Category: SHSHL Game Recaps

Pennridge Wins Flyers Cup Over Council Rock South

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP— If a single word were used to describe Pennridge’s performance Tuesday night, ‘relentless’ would be fitting. The Rams gradually wore down Council Rock South en route to a 5-1 win over the Golden Hawks in the Class AA Flyers Cup championship game in front of an overflow crowd at Hatfield Ice.

Shane Dachowski and Kevin Pico each scored two goals as Pennridge (21-0-1), the tournament’s top seed, claimed the first Flyers Cup in school history.

The Rams will conclude their journey by facing Penguins Cup champion Thomas Jefferson for the state title Saturday at 2:00 at Ice Line.

Pico was the recipient of the Bobby Clarke Award as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player while Dachowski, with six goals and three assists, led the tournament in scoring.

It was an emotional evening for Jeff Montagna, the Rams’ head coach. “Words can’t describe how satisfying this is,” he said. “I think what I’m most satisfied with is the way they did it. The way they did it and the ability to deal with expectation (of winning the Flyer Cup) all year.

“I really don’t know how you do that and play as well as they did.”

The third-seeded Golden Hawks (16-2-2-1) scored first. Blaise Pepe beat Ryan Pico in the Pennridge net 9:23 into the opening period. But that was all that South could manage, despite having a 46-36 advantage in shots.

Kevin Pico tied the game for the Rams from close range at the 13:16 mark when he bested South netminder Carson Lopez, then put his team in front for good 2:26 into the second frame. Shane Dachowski added back-to-back goals in the second period and Colin Dachowski provided one more in the third.

South coach Joe Houk was without forward Matt Constantini, who was out of the lineup with an injury. He noted his team couldn’t build on its early goal.

“We didn’t show up for all three periods,” he said. “We showed up for the first (nine) minutes and then just stopped working. (Pennridge) outworked us.”

Kevin Pico noted the Rams’ overcame a slow start. “We were a bit hesitant at first,” he said. “Nervous. But then, after that, we were just fine.”

The Rams’ defensive effort was particularly noteworthy since Aidan Boyle, arguably their premier blueliner, was serving a suspension due to his actions in the Rams’ Cup semifinal win over Avon Grove. With Boyle not available (he will also miss the state championship game), Montagna was forced to reposition his troops.

“Credit to Trey Mikulich and Jacob Lizak,” he said. “They logged a lot more ice time tonight then they have been. They were really good back there. They only thing we tweaked a little bit, we put (Tyler) Manto back there some and I thought we didn’t take as many chances.”

Ryan Pico lauded the collective efforts of his defense corps. “It was amazing,” he said. “We were down one of our best defensemen and to have everybody else play the way they did means a lot to our team.”

Notes: The Rams lost the Flyers Cup championship game to Conestoga in 2008. They fell to eventual champion Haverford in last year’s semifinals.

 The all-tournament team included forwards Kevin Pico, Andrew Savona, and Shane Dachowski, all from Pennridge, along with defensemen Colin Dachowski (Pennridge) and Kevin Koles (Council Rock South), plus Lopez in goal. 

Saturday’s game will be part of a tripleheader. West Chester East and Norwin will meet in the Class A final at 11:00 while Malvern Prep and Peters Township will play for the Class AAA title at 5:00

Council Rock South 1 0 0—1

Pennridge 1 3 1—5

First-period goals: Blaise Pepe (CRS) from Julian Wagenmann and David Vergules, 9:23; Kevin Pico (P) from Colin Dachowski, 13:16

Second-period goals: Pico (P) from Andrew Savona, 2:26; Shane Dachowski (P) from Aeryk Lehrhaupt and Jack Lowery, 4:00; Shane Dachowski (P) from Lehrhaupt, 15:05

Third-periods goal; Colin Dachowski (P) from Shane Dachowski and Lehrhaupt, 12:52

Shots: Council Rock South 46 Pennnridge 36; Saves: Carson Lopez (CRS) 31, Ryan Peco (P) 45

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Pennridge 8 Avon Grove 1

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP— It was hockey’s equivalent of a first-round knockout. Pennridge scored three times before the contest was nine minutes old and went on to an 8-1 win over Avon Grove Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice Arena.

