C.R. South 5 Boyertown 3

This was absolutely the comeback of the season. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Council Rock South overcame a 3-0 deficit in the final 11:19 of the third period to defeat Boyertown, 5-3, in Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the Flyers Cup at Hatfield Ice Arena.

“We flipped a switch,” said CR South senior defenseman Peter Pereborow. “We went into the locker room for that intermission (when the Zamboni was resurfacing the ice) and just changed everything. We realized we can’t let any team get to us and that we had to come out battling. Any team can beat any team and we just had to find a way to win.

“This is a lesson learned. When they scored that third goal, I was like, ‘We’re going to dig down and find a way to win this one’ and we did. I’m so proud of us.”

Boyertown, the tourney’s ninth seed, started strong with a pair of first period goals, scoring on their first shot when Noah Cutillo took a feed from Braydon Havrilla while the Bears were on a power play barely two minutes into the game.

Logan Brown added a second goal for Boyertown, assisted by Cutillo.

After a scoreless second period, the Bears added a third goal while playing shorthanded when Cutillo’s pass found Jax Drost, who got it into the net.

“I think in the early portion of the game we were playing good,” CR South senior center Jackson Mosely said. “We just weren’t playing to our potential. We were getting a lot of shots, but they weren’t going on net. I think we got away from our game a little bit. Obviously, it was frustrating because we were shooting so much and we couldn’t get a goal but eventually we were able to get them in.

“When they put in that third goal, I thought it was just going to be a harder game for us to win. I knew we were going to have to go through some adversity.”

Then everything changed.

The Golden Hawks, seeded first in the tournament, netted a power play goal on their 56th shot of the game when Jeremy Rayher took a pass from Jack Weiner and Jackson Mosley with 11:19 to go.

That was the first of many, as Weiner scored with an assist from Jake Maurer on CR South’s next shot on goal with 10 minutes to go. A minute and a half later, Jordan Sarne (Rayher assist) tied it up with a power play goal.

Less than a minute later, Jagger Smith netted the game winner with an assist from Weiner, who iced the cake with an empty net goal with 38 seconds to go.

“We had some good bursts of momentum in the first and second periods, but I think we really got on board when we got that first goal,” Mosely said. “We needed to get one to get a few. I think they knew how good we are and once we got that first one, they were shaken a little bit.”

The Golden Hawks held an astounding 68-23 advantage in shots on goal.

“They have a great goalie (Tyler Griffith) and that’s hard to work against,” said Weiner, a junior forward. “In playoff hockey, anything can happen any time. We were going hard the whole game; we were taking a lot of shots. We just needed to bury one. There was never a doubt in my mind that we would pull it off.

“Being the one seed puts a target on our backs, but I love that. I love teams coming at us. It makes us work harder and not want to give up.

We’re excited for the next game. We know business is on the table and we have to finish, and we’ll take what we learned in this game as we move forward. Never give up. Keep shooting. Find a way to win.”

CR South advances to the semifinals and will take on 12th seeded Spring-Ford, a 4-0 winner over fourth seed Haverford.

Boyertown 2 0 1—3

Council Rock South 0 0 5—5

First-period goals: Noah Cutillo (B) from Brayden Havrilla, 2:10; Logan Brown (B) from Cutillo, 9:40

Third-period goals: Jax Drost (B) from Cutillo, :40; Jeremy Rayher (CRS) from Jack Weiner and Jackson Mosely, 5:41; Weiner (CRS) from Jake Maurer, 6:59; Jordan Sarne (CRS) from Rayher, 8:34; Jagger Smith (CRS) from Weiner, 9:06; Weiner (CRS), 16:22

Shots: Boyertown 23, Council Rock South 68; Saves: Tyler Griffith (B) 63; Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 20

P-W 9 Springfield-Delco 6

The goals came in bunches Monday night. Plymouth Whitemarsh stuck with the up-tempo approach that serve them so well during the season and continued to do so in its Flyers Cup debut.

Don Guller and Don Moloney each scored three goals as the Colonials overpowered Springfield Delco 9-6 in a Class A first-round game at Hatfield Ice Arena. Eighth-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh (17-2) moves on to face top seed Garnet Valley Thursday night in the quarterfinals.

