St. Joseph’s Prep 5, Cardinal O’Hara 1

HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP— St. Joseph’s Prep hasn’t spent a lot of time on the ice of late because of exams and the approach of the Christmas holidays. But the Hawks put together a solid effort Monday night in a 5-1 win over Cardinal O’Hara at the Skatium.

Austin Amato scored three goals for the Hawks who closed the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule with a 5-5 record.

“I really liked how we skated today,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach David Giacomin. “Our three lines skated hard and that’s all I can ever ask for. The other day (in a 2-1 overtime loss to Holy Ghost Prep last Friday) we didn’t skate as hard as I would have liked to have seen then but today they dug deep and played really well.”

The Hawks dominated the opening period. They opened the scoring 6:08 into the first period when Ryan Newby launched a shot from the left point.Lion goaltender Troy Percival made the save but Joseph Samango poked in the rebound.

O’Hara (7-4) got the equalizer when Shane Truax beat Andrew Custer at the 9:18 mark. It was the Lions’ first and only shot of the period.

The Hawks regained the lead at 7:52 of the second frame when Amato finished an odd-man rush with help from Andrew Centrella and Ben Briskin and extended it when Amato stole the puck at the Hawk blue line and went remaining 130 feet by himself. Amato completed his hat trick with 4:43 left in the game. Jeffrey Hammon finished the scoring with 39 seconds remaining.

Amato, who is a senior and one of the Hawks’ assistant captains, noted that a young team is beginning to mature. “In the beginning it was rough,” he said, “getting chemistry with the young guys. But everyone’s getting better. Everyone knows each other and we’re friends now so the chemistry is building.”

The evening was about more than hockey. It was also an evening to call attention to the fight against breast cancer. Various fundraisers were held to raise funds for the Kevin Cain Memorial Foundation, which supports cancer patients and their families and several breast cancer patients were recognized including Rachel Craig, whose brother Jimmy Craig is one of the St. Joseph’s Prep captains, and Eileen Vice, the principal at Cardinal O’Hara.

Amato appreciated being part of the event.”It’s awesome he said, “representing my teammates, my teammates families. I know it’s important to guys like Jimmy. It’s bigger than us.”

Ice Chips—The Hawks defeated the Lions in last year’s Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinals. They’ll travel to Washington, D.C. this weekend for the Purple Puck tournament.

St. Joseph’s Prep 1 2 2—5
Cardinal O’Hara 1 0 0—1

First-period goal: Joseph Samango (SJP) from Ryan Newby, 6:08; ShaneTruax from Greg Diamond, 9:18.
Second-period goals: Austin Amato (SJP) from Centrella, and Ben Briskin, 7:52; Amato (SJP) unassisted, 13:19 (sh).
Third-period goal: Amato (SJP) from Andrew Centrella and Briskin, 11:17; Jeffrey Hammond (SJP) from Centrella, 15:21.
Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 26, Cardinal O’Hara 18; Saves: Andrew Custer (HGP) 17, Troy Percival (COH) 21.

APAC Update 12-30-19

 

W        L       OW         OL      Pts          GF       GA

St. Joseph’s Prep (6-7)                       3          0       0           2           11              17       14

Holy Ghost Prep (8-3)                        2          2        1      0               8               19      14

Malvern Prep (5-4)                            2         2     0             1            7                22       23

LaSalle (7-7)                                      0          2     1           0             2                   14        9

Games of Sunday, December 29

St. John’s 4, St. Joseph’s Prep 2

St. Joseph’s Prep 4, Archbishop Spalding 0

La Salle  4. Bishop Hendricken  3

 

Games of Saturday, December 28

Hun School 6, St. Joseph’s Prep 0

Bishop Guertin 4, La Salle 3 SO

 

Game of Friday, December 27

Franklin 3, La Salle 2 (OT)

Game of Monday, December 23

St. Joseph’s Prep 4, Malvern Prep 1

Game of Friday, December 21

Holy Ghost Prep 2, St. Josephs Prep 1 OT

Game of Thursday, December 19

La Salle 9, St. Augustine 3

The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services.  We do a range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook page or stop in and check us out!

