Council Rock South advanced to Sunday’s Flyers Cup Class AA final game at Wells Fargo Center. To view action photos of Thursday’s win, please visit the Photo Gallery.
WARWICK – “Good teams find a way to win.”
That’s the motto by which the Council Rock South ice hockey team has operated all season. When adversity hits, the Golden Hawks rise to the challenge.
So when the third-seeded Hawks entered the Flyers Cup Class AA semifinal against seventh seed Downingtown East without three key players, they did what they have done throughout the season … they found a way to win.
Despite missing defensemen Dan Ufberg and Dan Margolin and forward Vinnie Primavera – who were out of town for a school function – the Golden Hawks defense and goalie Justin Houk stepped up and blanked the Cougars, 3-0, to earn their fourth straight appearance in the Flyers Cup final.
“We knew we weren’t going to have those guys, but we didn’t want to talk about it too much because we do have kids waiting in the wings who are going to step up and do well,” said South coach Joe Houk. “Our defense and goaltender were absolutely tremendous tonight.”
Senior Tom Kopania and junior Paul Cloud led the defensive effort and were joined by several young players looking to prove themselves in a big game. Juniors Tyler Eline and Jacob Weiner and sophomore Erik Lesser stepped in and played like seasoned veterans, intercepting passes and denying rushes all game. Lesser also made a stellar play in the second period, using his skates to trap the puck against the boards in the corner to help kill off a Hawk penalty.
“Tom and Paul Cloud both were big tonight, so was Tyler,” Houk said. “Jacob Weiner, who hasn’t even played defense for me all year, he played for the JV team, played great. Erik Lesser was another one.”
“All those guys want to do is come up and play,” said Justin Houk. “They got their opportunity and they played great.”
The Hawks also received strong, steady play from freshman Spencer Bawcom and sophomore Jason Brockman.
“There was definitely some extra pressure missing some key guys tonight,” Kopania said. “I had a lot of ice time and had to play a lot of shutdown defense. Jake played a hell of a game, Eric played a physical game. Jason had a great game, Spence played great. Those guys were a big part of this win.”
So was the Hawks’ junior netminder, who turned aside all 23 shots he faced, including a pair of big stops on a shot and rebound with three minutes left in the game and a slap shot through a screen in the final seconds of the game.
“We didn’t talk too much to Justin about ‘You’ve got to have a big game,’” coach Houk said. “We didn’t need to. That’s what he’s been doing the last quarter of the year.
“We controlled everything in our end. Our neutral zone play was the best part of our game. They were looking for the quick outlet and we kept breaking it up.”
“Justin’s come a long way,” Kopania added. “It’s his first year as varsity goalie, but you wouldn’t know that by the way he’s been playing lately.”
Houk, has allowed just three goals in three Flyers Cup games thus far.
“I’ve been feeling very confident since that shutout (6-0 over Souderton) at the end of the season, but even though I let in seven goals in that triple overtime game (against North Penn in the SHSHL semifinals), it made me realize that I had to play like I did in overtime the whole game,” he said. “I can’t turn it on in overtime, I had to be playing at that level the whole game.”
And the Hawks played their game plan to perfection.
“We needed to take control like we always do,” Mitchell Vaysman said. “Like coach always tells us, we have that next level that no one else has. We can play in the third period when other teams are tired. We have three strong 
lines, and every single player on this team can score a goal.”
“We put together a plan the last week and we’ve been playing that way,” coach Houk said. “We knew they were quick, so we put together … I wouldn’t say it’s a trap, but it’s a puck possession, aggressive style of play. If you can possess the puck 75 percent of the time, good things result out of that.”
And with forwards with the scoring touches of guys like Nick Keck, Kyle Walter and Vaysman, good things tend to happen pretty often in the offensive zone. Keck put the Golden Hawks on the scoreboard with 29 seconds left in the first period when he took a lead pass from Kopania, weaved his way into the Cougar zone and fired a shot from just inside the left faceoff circle that struck just inside the far goalpost.
Walter made it 2-0 three minutes into the second period when he tapped in the rebound of a Keck slapshot from the point. A little more than four minutes later, South capitalized on another rebound when Vaysman poked in the rebound of a Keck pass from behind the net.
The junior celebrated his goal by dropping to the seat of his pants, and, legs straight out in front of him, used his stick like an oar.
“That was fun,” said Vaysman, who also logged time on defense. “I told my teammates if I scored a goal tonight with a bad foot, I’m going to do a canoe to celebrate. I did a nice canoe.”
The teams retreated to their locker rooms after the second period so the ice could be resurfaced. But the Hawks didn’t miss a beat upon their return. South controlled the play, and though they were outshot, 10-6 in the final frame, most of the Cougars’ chances were low-percentage shots.
“We knew we couldn’t take them lightly,” Justin Houk said. “We knew they were coming out with their season on the line.”
With the victory, Council Rock South advances to the Flyers Cup final for the fourth year in a row. The defending Flyers Cup champions, the Hawks also took the title in 2009.
This time around, the Golden Hawks will face ninth-seeded Cherokee, which topped fifth seed Conestoga, 5-4, in Thursday’s other semifinal. The teams will meet at 7:30 p.m. Sunday on the ice at the Wells Fargo Center, where mere hours beforehand, the likes of Claude Giroux, Ilya Bryzgalov, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will skate when the Philadelphia Flyers play the cross-state rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
“This means a lot,” Kopania said. “It’s a big stage. Some of my heroes play there, so it’s going to be fun.”
“This will be the fourth year straight for the club,” Vaysman said. “Hopefully we can go back there and win another one. We’re just looking forward to going to the Wells Fargo Center and try to win in front of a big crowd of our fans.”
NOTES … The Golden Hawks missing players will be back to play in the finals … Win or lose, Council Rock South will represent the Flyers Cup in the state championship since Cherokee is a New Jersey team.
Downingtown East 0 0 0 – 0
Council Rock South 1 2 0 – 3
Scoring
First period
CRS – Nick Keck (Tom Kopania), 0:29.
Second period
CRS – Kyle Walter (Keck, Kopania), 11:57.
CRS – Mitchell Vaysman (Keck, Walter), PP, 7:46.
Third period
No scoring
Shots on goal
Downingtown East 9 4 10 – 23
Council Rock South 9 10 6 – 25
Saves: Chris Heckman (DE) 20; Justin Houk (CRS) 23.
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