After falling to Hatboro-Horsham in the SHSHL American Division final last Thursday, Guller said his team came into the Flyers Cup with something to prove.

“Unfortunately we lost the championship to Hatboro-Horsham,” he said, “so I think that gave the urge to this team that ‘We need to go out here and win the game.'”

Springfield (5-15) goy things started with a goal from Gavin Ruppert 5:03 into the first period but tallies from Moloney, Blake Ambler, and John Zawislak have the Colonials a 3-1 advantage before the first period ended.

In the second frame, it was more of the same. Rocco Trivarelli scored for the Cougars 42 seconds into the period, but Guller, Ambler, and John Zawislak scored for Plymouth Whitemarsh in an eight-and-a-half minute span to make it a 6-3 game with 7:04 still left in the period.

In short, the game was evolving at pace the Cougars wanted to avoid.

“Offensively I thought we did a lot of things right,” said Springfield coach Dan Dilbeck. “The problem was, we broke down defensively too many times. We did not want to get into a run-and-gun match with these guys (the Cougars outshot the Colonials 39-31). We wanted to play a much more solid game on defense. That’s where we struggled this year and that’s where we struggled tonight.”

Springfield’s Mason Stallings made it a 6-3 game before Guller and Alexander Losaco traded goals to give the Colonials a three-goal cushion headed into a third period that saw Guller and Moloney complete their respective hat tricks with empty-net goal.

Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti was pleased with the way his team recovered from their SHSHL finals loss.

“I think we really bounced back and responded,” he said. “and got back to playing the game the way we know we can.”

Forti said it was important for his team to see to their other responsibilities as well as score goals.

“That was the biggest thing we talked about going into this game,” he said. “Just keeping things simple, winning in the dirty areas, and doing the little things.

“At this point, when every game is must-win, you can’t take shifts off, you can’t take things lightly, and I think whatever team makes the least amount of mistakes ends up winning most of the time.”

Springfield 1 3 2—6

PW 3 4 2—9

First-period goals: Gavin Rupert (S) unassisted, 5:03; Don Moloney (PW) from Dan Guller, 6:19; Blake Ambler (PW) unassisted, 12:44 (sh); John Zawislak (PW) from Ryan Jagher 14:46

Second-period goals: Rocco Trivarelli (S) from James Happas and Jake Heston, :42; Ambler (PW) From Guller, 3:41 (pp); Guller (PW) from Luke Smith, 7:47; Moloney (PW) from Morgan Hulitt, 9:56; Mason Stallings (S) from Joe Clifford, 11:51; Guller (PW) from Smith, 14:05; Alexander Losacco (S) from Brendan Becker, 15:57

Third-period goals: Losacco (S) from Clifford, 6:19: Guller (PW) unassisted, 15:21 (en); Rupert (S) from Brandon Truax and Brett Rosser, 16:12; Moloney (PW) from Jagher, 16:46 (en)

Shots: Springfield 39, Plymouth Whitemarsh 31; Saves: Aidan Fitti (S) 22, Julian Lucks (PW) 33

Council Rock South 4 Central Bucks South 3

There wasn’t a lot of sizzle and finesse on display during Thursday night’s SHSHL National Division final. Instead, Central Bucks South and Council Rock South offered the near-capacity crowd at Grundy Arena a display of grind-it-out, blue-collar hockey.

It was the Golden Hawks who prevailed.

Jake Weiner’s goal with 4:31 left in regulation gave Council Rock South a 4-3 win. It marks the third consecutive SHSHL title for the top-seeded Hawks (20-2) and the fifth in school history.

“I don’t really think back about that kind of stuff,” said longtime South coach Joe Houk. “Because you always have a different group of kids.

“I was happy for these guys. We fought all year didn’t play our best hockey all year. We played our best hockey {in the semifinals against Pennridge}. We didn’t play our best tonight but we hung in there.”