Promote your product, service, or event in this space. Contact Hockey Happenings HERE for details

Scoring Leaders                     GP     G.     A.     Pos

Byron Hartley (HGP)             11     16      10    26

Matt Harris (MP)                   8       15      4      19

Jack Constabile (MP)             8       3       13    16

Evan Mudtick (HGP)              10     7        7     14

Anthony Sparo (HGP)            8       4        9     13

Ryan Sambuco (MP)              8       4        9     13

Nathan Benner (L)                  9       6        4     10

Braedon Baesher (HGP)        11    8         1     9

Eric Pohl (HGP)                        10    3        5     8

Colin Kleiser (L)                        6     3        4      7

 

 

Listings include results submitted through 12-23 and are subject to revision.

 

 

Holy Ghost Prep 2, St. Joseph’s Prep 1

Braedon Baehser scored on a breakaway 1:56 into overtime to give Holy Ghost Prep a 2-1 win over St. Joseph’s Prep Friday night at the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 Arena.

The win lifted the Firebirds to 2-2-1-0 in conference play and 7-3-1-0 overall.

The Hawks (4-3-0-2 overall, 3-0-0-2 in conference) opened the scoring when Brody Plourde found the back of the net 2:15 into the second period. Byron Hartley tied the game for Holy Ghost Prep at the 14:48 mark.

Bobby Baesher got the win in goal, making 12 saves. Rocco Bruno stopped 25 of 27 shots for the Hawks.

The game featured just one minor penalty.

 

Holy Ghost Prep 0 1 0 1—2

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 1 0 0—1

Second-period goals: Brody Plourde (SJP) from Rocco Bruno, 2:15; Byron Hartley (HGP) from Aidan Mulholland, 14:48.

Overtime goal: Braedon Baehser (HGP) unassisted, 1:56.
Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 27, St. Joseph’s Prep 13; Saves: Bobby Baehser (HGP) 12, Rocco Bruno (HGP) 25

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Central Bucks East 4, Pennridge 1

 

HATFIELD— Central Bucks East and Pennridge came into Friday night’s Suburban High School Hockey League matchup shorthanded. The Patriots were without leading scorer Sean Gorman who was serving a suspension. The Rams were minus goaltender Ryan Pico (3.43 GAA) who was absent.

It was East that earned the decision, 4-1 at Hatfield Ice to improve to 5-1-0-1 overall and 2-1-0-1 in SHSHL Class AA play. The Rams slipped to 4-5 overall and 1-4 in league play. It was their second loss in a 24-hour span; they dropped a 5-1 decision to Council Rock South on Wednesday.

Pennridge actually had a 36-31 edge in shots but junior Chris McIntyre was sharp in the East net.

“I think he’s the best in the league,” said Central Bucks East assistant coach Mike Capps. He works very hard at it. He keeps us in every game.”

The Patriots gave McIntyre some breathing room when Bogen Borodenko beat Pennridge netminder Jacob Gilbert at the 6:31 mark of the first period. Aiden Schmidt, Phil McIntryre, and Borodenko added goals in a span of 4:45 to give East a 4-0 lead with 6:17 left in the second session.

None of the goals were Gilbert’s fault. The freshman was making his first varsity appearance and more than acquitted himself well by stopping 27 shots.

“I thought he would play well,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna. “I didn’t know if (the setting) would be too big for him. They were legit goals, there were no softies.”

The Rams had two big opportunities to get back in the game. The first occurred with 1:18 left in the second period when the Patriots’ Connor Keiser drew a five-minute major penalty plus a game misconduct for a hit on Pennridge’s Dane Fichett. The Rams’ power play sputtered however and they never mounted a serious threat during the man advantage.

Pennridge got another chance at the 4:28 mark of the third period when the Patriots’ Max Ermigiotti received a major penalty for head contact plus a game misconduct. The Rams scored a goal during the subsequent power play when Jack Lowery found the net at the 6:25 mark but that was his team’s only serious chance during two extended power plays.

“With a lot of new guys, we really haven’t had a chance to work on that with a lot of the things we’ve had to do,” Montagna said, “I just told them, we’ve got to be better. For as well as we played, we just gave away opportunities there.”

 

C.B. East 1 3 0—4

Pennridge 0 0 1—1

First-period goal: Bogen Borodenko (CBE) from Matt Cipriano and Aiden Schmidt, 6:31.

