CR South/Boyertown & Pennridge/Neshaminy photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. CR North/Hershey photos courtesy of Ethan Sklut. Check back for galleries of all three games: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f1064915949
Flyers Cup AA Quarterfinals
#1 Council Rock South 4, #8 Boyertown 0
By Craig Ostroff
For a team that had just earned a berth in the Flyers Cup Class AA semifinals with a 4-0 shutout victory, there weren’t a whole lot of smiles on the faces of the Council Rock South players following the final buzzer of Thursday’s quarterfinal victory over Boyertown at Hatfield Ice.
Even for senior goalkeeper Carson Lopez, a Flyers Cup shutout doesn’t erase a subpar performance despite the score and lopsided 49-21 advantage in shots on goal.
“It doesn’t mean too much,” Lopez said. “A win’s a win, it doesn’t matter how many goals they score. I’ll take a puck, I’ll write on it and put it in my room, but that’s about it. I don’t think any of us are really enjoying this one. I think we made ourselves work for this one, weren’t really focused coming in and we’ve got to eliminate that because if we come out playing like that, we’ll be going home.”
The Golden Hawks slogged through a scoreless and uneventful first period. Despite outshooting the eighth-ranked Bears 17-9 in the opening frame, South had few legitimate scoring opportunities.
South handed Boyertown a two-man advantage for 82 seconds early in the second period, and after escaping unscathed, the top-seeded Hawks finally found the net when a Kevin Koles shot from the point hit the post, but Jake Weiner poked home the rebound. Two minutes later, a failed clearing attempt after a goalmouth scramble resulted in a Jeremy Rayher goal (Illia Mukhin, Weiner assists).
“We’re a grinding team, that’s what our goals are like, dirty goals are the nice goals,” Weiner said. “We’re not a flashy team, we’re a gritty team, we like playing in the corners, getting dirty. We had a shaky start, but we picked it up in the second.”
With 6 seconds left in the second period, South converted on the power play when James DiIulio fired home a cross-ice pass from Koles. Chase Tovsky also picked up an assist on the late goal.
The Hawks likely could have doubled their lead had it not been for Bears’ goalkeeper Tyler Griffith, who made huge saves on Koles, Gavin Nisenzon, and Rayher in the later stages of the second period. In all, the Hawks peppered the freshman netminder with 49 shots.
“He’s really good,” Lopez said of his Boyertown counterpart. “He stoned us left and right. Take it from me, he’s going to steal this whole thing with a couple years of high school under his belt.”
South withstood an early third-period charge from Boyertown and capped off the scoring when Tovsky fed the puck from behind the goal line to a streaking Blaize Pepe with 9:51 left in the third period.
Defensively, the Hawks limited Boyertown to 12 shots over the final two periods. Lopez was equal to all 19 shots on the game, including a few beauties to preserve the shutout.
But in the end, the team and the coaching staff knew that if the Hawks hope to achieve their ultimate goal, they’ll need a better effort than they showed on this night.
“There are little things you do in games that make a difference whether you win or lose,” said South coach Joe Houk. “We played a good enough game to win tonight, but we need to do better to continue to play not just Monday but the following Monday. We have to do better. We played a lot of selfish hockey tonight, defense thought they were offense, but there were some good things as well.”
With the win, Council Rock South improves to 19-1-0-1 overall on the season and will return to Hatfield Ice for a semifinal showdown against fifth seed Pennsbury, which rallied in the third period and gutted out a 4-3 overtime victory over Conestoga. It will be the fourth meeting of the season for the SHSHL National Conference rivals, who met twice in the regular season (with the Hawks winning 3-1 on Nov. 10 and 6-3 on Jan. 19, then topping the Falcons 4-2 on March 2 to win the National Conference Tournament title).
“I have the utmost confidence they’ll be back on Monday ready to play knowing what they did wrong, because our speech between the second and third was not a ‘way to go guys,’” Houk said. “We’ll be all right. We did OK, we did enough to win, but we’ve got to play better. And they know that. We’ll regroup and we’ll be ready.”
Boyertown 0-0-0 0
Council Rock South 0-3-1 4
First period: No scoring.
Second period: 1. Jake Weiner CRS (Kevin Koles) 8:38; 2. Jeremy Rayher CRS (Illia Mukhin, Jake Weiner) 6:22; 3. James DiIulio CRS (Kevin Koles, Chase Tovsky) PP, 0:06.
