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HATFIELD – As the final seconds were ticking off the scoreboard clock in Wednesday night’s showdown against archrival Pennridge, North Penn goalie Jon Ford came up with a superb save of a powerful slap shot.
It was a most appropriate ending to the annual Thanksgiving Eve contest since it was Ford’s stellar 26-save effort that helped propel North Penn to an impressive 4-2 win over Pennridge at Hatfield Ice World.
“Jon played fantastic,” North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis said. “He stood on his head tonight.
“We were missing one of our leading scorers, so we knew Jon would have to come up real big tonight. We don’t have a lot of offensive depth on the team. We’re going to win games 3-2, 2-1 or 4-2 like tonight. We expected a big game from Jon, and he stood up.”
The win was just the second of the season for the defending SHSHL champion Knights (2-6-1).
“His (Vaitus) turkey will taste better than mine,” said Pennridge coach Frank Reago, whose team was without top point producer Chris Brown. “No excuses. You still have to play.
“They get the win – it’s a good two points for them. We could have used it, but it’s a long season. We have to battle back.”
For his part, Ford says he received his inspiration from a most unusual source on Wednesday night.
“Last week was a setback for me,” he said of a pair of decisive losses to Abington and Council Rock North. “This week, it was the (Pennridge) fans that kept me going. Them trying to get to me - I just wanted to give it back to them.
“I just wanted to put it in their face. They made me keep going for it.”
Instead of unraveling under the heat of the fans’ taunts, Ford was inspired.
“I normally like to play a song in my head,” he said. “That keeps me focused.”
Ford’s song of choice on Wednesday was Saliva’s ‘Click, Click, Boom,’ and it worked to perfection.
Ford and his Knight teammates were focused from the outset, and their confidence received a major boost when Jim McKelvie scored on the rebound of a goalie save of his own shot at the 10:29 mark of the first period, spotting the Knights an early 1-0 lead.
“That’s the most important thing,” McKelvie said. “We talk before every game, and one of the key points you hit is – score the first goal, and we did that. It really jumpstarted our team and forced them to play from behind the whole game.“We got tied up, but we never really played from behind.”
“Scoring first is big,” Vaitus added. “It puts pressure on the other team, and it leads to more turnovers.
“It’s one of those stats people don’t look at much, but it’s very big in ice hockey.”
The Knights took that 1-0 lead into the second period, but the Rams tied it up when Kevin Figaniak (Shane Lyons assist) scored on a slap shot from the point at the 8:16 mark. Less than four minutes later, the Rams went on top 2-1 after Shane Kerwick connected on a power play goal, using assists from McKelvie and Dan Corrado.
With 6:51 remaining in the game, Rich Feher (Matt Barkley and Eric Himmel assists) found the net on a shot from just outside the faceoff circle, putting North Penn on top 3-1.
It took the Rams all of 67 seconds to get that goal when Justin Roberts scored (Matt Hicks and Jake Bongiovanni assists).
Ram goalie Mike White made a dazzling stop of Ted Stoler shot at point blank rank, and Ford returned the favor with a glove save of a powerful Doug Beck shot with 5:44 remaining.
The Rams’ fate was sealed when – with 51 seconds remaining - Stoler scored on a shot in close (McKelvie assist).
“Our plan was really that we were going to hang somebody back and dump the puck in and let it play out,” McKelvie said. “I just happened to pick off the puck in the neutral zone, and I made a move and came in, but I lost the puck.
“Stoler was right there and he put it in. It was a little scary when I lost it, but luckily Ted was crashing the net, and he put it in.”
The win loomed large for a Knight squad struggling to find its stride.
“We talked at practice how we kind of disappointed ourselves,” McKelvie said of his team’s recent losses. “Pennridge is always our rivalry. They knocked us out of the Flyers Cup – not last year – but two previous years in a row, and one was in double overtime. 
“They always get a lot of fans. Everyone knows their coach and all of their players, so it’s big to beat them. We just worked hard because we knew we wanted to win this grudge match.”
“This means a lot,” Ford added. “We want to take the confidence we had in this game into next week and the week after and just continue to get some more wins.”
The Rams fell to 3-4-2 on the season.
NORTH PENN 4, PENNRIDGE 2
North Penn 1 1 2-4
Pennridge 0 1 1-2
1st Period
NP - 10:29 Jim McKelvie
2nd Period
P- 8:16 Kevin Figaniak (Shane Lyons)
NP-Shane Kerwick (Jim McKelvie, Dan Corrado)
3rd Period
NP-6:51 Rich Feher (Matt Barkley, Eric Himmel)
P-5:44 Justin Roberts (Matt Hicks, Jake Bongiovanni)
NP-0:51 Ted Stoler (Jim McKelvie)
Goaltending Summary
NP – Jon Ford Shots 28, Saves 26, Goals 2
P-Mike White Shots 24, Saves 20, Goals 4
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