Second-period goals: Schmidt (CBE) from Phil McIntyre (CBE) and Tyler Godown, 4:58; McIntyre (CBE) from Schmidt and Ian Treger, 7:37; Borodenko (CBE) from Schmidt and McIntyre, 9:43.

Third-period goal: Jack Lowery (P) from Conrad Frisch, 6:25 (pp).

Shots: Central Bucks East 31, Pennridge 36; Saves: Chris McIntyre (CBE) 35, Jacob Gilbert (P) 27

 

Elsewhere:

Holy Ghost Prep 2, St. Joseph’s Prep 1 OT—Brady Baesher scored in overtime to give the Firebirds the win over the Hawks at the Class of  1923 Arena. The two teams traded goals in the second period.

The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services.  We do a range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook page or stop in and check us out!

 

Flyers Cup Dates Set

By Rick Woelfel

Dates have been set for the 2020 Flyer Cup tournament. The 41st edition of the tournament will be contested from March 2 through March 19 and feature the top high school teams in Eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and Delaware.

 

Champions will be crowned in five divisions, including Class AAA, Class AA and Class A in Pennsylvania, as well as a girls’ division plus a separate championship for teams from South Jersey and Delaware.

 

The size of the tournament field is expected to be slightly reduced in 2020. The Class AAA field will be include a maximum of eight teams and the girls’ division will once more feature four schools. The Class AA and Class A fields however are expected to be capped at a maximum of 16 teams each. The size of the NJ-Delaware field is undetermined.

 

First-round games are set to begin on Monday, March 2 with championship games tentatively set for March 17, 18, and 19. The three Pennsylvania boys’ champions will face their counterparts from Western Pennsylvania in state championship games on Saturday, March 21.

 

The defending champions are as follows:

Class AAA    La Salle

Class AA      Downingtown East

Class A        West Chester Rustin

Girls            Unionville

SJ/Delaware   Eastern Regional

 

The Flyers Cup was first played in 1980 and featured a four-team field. In the years since, it has been recognized as the premier event on the scholastic hockey schedule.

North Penn 12, William Tennent 2

WARWICK—If there is a single word or phrase that would best describe North Penn’s performance Wednesday night it would be workmanlike. The Knights did a lot of things well against William Tennent. They moved the puck well in the offensive zone, worked hard inside their own blue line, and supported a goaltender making his first varsity start.
The result was a 12-2 win that kept the Knights unbeaten in Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA league play (5-2) overall. Josh Kaufhold scored five goals and assisted on two others and Tyler Greenstein scored one goal and provided six assists before the game was called with 6:57 remaining in the third period.

The Knights score two power-play goals and added another while shorthanded. Kaufhold was pleased with the way he and his teammates moved the puck.

“Hopefully I’ll move the puck and get everyone involved,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t want everyone just doing it by themselves, so it’s good to include everyone. “

The Knights used two goals from Kaufhold and goals from Greenstein and Jeremy Porubski to take a 4-0 lead at the 11:53 mark of the first period and were in full control thereafter.

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis was pleased his team maintained its focus. “We continued to play for the entire game all the way to the very end,” he said. “That’s what we wanted to do. We had a similar game last week against Abington (an 11-1 win) and one tonight where I said to the guys ‘From start to finish, we’ve got to play to the very end. Whether it’s a 3-2 game or a game that ends early, that’s what we’ve got to do.’”

Justin Carrilelli scored for Tennent (3-6, 1-5) with 2:17 left in the first period and then again 57 seconds into the second to make it a 4-2 game. But North Penn responded with eight unanswered goals before the contest was halted.

The scoreline should in no way diminish the work of Tennent goaltender Thomas Lomas. The sophomore saw 50 shots in 41 minutes and 3 seconds of play and turned aside 38 of them. Many of his saves were difficult, several were nothing short of spectacular.

“He battled,” said Tennent coach Nick D’Aurizio. “We’re young. With that comes defensive deficiencies. We gave up (50) shots. For a sophomore to take that kind of onslaught; they were all quality chances. He played really well.

At the other end of the ice, North Penn junior, John Boyles made his first varsity appearance in goal and stopped eight of 10 shots.