The top-seeded Rams (20-0-1) will face third-seeded Council Rock South in an all-SHSHL final at this same venue, likely next Monday or Tuesday. Fifth-seeded Avon Grove closed at 14-8-0-1.

As impressive as Pennridge has been this season coach, Jeff Montagna felt his team reached a new level on this night.

“I thought was by far the best game they’ve played all year,” he said. “On the biggest stage. And in the biggest game of their lives up until that moment.”

Andrew Savona the Rams off to a fast start when he beat Justin Mackey in the Red Devils’ net 4:16 into the opening period off a feed from Kevin Pico. Shane Dachowski followed at 8:09 and Pico extended the Rams’ lead just 30 seconds later.

Jack Lowery, who assisted on two of the Rams goals, said the Rams were energized by the fast start. “The past few games we’ve been coming out a little slow,” he said, “and going down early. “We talked in the locker room before this game; the biggest thing is to come out here, score a couple goals fast.

“(Avon Grove is looking up to us. We’re the one seed. We want them chasing us, playing our game and get them off theirs. That’s exactly what we did tonight.”

Savona and Dachowski finished the evening with two goals each. Pico had two assists to go with his goal. A total of six players had multi-point games.

Lowery pointed out that the Rams’ fast-paced style is easier to implement with veteran Ryan Pico in goal.

“We can rely on Ryan every game,” he said. “Every game, no matter what, he’s back there making good saves for us. When you have a goalie like that, you can take some chances.”

Avon Grove’s only goal was a power-play effort off the stick of Brendan Chandler 6:33 into the third period.

The Flyers Cup final and possibly a state championship game are still ahead but Lowery, a senior knows his time with the Rams is drawing to a close. That realization has sharpened his focus.

“These are the last games I’m going to be playing competitively in youth hockey,” he said. “All I want to do is win, that’s all we want to do.”

Avon Grove 0 0 1—1

Pennridge 3 1 1 3—8

First-period goals: Andrew Savona (P) from Kevin Pico, 4:16; Shane Dachowski (P) from Aidan Boyle and Jack Lowery, 8:09; Pico (P) from Tyler Manto, 8:39

Second-period goals: Manto (P) from Dachowski, 11:49 (sh)

Third-period goals: Savona (P) from Pico, 1:32; Brendan Chandler (AG) from Will Gorman, 6:33 (pp); Aeryk Lehrhaupt (P) unassisted, 10:57 (pp); Ryan Schuler (PP) from David, 14:22; Dachowski (P) from Lowery and Schuler,16:24

Shots: Avon Grove 26, Pennridge 39; Saves: Justin Mackley (AG) 31, Ryan Pico (Pr) 25

Pennridge 7 Downingtown East 5

On Pennsylvania scholastic hockey’s biggest stage, and with the game in the balance Aidan Boyle came up big. The Pennridge senior delivered two assists and scored the winning goal, all in the third period as Pennridge scored four times in the final stanza to score a 7-5 win over Downingtown East Thursday night in a Flyers Cup Class AA quarterfinal at Hatfield Ice.

The top-seeded Rams (19-0-1) will face Avon Grove in a semifinal game next Wednesday at 8:40 at Hatfield Ice.

The fans that filled the rink Thursday night got their money’s worth. There was little to choose between the Cougars and Rams who went into the tied at 3-3.

Jack Wolf’s third goal of the game gave eighth-seeded Downingtown East a 4-3 lead at the 2:37 mark but goals from Colin Dachowski and Andrew Savona put Pennridge up 5-4 with 6:41 left in regulation. Boyle assisted on both goals.

Parker Nassour tied the game for the Cougars with 5:13 left on a shot from between the circles that Pennridge goaltender Ryan Pico couldn’t handle.

The deciding sequence was set up when the Cougars’ Sean Woods was called for tripping with 3:08 remaining, one of 16 penalties called in the game, all minors. During the subsequent power play, Boyle played the puck to Kevin Pico behind the net who in turn moved to the side of the net and tried to tuck the disk inside the right post before sliding the disk across to Boyle who put it behind Downingtown East goaltender Ian Warter with 1:36 remaining in regulation.