Third period: 4. Blaize Pepe CRS (Chase Tovsky) 9:51.
Shots: Boyertown 21, Council Rock South 49. Saves: Tyler Griffith (B) 45; Carson Lopez (CRS) 21.
#2 Pennridge 4, #10 Neshaminy 2
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — Jeff Montagna could not overstate the significance of his team’s first goal by Trey Mikulich.
“When Trey Mikulich scores a goal, you probably could have packed up and gone home because that means we’re probably going to win,” the Rams’ coach said.
It was the junior defenseman’s first goal in recent memory, and it got the Rams started on their way to a 4-2 victory over Neshaminy in the Flyers Cup quarterfinal game at Hatfield Ice.
“I can’t remember the last time that dude scored a goal,” Montagna continued. “It might be the first time he’s gotten two points in 10 seconds (actually it was 13 seconds).
“You need that in this tournament. You get a goal out of defenseman who’s not a scorer. That was absolutely huge.”
In addition to the goal, Mikulich also contributed an assist on Pennridge’s second goal in the second period. Mikulich scored at 7:33 and Kevin Pico scored at 7:46 off the assist from Mikulich.
Mikulich was a bit more subdued than his coach. But he was also very honest.
“It was crazy,” he said. “I don’t score a lot. I’m more of a defensive player.
“To be honest, I didn’t even look to score on that. I just looked to get it on net, and it went in.
“The assist I had - it was a shot, and it missed the net and Kevin hit it in.”
Whatever contributed to the goal and the assist, they both got Pennridge’s offense into gear. The two goals were the only markers in the period and gave the Rams a 2-1 lead.
Neshaminy jumped out to the lead in the first period. Nolan Geria beat Pennridge goalie Jacob Winton off an assist from Max Gallagher on the power play at the 5:49 mark of the first stanza.
Pennridge couldn’t get its offense in gear in the first period. Even though the Rams outshot the ‘Skins 12-9, they couldn’t beat goalie Cory Hemberger.
“We’re a bad first period hockey team,” said Montagna. “We’re an incredible second period hockey team.
“We sometimes need a jump start. Once they get that - and I talk about flurrying, that’s what they do.”
By flurrying, Montagna means that the Rams score goals in bunches. That’s exactly what they did in the second period.
“One of the things that we do real well is flurry,” he explained. “They start to feel it. It’s not always consistent but when they feel it …”
The 13-second flurry in the second period didn’t really push the Pennridge offense into high gear. But it did provide it with enough momentum to grab the lead and maintain it through the rest of the game.
Usually, the Pennridge offense is based around the first line of Shane Dachowski, Andrew Savona and Pico. And they did score three of the four goals.
But Montagna was more pleased with the play of his second and third lines. While they didn’t score, they did keep Neshaminy off the scoreboard.
“I thought the other two lines tonight were great especially defensively,” he said. “Dane (Fitchett’s) line with (Andrew) Lizak and James Rush and Josh Kelly with Nate (McKean) and whoever we put in there (did the job). Four minutes left in the game, and they gave up absolutely nothing.
“If the other two lines play defense, it allows that top line to do what they do. The second and third lines were great.”
Montagna went on to praise the play of his goalie, Jacob Winton.
“For me it was all about Jacob Winton in the net,” Montagna said. “I went back and forth all year about what to do with my goaltending.
“He made me look smart tonight. For a kid in his ninth varsity start in a spot this big, he was incredible. I’m so proud of him.”
After Neshaminy took the 1-0 lead in the first and Pennridge came back to grab it at 2-1 in the second, the third period was really up for grabs. The Rams won it 2-1 for the final 4-2 margin but it wasn’t easy.
Shane Dakowski gave Pennridge a 3-1 lead at the 3:48 mark of the period. Gallagher got that one back and cut the margin to 3-2 on the power play at 5:45.
With about two minutes left in the third, Neshaminy pulled its goalie. Pico settled things with 23 seconds left, scoring his second goal of the game into an empty net.
One thing Montagna emphasized. That was the play of ‘Skins goalie Hemberger.
“He’s a really good goalie,” Montagna said. “That kid can flat play. It took 44 shots to beat him.”
