Keeping up. That’s what Plymouth Whitemarsh’s season is about right now.
All season long, the Colonials have been locked in a day-to-day, shift-to-shift duel with Hatboro-Horsham for supremacy in the SHSHL American Division. Their matchup against Wissahickon Wednesday night was another puzzle.
The Colonials took care of business with an 8-4 win, their ninth victory in 10 starts, all in divisional play. They are even with Hatboro-Horsham in the loss column; the teams have split two meetings and are scheduled for two more.
Plymouth Whitemarsh took dominated the first period Wednesday night but led just 1-0 when the period concluded. The goal came off the stick of Brandon Wooldridge 4:35 into the period.
The Colonials took control of the game in the second stanza when goals from John Zawisliak, Wooldridge, Jack Condon, and Cooper Kanzee extended their lead to 5-0 before Wissahickon (3-7 overall and in the division) got on the scoreboard thanks to Mack Risnychok with 61 seconds left in the period.
“We really just kept our foot on the gas, Wooldridge said. “I thought we played well the first period, I think we had (16) shots, just couldn’t bury it but then we figured it out and got it past their goalie (Fletcher Lynch). He played really well today.”
The Trojans didn’t go away. Goals from Joseph Gambino and Logan Honeycutt sandwiched around a Plymouth Whitemarsh goal from Connor Barclay, making it a 6-3 game with 8:32 still left in regulation but Chris London and Dan Guller added additional goals to put the game away.
Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti is still striving to get a solid effort from his troops for a full 51 minutes.
“I think we’re still trying to figure out putting in three full periods of work,” he said. “We get a lead and we end up taking our foot off the gas. And we’re wanting to not create a bad habit for the future because it’s not going to work in the playoffs.”
Wissahickon assistant coach Jason Jaisle has just 12 skaters on his roster and that was a factor on this occasion.
“It’s difficult when you only have two lines,” he said. “They’re rolling three-and-a-half. I thought we’d be tired. I wanted to call timeout, {His players} told me not to.
“But other than that, I’m proud of the guys. Every single one of them We played the best team in the league with two lines and the shots were just about even.
Jaisle says his short bench mandates he slow the pace of the game.
“I try to tell the goalie to cover everything and slow the game down,” he said. “If you’re caught in the defensive one just ice it. Just basic one-on-one hockey from Squirt level really. Unfortunately, without the third line, we’re tired.
‘We have to take advantage of every power play chance we get. We have to kill the penalties
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 4 3—8
Wissahickon 0 1 3—4
First-period goal: Brandon Wooldridge (PW) from Luke Wynn and Carson Wooldridge, 4:35
Second-period goals: John Zawisliak (PW) from Cooper Kanzee, 1:33; B. Wooldridge (PW) from Daniel Guller, 6:33 (pp); Jack Condon (PW) from Luke Smith and Connor Barclay, 10:27; Kanzee (PW) from Guller and Wynne, 15:50; Mack Risnychok 
from Chase McClintic and Dryden Jaisle, 15:59
Third-period goals: Joseph Gambino unassisted, 3:02 (pp); Barclay (PW) from Condon and Smith, 6:42; Logan Honeycutt Link Matozzo and Gambino, 8:28; Chris London (PW) from Kanzee, 11:46; Guller (PW) from Kanzee and Wynne, 14:16 (sh); Risnychok from McClintic, 16:13
Shots: Plymouth Whitemarsh 49 Wissahickon 33
Saves: Lucas Bennett (PW) 29, Fletcher Lynch 41
Hockey Happenings 