Month: March 2019

Wissahickon Wins SHSHL Class A Crown

By Rick Woelfel

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Bryan Garry scored six goals and assisted on two others to lead Wissahickon to a 16-6 win over Lower Moreland Thursday night in the Suburban High School Hockey League Class A championship game at Hatfield Ice.

The game was halted with 6:09 left in the third period via the 10-goal mercy rule.

It’s the fourth confirmed SHSHL title for the Trojans who also won Class A titles in 2006, ’10, and ’15; (Wissahickon may have won additional titles on two other occasions but  that has not been documented).

“This feels like a great reward,” said Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington. “We had one of our (defenseman) with a broken wrist, we had a couple unfortunate things happen. These last two games are the first games where we’ve had all 13 players on our roster.”

Sean Garry provided three goals and four assists for top-seeded Wissahckon (13-4-2). Daniel Glazer added two goals and three assists. Nicholas Hussa scored twice while three other players scored one goal each.

Coleman Peppelman scored three goals and added an assist to pace top-seeded Lower Moreland (12-3-3). Vincenzo DeMaio scored Twice and Noah Gazzara once.

The Lions had just eight skaters and a goaltender in uniform and were without forward Adam Bostock and defenseman Devin Green who were serving suspensions.

Sean Garry’s two goals helped Wissahickon build a 3-1 lead at the 5:29 mark of the first period but Gazzara and Peppleman scored back-to-back goals to draw the Lions even.

Bryan Garry scored his first goal of the night with 3:33 left in the period. It was the only power-play goal of the game (there were just two penalties called in the game) and put Wissahickon up for good at 4-3.

The Trojans broke the game open by scoring four straight goals in a span of 6:46 to go up 8-4 4:52 into the second period. By the end of the second stanza the margin was 12-5.

Lower Moreland coach Gus Salfitti said his player simply ran out of gas.

“It’s obviously a whole different game when you’remissing two of your top skaters,” he said. “I didn’t expect a blowout like this, but (the Trojans) are quick, they got rested, they’re out there every other shift, they’re better, players and they absolutely outskated the heck out of us.”

Lower Moreland 4 1 1—6

Wissahickon 5 7 4—16

First-period goals: Sean Garry (W) from Daniel Glazer, :27; Sean Garry (W) from Bryan Garry and Glazer, 2:22; Vincenzo DeMaio (LM) unassisted, 3:08; Nicholas Hussa (W) from Ty Schiff, 5:29; Noah Gazzara (LM) from Arthur Rubenstein, 6:53; Coleman Peppelman (LM) from Tyler Scolnick, 7:46; Bryan Garry (W) from Matt Cade, 13:27 (pp); Hussa (W) from Cade and Ben Junker, 13:56; Peppelman (LM) from Gazzara, 15:45.

Second-period goals: Junker (W) from Bryan Garry, 3:06; Nolan Ryan (W) unassisted, 3:42; Bryan Garry (W) from Sean Garry, 4:52; DeMaio (LM) from Peppelman, 6:31; Bryan Garry (W) unassisted, 7:03; Glazer (W) unassisted, 10:52; Bryan Garry (W) unassisted, 11:10; Bryan Garry (W) from Sean Garry and Glazer, 13:11.

Third-period goals: Glazrt (W) from Sean Garry, 3:06; Bryan Garry from Sean Garry, 5:47; Peppelman (LM) from Gazzara, 6:03; Sean Garry (W) unassisted, 9:50; Cade (W) 10:51, unassisted

* Game called with 6:09 left in the third period due to the 10-goal mercy rule.

Shots: Lower Moreland 33, Wissahickon 53; Saves: Jacob Lungren (LM) 37, Michael Henderson (LM) 27

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Pennridge Wins SHSHL Class AA title

By Rick Woelfel

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The combination of solid defense and quality goaltending will win a lot of hockey games, especially in the postseason. The Pennridge Rams utilized that formula to become champions Thursday night.

Luke Stranick stopped 35 shots and Matt Guinette and Michael Eissler provided the necessary scoring as the Rams downed Central Bucks South 2-0 in the Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA championship game at Hatfield Ice

It’s the second SHSHL title in history for the second-seeded Rams, who improved their record to 14-2-3. The top-seeded Titans (13-4-2) were attempting to capture an unprecedented fifth straight SHSHL crown and their ninth in history.
After shutting down one of the most potent offenses in the area, the Rams were savoring their success.

“I’ve only gone here for two years, and it feels great to me” said junior defenseman Frankie Rota, who transferred from Quakertown prior to last season. “I can imagine the guys that have been going here for four, I imagine it feels incredible.”

The Rams outshot the Titans by just 40-35 but the efforts of the blueline corps limited South’s quality chances and made life easier for their goaltender.

“My defense played perfect,” Stranick said. “They did everything I could have asked for. They kept the shots to the outside, they kept the screens out of my way, they made it real easy.”

The Titans had the better of things early on until the pace picked up midway through the opening period. Guinette got the Rams on the board at the 8:18 mark of the first frame with a shot from midway between the tops of the two faceoff circles that beat South netminder Oscar Levin, who had a solid game between the pipes despite the defeat.

Pennridge’s second goal, which came 3:30 into the middle period, was the result of a picturesque individual effort by Eissler, who went up the middle and over the blue line before deking around a South defender and beating Moyer. That was all the scoring there was but that was all that was needed.

“Defensively, we gave up some chances,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna, “but we did a real good job not giving up second-chance opportunities. Our defensemen blocked a ton of shots in this game and we swept everything up.

“(South) is a hard team to hold off for 51 minutes and we did.”

Notes:  The Rams won their first league crown in 2008 …Both teams will see action in the Flyers Cup tournament next Wednesday. The second-seeded Titans will face 15th-seed Downingtown West on Wednesday at Revolution Ice Gardens at 7:15. The fourth-seeded Rams will take on 13th seed Garnet Valley the same evening at Hatfield Ice at 8:40 … Shaun McGinty was not behind the Titans’ bench Thursday night because of work commitments. Assistant Tyler Skronski stepped in for him.

Pennridge  1 1 0—2

C.B. South 0 0 0—0

First-period goal: Matt Guinette (P) from Eric Slater, 8:18

Second-period goal: Michael Eissler (P) from Jeff Manto, 3:30

Shots: Pennridge 40, C.B. South 35; Saves: Luke Stranick 35 Oscar Levin (CBS) 33

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