“We know the third period is our best period of hockey that we always play,” Boyle said. “We always come out hot in the third period and we knew we had it. We just had to work hard.”

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna credited his team for stepping up when Ryan Pico, one of the area’s best goaltenders, was at less than peak form.

“Pico has been our rock for three years,” he said. “He wasn’t on top of his game, we picked him up.

“You watch the NCAA basketball tournament, the team that wins always has one game where they’re on the ropes. The words I like to use are facing their mortality. And they did that, and like they have all year they responded. They do that every game.”

The teams were never separated by more than a goal until Shane Dachowski scored into an empty net in the final minute. But Boyle was confident the Rams would prevail.

“We all knew that we weren’t losing this game,” he said. “We just went out there and said ‘We’re playing next week, we’re not going home tonight.’”

Downingtown East 2 1 2—5

Pennridge 2 1 4—7

First-period goals: Jacob McCallion (DE) from Matthew Sano and Carter Vela, 2:01; Kevin Pico (P) from Tyler Manto, 3:36; Jack Wolf (DE) from Vela and Aaron Harclerode, 7:38; Shane Dachowski (P) from Jack Lowery, 14:06 (pp)

Second-period goals: Aeryk Lehrhaupt (P) from Lowery and Colin Dachowski, 4:55; Wolf (DE) unassisted, 6:16 (sh)

Third-period goals: Wolf (DE) from Parker Nassour and Sean Woods,  2:37; Colin Dachowski (P) from Aidan Boyle, 6:17; Andrew Savona (P) from Boyle, 10:19; Nassour (DE) from Wolf and Brody Matthews, 11:47; Boyle (P) from Pico, 15:34 (pp); Shane Dachowski (P) from Lehrhaupt, 16:05 (en)

Shots: Downingtown East 32, Pennridge 46; Saves: Ian Warter (DE) 39, Ryan Pico (Pr) 27

Flyers Cup Schedule for Thursday, March 10

Class A Quarterfinals

West Chester East 11 Radnor 1

Hershey 3 vs 5 Council Rock North 0

Palmyra 3 West Chester Bayard Rustin 1

Springfield Delco 4 West Chester Henderson 1

Class AAA First Round

4 Holy Ghost Prep 7 Father Judge 2

3 St. Joseph’s Prep 6 Cardinal O’Hara 1

Class AA Quarterfinals

 Pennridge 7 Downingtown East 5

Avon Grove 6 Pennsbury 2

Council Rock South 4 Downingtown West 1

Haverford 6 Neshaminy 5

Council Rock South 5 Abington 1

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Council Rock South had reason to be a bit frustrated Tuesday night. The Golden Hawks spent two periods firing shots at the Abington net and had nothing to show for it. 

Ben Panella made 32 saves and he and his teammates took a 1-0 lead into the post-second period ice cut, on the strength of Griffin Carpenter’s goal in the first period.

But when Chase Tovsky scored for South 3:20 into the third frame it seemingly energized his teammates. The Golden Hawks went on to score five goals in the final period and record a 5-1 win in a Class AA Flyers Cup first-round encounter at Hatfield Ice.

The third-seeded Golden Hawks (14-1-2-1) will see action in Thursday’s quarterfinals against sixth-seeded Downingtown West (site and time TBD).  Abington, the 14th seed, closes the season at 15-2.

South’s goals came in a  span 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Tovsky’s initial effort was followed by goals from Sam Chekassky, David Vergules, Tovsky again, and Julian Wagenmann.

“I thought we were the better team,” said South coach Joe Houk, “but they played well. They played really well, but they were running out of gas.

“I said ‘All it’s going to take is one goal guys and that’s going to open the floodgates.’”

Vergules said he and his teammates  were a bit miffed after Panella stymied them for the game’s first 34 minutes (Panella finished with 50 saves).

“The guys were definitely frustrated,” he said. We knew we were the better team, that we would come out on top. It just took a little more effort and moe guts and grit.”