The Hawks had to come from behind two to claim their championship laurels. The third-seeded Titans (17-6) took a 1-0 lead when Sean Cutter scored off an offensive right-circle faceoff 6:27 into the first period.

But when C.B. South was accessed three consecutive penalties, Jordan Sarne stepped up for the Hawks, first by redirecting Dan Fillipov’s shot from the left point to tie the game with 4:40 left in the period and then connecting on a shot from between the circles a little over three minutes later.

Sarne cited the strength of his team’s power-play unit.

“In practice we really work on it,” he said. “All the boys have come together, we work on our passing, shooting, we just work on everything. So, it works out.”

Keith Waldron tied the game for the Titans with 3:46 left in the middle period and Joey Slobodian who put Central Bucks South in front for the second time when he took advantage of a Central Bucks South turnover near the Hawks’ net.

But momentum shifted dramatically in the Hawks’ favor when, with exactly six minutes remaining in regulation during a protracted tussle along the wall behind his own net, the Titans’ Jeff Kvecher was flagged for delay of game.

Forty-nine seconds later, Jeremy Rayer’s goal tied the game and 40 seconds after that, Weiner delivered the game winner. He said he and his teammates felt they had something to prove.

“We’re not the {number one seed} for no reason,” he said. “They outworked us a little bit in the beginning and we came out stronger and we showed why we’re the better team.”

Weiner said he found the physical tone of the game appealing.

“That’s fun,” he said. “I love the blue-collar game. It makes it more fun, Big hits, working in the corners, I like that part of the game.

Central Bucks South coach Shaun McGinty came up short in bid for his team’s eighth SHSHL title.

“The right two teams were here,” he said. “Shots 28-25 (in the Hawks’ favor, 4-3 back and forth. It’s great for high-school hockey … I give my kids a ton of credit for losing with respect. Nothing at the end to interfere with our moving forward or their moving forward.”

Council Rock South is the top seed in the Class AA Flyers Cup and will face either Conestoga or Boyertown in a quarterfinal game on Thursday, The Titan, the fifth seed, will face Spring-Ford on Tuesday.

C.B. South 1 1 1—3

C.R. South 2 0 2—4

First-period goals: Sean Cutter (CBS) from Jake Stepp and Joey Slobodrian, 6:27; Jordan Sarne (CBS) from Dan Filippov and Jackson Mosley, 12:20 (pp); Sarne (CRS) from Jeremy Rayher and Mosley, 15:39 (pp)

Second-period goal: Keith Waldron (CBS) from Jeff Kvecher, 13:14

Third-period goals: Slobodian (CBS) from Ryan Frey and Cutter, 10:01; Jeremy Rayher (CRS) from Sarne, 11:49; Jake Weiner (CRS) from Jagger Smth, 12:29

Shots: C.B. South 25, C.R. South 28; Saves: Nate Neapolitano (CBS) 24, Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 22

H-H 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh 2

The second-seeded Hatboro Horsham Hatters clawed their way into the SHSHL American Division Championship game and brought its grit to the final upsetting the favored and defending divisional champions the Plymouth Whitmarsh Colonials 5-2 on Thursday night.

The victory marks the first for the Hatters since 2018. The game was also the first win for Hatboro Horsham against the Colonials this season. The teams met four times with Plymouth Whitemarsh claiming victory in all four contests by a combined score of 31-21.

The Hatters came out hot holding a 6-1 shot advantage through the first five minutes before Joseph Magnin Jr. capitalized on the team’s sixth shot of the game thanks to the help of Francis Stanchek and Cole Meyer. Six minutes later Evan Snow collected the loose puck off an initially blocked shot and found the stick of Victor Wilkins to give the Hatters a 2-0 advantage at the end of the first period.

The Colonials offense gained momentum leading the Hatters 11-5 in shots through the first 12 minutes of the second period. Wilkins found himself in the penalty box for a cross check leaving Plymouth Whitemarsh with the advantage firing off five shots in the two minutes. As the penalty expired, Charles Spause collected the puck off to the left and passed into the center for the quick flick into the net by Luke Smith to put the Colonials on the board, 2-1.