“He came in and stopped the puck,” Vaitis said. “He did the things that we needed him to do and it was one of those things where all we needed him to do as make the saves that we would want him to make. He didn’t need to make any spectacular saves. I told all the guys in front of him that they had to elevate their games and help support him in his first start.”

North Penn 4 6 2—12

William Tennent 1 1 0—2

First-period goals: Jeremy Porubski (NP) from Ryan Cunningham and Zachery Kline, 5:51; Josh Kaufhold (NP) from Tony Tuozzo, 8:52; Tuozzo (NP) from Tyler Greenstein and Thomas Boyle, 9:33; Kaufhold (NP) from Greenstein, 11:53 (pp); Justin Carrilelli (WT) unassisted, 13:43.

Second-period goals: Carrilelli (WT) from Mason McKeever and Matthew Castan, :57; Kaufhold (NP) from Greenstein and Tuozzo, 2:22; Kaufhold (NP) from Greenstein, 3:29 (sh) Boyle (NP) from Kaufhold and Greenstein, 5:58 (pp); Boyle (NP) from Luke Van Why and Cunningham, 10:38 (pp); Greenstein (NP) from Kaufhold, 13:46; Cline (NP) from Porubski, 15:19.

Third-period goals: Kaufhold (NP) from Van Why and Tuozzo, 1:50; Cline (NP) from Van Why, 9:03.

Game called at 9:03 of the third period.

Shots: North Penn 50, William Tennent 10; Saves: John Boyles (NP) 8, Thomas Lomas (WT) 38.

 

The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services.  We do a range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook page or stop in and check us out!

 

APAC Update for 12-20-19

Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference

W        L       OW         OL      Pts          GF       GA

St. Joseph’s Prep (4-5)                       3          0       0           2           11              17       14

Holy Ghost Prep (8-3)                        2          2        1      0               8               19      14

Malvern Prep (3-4)                            2         2     0             1            7                22       23

LaSalle (5-5)                                      0          2     1           0             2                   14        9

Game of Friday, December 21

Holy Ghost Prep 2, St. Josephs Prep 1 OT

Game of Thursday, December 19

La Salle 9, St. Augustine 3

The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services.  We do a range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook page or stop in and check us out!

Promote your product, service, or event in this space. Contact Hockey Happenings HERE for details

 

 

SHSHL Update for 12-15-19

SHSHL Standings Through Friday 12-13

Class AA                                       W     L   OTW OTL/T   Pts

Neshaminy (6-2-0-0)                 5      1     0        0         10

C.B. South (6-0-0-1)                   4     0     0        0         8

C.B. West (6-0-0-1))                   3   0     0       0            6

North Penn (4-2-0-0)                 3  0      0       0           6

Pennsbury (5-2-0-0                    3   2      0       0           6

C.R. South (2-3-0-0)                   2    0      0     0            4

C.B. East (4-1-0-1)                       1    1    0      2            4

Quakertown (0-4-0-0)               0    1    0        0         0

William Tennent (3-5-0-0)         1   4     0        0        2

Abington (1-4-1-0)                      0     2    1  0             2

Souderton (0-6-0-1)                    0  4     0        2        2

Pennridge (4-3-0-0)                    1   2    0        0         2

Council Rock North (1-5-0-0)    0   4   0       0          0

 

 

 

Class A                                              W     L   OTW OTL/T   Pts

Plymouth Whitemarsh (6-1-0-0)  3      0     0        0          6

Wissahickon (3-4-0-0)                   2      2     0        0           4

Hatboro-Horsham (6-2-0-0)         1      2     0        0           2

Lower Moreland (1-4-0-0)            1      1      0        0         2

Truman (0-6-0-0)                             0     2      0        0           0

 

 

Standings are calculated as follows

2 points for a win whether in regulation or OT

1 point for a tie or overtime loss

 

If a game is tied at the end of regulation there will be five minutes of three-on-three overtime, similar to the NHL.

If the game is still tied it will be recorded as a tie game.

The shootout will not be used

 

The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services.  We do a range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook page or stop in and check us out!