Carpenter’s goal came 10:47 into the first frame during an Abington power play. But Carson Lopez in the South net was impregnable after that; he finished with 13 saves. He did his best work  when he denied Abington;s Matt Cholaj twice from close range midway through the second period.”

Abington coach Ken Brzozowski praised his team’s effort. “They came out (In the third period) and just played at a little bit of a different level we had a hard time matching,” he said. “They got a couple lucky bounces in the defensive end and found the back of the net.”

Even after Tovsky’s first goal, Brzozowski’s felt his team was still in the game. “We still kind of felt okay,” he said. “It was really when I’d say the third one went in, that’s kind of when we felt ‘We’re definitely back on our heels a little bit.”

Abington 1 0 0—1

C.R. South 0 0 5—5

First-period goals: Griffin Carpenter (A) from Joe Stelacio, 10:47 (pp)

Third-period goals: Chase Tovsky (CRS) from Blaise Pepe and Kevin Koles, 3:20; Sam Cherkassky (CRS) from Julian Sarne and Kyle Boss, 4:56; David Vergules (CRS) fron Koles and  Matt Constantino, 6:56; Tovsky (CRS) from Daniel Filippov, 11:15; Julian Wagenmann (CRS) from Vergules and Boss, 12:49

Shots: Abington 14, C.R. South 55; Saves: Ben Panella (A) 50, Carson Lopez (CRS) 13

Pennsbury 7 Owen J. Roberts 3

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The Pennsbury Falcons typically don’t wait for things to happen. Their up-tempo style on ice is one of the keys to their success; they are capable of putting a string of goals together in a hurry.

That trend continued Tuesday night. The Falcons scored five goals in the second period en route to a 7-3 win over Owen J. Roberts in a Class A first-round Flyers  Cup encounter at Hatfield Ice.

Senior defenseman Reece Millman says the Falcons’ fast-paced stole is a good fit. “Hockey is all about momentum,” he said. “If you can score goals and build upon it, then you’re just going to score more goals. So, it’s nice to know that we have the ability to do it. It’s not something that happens out of the blue.

So, when  we are down, it’s nice to know. Everybody knows that we can bury goals quickly.”

The 14th-seeded Wildcats (10-10-0-1) took a 2-1 lead in a goal from Brady Callahan 3:32 into the second period but the third-seeded Falcons (12-4-1) responded in a big way. Logan Doyle, Brendan Macainsh, Reece Picker and Andrew Falkenstein scored goals in a span of 4 minutes, 16 seconds to give Pennsbury a 5-2 lead.

 Riley Vitullo scored for the Wildcats with 1:46 left in the middle period but Macainsh answered for Pennsbury just 16 seconds later. The teams traded goals in the third period.

“I’m never too worried about our offense,” said Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley. “Which is nice right? You’re not too worried about half of your game.

“I’m always a little worried about our defense, but I’m veery happy with out offensive ability.”

Whatever concerns Daley might have had about his team’s play inside its own blue line were alleviated by the work of Aaron McDaniel in goal. The sophomore has done some of his best late in the season. On Tuesday night he stopped 17 of the 20 shots he saw.

“This is his first year starting,” Daley said. “He got to be the backup last year (on a SHSHL championship team). I think he learned a lot from our senior goaltender last year; how to put together a playoff run. This second half of the season, he’s been stellar.”

Pennsbury will face fifth-seeded Avon Grove in  a Thursday quarterfinal. The site and time of that game will be announced on Wednesday.

O.J. Roberts 1 2 0—3

Pennsbury 1 5 1—7

First-period goals: Shane Siegmund (P) from Reece Millman, 14:29; Sean Kavanagh (OJR) from Charlie Davis and Ethan Bochanski, 16:18

Second-period goals: Brady Callahan (OJR) from Davis and Andrew Watson, 3:32; Logan Doyle (pp) from Siegmund and Brendan Macainsh, 8:14; Macainsh (P) from Doyle and Justin Marlin, 10:53; Reece Picker (P) from Macainsh, 11:59; Andrew Falkenstein (P) from Millman,14:59; Riley Vitullo (OJR) unassisted, 15:14; Macainsh (P) from Evan Eissler and Millman, 15:30;

Third-period goals: Millman (P) from Eissler, 4:25

Shots: O.J. Roberts 20, Pennsbury 40; Saves: Shane Towler (OJR) 33, Aaron McDaniel (P) 17

Council Rock North 7 Penncrest 3

 Council Rock North 7 Penncrest 3

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—A fast start is advantageous for any hockey team, particularly in the crucible that is the Flyers Cup tournament.