Wilkins wasted no time finding the stick of William Moffa to regain a two-goal lead for the Hatters just 14 seconds later. Daniel Guller made it a one-goal game for the Colonials once more off the assist from Cooper Kanze to end the period trailing the Hatters 3-2.

Hatboro Horsham turned up the heat in the final period. The duo of Wilkins and Snow paired up once more just 51 seconds into action to create a two-goal lead for the Hatters for the second time, 4-2.

“I love playing with the younger guys. I like bringing them up and helping them out. He [Snow] stepped up big time. He’s never played like that before and I couldn’t ask for anything more for me or my linemates,” stated Wilkins on the duo’s performance.

Guller saw his chance to cut the deficit to one once more with a breakaway fighting through two defenders but ultimately was stuffed by goaltender Eric Miller. Magnin secured his second goal of the night off the assist from Vincent Graziani securing the 5-2 victory.

Despite the heart-breaking loss, the Colonials look to what lies ahead as they prepare for the Class A Flyers Cup seeded at No. 8 and ready to face Springfield-Delco on Monday night.

“Not the way we wanted to end things, but a good season overall. I think we did a lot of good things and looking to bounce back from this and hopefully roll into the Flyers Cup with a better outcome,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Vince Forti.

As for the Hatters, head coach Shane Smith touched on the singular message he gave his team heading into the contest.

“Love. We started off with our speech and we did the old Herb Albert. We play them five times. They may beat us four times, but tonight is our night. And tonight proved to be our night,” said Smith.

“We’ve gone to task with them and have had a few close games. I told the boys at the beginning of the season that this is a championship team, and I believed in them and loved them. They came out and have done everything we ever asked. Our goaltender stepped up and had a game like he never has before. We got everything we needed out of the boys. I can’t say enough for them. This was all them.”

As for senior captain Wilkins, this night and this moment was one that he will never forget.

“It means everything. We worked so hard for this. Coming out against an undefeated team like PW. It’s surreal. I couldn’t ask for anything else for my senior season,” exclaimed Wilkins.

The journey isn’t quite over for the Hatters yet as they also move onto the Class A Flyers Cup. Seeded at 14, Hatboro Horsham will celebrate tonight before shifting their focus to Radnor on Monday.

First Period Scoring: Joseph Magnin Jr. (HH) from Francis Stanchek and Cole Meyers, 12:09; Victor Wilkins (HH) from Evan Snow, 6:59

Second Period Scoring: Luke Smith (PW) from Charles Spause, 2:30; Wiliam Moffa (HH) from Victor Wilkins, 2:16; Daniel Guller (PW) from Cooper Kanze, 0:37

Third Period Scoring: Victor Wilkins (HH) from Evan Snow, 16:09; Joseph Magnin Jr. (HH) from Vincent Graziani, 7:03

Shots: Plymouth Whitemarsh 39, Hatboro Horsham 29

Saves: Eric Miller 34, Julian Lucks 27

Championhip Thursday 2-27

SHSHL

American Division Final

Hatboro-Horsham 5 Plymouth Whitemrash 2

National Division Final

Council Rock South 4vs. Central Bucks South 3

ICSHL

Prep/Catholic Final

Salesianum 6 Devon Prep 2—The Sallies overcame a 2-1 second-period deficit with five straight goals over the last period and a half. Connor Davis scored twice foe Salesianum with both goals coming in the third period.

Ches-Mont Final

Kennett 2 West Chester Henderson 1—Luke Ganley scored the winning goal with 5:11 left in the third period. Lucas Mott also scored for Kennett. Nick Denrdi’s goal gave Henderson a 1-0 lead late in the first period.

Central Final

Garnet Valley 10 Haverford High 0—A.J. Tenhuisen scored three goals and Dylan Orr added two more as Garnet Valley rolled to the Central League title at Ice Works. jake Morrow and Jake Robinson each recorded three assists.

C.B. South 4 North Penn 3

Central Bucks South scored three times in the third period Wednesday night to earn a place in the SHSHL National Division final with a 4-3 decision over North Penn at Hatfield Ice.

