Ben Reese recaps all the action for Thursday’s SHSHL AA quarterfinal. Photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f710114994
SHSHL AA quarterfinal
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — North Penn took a 1-0 lead into the third period against Central Bucks East in the Suburban High School Hockey League AA quarterfinal Thursday at Hatfield Ice.
But in the span of 30 seconds, the entire game changed.
The Patriots scored two goals in those 30 seconds, added a third short-handed before allowing the Knights to score their second goal en route to a 3-2 CB East victory.
North Penn dominated the game in the first two periods. The Knights outshot the Patriots 30-9 in those stanzas but – thanks to the superb effort of East goalie Cole Breen - scored the only goal, by Nolan Shingle, in the first 34 minutes of the game.
However, when the third period started, it was a different game. East took over control of the game from that point on.
“We played the first two periods like it wasn’t even a playoff game,” East coach Jeff Mitchell said. “I kind of explained to our first and second years (freshmen and sophomores); our juniors and seniors know what this means right now.
“We just didn’t stop moving our feet in the third period. We actually started getting some shots on goal and getting some chances. We weren’t just throwing the puck blindly.”
Mitchell must have given his team some kind of pep talk between the second and third periods. He obviously inspired them to play better.
“He was just telling us to keep working, work hard,” said Jaden Young who scored two of the Patriots’ goals. “Work smarter.
“We needed to support each other. We needed to play with more aggression.
“Over intermission, we revised some of our plans. We had to get pressure to turn the momentum. That’s what we did and that ultimately got us the win.”
North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis saw just what everyone else at Hatfield Ice saw, the Knights sagging in the third period.
“I thought the first two periods we absolutely controlled the play,” he said, “did everything we wanted. We were getting some great chances, just couldn’t put it behind him (East goalie Cole Breen).
“Their goalie was playing great. We were getting a lot of good chances on the power play (late in the third period).
“I was hoping we were going to be able to capitalize on one there. Just couldn’t get one in.”
After a scoreless first period, North Penn struck in the second. Shingle, with assists from John Stinson and James Boyle, beat Breen at the 15:28 mark to take the lead heading to the third period.
But things went south on the Knights quickly. Corey Kosick knocked one past North Penn goalie Aidan Quigley with only 49 seconds elapsed in the stanza to tie the game, and 30 seconds later ,Young notched his first goal unassisted.
To add some more pressure on North Penn, Young scored his second goal slightly more than five minutes later, again unassisted, when the Patriots were shorthanded.
The Knights got the final goal of the night. Sam Norton scored with 15:56 gone in the third to make the final 3-2.
CB East advances to the SHSHL semifinals on Wednesday against Pennridge. The game will be the third game of a triple header at Hatfield Ice with the East-Pennridge contest beginning at 8:45. The other two games will be a AAA game followed by the SHSHL A championship game between Bensalem and Plymouth Whitemarsh.
Unfortunately, after the final whistle, the two teams got involved in a battle near the East goal. It involved several players from both teams and will earn some of them suspensions for their next game — the SHSHL semis for East and the Flyers Cup for North Penn.
“(It was) not a smart play for us,” Vaitis said. “Unfortunately for us, our next game probably will be the Flyers Cup and we’re probably going to be missing some guys for that.
“There is no need for that. We’ve got to be smarter and skate away from that.”
Mitchell proposed a solution, not just for battles but for every playoff game.
“I believe we need to do a four-man system (of officials) for these games,” he said. “I don’t fault anybody. I think we need a little more supervision and a little bit more hands on the ice when it comes to situations like this.”
CB East 3, North Penn 2
North Penn 0 1 1 — 2
CB East 0 0 3 — 3
First period: No Goals
Second period: 1, Nolan Shingle NP (John Stinson, James Boyle) 15:28.
Third period: 2, Corey Kosick CBE (David Brown) 0:49; 3, Jaden Young CBE (unassisted) 1:19; 4, Young CBE (unassisted) 6:26 SH; 5, Sam Norton NP (Cole Pluck, Joe Silvotti) 15:56.
Shots: NP 41, CBE 19. Saves: Aidan Quigley (NP) 16, Cole Breen (CBE) 39.
- Log in to post comments