Council Rock North got off to as fast start Monday night and never looked back. The Indians scored three times in the first period and went on to a 7-3 win over Penncrest in a Class A Flyers Cup first-round game at Hatfield Ice.

Eighth-seeded North (10-7) will face fourth-seeded Hershey Thursday at Ice Line in a quarterfinal game. The 12th-seeeded Lions closed at 5-10.

The Indians have been a potent offensive force all season and that didn’t change on Wednesday.

Karson Grainey gave his team a 1-0 lead with 4:08 left in the opening period. Wilton Pasch, the only senior in the North lineup, made it a 2-0 game at the 2:54 mark and Noah Epstein added a power play goal with 2.9 seconds left in the first frame.

North coach Greg McDonald spoke to the importance of the fast start.

“You don’t know who is on the other side,” he pointed out. “If the boys are excited, and they’re jumping, and they get some goals, it kind of lets you settle some things down early.”

Kain Walker scored a power-play goal for Penncrest 7:22 onto the second session but Lucas Siomos answered for the Indians with exactly five minutes left in the period.

There were five goals scored in the third period, among them Pasch’s second of the night. North was never in jeopardy of losing the lead.

Goaltender Ian Goldberg saw to that, making 33 saves. The freshman credited the defense in front of him.

“We moved the puck good out of the one,” he said, “and covered the net good.”

McDonald was please that his troops maintained their composure to the final horn. “What (the coaching staff) keeps talking about is it’s not about this game,” he said. It’s not about Game One, it’s not about Penncrest. It’s part of the ride and I think when you can bring that concept to the guys on the bench, it doesn’t make it feel like it’s so urgent. It’s not all here and I think it allows them to get a little bit more perspective and    get back to just playing hockey.”

Penncrest 0 1 2—3

C.R. North 3 1 3—7

First-period goals: Karson Grainey (CRN) unassisted, 12:52; Wilton Pasch (CRN) from Jackson Mosley, 14:06; Noah Epstein (CRN) from Ryan Keil and Nick Hahn, 16:59 (pp).

Second-period goals: Kain Walker (P) from Tyler Conn and Quentin Baker, 7:22 (pp); Lucas Siomos (CRN) from Hahn, 12:00.

Third-period goals: Van Evans (P) from Walker, 3:10; Pasch (CRN) from Mosley and Grainey (pp), 5:25; Jackson Accardi (CRN) from Jesse Schaff, 6:00; Eddie Morroni (P) from Colin Curran, 15:17; Hahn (CRN) from Mosley and Grainey,16:59.

Shots: Penncrest 36, C.R. North 45; Saved: Fiona Walker (P) 38, Ian Goldberg (CRN) 33

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Radnor 10 Plymouth Whitemarsh 8

By Rick Woelfel

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP— The goals came in waves, like seawater crashing against a rocky coastline. In the end, it was Radnor who survived, 10-8 over Plymouth Whitemarsh in a Class A Flyers Cup first-round game Monday night at Hatfield Ice.

Eight different players scored goals to help the ninth-seeded Raptors (10-8-1-1) advance to a quarterfinal game against top-seeded and defending champion West Chester East on Thursday. Andrew French and Colin Knight each contributed two goals and an assist. A total of 12 different Raptors found their way onto the scoresheet in some capacity.

The eighth-seeded Colonials (11-5) got big performances from their big guns. Matt Flynn delivered three goals plus an assist. Luke Weikel, playing in what turned out to be his final high-school game, scored a goal and produced four assists. Aidan Keogh closed his high-school career with a goal and three assists.


Six minutes into the opening period, Radnor enjoyed a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Robert Toomey and Ryan Carr.