 

Scoring

Class AA                                             G      A      Pts

Jake Lang (CBW)                             19     15    34

Chris Trefz (CBW)                            9      19    28

Robert Seewagen (Nesh)              16      11   27

Sean Gorman (CBE)                       12        1     13

Dominic Patrone (CBS)                  8         9      17

Colin Abbonizio (CBS)                   9       6      15

Joey DeMatteo (Nesh)                  10      5      15

Jack Lowery (Pr)                             10      4      14

Keith Orlando (CBW)                      6        8     14

Beau Brusius-Yedman (Pb)            6        7     13

Justin Carelli (WT)                           8        5     13

Sean Gorman (CBE)                        12      1     13

 

 

 

Class A                                            G         A    Pos

Aidan Keogh (PW)                       12        11   23

Jake Weikel (PW)                          9       10      19

Seth Lerner (HH)                           9       7       16

Luke Weikel (PW)                         7       9       16

Alex Howieson (HH)                    9        10       19

Dean Keller (PW)                          6       9       15

Colin Franzoni (PW)                     6       4        10

Tarek Elsabbagh                           6       4         10

Plymouth Whitemarsh 4, Hatboro-Horsham 3

 

WARWICK— It has been said by some observers that a hockey goaltender plays the most demanding position in any team sport. Playing the position well, in fact, at all, requires a unique mindset.

Friday’s Suburban High School Hockey League matchup between Hatboro-Horsham and Plymouth Whitemarsh offered a strong thesis to support that argument.

Aidan Keogh gave the Colonials a 4-3 win with 1:09 left in overtime when he stole the puck at the Hatter blue line and went in alone to score the winning goal.

It was the Colonials’ second win over the Hatters in eight days; thy were victorious 13-3 last Friday.

The storyline at Revolution Ice Gardens revolved around the two goaltenders, the Colonials’ Ben Yuter and Hatboro-Horsham’s Joe Gambino. Between them they faced 65 shots and made 58 saves. Gambino stopped 35 shots, Yuter 23. Both made some truly remarkable saves.

Plymouth Whitemarsh assistant coach Chris Zawislak was in charge behind the bench, filling in for the absent Josh Aiello.

“I thought both goaltenders played a great game today,” he said. “I saw their goaltender make at least three or four saves that kept them in the game as we made one of our big pushes in the second period, and especially in the third period … our goaltender came up huge.”

Each team scored a goal in each regulation period. The Hatters (6-2, 1-2 in the American Division) took a 3-2 lead 1:37 into the third frame when Alex Howieson beat Yuter from just inside the right faceoff circle. But with 2:23 left in regulation, the Colonials (6-1, 3-0) answered. Keogh took the puck behind the Hatboro-Horsham net and found Dean Keller in front who in turn deposited the puck behind Gambino to draw his team even.

Yuter had to come up big once more when his teammate Colin Franzoni drew a high sticking penalty with 1:17 left in regulation. The abbreviated power play was constricted further when the Hatters’ Nick Long was sent to the box himself with 11 seconds of regulation time remaining. As a result of all this, the Colonials spent some early portions of the overtime with four skaters to three advantage. Franzoni came close to ending the game he hit a post some 100 seconds into the five-minute session.

Both teams went three on three with 2:11 remaining before Keogh’s solo effort brought down the curtain on an entertaining evening of hockey.

Yuter enjoyed being tested by a quality opponent in the Hatters and facing a quality opposing goaltender in Gambino. “I’m always on my A game,” he said, “It’s just a reason to want it even more. We all just feed off of each other’s energy. When we’re able to score off a goaltender like that, it really just pumps us up. He’s an amazing goaltender, he had some really quality saves out there.”

Hatboro-Horsham coach Gianni Lafratta summed up the evening. “Both goalies stood on their heads,” he said. “At times they had support of all five teammates, at times they had to call their own shots.

“ It’s definitely not a game you want to lose, but definitely a tight battle and a better response to last week’s loss

Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 1 1 1—4

Hatboro-Horsham 1 1 1 0—3

First-period goals: Seth Lerner (HH) from Marcus Soucy, 4:23; Aidan Keogh (PW) from Jake Weikel, 13:46.

Second-period goals:  Aidan Esack (HH) from Tarek Elsabbagh and Ziyad Elsabbagh, 6:49; Dean Keller (PW) from Logan Westerfer and Ben Lubas, 9:36.

