Lower Moreland, Wissahickon, Central Bucks South & Pennridge were winners in SHSHL playoff action Wednesday. Check out the recaps. LM/Hatboro-Horsham and CB South/CB West photos provided courtesy of Dara N. King Photography. Check back for photo galleries of both games.
A Division semifinals
(1) LOWER MORELAND 7, (4) HATBORO-HORSHAM 2
By Ben Reese
WARWICK -- Coleman Peppelman's job is to score goals.
That should be obvious when you look at the Suburban High School Hockey League statistics. Peppelman scored 41 goals for Lower Moreland during the regular season.
Well, you can add four more to that total after Peppelman led the Lions to a 7-2 win over Hatboro-Horsham in an A Division semifinal game at Revolution Ice Gardens on Wednesday night.
He scored one goal in the first period and then finished off a hat trick with two in the second. He added one more in the third to go with one assist.
"The guy is a sniper," said Lions’ coach Gus Salfiti. "He skates the whole game.
"He's scored more goals than most of the teams by himself. No matter where you put him, he plays defense, he plays offense. He does everything well.
"When he gets focused and he really, really wants to win, there's not much going to stop him except himself. He wanted this."
Hatboro-Horsham coach Gianni LaFratta knows all about Peppelman.
"Even when the kid is not on the ice," LaFratta said, "he's commanding his troops. He knows exactly what to tell them to get them going.
"He's a talented young man. He has great support. I know there are only eight or nine men on that team, but each one contributes and plays well."
So, Coleman, what actually is your job on the team?
"To put up points during the game," Peppelman said with a smile.
But he knows he doesn't do it alone.
"Everyone's pretty skilled on this team," he continued. "We all work together."
The victory for Lower Moreland was also a bit of redemption. The Lions lost to the Hatters in last year's A championship game.
"This is probably the sweetest win we're going to have, even if we go further," said Salfiti. "It definitely softens what happened last year."
Peppelman agreed.
"I think that (last year's loss) brought a lot of tension to this game," he said. "We lost to them in the championship game."
The Lions had a game plan coming into the game.
"We know we can beat them because we talked about the points and the goals that we are capable of scoring," Salfiti said. "We had a strategy before the game on how to contain them.
"As we watched them start to develop their plays, we knew that our plan was going to work - try to frustrate them in the neutral zone, shorten the ice, which we did, and have opportunities. We kept on attacking, getting them more frustrated and (us) gaining more confidence."
LaFratta placed the blame for the loss on himself and his team.
"A series of mental errors from the bench and from the ice," he said. "We didn't play our game. We didn't support our goalie and they never looked back."
Peppelman opened the scoring with an unassisted goal 12:37 into the first period. The Hatters' Ben Heywood tied the score at the 14:03 mark.
But Peppelman wasn't finished. He tallied twice in the second period, one on an assist from Vincent DeMaio and once unassisted, to give the Lions a 3-1 lead.
In the third period, Lower Moreland finished off the Hatters. They scored four times while allowing only one goal for Hatboro-Horsham.
The first goal of the third period came from Tyler Skolnick after only1:01 had elapsed in the stanza. Peppelman notched his fourth goal 1:30 later and Adam Bostock and DeMaio completed the scoring for the Lions.
Sandwiched in between the four Lower Moreland goals was a score by the Hatters' Tarek Elsabbagh on the power play.
Unfortunately for Lower Moreland, two of its players were called for two misconduct penalties in the game. In addition to serving an additional 10 minutes in the penalty box for each of the infractions, they will also be suspended for the championship game Thursday at Hatfield Ice. Missing those two players will severely limit the already short bench.
Lower Moreland 7, Hatboro-Horsham 2
Hatboro-Horsham 1-0-1 2
Lower Moreland 1-2-4 7
First period: 1, Coleman Peppelman LM (unassisted) 12:37; 2, Ben Heywood HH (Tarek Elsabbagh) 14:03.
Second period: 3, Peppelman LM (Vincent DeMaio) 15:40; 4, Peppelman LM (unassisted) 16:26.
Third period: 5, Tyler Skolnick LM (Peppelman) 1:01; 6, Peppelman LM (DeMaio) 2:31; 7, Elsabbagh HH (Ben Lerner) 5:22 PP; 8, Adam Bostock LM (DeMaio) 7:20 PP; 9, DeMaio LM (Nick Khimoian) 15:55.
Goalies: Joey Gambino (HH); Jacob Lungin (LM).
(2) WISSAHICKON 3, (3) PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 2
By Rick Woelfel
Wissahickon and Plymouth Whitemarsh couldn’t decide their SHSHL Class A semifinal in the regulation 48 minutes Wednesday night. It took Bryan Garry’s power-play goal 26 seconds into overtime to give the Trojans a 3-2 win at Hatfield Ice.
The winning goal came during a four-on-three situation andsends second-seeded Wissahickon into Thursday’s final against Lower Moreland.
Garry said he was expecting the fourth meeting of the year between the two teams to be a tightly contested affair
“We’ve played them before and they’ve been close games” he said, “so I just expected it be another close game.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh goaltender Ben Yuter was magnificent in defeat, making 42 saves.
The Trojans’ Dan Glazer and the Colonials’ Gavin Mulligan traded first-period goals before Aidan Keogh scored on a wraparound move from behind the goal 6:05 into the third period to give Plymouth Whitemarsh a 2-1 lead. Sean Gary tied the game for Wissahickon with 3:40 left in regulation, but Yuter made some big saves down the stretch to force overtime.
