Souderton and Council Rock North had quite a shootout Friday night. The two teams combined for 19 goals before the Big Red emerged a 10-9 winner at the Bucks County Ice Sports Center.

The Big Red (3-6 in the National Division) built a 5-2 first-period lead and never trailed but had to hang on down the stretch to withstand a four-goal third-period surge from the Indians (0-10).

Souderton used a pair of goals from Nick Smith and another from Max Ryon to build a 3-0 lead just 9:45 into the first period.

By the end of the second frame the Big Red had a 9-5 advantage but the Indians came storming back

“We popped in a couple [early goals] and had a little bit of a lead, said Souderton coach Ryan Uchniat, “but there were a couple really good players on their team. They took it to us a little bit.”

Drew Borden and Nick Hahn scored for goals for North three-and-a-half minutes apart to make it a two-goal game with12:18 still to play in regulation.

Matt Malanga scored what would prove to be Souderton’s winning goal with 6:42 left but North kept coming. A goal from Michael Booth made it a 10-8 game with 4:12 left before Ryan Keil scored his second goal of the game, a power-play effort with 40 seconds remaining, leaving the outcome in doubt.

“It was a back-and-forth game ,” Uchniat said. “We would get a couple, they would get a couple, and it was like that until the very end.

“They scored the power-play goal and get the score to 10-9 and they put a lot of pressure on us the last 40 seconds. I’m very happy that our team was able to lock it down at the very end.”

Smith topped his team in the scoring column with four goals and an assist. Ryon finished with a hat trick of hos own,  contributing three goals and an assist. Matt Malanga  authored two goals and Carmon Fairweather also scored.

Hahn paced North with three goals and an assist. Kiel had two assists to go with his two goals while Jackson Accardi added two goals and an assist.

“A couple of the players on their teams were really standouts,” Uchniat said. 
Uchniat credited his young team for being able to prevail in a close game. “It’s good to see games like that and be able to get that positive outcome,” he said. It’s a strong building block. It’s a long season. We’ve hit the halfway point. We’ll use this break to regroup and hopefully have a  stronger second half.”

Souderton 5 4 1—10

C.R. North 2 3 4—9

First-period goals: Nick Smith (S) unassisted, 2:33; Smith (S) from Jackson Kelly, 4:04; Maxwell Ryon (S) from Cameron Fairweather, 9:45; Nick Hahn (CRN) from Jackson Accardi, 10:06; Smith (S) from Matthew Cross, 12:38 (pp); Smith (S) unassisted,15:41; Accardi (CRN) from Ivan Bondra

Second-period goals: Hahn (CRN) from Ryan Keil, :55; Accardi  (CRN) from Michael Booth and Keil, 3:52; Keil (CRN) from Hahn, 7:23 (pp) Ryon (S) from Caden O’Neill, 9:47; Ryon (S) from O’Neill, 10:15; Matt Malanga (S) from Smith and Ryon, 16:07 (pp); Fairweather (S) unassisted, 16:42 (pp)

Third-period goals: Drew Borden (CRN), 1:13; Hahn (CRN) unassisted, 4:42; Malanga (S) from Drew Savarese, 10:18; Booth (CRN) unassisted, 12:48; Keil (CRN) from Bondra, 16:20 (pp)

Shots: Souderton 34, C.R. North 29; Saves: Connor Paulus (S) 20; Michael Jacoby (CRN) 24