To view action photos of the North Penn/LC and CB East/CB West games, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
HATFIELD – North Penn was without two of its top players when the Knights faced Lansdale Catholic in a non-league battle against their cross-town rivals.
It didn’t matter.
The Knights, behind the red hot goaltending of sophomore Jake Wolff, shut down the Crusaders’ usually potent attack, rolling to a 5-1 win in front of a packed house at Hatfield Ice on Wednesday night. “We’ve had five games in a row with just outstanding goaltending,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis, whose team was 3-0-2 during that span. “Jake Wolff had two games, Cody Matthews had two games, and now Jake Wolff again tonight.”
Wolff finished the night with 30 saves in a stellar outing.
“I tried to freeze the puck whenever I could,” he said. “My defense – whenever I let up a rebound – got it out of there.
“(Scoring three goals early) really helped me, and it silenced their fans. This is my first time playing a varsity game like this, so I was definitely nervous.”
Wolff’s nerves didn’t show, and his performance especially large in the absence of senior captains Jim McKelvie (family trip) and Brandon Fishman (broken hand).
“We have some pretty good leadership on this team,” Vaitus said. “Our other two captains – Dave Heggan and Dan Corrado – really stepped up tonight.”
The performance of Wolff negated a 35-25 advantage in shots for the Crusaders, whose only goal came when they had a two-man advantage early in the third period and Doug Becker (Nick Sette and Anthony DiDonato assists) scored on the rebound of a Wolff save.“That really has not been a problem with us,” LC coach Mark DiDonato said of his team’s inability to find the net. “We have put a lot of pucks in the net.
“Tonight we were a little flat. We had the opportunities a couple of times with two-man advantages, but their goalie was hot. He was seeing the puck, and he was making the saves.
“That was one of the things we talked about in the locker room. When you have a goalie who sees the puck and makes the saves, you can’t let him see the puck. You have to get in his way. North Penn was solid. They’re a good team.”
In a preview of things to come, Wolff and the Knights’ defense withstood an early LC surge as the fired-up Crusaders, who had just one loss entering Wednesday’s game, took five quick shots but came up empty.
“They jumped out on us ready to play,” Vaitus said. “We knew they were going to be all hyped up for this LC/North Penn game. They were loaded with fans.”
The fans were silenced in a hurry when the Knights – after surviving LC’s early onslaught – scored three unanswered goals to close out the first period. Ted Stoler (Eric Himmel assist) got things started with a goal at the 9:50 mark, and less than a minute later, Dan Corrado (Doug Barber assist) scored to make it a 2-0 game.
“We knew coming into this game the place was going to be packed,” Vaitus said. “We knew if we could get some goals on these guys early, take the wind out of their sails and take the crowd out of it – we could cruise to a victory.
“Once we made it through the first five minutes and scored our first one and threw a second on – we just kept going from there.”
“It felt good,” Corrado said of taking the early lead. “We don’t get to play LC all the time – a cross-town rival. For good measure, Ryan Merk (Barber and Corrado assists) scored with just under three minutes remaining in the period to put North Penn on top 3-0 despite a 12-10 LC edge in shots.“It’s not normally a big crowd, but it fired us up, knowing (their fans) wanted to see us do everything wrong. It was good to put the puck in the net and win the game.”
“He’s had a great season for us,” Vaitus said of Corrado. “He’s a quiet kid, he leads by example, and he works his butt off when he’s on the ice. He does everything you ask of him.”
In the opening minutes of the second period, Wolff stopped an LC shot at point-blank range, and at the 9:00 mark, Heggan deflected a Himmel pass into the net to put the Knights on top 4-0.
That score stood until the Crusaders – with a two-man advantage – got on the scoreboard early in the final period. Himmel closed out the scoring for the Knights with an empty net goal.
“We’re young, but we have good leadership,” coach DiDonato said. “The three guys who are captains of our teams are solid leaders, and Nick Sette, who is my absolute horse, is really carrying the team on his shoulders right now.”
***
In late action at Hatfield Ice, Central Bucks East won the 5th annual Thanksgiving Eve Classic Cup, defending the cup it owned with a 7-0 win over the Bucks.
“I wanted them to work on the little things,” East coach Ken Latchum said. “One of the little things was when they line change – one of them comes off at a time and keeps the pressure on. That’s what I’m most proud of because when it comes crunch time and we’re playing in the playoffs and the Flyers Cup – those little things matter a lot.”The Patriots (6-2 SHSHL, 6-3-2 overall) held a lopsided 45-8 advantage in shots on goal over the Bucks, who saw their record drop to 1-8. Despite the Patriots’ dominance, they never lost their focus.
“We talked a lot between periods about sticking to the program, and the kids did a great job of it,” Latchum said.
The Patriots took a 1-0 lead at the 12:13 mark of the opening period, thanks to a power play goal by Austin Cinalli (Joe Caperelli assist). Mike Palmer (Dean Albertini assist) scored two minutes later to make it a 2-0 game. That score held until the end of the period despite a 17-1 East advantage in shots as West goalie Alex Ingrassia turned away 16 shots.
Tom Schloendorn scored an unassisted goal less than a minute into the second period, and goals by Caperelli (Schloendorn and Nick Patullo assists) made it a 5-0 game after two periods. Patullo (Conor Long assist) and Caperilli added third-period goals for the 7-0 final.
East goalies Justin Golia and Tim Wass combined to turn away all eight shots they faced in the shutout while Ingrassia turned away 38 shots in standout effort in the net.
NORTH PENN 5, LANSDALE CATHOLIC 1
Lansdale Catholic 0 0 1-1
North Penn 3 1 1-5
First Period
NP – Ted Stoler (Eric Himmel assist) at 9:50 (Even)
NP – Daniel Corrado (Doug Barber assist) at 8:56 (Even)
NP – Ryan Merk (Doug Barber & Daniel Corrado assists) at 2:50 (Even)
Second Period
NP-David Heggan (Eric Himmel assist) at 9:00 (Even)
Third Period
LC-Doug Becker (Nick Sette & Anthony DiDonato assists) at 9:02 (Power Play)
NP-Eric Himmel
Goaltending Summary
LC- Ben Mills 25 shots, 20 saves, 5 goals
NP – Jake Wolff 35 shots, 34 saves, 1 goal
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