With both teams down a man, the Colonials drew a tripping penalty 11 seconds into overtime and Gary scored the game winner 15 seconds later.
Both teams will play in the Flyers Cup tournament next week
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 0 1 0—2
Wissahickon 1 0 1 1—3
First-period goals: Dan Glazer (W) from Sean Garry, 1:25; Gavin Mulligan (PW) from Peter Troy, 15:16.
Third-period goals: Aidan Keogh (PW) from Jake Weikel, 6:05; Sean Garry (W) from Bryan Garry, 13:20.
Overtime goal: Bryan Garry (W) from Sean Garry, :26 (pp).
Shots: Plymouth Whitemarsh 21, Wissahickon 45; Saves: Ben Yuter (PW) 42, Michael Henderson (W) 19
Division AA semifinals
(1) CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 4, (4) CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1
It’s always a battle when the neighboring rivals meet on the ice, and although the Bucks hung tough, thanks in no small part to the impressive 42-save effort of goalie Jeremy Kennard, the defending champion Titans prevailed.
“We knew it was going to be an emotional game,” said assistant coach Tyler Skroski, who was filling in for Shaun McGinty. “Every time with West – it’s always fun.
“We were just hoping to grind them out at the end with our depth, and I think it showed. (Coach) Dave Baun runs a very well-coached bench. They’re going to be disciplined, they’re going to systematically be strong.”
After a scoreless opening period, the Bucks took a 1-0 lead when Pavel Serhiayenka (Jake Lang/Christopher Trefz assists) scored 24 seconds into the second period. That lead turned out to be short-lived as – three minutes later - Colin Abbonizio found the net on a power play goal, using assists from James Schuler and Reis Braccio.
Braccio scored the go-ahead goal 8:11 into the period with an assist from DJ LoVerdi, and a goal late in the period by James Schuler (Dominic Patrone/Matt Milanesi assists) sent the Titans into the final period with a 3-1 lead. A goal by Milanesi (Schuler/Patrone assists) in the closing minutes of the fourth period gave the Titans their final margin of victory.
“When it came down to it, our guys started getting shots through, and it finally started showing,” Skroski said. “Everyone has a notion that we’re offensive – we have trouble scoring at times, and I think it showed in the first period when we were getting shots blocks.
“In the second and third periods, we’re finally getting shots down on (Kennard’s) pads. Our goals were from the high slot, our goals were from rebounds. We had one pure shot go in, but other than that, it was take the shot, crash the net.”
Central Bucks South will face Pennridge in Thursday’s title game at Hatfield Ice (6:50 p.m.).
Central Bucks West 0-1-0 1
Central Bucks South 0-3-1 4
First period: No score
Second period: 1, Pavel Serhiayenka CBW (Jake Lang/Christopher Trefz) 0:24; 2, Colin Abbonizio CBS (James Schuler/Reis Braccio) 3:29; 3, Reis Braccio CBS (DJ LoVerdi) 8:11; 4, James Schuler CBS (Dominic Patrone/Matt Milanesi) 14:36.
Third period: 5, Matt Milanesi CBS (James Schuler/Dominic Patrone) 14:25.
Shots: CBW 23, CBS 46. Saves: Jeremy Kennard (CBW) 42, Oscar Levin (CBS) 22.
(2) PENNRIDGE 6, (3) NORTH PENN 4
In an evenly matched game, it was the Rams eking out a win over the Rams at Hatfield Ice, thanks to a pair of fourth period goals by Michael Walker.
The Rams led 4-3 after three periods, but Jared Albano’s power play goal 4:14 into the final period evened the score 4-4. Two minutes later, Michael Walker found the net on a power play, using an assist from Eric Slater. That one-goal lead stood until Walker scored his second goal of the game in the closing seconds.
Earlier, the Rams took a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the game, thanks to goals by Blake Stewart and Tommy Pichardo. Matthew Guinette assisted on both. Albano – who finished with a hat trick – evened the score with a pair of goals in a two-minute span. His first came with assists from Nathan Oh and Tony Tuozzo and his second – on a power play – was assisted by Tyler Greenstein and Oh.
Pennridge went on top 5-4 after Aidan Boyle turned a Frankie Rota pass into a goal 2:03 into the second period. Forty-one seconds later, Thomas Boyle (Oh assist) knotted the score. A goal by Slater in the final minute of the period (Stewart assist) set the stage for the dramatic finish.
Luke Stranick turned away 28 shots in a winning effort in goal for the Rams. Nick Ebbinghaus had 29 saves for the Knights.
Pennridge will face top-seeded Central Bucks South in Thursday’s title game at Hatfield Ice (6:50 p.m.).
North Penn 2-1-1 4
Pennridge 2-2-2 6
First period: 1, Blake Stewart P (Matthew Guinette) 2:14; 2, Tommy Pichardo P (Matthew Guinette) 4:54; 3, Jared Albano NP (Nathan Oh/Tony Tuozzo) 9:06; 4, Jared Albano NP (Tyler Greenstein/Nathan Oh) 11:15.
Second period: 5, Aidan Boyle P (Frankie Rota) 2:03; 6, Thomas Boyle NP (Nathan Oh) 2:44; 7, Eric Slater P (Blake Stewart) 15:39.
Third period: 8, Jared Albano NP (Nathan Oh/Luke Van Why) 4:17; 9, Michael Walker P (Eric Slater) 6:05; 10, Michael Walker P, 15:42.
Shots: NP 32, Pennridge 35. Saves: Nnick Ebbinghaus (NP) 29, Luke Stranick (P) 28.
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