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It's one of the oldest sports clichés in the book.
And if you ask Council Rock North ice hockey coach Eric Tye, he'll tell you that it's the simple reason why his team suffered its first loss of the season on Friday.
"The team that wanted to win, won the game," a frustrated Tye said after Council Rock South remained unbeaten by handing the Indians a 3-1 defeat. "The team that moved their feet the whole time won the game.
“The team that won the races to the loose pucks won the game. The team that hit more won the game. They wanted it more. Our kids didn't want it."
South came out flying and controlled the tempo for much of the game. The Golden Hawks peppered Indians goalkeeper Jessie Goldberg with 39 shots, but couldn't solve the stellar keeper until their 19th shot, a pretty passing play from Jon Houk to Colin Craige, who found Steve Junod streaking toward the net during a power play.
Junod made no mistake, ramming home the game's first goal with just over three minutes left in the second period.
Goldberg proved to be the best player for the Indians on this night -- maybe the best player on the ice -- turning aside 37 of the 39 shots he faced. Understandably, both coaches heaped plenty of praise on Goldberg.
"If I don't have the best goalie in high school hockey, I don't know who the hell is," Tye said. "If it wasn't for him, it's 8-1, maybe 9-1."
"That kid's a machine," Houk said of Goldberg. "That kid's just awesome."
The Indians tied the score early in the third period, thanks to a stellar stickhandling effort and laser beam from Kyle Weitz (Mark McDonald assist) that beat South goalie Sean Boyd. But the Hawks quickly adjusted and took Weitz out of the game.
"Weitz is a great player," said Houk. "I had my No. 11 (Craige) shadow him the second half of the game."
The Hawks put on a defensive clinic in the National Division matchup, limiting the Indians to 15 shots, including just four in the opening period.
"We pretty much shut them down, took them out of the play," Houk said. "Our physical play was good. And Sean Boyd played excellent."
The Hawks broke the tie with just over nine minutes remaining in the game on a solo effort from Tyler Deitrick along the goal line.
"I was skating down the left wing, saw an opening, I cut in and just shot it," Deitrick said.
Pete Malamud put the exclamation point on the win with an empty net goal (Houk assist) with 13 ticks left on the clock.
"In the beginning, we were dropping (forward Patrick) Grilli back on defense, to try to break it up a little bit," Houk said. "We had to generate some more offense, so we put him back up there. (North) kept switching it quick but I think with the conditioning of our team, they couldn't keep up with that."
The win raises the Hawks' record to 15-0-2 in the league with 32 points and puts them firmly in control of their own destiny in the race for the league title. The loss drops the Indians to 15-1-1, tied with Pennsbury with 29 points with one game in hand.
And while the Hawks are looking to ride their confidence and momentum through the final five games of the regular season and into the postseason, the Indians will need to do their best to ensure that their effort in this game was just a speed bump and not a roadblock.
"That wasn't our team that played that game and I don't know why, and it's on me to figure it out," Tye said. "Those guys need to use this as a learning experience now. My gut tells me this isn't the last time we're going to play this team. The seniors need to lead and the young kids need to follow the seniors lead and know how to react."
Council Rock South 3, Council Rock North 1
CR South 0 1 2--3
CR North 0 0 1--1
1st period
No scoring
2nd period
CRS-- Steve Junod (Colin Craige, Jon Houk) Power Play
3rd period
CRN-- Kyle Weitz (Mark McDonald)
CRS-- Tyler Deitrick
CRS-- Pete Malamud (Jon Houk) Empty Net
Goaltending:
CRS-- Sean Boyd 15 shots 14 saves 1 goal allowed
CRN-- Jessie Goldberg 39 shots 37 saves 2 goals allowed
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