HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Souderton and Central Bucks South had quite a shootout Thursday night. With SHSHL playoff positioning and possible Flyers Cup seedings in the mix, the Big Red and the Titans, both of whom were coming off losses 24 hours earlier, took the ice at Hatfield Ice with guns blazing.
What followed was a collection of 17 goals, 16 penalties and a result that posed some interesting questions about what the stretch run if the regular season will look like.
It was Souderton who prevailed in the end. Ben Fadden’s power-play goal 68 seconds into overtime gave the Big Red a 9-8 win in a game that reconfigured the SHSHL National Division’s landscape.
The win lifted Souderton to 6-8 on the season and strengthened its hold on the division’s sixth and final playoff spot.
Souderton coach Ryan Uchniat spoke to the significance of the result.
“It’s huge,” he said. “We lost a tough one {Wednesday to Central Bucks West]. We needed this.”
Fadden’s game winner, his second goal of the game, came while the Titans’ Sean Cutter was in the box serving a holding penalty.
“It was a big win,” Fadden said. “We had to have it, we needed it for the team.”
On only one occasion did either team hold more than a one goal lead. That moment came with 5:32 left in the second period when Seth Grossman completed a hat trick and in so doing gave Souderton a 5-3 advantage.
At that point, South coach Shaun McGinty made a goaltender change, lifting Nathan Napolitano in place of starter Dominic Varacallo.
Aidan Linso and D.J. Lindenmuth scored goals for South to tie the game with 2:35 left in the period and neither team led by more than a goal the rest of the way.
At evening’s end the scoresheet listed some impressive totals. Grossman paced Souderton with four goals and two assists while Maxwell Ryon scored two goals and contributed six assists.
D.J. Lindenmuth had a six-point night for the Titans (10-5-1, 10-4-1 in divisional play) on the strength of three goals and three assists. Aidan Linso added two goals and two assists while Jake Stepp contributed a goal and two assists.
The ramifications of Thursday’s result will likely reverberate for some time.
“This is big for us,” Uchniat said. ”It gives our guys some confidence that we can play with the upper-echelon teams. South is one of the top programs in the league and they have been for years.
“The team rallied tonight. We ran into some penalty trouble but our kill was on. Out goalie [Connor Paulus] played strong and gave us an opportunity to stay in it.”
McGinty said his team was impacted by having to spend much of the night in special-teams situations.
“Lots of penalties is just not our game on both sides,” he said. I don’t want to kill penalties. I want to be five on five; we’re a five-on-five team.
“But kudos to then, you’ve got to tip your hat. It’s a loss for us to take and learn from.”
Fadden believes Thursday’s win will help he and teammates set a tone for the balance of the season.
“Just through work ethic and going out and wanting to just take everything we can,” he said. “Every inch of ice. Every step we can possibly take to get past a team.”
Souderton 2 3 3 1—9
C.B. South 2 4 2 0—8
First-period goals: D.J. Lindenmuth (CBS) from Aidan Linso, :49 (pp); Seth Grossman (S) from Nick Smith, 5:51 (pp); Grossman (S) from Max Ryon and Drew Savarese, 15:09; Lindenmuth (CBS) from Peter Herring, 16:44
Second-period goals: Ryan Frey (CBS) from Jake Stepp and Lindenmuth, :20; Savarese (S) from Ryon, 4:38; Ben Fadden (S) from Grossman and Ryon, 5:16; Grossman (S) from Ryon, 11:28; Linso (CBS) from Lindenmuth, 12:05 (pp); Lindenmuth (CBS) from Linso, 14:25 (sh); Linso from Stepp and Lindenmuth, 16:18 (pp)
Third-period goals: Grossman (S) from Ryon, :41 (pp); Ryon (S) from Savarese and Grossman, 1:14; Keith Waldron (CBS) from Jeff Kvetcher and Logan Good, 2:21; Stepp from Sean Cutter, 13:44; Ryon (S) from Smith, 14:24.
Overtime goal: Fadden (S) from Smith and Ryon, 1:08
Shots: Souderton 40, C.B. South 48 Saves: Connor Paulus (S) 40, Dominic Varacallo (CBS) 16 and Nathan Napolitano (CBS) 15
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