The third-seeded Titans (17-5) will face two-time defending champion Council Rock South Thursday night at Grundy Arena. Second-seeded North Penn will be idle until the quarterfinal round of the Class AA Flyers Cup tournament next Thursday.

“This was a true team win,” said South coach Shaun McGinty. “With three period ahead of us, the boys must continue to play hard in all three zones.

“Our focus remains on team structure and having a team-first mentality.

South’s Sean Cutter and North Penn’s James Boyle traded goals to send the game into the third period all even.

Dom Gibson scored for South to his team up 2-1 2:23 into the final period, but Boyle followed with his second goal of the game with 9:51 left in regulation.

Logan Hood’s goal with 6:21 remaining put the Titans ahead for good. Ryan Frey added an insurance goal 37 seconds later and the policy was needed and Boyle completed a hat trick with 21 seconds left in regulation.

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis credited the Titans for their effort.

“They had multiple lines coming at us in waves,” he said. “Hats off to them for how they played. I told our boys to keep our heads up as we have to refocus now and get ready for the Flyers Cup.”

C.B. South 1 0 3—4

North Penn 0 1 2—3

First-period goal: Sean Cutter (CBS) from Ryan Frey, 12:44

Second-period goal: James Boyle (NP) from Daniel Cabrales and Sam Norton, 5:45 (pp)

Third-period goals: Dom Gibson (CBS) from Peter Herring, 2:23; Boyle (NP) from Nolan Shingles, 7:09; Logan Hood (CBS) unassisted, 10:39; Frey (CBS) unassisted, 11:16; Boyle (NP) from Chris Silvotto, 16:39

Shots: C.B. South 29, North Penn 23; Saves: Nate Napolitano (CBS) 20, Aidan Quigley (NP) 25

H-H 8 Springfield 6

Hatboro-Horsham scored three times in the third period to overcome a 6-5 deficit and went on to an 8-6 win over Springfield (Montco) Wednesday Night in a SHSHL American Division semifinal at Hatfield Ice.

The result puts the second-seeded Hatters into the American Division title game against top-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh Thursday night at Hatfield (7:00 start).

Connor Smith tied the game for the second-seeded Hatters with 5:03 remaining in the final period. Vincent Graziani scored the game-winning goal, his third goal of the night, with 2:52 remaining before adding an empty net goal with 1:17 left.

Graziani finished the evening with four goals and an assist. Connor Smith added two goals. His teammate Nathan Nemchinov finished with four assists. Victor Wilkins and Darius Graziani also scored for the Hatters.

Ronan Klein, Gabriel Wells, Kellen Warman, Tyrell DeFreitas, Gavin McManus, and Grayson Quinn all scored goal for the third-seeded Spartans who closed their season at 8-9.

Springfield-Montco 2 4 0—6

Hatboro-Horsham 3 2 3—8

First-period goals: Connor Smith (HH) from Aidan North and Nate Nemchinov, 4:05; Ronan Klein (S) from Owen Quinn and Grayson Quinn, 7:35; Vincent Graziani (HH) from Darius Graziani, 8:46; Darius Graziani (HH) from Nemchinov 12:46; Gabriel Wells (S) from Owen Quinn and Gavin McManus 16:22 (pp)

Second-period goals: Kellen Warman from Quinn, 4:49; Tyrell DeFreitas from McManus and Grayson Quinn, 6:05; Victor Wilkins (HH) from Nemchinov and Vincent Graziani, 8:14 (pp); Vincent Graziani from William Moffa, 12:57; McManus (S) from Chris Cahill, 14:04; Grayson Quinn (S) from McManus, 15:54 (pp)

Third-period goals: Connor Smith (HH) from Darius Graziani, 11:57; Vincent Graziani (HH) unassisted, 14:08; Vincent Graziani (HH) from Nemchinov, 14:08 (pp)

Shots: 32, 44 Saves: James Sarsfield (S) 36, Eric Miller (HH) 26

C.B. South 8 Pennsbury 1

By Amanda Graham

The third-seeded Central Bucks South Titans faced the sixth-seeded Pennsbury Falcons in a SHSHL National Division first-round game Monday night at Hatfield Ice. The Titans came out on top with an 8-1 decision; recording their third consecutive victory over the Falcons.

