CB West edged CR South 3-2 in a battle of unbeaten teams at Hatfield Ice on Wednesday night.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD -- Brandon Savona got home just in time.
The Central Bucks senior defenseman had spent a few days in Minnesota involved in ice hockey. No, not playing. He was officiating.
However, he didn't let his time in the striped shirt deter him from having a big hand in boosting the Bucks record to 6-0 and helping them remain the only undefeated team in the Suburban High School Hockey League's AA division.
Savona scored the game-winning goal in a 3-2 victory over previously unbeaten Council Rock South in a classic battle of unbeaten squads at Hatfield Ice.
With the Golden Hawks down a player for high sticking and the score tied 2-2, Savona picked up a loose puck at the point near the blue line. From there, he fired a slap shot that found the net with 4:04 left in the third period.
"I think walking it off the boards is something that a lot of guys don't even think of," Savona said. "It's really, really important even getting that extra two or three feet off the boards.
"It'll throw that goalie off enough to get it by him. Props to my offense for screening the goalie because that's just as important."
A bit of explanation: "Walking it off the boards" means that the player skates away from the boards closer to the center of the ice before shooting.
West coach Dave Baun appreciated what Savona did for his team.
"Brandon got a big goal," said the Bucks’ coach. "Brandon and Shawn (Philipps) are two of our defensemen, and they are great contributors."
Baun also had high praise for Dalton Karl, who took care of the first two goals - one in the second period and one in the third to tie the game at 2-2.
"Dalton is an enigma," Baun said. "He comes alive and he dominates a game.
"He just takes over and I thought he took over this game. He's just a dominant player."
The game was scoreless for much of the first period. The Golden Hawks got on the board first when Jake Houk chipped a shot that handcuffed West goalie Jonah Brous with 15:23 gone in the period.
The Bucks came back on Karl's first goal of the game in the second period. He scored on the power play with 56 seconds left in the stanza.
Rock South again took the lead in the third. Jared Wagenmann - with assists from Nick Meli and Matt Owens - notched the goal.
But Karl got that one back less than a minute later. He took a pass from Tucker Forte, split the defense and went in on goalie Jeremy Siegel.
The Bucks' comeback ability impressed Savona.
"Having a team that is able to keep up their pace, keep up their steam even if they are down, I think that definitely shows a lot of character,” he said.
Everyone was impressed with the play of Siegel. The freshman kicked out 34 of 37 shots on goal.
"Their goaltender is strong," Baun said. "He's solid.
"He doesn't fumble the puck much, doesn't give us a lot of rebounds or second chances. We were struggling just to get guys in front of him.
"We knew we were going to have trouble. We knew we needed traffic. We knew we needed second chances."
Savona agreed.
"He played excellent," he said. "He has some great defensemen in front of him too. All the credit to those guys."
Rock South coach Joe Houk knows what he's got.
"Jeremy played well," Houk said. "He was the difference in the first half of the game. I thought in the first half of the game when they had the majority of their shots, Jeremy did an excellent job."
Siegel gave all the credit to his teammates.
"All my defenders just took everyone out of the play," the Hawks’ goalie said. "And I just ignored the stands and the fans and tried to just play my best."
It was one of the better games of the young season and shows the promise that these two teams hold.
"It was an exciting game," Baun said. "It was great to be a part of it.
"It was great just watching it and being part of it made it that much better. No, I take that back. Winning it made it that much better."
He can thank Brandon Savona for that.
CB West 3, CR South 2
CR South 1 0 1 – 2
CB West 0 1 2 – 3
First period: 1, Jake Houk CRS (Dean Prozillo) 15:23.
Second period: 2, Dalton Karl CBW (Joe Anton, Brandon Savonz) 15:04 PP.
Third period: 3, Jared Wagenmann CRS (Nick Meli, Matt Owens) 8:11; 4, Karl CBW (Tucker Forte) 9:08; 5, Savona (unassisted) 11:556 PP.
Shots: CRS 16, CBW 37. Saves: Jeremy Siegel (CRS) 34, Jonah Brous (CBW) 14.
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 9, ABINGTON 4
The high-powered Colonials skated to a commanding 7-1 lead after two periods on their way to another convincing win. Dean Keller had the hat trick to lead a balanced Colonial attack while Luke Brzozowski (one goal, two assists) and Chris Zawislak (two goals, one assist) also had three-point games. Abington’s Perry Carpenter had a pair of goals and two assists for four points.
John Sciarrone put the Colonials on the board 39 seconds into the contest, and the Colonials were off and running. Goals by Dylan Bonsall and Zawislak gave PW a 3-0 lead after one period. Brzozowski scored a short-handed goal a minute into the second period, and then it was Dean Keller connecting on back-to-back goals – the second on a power play – to put the Colonials on top 6-1. Carpenter broke the PW scoring run, but Keller got that goal back with his third goal of the period to give the Colonials a 7-1 lead.
PW goalie Cole Shula turned away 21 shots in a contest that saw the Colonials hold a 27-25 advantage in shots.
PW improved to 5-1 while Abington is 2-4.
Abington 0-1-3 4
Plymouth Whitemarsh 3-4-2 9
Shots: Abington 25, Plymouth Whitemarsh 27.
Saves: Jacob Snellenburg (A) 18, Cole Shula (PW) 21.
First Period
PW: John Sciarrone (Luke Brzozwski, Chris Zawislak)
PW: Dylan Bonsall (Luke Brzozowski)
PW: Chris Zawislak
Second Period
PW: Luke Brzozowski (short handed)
PW: Dean Keller
PW: Dean Keller (power play) (Colin Franzoni)
A: Perry Carpenter (Spencer Heuges, Elijah Coston)
PW: Dean Keller (Joseph Eisenlohr, Daymond Bonsall)
Third Period
PW: Chris Zawislak (John Sciarrone)
A: Spencer Heuges (Perry Carpenter)
PW: Colin Franzoni (Ben Lubas, Daymond Bonsall)
A: Spencer Heuges (Perry Carpenter)
A: Perry Carpenter (power play) (Aleksei Hulayev)
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