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HATFIELD – It has been a season of huge steps forward for the Souderton ice hockey team.
It ended, unfortunately, with a stumble.
The Souderton offense was never able to get going in Monday’s Flyers Cup Play-in round, and as a result, the Big Red fell, 4-0, to Washington Township at Hatfield Ice.
“A swarming defense and a flat offense equals no offense,” said Souderton coach Matt Montagna. “I don’t know what really did it to them, but it just wasn’t there from the start, and that’s tough when it’s the last game. They just could not get anything going offensively.”
The Minutemen – aggressive, quick and skilled – played like anything but the 20th and last seed in the Class AA tournament. Washington Township set the tempo, controlled the puck and gave 14th-seeded Souderton few quality looks at the net. The Indians managed just three shots in the opening period and one in the second.
“We weren’t expecting them to be as strong as they were,” said Souderton sophomore forward Tyler DiPietro. “We just couldn’t get shots off. Four shots in two periods, you can’t win with that.
“With them being from South Jersey, we really had no idea who they were, what they were about. Even looking at their record, you can’t tell what their league was like or anything like that. I think we came in underestimating them and they surprised us. We definitely came out flat, it wasn’t our best game and in the playoffs, especially the Flyers Cup, you have to play your best game every time or you’re not going to win.”
The Minutemen got on the board five-and-a-half minutes into the first period when Frank Hughes stole a clearing attempt and fed it to Pat Curiale, who zipped the puck past Souderton keeper Zach Hecht. In a second period in which they outshot Souderton 11-1, the Minutemen made it 2-0 when Doug Sanders tapped home a crossing pass from Ryan Wilson.
The Indians, meanwhile, could not find the net. Dylan Manto made a terrific move on a breakaway, but Washington Township keeper Ryan McCusker made a pad save on the backhand attempt. That was the only shot on goal the Indians registered in the second period.
“We were in their zone, we just shot it over the net, we shot it wide, deflections, the puck went a little bit wide. Nothing broke our way,” Montagna said. “I think if we would have gotten that one goal, it probably would have changed the game a little bit.”
While the Indians were unable to mount a comeback, they never went away, either. Hecht kept the team in striking distance with his stellar play between the pipes and Souderton defensemen Chris Malanga and Bryce McMichael made several big plays on Minutemen odd-man rushes to deny scoring opportunities. Hecht finished with 20 saves, many of them in spectacular fashion.
“Zach played amazing tonight,” DiPietro said. “For his last game, it was a great way to send him off. It obviously would have been better to win, but he went out playing a great game.”
“Zach’s awesome. He kept us in that game,” Montagna said. “I don’t know if it’s the football in him, being a middle linebacker, but he doesn’t blink. He was the one constant tonight. I was proud of him tonight. I’m proud of all my guys.”
Souderton finishes the season at 10-12-2 overall (8-9 in the ridiculously competitive Continental Division) after going 3-16-2 just one year ago.
“If you know where they came from to where they are now, I’m proud of them, I really am,” Montagna said. “And they never gave up. They were diving for pucks at the end, they still worked hard, they just couldn’t get it going.”
“Looking back at last year, we took huge leaps,” DiPietro said. “It’s a shame it ended the way it did, but we’re happy.”
Washington Twp. 1 1 2 – 4
Souderton 0 0 0 – 0
Scoring
First period
WT – Pat Curiale (Frank Hughes), 9:32.
Second period
WT – Doug Sanders (Ryan Wilson), 4:16.
Third period
WT – Garrett Quinn, PP, 3:41.
WT – Sanders (unassisted), EN, :50.
Shots on goal
Washington Twp. 7 11 6 – 24
Souderton 3 1 8 – 12
Saves: Ryan McCusker (WT) 12; Zach Hecht (S) 20.
Pennsbury outlasts Spring-Ford … Will Richards scored twice in a 20-second span late in the second period as 14th-seeded Pennsbury defeated 18th seed Spring-Ford, 2-1, in Monday’s Flyers Cup Play-in game at Grundy Ice Arena.
The Rams got on the scoreboard at the end of the second period to cut the Falcons’ lead in half, but neither team scored in the final stanza and Pennsbury held on to take the victory.
“Our goalie, Ben Herring, was huge tonight, especially at the end,” said Pennsbury coach John Bria. “There was a scramble at the end of the third period and he came up huge. It was close. They thought they had scored, but fortunately the referees were in position and they saw the puck never went in.”
The Falcons advance to play third-seeded Council Rock South at 7 p.m. Thursday at Bucks County Ice Sports Center. The Golden Hawks defeated the Falcons, 5-2, on Dec. 1. South came from behind to forge a 4-4 tie when the two teams met up again on Jan. 6.
Wissahickon pulls past Garnet Valley … Wissahickon scored three straight goals – including two power play tallies – to open the third period as the 19th-seeded Trojans rallied and then held off 14th seed Garnet Valley to claim a 5-4 victory in Monday’s Flyers Cup Class A Play-in game at Aston Ice Works.
Dustin Rabinowitz had two goals and two assists, Luke Honorowski had two goals and one helper and David Pataki registered four assists for the Trojans, who led 2-1 after one period on goals by Honorowski (Pataki, Rabinowitz assists) and Rabinowitz (Jeff Schaeffer assist).
Garnet Valley scored twice in the second period to take a 3-2 lead into the third period. Rabinowitz pulled the Trojans even just 12 seconds into the third period on the power play, then Schaeffer gave Wissahickon a 4-3 lead 74 seconds later on another man advantage. Honorowski netted his second of the game two-and-a-half minutes later to make it 5-3 before the Jaguars scored to make it a 5-4 game.
Wissahickon goalkeeper Jordan Fromm stopped nine of 10 third-period shots to keep the Trojans on top. The freshman backstop made 23 saves for the game.
With the victory, Wissahickon advances to face third seed Springfield (Delco) at 7:30 Thursday back at Aston Ice Works.
In other scores
Class A
Williamstown 12, Upper Dublin 3
For the second year in a row, 17th-seeded Williamstown ousts 16th seed Upper Dublin in the opening round of the Flyers Cup. Williamstown moves on to face top-seeded West Chester Rustin in Friday’s second-round game. Upper Dublin ends its season at 9-13-2 overall.
Lansdale Catholic 10, #5 Moorestown 7
The 12th-seeded Crusaders advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face the winner of Thursday’s Archbishop Wood (4) vs. Archbishop Carroll (13) matchup on March 12 at the Bucks County Ice Sports Center.
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