To view action photos of the CB East/Spring-Ford and CR South/Cherokee games, visit the photo gallery and click on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
By Scott Huff
There was no luck of the Irish needed on this St. Patrick’s Day as both Suburban High School Hockey League teams earned that prestigious place in the Class AA Flyers Cup title game to be played Monday at the Bucks County Ice Sports Center with a 7 pm face-off.Central Bucks East broke open a tight 1-0 game with a three-goal outbreak in the second period and crushed Spring-Ford, 6-0. It will be the very first Flyers Cup final in the history of the CB East program.
Council Rock South rebounded from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Cherokee (New Jersey) by a 3-1 score. The Golden Hawks will be making their third straight visit to the Flyers Cup final.
The meeting for the Flyers Cup championship between CB East and CR South was not unexpected. The Patriots – the SHSHL playoff champions - were the # 2 seed in the tournament. The Hawks – the SHSHL regular season champions – were the # 1 seed.
The winner of the Flyers Cup will travel to the Ice Line Rink in West Chester to meet the winner of the Penguins Cup for the Pennsylvania scholastic championship. The face-off for that title game will be 1:30 pm.
CB East Batters Rams
Central Bucks East earned its invitation to the Flyers Cup final with a complete domination of Spring-Ford. The Rams were the # 11 seed and had upset both Central Dauphin and Washington Township to get to the semifinal contest with the Patriots.
“We gave a great team effort tonight,” said Central Bucks East head coach Ken Latchum. “We got a great game from all three lines, we played well in front of our goaltender defensively, and ‘Stoney’ (Patriot goal tender Justin Golia) kept the puck out of the net.“Winning this game, and getting to the finals, is a great thing for this team,” added Latchum. “The game is for the kids – not the coaches. And the game with CR South should be a real good hockey game. Everyone expects it to be.”
Central Bucks East took a 1-0 first period lead on a goal by John Esposito. Austin Cinalli assisted Esposito on the goal.
The Patriots broke the game wide open with a three-goal second period to extend the lead to 4-0. East outshot the Rams by a dominating 16-1 margin. Tom Schloendorn, Ryan Joyce, and Joe Caperelli all scored goals for the winners.
CB East concluded its scoring in the third period with a pair of goals to make the score final at 6-0. Nick Patullo scored on assists from Alex Piccione and Vince Esposito, while Schloendorn scored his second goal of the night on as assist from JohnYoung and Cinalli.
“It was nice to get the shutout,” said Golia – who stopped all 20 shots on goal for the Patriots. “It always helps your confidence to get that shutout, and that is something we can take into the next game.
“The game with Rock South should be a blood bath,” added Golia. “That is the team we wanted to play all along, and to get to play them in the Flyers Cup final is huge for both teams.”
Score By Periods:
Central Bucks East Patriots 1 3 2 * 6
Spring-Ford Rams 0 0 0 * 0
Shots On Goal:
Central Bucks East Patriots 14 16 13 * 43
Spring-Ford Rams 8 1 11 * 20
Saves:
CB East – Justin Golia – 20.
Spring-Ford – Peter Esslinger – 37.
CR Rock Solid In Win
Council Rock South earned its invitation to the Flyers Cup final with a 3-1 victory over Cherokee. The # 12 seeded Chiefs upset Pennsbury and Dowingtown East to get to the semifinal contest with the Golden Hawks.
“Cherokee is a good team, but I thought that we controlled the game for most of the game,” said Council Rock head coach Joe Houk. “It seems like every game we play, the other teams scores first and we have to come back. And we had to do that again tonight.
“Once we get the lead, though, we are a very tough team to beat,” continued Houk. “We tend to play much better at the end of games.”After a scoreless first period, Cherokee took a 1-0 lead at the 12:43 mark on a goal by Jason Spieker. That goal by the Chiefs seemed to set off a spark in the Hawk offense as just 25 seconds later Nick Keck scored on assists from Patrick Grilli and Shane Ryan.
CR South took the lead for good later in the period on a goal by Grilli on an assist from Kyle Walter.
The final score of the game came in the third period when Tom Kopania scored a Rock South goal on assists from both Grilli and Steve Junod.
Golden Hawk goaltender Steve Jastrow- who was the Rock South junior varsity goalie a year ago – was superb in net for CR South. Jastrow stopped 32 of 33 Cherokee shots on goal.
“I am going to try my best to keep up the standards that were set before me,” said Jastrow. “I am a senior, and to make it to the Flyers Cup in my final year is special. And to play it against CB East is also very special since I have a lot of friends on East.”
Council Rock South has played Central Bucks East twice during the regular SHSHL season with the Golden Hawks winning both times – 7-3 and 3-2. The two teams did not meet in the SHSHL playoffs as Pennsbury upset CR South in the semi-finals and East went on to win the title.
But those games were played a long time ago, and both the Patriots and Rock South are not the same teams now that they were then.
They are better – much better.
Score By Periods:
Council Rock South Golden Hawks 0 2 1 * 3
Cherokee Chiefs 0 1 0 * 1
Shots On Goal:
Council Rock South Golden Hawks 9 12 9 * 30
Cherokee Chiefs 9 11 13 * 33
Saves:
CR South – Steve Jastrow – 32.
Cherokee – Dan Navarra 27.
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