Jeffrey Kvecher netted the game-winner for South just under two minutes into the second period.

Offense was slow moving to start with the Titans holding a 2-1 shot advantage through the first four minutes. The momentum continued to swing toward the Titans when Brennan Thierolf and AlexCannon found Logan Hood for the goal to take an early lead, 1-0.

A five-minute scoring drought ensued before Pennsbury’s Chris Sarver collected the puck mid-ice and brought it down the right for the shot into the far left of the net to tie the game

Penalty trouble to start the second period found Francis Delucia in the box for the Falcons giving CB South their first power play opportunity. Just three seconds into the advantage Joey Slobodrian and Ryan Frey got the puck to Kvecher for the game-winning power play goal

South found itself in the penalty box twice over a five-minute span in the second period, killing both penalties with ease. The Titans gave up just a single shot to the Falcons over the first two-minute spurt then went on to fire three shots of their own at goalkeeper Brendan Milliken during the second penalty kill.

“This time of year, five-on-five is huge, but special teams and defense is going to win and ultimately it comes down to goaltending,” said South coach Shaun McGinty. “Any team with a strong goaltender and special teams, if you’re getting power play opportunities you need to and want to capitalize, but when you’re on the kill is key. We did well tonight and kept them to the perimeter, so I give it up to the boys and they’re doing their job.”

The Titans put up two more unanswered goals through the final six minutes of the period to take a 4-1 lead. Theirolf found the net first thanks to the help of Kvecher to make it a 3-1 game with 5:52 on the clock. As time wound down in the period, Keith Waldron found Cutter from behind the net to cushion the Titans lead by three at 4-1.

South came into the final period hungry for more wasting nearly no time at all before netting their next goal. Frey collected the puck immediately off the face off and brought it down ice swiftly for the unassisted goal just five seconds into play. Nearly three minutes later the Titans struck again this time with Thierolf finding the stick of Jack Stepp to make it a five-goal game, 6-1.

Too many players on the ice for the Titans put the Falcons up a man for another two-minutes, but once again the special teams unit and goalkeeper shined preventing any attempt at a comeback. Dominic Gibson saw his time to shine with 8:07 on the clock. He collected the loose puck off the initial blocked shot for the unassisted rocket into the back of the net making it a 7-1 game.13 Cutter finished off the scoring for CB South collecting his second goal of the game thanks to the help of #46 Frey making the final score 8-1.

“{Pennsbury} is well coached, and they have some higher level players and their goalie is a good goaltender,” McGinty said. “They’re a scary team for sure. I always worry about ourselves and want to keep within our systems. We jumped up early and they tied it quickly. It’s playoffs and we call it second season.

“So, first game of the second season guys are going to be nervous so you definitely get those nerves out, but as we started to settle in we got our shots on net. Overall it was a good team win with a lot of scoring tonight. We got Nathan [Napolitano] in net, so it was good to get him some shots. Hats off to Pennsbury they’re a good team,” said head coach McGinty.

The Titans now look ahead to their next opponent in the playoffs facing nearby foe North Penn at Hatfield Ice this Wednesday.

“It will be our third game against them, we won the first one in overtime and lost the second 4-2. It’s a great rivalry,” McGinty said. “We do a Thanksgiving game with them. It couldn’t be better for the kids. This is both of our home rinks. We’re all looking forward to it and all these guys know each other, so it’s a good thing for high school hockey,” stated McGinty.

First Period: Logan Hood (CBS from Brennan Thierolf and Alexander Cannon, 12:12; Christopher Sarver (P) unassisted, 07:24

Second Period: Jeffrey Kvecher (CBS) from Joseph Slobodrian and Ryan Frey, 15:08 (pp); Brennan Thierolf (CBS) from Jeffrey Kvecher, 05:52; Sean Cutter (CBS) from Keith Waldron, 00:31

Third Period: Ryan Frey (CBS) unassisted, 16:55; Jake Stepp (CBS) from Brennan Thierolf, 13:25; Dominic Gibson (CBS) unassisted, 08:07; Sean Cutter (CBS) from Ryan Frey, 03:55

Shots: Pennsbury 20, CB South 33; Saves: Brendan Milliken (P) 25, Nate Napolitano (CBS) 19

Pennridge 4 C.B. East 1

Monday night marked the first stage of what the participants hope will be a month-long journey. And Pennridge looked very much at home in the playoff environment.