Before the period ended, the Colonials had tied the game on power-play goals from Weikel and Flynn. 

The sequence was indicative of what was to come in that all nine penalties called in the game were whistled against Radnor. Reed Gall was flagged for four infractions, including an automatic game misconduct after receiving his fourth minor penalty; he will be unavailable for his team’s quarterfinal game.

Flynn gave Plymouth Whitemarsh a 3-2 lead 8:23 into the second period but French tied the game 65 seconds later.

When French scored his second goal of the game to put his team in front for good with 3:31 remaining in the middle period, the floodgates opened. Dominick Laudicina scored a goal at the two-minute mark and Tommy Kennedy made it a 6-3 game with 33 seconds remaining.

The third period featured nine goals. Andrew Knight extended the Radnor lead to 7-3 when he scored a shorthanded goal 2:21 into the period but the Colonials didn’t fold.

Keogh, Isaac Mishkin, Flynn, Timothy Murphy, and Conlan Carpenter all scored goals to help Plymouth Whitemarsh forge an 8-8 tie with 2:25 left in regulation but Tucker Graham’s goal with 1:53 left off a burst down the right wing proved to be the game winner. Knight added an insurance goal.

Afterwards, it took Colonial coach Josh Aiello some time to sort through it all. “We scored five goals in the third period,” he said. “That’s a pretty big accomplishment in any game but in a. Flyers Cup game, the biggest high-school hockey tournament in the state that’s pretty impressive.

“I’m really proud of our guys for what they accomplished in the third period and their effort, and their dedication to the team, to themselves, and the school.”

Radnor 2 4 4—10

PW 2 1 5—8

First-period goals: Robert Toomey (R) from Colin French and Tommy Kennedy, 3:01; Ryan Carr (R) from Dominick Laudicina, 5:54; Luke Weikel (PW) from Matthew  Flynn and Aidan Keogh, 11:04; Flynn (PW) from Weikel, 13:35 (pp)

Second-period goals: Flynn (PW) from Weikel and Keogh, 8:23; French (R) from Toomey 9:28; French (R) from Connor Baumann and Toomey,, 13:29; Laudicina (R) from Andrew  Knight and Henry Kennedy, 15:00; Kennedy (R) from Tucker Graham and Christopher Boulder, 16:37

Third-period goals: Knight (R) from Hajoon Kim and French, 2:21 (sh); Keogh from Weikel and Brandon Butler, 4:48 (pp);  Isaac Mishkin (P) from Dylan Novitsky and Dan Smith 9:57; Flynn (PW) from Conlan Carpenter and Novitsky, 12;10; Baumann (R) from Carr, 12:59; Tim Murphy (P) from Keogh and Weikel, 13:52; Carpenter (PW) unassisted, 14:35; Tucker Graham (R) unassisted,15:07; Knight (R) unassisted, 15:50

Shots: Radnor 38 Plymouth Whitemarsh 35; Saves: Luke Mallory (R) 27, Kolton Galie 28

Abington 4 Wissahickon 2

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP —Abington worked a very long time, all season in fact, for the right to hoist the SHSHL American Division (Class A) championship trophy, all season in fact.

But in the wake of their 4-2 win over Wissahickon Thursday night at Hatfield Ice, could be argued the top-seeded Galloping Ghosts had been working for far longer than that; Thursday’s win gave Abington its seventh SHSHL title but its first since 2004.

“It’s a huge win for our program,” said Abington coach Ken Brozowski. “We talked about before the game, about the history that Abington has. And it was important for us to come through and win this game.

Matt Cholaj and Pat Stelacio each scored two goals and each added an assist as top-seeded Abington won its 15th straight game after opening the season with a loss to new SHSHL Class AA champion Pennridge.

“We lost the first game of the season,” Chelaj said, “but we came out hot after that We really didn’t let much get to us. We kept our heads in every game.

 “It’s good when all four of our lines can really get going and score goals. All four of our lines are putting up points this year and it was just an overall good season.”

