WARWICK— Pennridge got off to a slow start in the Suburban High School Hockey League this season. But the Rams have a lot of firepower in the lineup and Friday night they put that firepower on display.
Eric Slater scored five goals to lead his team to a 10-0 shutout over William Tennent at Revolution Ice Gardens. The game was halted 3:40 into the third period due to the 10-goal mercy rule. Pennridge now stands at 3-1-1 both overall and in SHSHL Class 2A league play. The Panthers are now 2-4 overall and 1-3 in the league.
After starting the season with a loss and a tie the Rams have won three straight, scoring 27 goals in the process.
Slater, who has scored 13 goals in his team’s five games, admitted it took he and his teammates some time to get used to each other at the start of the season.
“It was a challenge I guess to start playing as a team,” the senior winger said. “Most of us play club and we’re on different pages, club-wise (but) we finally got clicking; we’ve been playing good lately.”
Jeff Montagna is Pennridge’s third head coach in two seasons. He also coaches two club teams and a number of his club players are on the Pennridge roster. He admits that finding the right formula early on wasn’t easy.
“I know some guys know what I want,” he said, “and I have to be patient with the guys who aren’t used to what I want and that’s been an adjustment for me as well.
“Being able to teach those guys what I want but being with it. It’s not easy.”
Evan Kehoe opened the scoring for the Rams by scoring directly from a faceoff in the right circle 6:03 into the opening period. Slater scored back-to-back goals 35 seconds apart and Conrad Fisch scored 20 seconds after that to put Pennridge up 4-0 with 2:22 still to go in the first frame.
Slater completed a hat trick 5:23 into the second stanza before Andrew David made it a 6-0 game 48 seconds later.
Michael Walker added two goals 21 second apart, the first on a power play, to put Pennridge up 8-0 after two periods.
Slater scored twice in the third period to being down the curtain on the evening.
Tennent goaltender Trey Smith had the task of dealing with all this. A junior who is playing organized hockey for the first time, Smith faced 26 shots over the course of the evening.
“You play a team like Pennridge that can score at will almost against any goalie in the league and it’s going to be a challenge,” said Tennent coach Nick D’Aurizio. “We put up a fight. Our guys battled as much as they could but their big guns eventually took over.”
By Rick Woelfel
Pennridge 4 4 2—10
William Tennent 0 0 0—0
First-period goals: Evan Kehoe (P) unassisted, 6:03; Eric Slater (P) from Frankie Rota and Nick Eissler, 12:43; Slater (P) unassisted, 13:18; Conrad Fisch (P) from Richie Shanks and Andrew David, 13:38.
Second-period goals: Slater (P) from Michael Walker, 5:23; David (P) from Eissler, 6:11; Walker (P) from Rota and Matt Guinette, 10:48 (pp); Walker (P) from Slater and Guinette, 11:09.
Third-period goals: Slater (P) from Eissler, :09; Slater (P) from Walker, 3:40
Hockey Happenings 