Shane Dachowski scored three goals and assisted on a fourth as the Rams prevailed over Central Bucks East 4-1 in a SHSHL National Division first-round game at Hatfield Ice.

Fourth-seeded Pennridge (13-7) will advance to face top-seeded Council Rock South Wednesday night (7:00 at Grundy Arena) in the semifinals. The fifth-seeded Patriots (10-9-1) will be idle until Monday when they face Downingtown West to kick off the Class AA Flyers Cup.

Dachowski was the difference on this night, as he has been so often over the course of his career. He assisted on James Rush’s opening goal which came 5:32 into the first period as the result of a collaboration involving Ladan Bishop, the third member of Pennridge’s top line.

Dachowski extended Pennridge’s lead with a shot from the left point exactly eight minutes into the second period. David Brown scored for East not quite two-and-a-half minutes later when Pennridge turned the puck over in front of its own net.

But as clock counted down the closing seconds of the second period, Dachowski stepped up once more launching a blazer that scraped the underside of the crossbar inside the right post as at whistled past Patriot goaltender Cole Breen with 1.1 seconds showing on the clock.

“That was a really-needed goal,” Dachowski said. I don’t know what their defensemen were doing, but we took advantage of what they gave us.”

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna noted that Dachowski is now in postseason mode.

“I can’t even count how many hat tricks he has in playoff and Flyers Cup games,” he said. “It’s absurd.”

Dachowski completed yet another hat trick with an empty-net goal with 50 seconds remaining in the game.

The win Monday night was a response to the Rams’ 3-2 loss to East five days ago. That result doubtless strengthened the Patriots’ case with the Flyers Cup Committee, which seeded them 11^th in the 12-team Class AA field.

“They acted like they won the Stanley Cup,” Dachowski recalled.

The loss was the first for the Patriots in eight games. They had their chances, they were outshot just 32-31 but only solved Jacob Winton once.

“We got a of chances,” said East coach Jeff Mitchell. “We got a lot of pucks on net {but} we lacked the finish tonight.

“But, you get a team like Pennridge and the type of goaltender they have, they have a top-three goaltender in the league you’ve got to really, really make sure you’re giving your chances the best opportunity.”

The Rams will now try to unseat the two-time defending National Division champions. Montagna knows he’ll need another big night from Dachowski.

“If we want to go down and beat South Wednesday, he’s got to be great” Montagna said. Every game going forward he has to be great. He can’t have an off night. It’s a lot of pressure on him {but} he’s had that pressure for three years.”

C.B. East 0 1 0—1

Pennridge 1 2 1—4

First-period goal: James Rush (P) from Shane Dachowski and Ladan Bishop, 11:28;

Second-period goals: Dachowski (P) unassisted, 8:00; David Brown (CBE) unassisted, 10:23; Dachowski (P) from Josh Kelly and Rush, 16:59

Third-period goal: Dachowski (P) from Rush, 16:10

Shots: C.B. East 31, Pennridge 32; Saves: Cole Breen (CBE) 28, Jacob Winston (P) 30

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Montagna Announces Retirement

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna announced Thursday night that he will step down at the end of the season.

Montagna is in his seventh season behind the Rams’ bench.

His teams won Class AA Flyers Cup and state championships in 2022 and again last season. They also claimed SHSHL National Division titles in 2019 and ’22.

Montagna, who also coaches at the club level, said he needed a break from high-school hockey.

“I’m burnt out,” he said. “I can’t do this if I can’t give what needs to be given to it. I’m taking a step back and dealing with club hockey next year.

“I want to continue coaching high school but I need a little bit of a breather. Whether it’s a year, two years, whatever it is, it’s time.”