The Rams will now move into the Flyers Cup semifinals. They will play Owen J. Roberts, a 3-1 winner over Avon Grove, at 8:45 on Monday, March 13, at Hatfield Ice.
Pennridge 4, Neshaminy 2
Neshaminy 1 0 1 — 2
Pennridge 0 2 2 — 4
First period: 1, Nolan Geria N (Max Gallagher) 5:49 PP.
Second period: 2, Trey Mikulich P (Shane Dakowski, Colin Dakowski) 7:33; 3, Kevin Pico P (Mikulich, S. Dachowski) 7:46.
Third period: 4, S. Dachowski P (Andrew Savona, Pico) 3:48; 5, Gallagher N (JJ Hathaway) 5:45 PP; 6, Pico P (unassisted) 16:37 EN.
Shots: N 31, P 44. Saves: Cory Hemberger (N) 39, Jacob Winton (P) 29.
#5 Pennsbury 4, #4 Conestoga 3 (OT)
Andrew Falkenstein turned a pass from Justin Marlin into the game-winner with 5:50 remaining in the first overtime period, propelling the Falcons to the thrilling win at Ice Time.
The Falcons needed some late-game heroics from Brendan MacAinsh – who scored his first goal of the night to knot the score 3-3 with 4:49 remaining. Chris Sarver assisted on the equalizer.
Early on, the Falcons scored the only goal of the opening period on a power play when Logan Doyle turned a pass from Falkenstein into a goal.
An unassisted goal by Marlin with 9:22 remaining in the second period upped the Falcons lead to 2-0, but the Pioneers closed out the period with back-to-back goals by Brady Griffin to even the score 2-2 heading into the final period.
Andrew Pisano found the net with 14:35 remaining and that 3-2 lead held until MacAinsh scored with just under six minutes remaining. Neither team scored until Falkenstein’s game-winner.
Aaron McDaniel turned away 31 of 34 shots he faced to earn the win in goal.
Pennsbury will face a familiar foe in Monday’s semifinal at Hatfield Ice (6:15 p.m.) in National Conference rival Council Rock South.
Pennsbury 1-1-1-1 4
Conestoga 0-2-1-0 3
First period: 1. Logan Doyle P (Andrew Falkenstein) 16:00.
Second period: 2. Justin Marlin P, 9:22; 3. Brady Griffin C (Jimmy Stagnaro/Charlie Spottiswood) 6:59; 4. Brady Griffin C (Andrew Pisano) 2:17.
Third period: 5. Andrew Pisano (AJ Carroll) 14:35; 6. Brendan MacAinsh P (Chris Sarver) 4:49.
Overtime: 7. Andrew Falkenstein P (Justin Marlin) 5:50.
Flyers Cup AA
#3 Hershey 4, #11 Council Rock North 3 (OT)
Rock North lost an overtime heartbreaker at Skatium, this after rallying from a 3-1 third period deficit to knot the score. Ian Goldberg was outstanding in goal, turning
away 46 of the 50 shots he faced to keep the Indians in the game.
The Indians capitalized on a pair of late power play goals to even the score with Jackson Accardi (Lucas Siomos and Karson Grainey assists) scoring with 8:14 remaining in the final period to make it a 3-2 game. Siomos found the net with the equalizer with 5:11 remaining, turning a Karson Grainey pass into a goal.
Hershey won it with 8:23 remaining in OT on a goal by Matthew Dalkiewicz.
Earlier in the game, Hershey took a 1-0 lead in the first and upped that to 2-0 early in the second before Grainey scored with a Drew Gordon assist to make it a 2-1 game. A goal by William Pries – his second of the game - upped Hershey’s lead to 3-1, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
Council Rock North 0-1-2-0 3
Hershey 1-1-1-1 4
First period: 1. William Prias H (Nicholas Colarossi) 13:56.
Second period: 2. Tyler Lucas H (Tucker Valoczki) 16:07; 3. Karson Grainey CRN (Drew Borden) 13:40.
Third period: 4. William Pries H (Tyler Lucas/David Maish) 10:39; 5. Jackson Accardi CRN (Lucas Siomos/Karson Grainey) 8:14; 6. Lucas Siomos CRN (Karson Grainey) 5:11.
Overtime: 7. Matthew Dalkiewicz H (Tyler Treadway/Kyle Kloss) 8:23.
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