CB West defeated North Penn 5-2 in a key SHSHL contest on Wednesday night.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- In discussions about high school ice hockey, just about everyone wants to talk about the offense.
You know how it goes: Who scored the goals, how many goals were scored, etc.
But the other half of the equation is just as meaningful. The defense does more than contribute to the final outcome. It defines that final outcome.
It was the defense of Central Bucks West, especially on the first line for North Penn, that decided the game in favor of the Bucks 5-2, Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice.
The West defense allowed only two power-play goals to the Knights and blanked North Penn's top line of Alex Peterson, Derek Heckler and Jake Heckenberger on even-strength situations.
Heckenberger and Heckler scored the Knight power-play goals.
"They've got two or three of the top scorers in the league," said West captain and defenseman Ryan Trefz. "We know how good they are.
"We just had to defend them. (Our plan was to) probably just try to slow them down in the neutral zone and get as many guys on them as possible and take away their time in space."
It obviously worked. Every time any one of the three got the puck on their stick there was always a Buck right with them, poking at the puck and trying to get it away from them.
"We work on the structure and doing the right things defensively all season long," West coach Dave Baun said. "The last couple of games I've felt that it's really started to come together for us."
So what was the plan against North Penn's No. 1 line?
"I talked to other coaches and they shadowed their best guy or put guys on him," explained Baun. "We decided that we wouldn't do that.
"We were just going to play our best game. We played our game. We didn't need to shadow them and we were pretty satisfied with the result."
While Baun was satisfied with the result, North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis wasn't but he realized what he was up against.
"They've got a solid foursome back there on defense led by (Shawn) Phillips and Trefz," Vaitis said. "They did a really nice job there defensively."
West got out first, scoring the first and only goal in the first period. Dalton Karl, off assists from Joe Anton and Eddie Shields, beat Knight goalie Jake Snyder at the 4:06 mark of the opener.
The Bucks kept up the pressure in the second period. Tucker Foote gave West a two-goal lead with only 2:13 gone in the second.
But the Knights came right back slightly more than six minutes later. Heckenberger took a pass from Peterson and beat West net-minder Jonah Brous to the top corner on the blocker side to cut the deficit to one.
Then the West offense came alive. The Bucks scored the next two goals within the space of 25 seconds to take a 4-1 lead.
First it was Phillips off a Trefz assist at 14:20. Then it was Eric Schwass unassisted at 14:45.
"We're a team that scores with anyone," Trefz said. "We don't have just one guy who scores so we get contributions from everyone all the time."
Baun emphasized what West practices on offense.
"We work hours on passing the puck and moving the puck," he said. "We do that all the time.
"The kids are starting to get it. You can see their execution. It's pretty good."
North Penn's power play again sliced the deficit to one goal in the third period. Heckler, with an assist from Heckenberger, scored at 11:33 of the final stanza.
Late in the third, North Penn pulled Snyder in favor of an extra skater. But it backfired when Phillips fired the puck into the empty net with 29.4 seconds remaining in the game.
Vaitis took it all philosophically after the game.
"It's one game," he said. "It's a regular season game.
"We've got to play better that we did tonight. The good thing is that we get back at it tomorrow night (Thursday) against CB East."
CB West 5, North Penn 2
North Penn 0 1 1 – 2
CB West 1 3 1 – 5
First period: 1. Dalton Karl CBW (Joe Anton, Eddie Shields) 4:06.
Second period: 2. Tucker Forte CBW (Anton, Shields) 2:13; 3. Jake Heckenberger NP (Alex Peterson) 9:39 PP; 4. Shawn Phillips CBW (Ryan Trefz) 14:20; 5. Eric Schwass CBW (unassisted) 14:45.
Third period: 6. Derek Heckler NP (Heckenberger) 11:33 PP: 7. Phillips CBW (unassisted 15:30 EN.
Shots: NP -- 20; CBW -- 45. Saves: Jake Snyder (NP) 39; Jonah Brous (CBW) 18.
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