This week's notebook takes a look at the playoff picture and also features CB West and Tennent.
We’re coming down the home stretch. By the end of next week, The American, Continental and National divisions of the SHSHL will have completed the regular season and will be preparing for the league playoffs.
Here’s how the SHSHL playoffs will look (and apologies for the incorrect information included in last week’s Rink Rap):
In the Class AA (National and Continental divisions), the top three teams in each division make the playoffs. Two more playoff berths will be awarded to the next two teams (regardless of division) with the highest winning percentages. Berths (and seedings) are based on winning percentage rather than points because the National plays an 18-game league schedule while the Continental plays a 17-game league slate. The eight teams will be seeded by winning percentage and will play a one-game opening round and semifinal, with no reseeding between rounds. The final will be best-of-three.
In Class A (American Division), the top four teams will receive playoff berths. The semifinal will be a one-game series, and the championship will be best-of-three.
Standings are determined as such: points percentage (the number of points a team has earned/the number of total possible points). The tiebreaker is as follows:
- Points earned in games between tied teams
- Highest number of games won
- Goals against average
- a, b, c, applied to all games (not just league games)
- coin toss
Got it? Good. So let’s look at how things stand as we head into the final two weeks of the season. Based on games through Feb. 6, here are how the playoffs are shaping up:
National Division: Council Rock South has clinched the top seed with 28 points (13-1-2). Archbishop Wood (21 points) has also clinched. Council Rock North and Pennsbury are tied with 17 points in third place in the division. Both teams have two league games remaining, including a faceoff against each other in the last game of the season, a game that very well could decide which team secures third place. Both teams hold a .531 winning percentage. Abington is 4-10-1 (.300) with three league games remaining.
Continental Division: Central Bucks South has earned the top spot with 27 points (13-0-1). Pennridge is second at 22 points and North Penn third with 19. The Knights and Rams will meet Feb. 15 in a game that could decide which team finishes second and which third. Souderton sits in fourth place at 7-8 (.467), and defending Class AA Champs Central Bucks East is 5-7-2 (.429) with three league games left.
American Division: With Hatboro-Horsham not allowed to participate in the SHSHL races this season, the remaining four teams in the American are assured of playoff berths. Lansdale Catholic (8-1, 16 points) has clinched the top spot. Wissahickon sits in second place (3-4-1, 7 points), Upper Moreland is in third (3-6, 6 points) and Upper Dublin in fourth (2-5-1, 5 points). There is one league game left … Upper Dublin against Wissahickon on Feb. 10. If Wissahickon wins, the teams enter the playoffs as they’re set now, with the Trojans facing the Bears and Upper Dublin drawing Lansdale Catholic. If Upper Dublin wins, however, the Cardinals will jump Upper Moreland and will face Wissahickon in the opening round.
LOOKING UP AT WEST … Not every team is gearing up for a playoff run. Central Bucks West will finish at the bottom of the Continental Division. The Bucks have a 1-14 league record (4-15 overall) with three games (two league) remaining.
Despite the team’s record, coach Dave Baun couldn’t be happier with the way his players are performing.
“If nothing else, I’ve got kids with a fantastic attitude and they enjoy playing and they enjoy one another and they’re very coachable,” Baun said. “They understand where we are in terms of our talent and experience. Right now they’re just playing to get better.
“The coaches and I were saying the other night, if we didn’t have such wonderful kids on our team, the coaches couldn’t have made it through the season. You just can’t. It’s tough enough to lose games, but it’s unbearable if you’ve got kids with attitudes, and we don’t have that. I can’t stress that enough.”
In addition to losses to graduation, the Bucks experienced a rather unique and unfortunate series of events heading into the season when two projected top-line players (both of whom had the ability to score with the best in the league) decided not to play for the Bucks – one went to play Juniors in Canada and the other left for prep school. A top-line fill-in, Nick Davis, went down with a concussion early in the season and Baun said his hockey career is likely over.
“I’ve never seen another team at the varsity level experience what we have this year,” Baun said. “You can’t really tell someone’s character until you catch them in the bad times, that’s when someone’s true character is revealed. But this group has been through some rough times and it’s really revealed their true character.”
That character has been tested this season, and the Bucks have come through with flying colors. And that says a lot about a team that filled in some of those openings with players with relatively little experience, and who lost six straight games early in the season by a combined 52-6 count.
“We recruited players,” Baun said. “We recruited players from English class and math class and science class and social studies class. That’s where we recruited players from. And that’s where we got them.”
Stepping to the fore has been Austin Siemion, who, despite not having those two experienced linemates, has still posted 29 goals and 10 assists and is fifth in the league in points. He has made his less-experienced teammates better players and has been a sterling role model for the team.
“Austin, first of all, is a fantastic kid,” Baun said. “He’s a great student, a great ambassador for the hockey team within the school, and on the ice, he plays hard and has lots of talent and is coachable. Kids like that don’t come along every day and you want to build a team around them.
“As good as Austin is, I’ve never heard him speak the lesser of any of his teammates … ever. Sometimes you get kids who are really good and they know it and they treat the other kids that way. Austin never does that. That’s a bonus. You can build a championship team around a guy like that and that’s what we’re working to do.”
And the Bucks’ two seniors – Tyler Delaney and Peter Alexander – have stepped up to fill the leadership roles on the team.
“In the 10 years I’ve been at West, I’ve had very few players I admire and respect as much as Tyler Delaney,” Baun said. “He’s one of our captains, he does everything he’s supposed to do. He’s an excellent student, he works hard, does everything he’s asked to do. He’s a great leader. Peter is another senior who works hard and does everything he’s supposed to.”