Cholaj put Abington in front 5:19 into the opening period. A.J. Pounds answered for third-seeded Wissahickon (9-8) at the 9:42 mark.
Abington’s next three goals came on power plays. Stelacio put his team in front for the second and last time with 3:11 left in the opening session before Abington broke the game open early in the second stanza thanks to consecutive Trojan penalties that gave the Galloping Ghosts a two-man advantage; Cholaj and Stelacio each scored goals during that interlude to put their team up by three goals just 3:01 into the middle period.

Will Hussa made it a 4-2 game at the 6:34 mark. Wissahickon had no further success against Ben Panella in the Abington net although the Trojans had two goals disallowed during the game. 

Abington is classified Class AA for the Flyers Cup and as the 14th seed will face third seed Council Rock South on Tuesday at Hatfield Ice. Wissahickon is seeded 10th in Class  A and will go against seventh-seeded West Chester Henderson Monday at Ice Line

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Pennridge 5 Council Rock South 4 OT

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—There wasn’t much to choose between Pennridge and Council Rock South Thursday night. Perhaps it was fitting that the Rams and the Golden Hawks went into overtime in their SHSHL Class AA championship game. It took 4 minutes, 27 seconds of extra time before Shane Dachowski found the back of the net to give the Rams a 5-4 win in front of a packed house at Hatfield Ice.

The winning sequence began with a long pass from Trey Mikulich from inside the Pennridge blue line up the center of the ice. Dachowski collected it in full stride and went in on goal before beating South netminder Carson Lopez with a backhander.

“We knew we weren’t losing tonight,” Dachowski said. “We just went out there and did it.”

Second-seeded Pennridge, which remained unbeaten at 16-0-1 trailed 3-1 late in the second period before rallying win its third SHSHL title; the previous two came in 2008 and ’19.

Top-seeded Council Rock South (13-2-2) spent much of the first period killing four penalties and portions of the second period killing two more. Matt Constantini gave the Golden Hawks a 1-0 at the 10:34 mark but drew and unsportsmanlike conduct penalty while celebrating the goal.

Jack Lowery tied the game for Pennridge
“You can’t win games shorthanded,” said South coach Joe Houk. ”We literally skated shorthanded the first half of that. You can’t play catchup like that.

But in short order, it was the Rams playing catchup after Daniel Filippov and Gavin Nisenzon scored goals in a span of 2:06 to give the Golden Hawks a 3-1 lead with 3:07 left in the middle period.

Cooper White brought the Rams closer before the second period ended and Andrew Savona tied the game 1:57 into the third when he beat Lopez from the left faceoff circle.
Kevin Pico gave Pennridge its first lead of the lead at the 6:44 mark when he scored off a South turnover.

As the final minute of regulation counted down, the Rams fought to hold their lead but David Vergules emerged victorious from a scramble in front of Ram goaltender Ryan Pico to tie the game with 40 seconds left in regulation. The goal served as a prelude to an overtime session that brought the evening to a dramatic conclusion.

“That was one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna. It was back and forth, it was everything that a championship game should be.”

• Pennridge is seeded first for the Class AA Flyers Cup and will face 16th seeded Ridley Tuesday night at Hatfield Ice. The Golden Hawks are seeded third and will face 14th-seeded Abington on Tuesday, also at Hatfield Ice.

Pennridge 0 2 2 1—5

C.R. South 1 2 1 0—4

First-period goal: Matt Constantini (CRS) from Julian Wagenman and Kevin Koles, 10:34

Second-period goals: Jack Lowery (P) unassisted, 11:23; Dan Filippov (CRS) from Blaise Pepe, 11:47; Gavin Nisenzon (CRS) from Pepe, 13:53 (pp), Cooper White (P) from Andrew David and Andrew Lizak, 14:59

Third-period goals: Andrew Savona (P) from Kevin Pico and Aidan Boyle, 1:57 (pp); Pico (P) from Savona and Tyler Manto, 6:44; David Vergules (CRN) from Kyle Boss, 19:20

Overtime goal: Shane Dachowski (P) from Trey Mikulich, 4:27

Shots: Pennridge 48, Council Rock North 37; Saves: Ryan Pico (P) 33, Carson Lopez (CRN) 43

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 full 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!