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By Scott Huff
HATFIELD – Council Rock South senior Jonathan Houk broke his collarbone on February 15 playing club ice hockey. And it’s still broken.Houk – son of Golden Hawk head coach Joe Houk – broke the hearts of the Pennsbury players, coaches, and fans with a goal at the 1:05 mark of the third period to give Rock South (22-0-3) a 2-1 victory over the hard-luck Falcons (20-4-1).
The semifinal Flyers Cup Class AA game was played at the Hatfield Ice World.
Council Rock South will now face Downingtown East (18-0-1) – a 2-1 winner over Council Rock North (21-2-1) – in the Flyers Cup Class AA final. The contest will be played at the Hatfield Ice World on Thursday with a 7 pm face off.
“I just wrap a rolled up sock around my shoulder to protect it as much as I can,” said defenseman Houk of his advanced training methods. “During the game, it really doesn’t hurt because my adrenalin is pumping and I’m focused on the game.”
Houk – a towering 6-foot, 3-inch defenseman who anchors the Hawk defense – made a rare offensive rush late in the game to produce the game winner.
“If this was in the first or second period, I wouldn’t have made that play,” said Houk. “But it was late in the game, and we knew that the next goal was going to be the game winner.“I would like to say that I picked a corner,” added Houk. “I really couldn’t see the net, and I just took the shot.”
And it went in – and the season was suddenly over for Pennsbury.
“The loss is frustrating, but we left everything on the ice,” said Pennsbury head coach John Bria. “We battled every minute, and we survived into the final period.
“I thought we would have a shot to win the game,” added Bria. “If we kept shooting the puck on net, something could would happen.”
The best thing that happened offensively for the Falcons came at the 13:44 mark of the third period.
Pennsbury trailed 1-0, but the Falcons knotted the score when Ken McCormick scored on an assist from Alex Dobzanski. It would prove to be the only score of the game for the Falcons, who fired 27 shots on goal.
“I thought we played much better defensively than we had the last couple of games,” said Coach Houk. “And we peppered their goaltender (Corey Chapin), but he made great saves. He made two saves on his (butt) – how do you that?
“We have an explosive offense, but the kid just kept making great saves,” added Houk. “It made us a little nervous.”Chapin was awesome in goal with 33 difficult saves – Hawk net minder Sean Boyd was equally splendid. Boyd came up with 26 testing saves.
“It felt from the very beginning of the game that it was going to be a one-goal game,” said Boyd. “I just tried to stay calm and not let the pressure get to me.”
Council Rock South has an explosive DMG line that has registered dizzying numbers this season. And that line produced the Hawk score at the 13:55 mark of the second period.
Rock South senior Tyler Deitrick scored the goal for the Golden Hawks on assists from senior Peter Malamud and junior Patrick Grilli.
It was all the Hawks would score until Houk scored the game winner.
“When Jon broke his collarbone, the doctor said six to eight weeks,” said Coach/Father Houk. “He sat out until we played Pennridge in the first round. He didn’t play too much against them. But he did play a little more when we played C.B. South in the second round.
“And he did play a lot tonight,” added Houk. “He’s a tough kid to play with a break like that.”
And for Pennsbury – Houk was a real heartbreaker.
Council Rock South 2 – Pennsbury 1
Pennsbury 0 0 1 - 1
CR South 0 1 1 - 2
CRS: Tyler Deitrick (Patrick Grilli & Peter Malamud)
P: Ken McCormick (Alex Dobzanski)
CRS: Houk (unassisted)
Goaltenders:
Pennsbury: Corey Chapin 33 saves
CR South: Sean Boyd 26 saves
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