By Karen Sangillo

BRISTOL—It was not the rematch either team had in mind.

Neshaminy and Council Rock North met on Oct. 28 with Neshaminy coming away with a 5-4 overtime win. Eight days later, the two again went inito overtime but this time, they wound up tied 3-3 in SHSHL National Division action at Grundy Ice Arena on Thursday night.

CR North opened up a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals by Michael McNulty, but Nikita Evdokimov gave Neshaminy its first goal of the evening to make it 2-1 at the end of the first period.

Enzo Ricci tied it up with a goal for Neshaminy but Rory Davies gave the Indians the go-ahead goal for a 3-2 lead at the end of two periods.

With 1:50 to go in the game, Chris Koehler netted the equalizer for Neshaminy to force the overtime.

“It was very hard fought,” said Neshaminy captain Sean Mooney, a senior defenseman. “I was definitely getting nervous but I thought we’d come out on top. We just came up short in the overtime.

“We had so many opportunities but we just ran out of time. We’ll take the two points for the overtime. Hopefully they’ll help us in the long run. It would definitely have felt better to win but a tie is definitely better than a loss.”

Mooney has high hopes for the Skins this year.

“We’ve got a big group of young guys so we’ve got a bright future,” he said. “And I think we’ll be a competitor this season. It’s really early but it’s starting to come together. We have a lot of young guns I guess you could say and they’re definitely proving themselves.

“I think we’re definitely going to be the underdogs this year but hopefully we can shock some teams and get some wins and see where that takes us. It’s really early in the season and we’re just going to build this thing one game at a time and show teams who we are.”

Neshaminy was missing forward Tyler Hathaway, who was suspended for having too many penalties.

“He’s one of our top guys,” Mooney said. “We were trying to tell ourselves that even though we just beat this team, that’s no reason to take them lightly and we didn’t.”

CR North still seeks its first win of the season.

“Tomorrow we have a pretty good matchup (Strath Haven) that might be a good game in our favor,” said CR North senior captain Sean Davies, a center.

“Tonight, we were ready to go out there and give it our all. These guys last time played a competitive game and I can say it was the exact same today. It was a hard fought game.

“They tied it up with not a lot of time left and some of the guys are bummed out but we’ll learn from it and get them next time.”

The Indians return to the SHSHL after spending last year as part of a blended team with New Hope-Solebury in the ICSHL.

“I don’t think that’s changed much because a lot of the guys are freshmen, so they didn’t really experience that,” Davies said. “Last year was a stepping stone for us. It didn’t go too well for us but I think it taught us some good lessons and it’s making us come out stronger this year.

“We have a pretty young team, younger than most years. I’d say about 50 percent of our team is freshmen, but the guys play really well together. It’s an overall balanced team and we have great chemistry this year, better than I have seen in years.

“I want us to grow together. We’re starting a lot of off-ice training and trying to build the team and bond together as teammates. Our big goal this year is to win the Rock Cup against (Council Rock) South this year.”

Council Rock North 2 1 0 0—3

Neshaminy 1 1 1 0—3

First-period goals: Michael McNulty (CRN) from Ethan Garstka, 4:40; McNulty from Garstka and Gavin Caudill (PP), 10:01; Nikita Evdokimov (N) from Sean Mooney and Owen Mager (PP), 15:46

Second-period goals: Enzo Ricci (N) from Bryce Bowers and Mooney, 5:19; Rory Davies (CRN) from Emilis Stasytis, 10:45

Third-period goals: Chris Koehler (N) from Mooney, 15:10

Shots: Council Rock North 36, Neshaminy 30