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By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — It isn’t often that an opposing coach gives away good compliments to one of the other team’s players.
Especially if it’s a losing coach spreading accolades to the opposing team’s player.
But that’s what happened after Central Bucks East out-lasted North Penn 2-1 on Friday night in a Suburban High School Hockey League game at Hatfield Ice.
“Their goalie stood on his head,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis, whose team outshot the Patriots 34-15. “Anybody can beat you on any night, and we found out tonight.”
The goalie in question was the Patriots’ Cole Breen. Breen kicked aside 33 of the 34 shots the Knights directed toward him in gaining the win.
Vaitis wasn’t the only one who noticed how well Breen played. East assistant coach Todd Schmidt, subbing for head coach Jeff Mitchell, saw it too.
“He made a lot of good saves,” Schmidt said. “We got doubled up on shots, but Cole really shut it down in the third period for us.”
His teammates also were aware of how well their netminder handled himself.
“Our goalie helped us a lot,” said Alex Wilson, who scored the game-winning goal in the second period. “He played his (butt) off.”
Breen however didn’t seem too impressed with his play. He preferred to talk about the team aspects of the game.
“We’re playing good team defense,” he said. “We didn’t give up too many crazy opportunities.
“We got the job done. There were some great plays (on defense) which saved a lot of good chances.”
The victory was a big one for East. It brought the Patriots even with North Penn in the SHSHL National Division standings.
“It was a huge win for us,” Schmidt said. “North Penn’s a great team and they’re right in line with us. It was a good win.”
The two teams played through a scoreless first period. The only blemish on the stanza was a bench minor penalty against East for too many players on the ice.
North Penn held the advantage in shots on goal in the period. The Knights had nine and the Patriots had two.
Things picked up a bit in the second period. All three goals in the game were scored in the second 17-minute stanza.
Charlie Keiser got things rolling for East. He scored on the power play off an assist from Ethan Cenci to give the Patriots a 1-0 lead.
Less than a minute later, East tacked on another marker. This one came from Wilson, who netted the goal unassisted at 10:20.
“I just shot the puck,” Wilson said. “It was amazing. I just turned around, saw the puck and shot it.”
North Penn got on the board late in the second. Cole Pluck notched an unassisted goal with 15:07 elapsed in the period.
East also outshot the Knights 12-10. However North Penn still held the shot advantage at 19-14 entering the third period.
The third period mirrored the first. Neither team scored and the Knights outshot the Pats 15-1, an advantage that was negated by Breen between the pipes.
The SHSHL now takes a scheduling break. There are no games scheduled until after the first of the new year.
CB East 2, North Penn 1
CB East 0 2 0 — 2
North Penn 0 1 0 — 1
First Period: No scoring.
Second period: 1, Charlie Keiser CBE (Ethan Cenci) 9:29 PP; 2, Alex Wilson CBE (unassisted) 10:20; 3, Cole Pluck NP (unassisted). 15:07.
Third period: No scoring.
Shots: CBE 15, NP 34. Saves: Cole Breen (CBE) 33, Maks Harkins (NP) 13.
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