Third-period goals: Alex Howieson (HH from Esack and Ziyad Elsabbagh, 1:34; Keller (PW) from Keogh, 13:37.

Overtime goal: Keogh (PW) unassisted, 3:51.

Shots: Plymouth Whitemarsh 39, Hatboro-Horsham 26; Saves: Joe Gambino (HH) 35, Ben Yuter (PW) 23.

 

Other scores: Pennsbury 9, Council Rock North 1

St. Joseph’s Prep 4, Father Judge 2

 

Central Bucks South 7, Neshaminy 3

HATFIELD— For roughly a decade now, Central Bucks South has set the standard against which the rest of the Suburban High School Hockey League is measured. On Thursday night, the Titans showed they still hold that distinction although it took them some time to do so.

Matt Buchinski, Nolan Geria, and Joey DeMatteo propelled Neshaminy to a 3-0 first-period lead. But the Titans woke up and scored five consecutive goals in the second period before adding two more in the third.

The 7-3 victory that resulted put South alone at the top of the SHSHL Class AA standings at 4-0 (6-0-0-1 overall). It was a win that didn’t come easily after the slow start but what transpired at Hatfield Ice Thursday night will serve as a primer for March, when both the Titans and the ‘Skins (6-2, 5-1) figure to be legitimate Flyers Cup contenders.

If there was a single moment that triggered the comeback, it might have been at the 7:02 mark of the first period following Geria’s goal when South coach Shaun McGinity called the only timeout he was permitted and delivered what would best be termed an inspirational address.

“I don’s think they deliberately came unprepared,” McGinity said of his troops. “I don’t think they overlooked Neshaminy. I don’t think they overlooked anybody or through anybody. Neshaminy has got firepower. (The Titans) just didn’t come ready to play.”

It took a while for McGinty’s message to sink in; DeMatteo put his team up 3-0 with 3:58 to play in the period.

But in the second frame, the Titans got rolling. Colin Abbonizio scored just 37 seconds into the period. Matt Milanesi made it a 3-2 game at the 3:18 mark off a feed from Dominic Patrone to complete a lovely session of tic-tac-toe. Goals from Abbonizio and Patrone followed before Abbonizio completed a hat trick at the 13:25 mark to give South a 5-3 lead.

All five goals came at even strength.
Patrone scored on a shorthanded effort 1:47 into the third period before Ryan Gingras scored a power-play goal with 8:33 left in the game.

“A lot of the (comeback effort) was from the coaches,” Abbonizio said. “They really kept us in it. We just went out there and played our game and we got seven goals.”

The Titans are young in spots this season but Abbonizio, the team’s captain, says the newcomers are taking their cues from the veterans. “The younger guys are always listening,” he said. “They’re willing to take whatever they can get from the older guys. I think their cooperation could contribute to us really going a long way.”

Neshaminy coach Matt DeMatteo noted his team couldn’t sustain its early momentum. “We had them on the ropes,” he said. “We were up 3-0 in the first period and the guys were playing the game plan. They switched some things up and we just adapt as well as I’d hoped.”

Despite the loss, the ‘Skins proved they belong on the list of the SHSHL’s upper-echelon teams. “Neshaminy’s a great team,” Abbonizio said. “They’re a great team and that’s something that we’ve told these guys. That was a playoff game right there.”

Neshaminy 3 0 0—3
C.B. South 0 5 2—7
First-period goals: Matt Buchinski (N) from Joey DeMatteo, 2:43; Nolan Geria’s (N) unassisted, 7:02; DeMatteo (N) unassisted, 12:02.
Second-period goals: Colin Abbonizio (CBS) from Brian Keilman and Matt Milanesi, :37; Milanesi (CBS) from Dominic Patrone, 3:18; Abbonizio (CBS) from David Kutcher, 4:53; Patrone (CBS) from Milanesi, 10:06; Abbonizio (CBS) from Stephen McMillan, 13:25.
Third-period goals: Patrone (CS) from Keilman, 1:47 (sh); Ryan Gingras (CBS) from Patrone, 7:27 (pp).
Shots: Neshaminy 22, C.B. South 30; Saves: Brian Nelson (N) 23, Evan Moyer (CBS) 19