
14:11 Abington: Tim Burke (Ryan Gosselin, Jacob Snellenburg)
15:52 Abington: Nikolai Portner
3rd Period
3:19 Lower Moreland: Coleman Peppelman (Simon Pezalla)
4:02 Lower Moreland: Sean Irving (Campbell Manin, Brennan Bostock)
4:57 Abington: Perry Carpenter (Ryan Gosselin, Spencer Heuges)
7:04 Abington: Perry Carpenter (Andrew Profit)
13:50 Abington: Spencer Heuges (Ryan Gosselin)
14:08 Lower Moreland: Brennan Bostock (Arthur Rubinshteyn)
14:45 Abington: Andrew Profit (Thomas Panella)
15:08 Lower Moreland: Brennan Bostock (Campbell Manin)
15:20 Abington: Sean Murray (John Mitchell)
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