SOL SHSHL Ice Hockey Notebook (2-20-19)

This week’s notebook explains the SHSHL playoff picture heading into the postseason. The scoring leaders and top goalie stats are also included.

By Rick Woelfel

Class AA Snapshot—The current Suburban High School Hockey League season has been remarkably free of weather interruptions. Ironically enough, the weather was a factor during the final week of the regular season.

The events and schedule outlined below are subject to change due to weather and ice availability.

Heading into the week, six of the eight playoff qualifiers in Class AA have been determined. Central Bucks South, North Penn, Pennridge, Neshaminy, Central Bucks West, and Central Bucks East are all assured of being part of the SHSHL playoffs, which are scheduled to begin on Monday. Council Rock South, Pennsbury, and Abington are in contention for the last two playoff spots.

Central Bucks South started the week three points up on Pennridge and North Penn. The Titans and the Rams played Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice, while North Penn faces Central Bucks West at Hatfield Ice in a game that that been moved from Wednesday to Thursday.

North Penn and CB South battled to a 3-3 tie on Wednesday. As a result, CB South won the regular-season title and the number one seed for the playoffs.

Neshaminy and Central Bucks West share fourth place, six points off the pace. Central Bucks East, which has completed its league schedule, could be seeded sixth or seventh, depending on what happens when Pennsbury face William Tennent in a game scheduled for Wednesday. If the Falcons win, they would become the sixth seed via a tiebreaker over Central Bucks East. If they tie, they would gain a point, leaving the final playoff spot to be decided on Thursday when Council Rock South faces Pennridge. In that circumstance, the Golden Hawks would gain the eighth seed with a win (Pennsbury has the edge in a tiebreaker). A Rock South loss would give the last playoff spot to Abington.

Central Bucks South (11-3-1, 9-0-1 in league play) will enter the playoffs as a four-time defending SHSHL Class AA champion trying to make history. No team in SHSHL history has ever won five straight Class AA titles but Head Coach Shaun McGinty was concerned in the wake his team’s 7-2 win over Council Rock South last Wednesday, a game the Titans didn’t dominate until they scored five straight goals in the third period.

It’s a tough time of the season for players, many of whom are involved in club playoffs as the high school postseason approaches.

“It could be the time of year where you’re hitting a wall,” McGinity said, “but it’s also the best time of year. So, if your team is in the club playoffs and districts, whatever they’re doing, and you’re on (your high school team) and you’ve got a chance to win the SHSHL and fight for a high seed in the Flyers Cup, it may be the time of year when it’s difficult but it’s also the best time of year.”

Class A Snapshot-- In the Class A American Division, Lower Moreland has wrapped up the number one seed. The Lions, who have completed their league schedule with a 7-2-3 record (10-2-3 overall), have an insurmountable three-point lead over Wissahickon in the standings. The other three seeds are up for grabs.

The Trojans are two points up on Hatboro-Horsham; they’re scheduled to face the Hatters in a game now set for Thursday.  A Wissahickon win would assure it of the second seed and likely drop the Hatters to fourth behind Plymouth Whitemarsh, which will be favored against Upper Dublin on Thursday.

All that would set up a Hatboro-Horsham-Lower Moreland matchup in a semifinal matchup next Wednesday, one that would be a rematch of last year’s final and also see Lower Moreland coach Gus Salfitti going against a team and players he once coached.

“It’s a bittersweet moment,” Salfitti said, “to get some redemption, and at the same time see some of the kids I helped develop when they were young. It’s a bag of emotions and I’m not sure how it’s going to go.”

The Hatters bested the Lions in last year’s SHSHL American Division final; Salfitti was a spectator on that occasion.

The SHSHL playoffs get underway next Monday with four Class AA quarterfinal games, two at Hatfield Ice and two at Revolution Ice Gardens. The semifinals two days later will feature a Class AA/Class A doubleheader at each rink with the finals set for next Thursday at Hatfield Ice.

The Flyers Cup pairings and seeds will be announced Sunday during a live webcast from the Brick House Tavern in Willow Grove, beginning at noon