The Bucks have managed four victories, including a 5-2 win over district rival Central Bucks East in mid-January. And as the season has progressed, the Bucks are showing vast improvements on the ice.
“Getting a couple wins shows them that there’s a payoff in this,” Baun said. “It shows if they play well, play smart, play as a team, they can win games. When we beat East, the kids were ecstatic. East is a pretty good team. Our kids were on top of the world winning that game, and so were the coaches.”
And the future is bright for the West. Several underclassmen have quickly adapted to the varsity level and are primed to help lead West to bigger and better things down the road. Freshman Patrick Smith has six goals and 14 assists and is second on the team in points. Sophomore Matt Ciccone has four points and is could be ready for a breakout season next year.
“Young guys like those two are only going to get better,” Baun said, “and we’re going to have some wonderful freshmen coming in next year.”
In the end, though, Baun and his team know that there’s a cycle to high school sports. And while seasons at the bottom of the division are often inevitable, so is a return to form.
“At Central Bucks West, we’ve been on the top of the hockey world and we’ve been on the bottom of the hockey world,” Baun said. “And in high school sports, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. You win some, you lose some. But this is a great place to start. I believe the future is bright for us.”
HEADS UP AT TENNENT … There won’t be a postseason for the William Tennent hockey team, but the Panthers are playing tough down the stretch as they prepare for the future.
With three league games remaining, the Panthers are looking to continue to work on discipline and improvements, and maybe making things difficult for the three remaining teams on the schedule.
“We think we’re going to have a pretty competitive team next year, so we’re looking to correct a lot of mistakes we see this year,” said Tennent coach Nick D’Aurizio. “We’re setting goals of trying to improve, rather than with wins and losses, and the kids seem to be responding.”
Not that that’s anything new for the Panthers this season. The players have responded to numerous setbacks and losses throughout the season. The Panthers opened the season with just two wins in their first nine games, and they suffered a massive setback when leading scorer Clint Aussprung picked up his third game misconduct of the season and was suspended for the remainder of the year. Despite having played in only 11 games, Aussprung remains the team’s top scorer with 15 goals and one assist.
But his absence has actually helped the Panthers come together as a unit.
“We were way too dependent on Clint when he was in the lineup,” D’Aurizio said. “Now the guys are learning to play without him, and we’ve been taking our lumps, for sure, but the kids are learning to take more responsibility on their shoulders, and that’s important, especially heading into next year.
“We have two young captains, and it can be tough to get kids that age to take on a leadership role, especially when they know they’re not the most skilled player on the team. But we challenged them. We said we need somebody on this team to lead. And Gary Matyok and DJ Mulhern have really stepped up to the plate and are leading this team.”
Matyok and Mulhern are also the leading active scorers for the Panthers, with Matyok tallying four goals and nine assists and Mulhern recording three goals and seven helpers.
And the rest of the team is following their lead, as well as the lead of seniors Vince Rosica, Tom McMonagle and Brian McGee.
“Those three are good soldiers,” D’Aurizio said. “They know we’re not really playing for anything anymore, but they’re still the first ones to practice, still the ones finishing first in the skating drills. They’re setting the example.”
The Panthers have also been buoyed by the exemplary play of their goalkeepers. Freshman CJ Lineman and sophomore Dan Deegan have weathered many a storm between the pipes and have helped keep the Panthers in numerous games.
“Those two guys have been our most consistent players,” D’Aurizio said. “CJ is probably best ninth-grade goalie in the area. He’s improved as his comfort level has gone up. Dan’s become a leader in the locker room. We don’t have a true starter, we try to get both these guys into games, and they’ve both responded. They’ve both played incredible, and they’re the reason why we haven’t gotten blown out in some games.”
The Panthers have played solidly in recent weeks, highlighted by a hard-fought 3-2 loss to playoff-bound Council Rock North and a huge 1-1 tie to playoff-bound Pennsbury.
“One of the most rewarding things to see as a coach is when you challenge a team and they answer the bell,” D’Aurizio said. “One of the reasons we’re still enjoying coming out to the rink is that we’re not getting blown out by 10 goals every game, we’re competitive. We lost to Pennridge, 3-0, last week and Pennridge is a top-flight team. To see us skate with that team a full 45 minutes is definitely a good feeling. These last four games we have not played bad teams. The last five, six games have really kind of shown what we’re made of and that we’re starting to come around.
“We lost to Council Rock with a minute left, tied Pennsbury, and I really feel like with these games, the kids are getting some respect within the league. We may not be the most skilled team in the league, but we’re going to out-work you, and if you beat us, we’re going to make you work for those two points.”
And come next year … D’Aurizio believes the Panthers will be taking more than their share of the points up for grabs.
“Their discipline has improved,” he said. “We’re really trying to drill the basics into their heads now, the importance of thinking the game instead of only reacting. And it’s clicking. That’s been encouraging as a coach to see the message has been getting through.
“We didn’t get any influx of new players this year. The middle school team was all in seventh grade last year. Next year we anticipate a solid flow of ninth graders, hopefully we can get enough interest to get a jayvee team and grow the program. “Next year we’ll be able to add a couple more pieces, and with the core we have coming back, I really do believe we can be competitive and we can be a playoff team next year.”
MARK YOUR CALENDAR … Big games with big implications for the playoffs this week include:
Neshaminy at Central Bucks East, 9 p.m. Feb. 8 at Hatfield Ice.
Council Rock North at Souderton, 7:20 p.m. Feb. 9 at Hatfield Ice.
Upper Dublin at Wissahickon, 8:55 p.m. Feb. 10 at Bucks County Ice Sports Center.
- Log in to post comments
