HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Plymouth Whitemarsh climbed out of a hole Wednesday night. Facing a three-goal deficit late in the first period, the Colonials rallied for a 7-5 win over Wissahickon in a crackling SHSHL American Division game at Hatfield Ice.
Tim Murphy scored the winning goal when he snapped a 5-5 dreadlock with a forehander from between the circles with 2:33 left in regulation time. Dylan Novitsky added empty-net insurance with 42 seconds left to bring down the curtain on a remarkable comeback.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (2-0) was forced to climb a steep hill. Daniel Hussa’s hat trick helped propel the Trojans (1-1) to a 4-1 lead with 2:54 left in the opening period. The Colonials hurt their own cause with a series of early penalties although only one Wissahickon goal came on a power play. That goal, Hussa’s second of the first frame, gave his team a 2-1 lead.
But the Colonials regained their focus.
“We have heart,” Murphy said. “ That’s the mindset on this team, heart. “We play for each other. We play for the name on the front, not the back. We play for the seniors. This could be the last year for them ever playing.”
David Branigan, who spent much of the first period serving a minor penalty plus a misconduct for a check from behind, unleashed some pent-up energy with a goal 31 seconds into the second session to make it a 4-2 game.
Hussa scored his fourth goal of the night at the 6:24 mark but the Trojans would not score again, in no small measure due to the work of Julian Lucks in the Colonial net and just as importantly, the efforts of the defense corps in front of him.
Meantime, Daniel Moloney was scoring two goals and Jason Segal contributed one of his own to tie the game with 12:02 left in the third period and set up the finish.
“It wasn’t the start we wanted,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Dave Cox, “ but once we settled in, we kind of got our feet, we found our stride, and we really came together.
“When they called a timeout I said ‘We need to win our zone over the last five minutes and everything will take care if itself.”
The Trojans were able to take an abundance of positives away from the encounter. Like the Colonials, they gave a workmanlike effort at both ends of the ice and goaltender Fletcher Lynch made some quality saves down the stretch.
James Rumsey, in his second game behind the Wissahickon bench, was smiling at evening’s end despite coming up one goal short.
“We did a really good job,” he said. “We have a few less players (just 15 on the roster) but these guys state their heart out. Every time they play offense, they play defense.
“Our goalie played played defense for me in middle school two years ago. He stood on his head this game. He was awesome. We have a really good team and we’re excited to build on it.”
Ice Chips—The Trojans will honor their seniors Monday night when they will face Boyertown at the Wells Fargo Center,
Wissahickon 4 1 0—5
PW 1 3 3—7
First-period goals: Daniel Hussa 
from Logan Honeycutt, 3:13 (pp); Isaac Mishkin (PW) from Jason Segal and Tim Murphy, 4:12 (sh); Hussa unassisted, 5:29 (pp); Hussa unassisted, 9:56; Jack Rarberger unassisted, 14:06
Second-period goals: David Brannigan (PW) :31; Hussa from Aiden Brooks, 6:24; Daniel Moloney (P) from Daniel Gullet and Charles Spause, 9:25; Moloney (PW) from Brooks, 11:35
Third-period goals: Jason Segal (PW) unassisted, 4:58; Murphy (PW) from Mishkin, 14:27; Dylan Novitsky (PW) from Mishkin and Murphy, 16:18 (en)
Shots: Wissahickon 29, Plymouth Whitemarsh 30; Saves: Fletcher Lynch 23, Julian Lucks (PW) 24
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