SHSHL Playoff Schedule Set

With all the playoff qualifiers having been determined, game times and sites have been set for the first phase of the SHSHL Playoffs.

The Class AA (National Division) quarterfinals are set for Wednesday, February 21 at Hatfield Ice with third-seeded Central Bucks South taking on sixth-seeded Souderton (7:20). The same night in the same building, fourth-seeded Central Bucks East will face number-five North Penn (8:30).

Pennridge and Council Rock South, who are assured of the top two seeds (Order of finish TBD) have byes into the semifinals the week of February 28.

The one-game Class A (American Division) semifinal is set for that same night, Wednesday, February 21 with second seed Bensalem hosting number-three Abington at Grundy Arena (7:20).

The winner will face top-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh the week of February 28.

The results of the playoffs will have no impact on the selections and seedings for the Flyers Cup tournament, which will be announced February 25.

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C.B. South 6 C.B. East 2

Like the pieces of a puzzle fitting together, The SHSHL’s National Division playoff mosaic is taking shape, with a huge assist from Central Bucks South,

Six different players scored goals as the Titans downed Central Bucks East 6-2 Thursday night at Hatfield Ice, a result that solidifies the division’s playoff bracket.

With the win, South (12-4-1 in the division, 12-5-1 overall) is assured of finishing third in the division standings while the Patriots (10-5-2 overall and in the division) will finish fourth. Both will see action in the opening round of the playoffs in two weeks.

On Thursday night, the Titans. heightened their focus, and turned in a workmanlike, no-frills, effort. D.J. Lindenmuth, their captain, scored a goal and assisted on three others.

The senior noted the importance of the veterans on the roster setting the right tone for their teammates.

“The younger guys look up to the veterans,” he said. “Of we’re not leading by example, or going out and stat padding, or going out and playing for ourselves, no one is going to win a game like that because it’s a team sport.

Tyan Frey, with help from Lindenmuth, and Grant Boyne, gave South a 2-0 first-period lead.

Corey Kosick scored for East 4:42 into the second period to make it a one-goal game for a time but Lindenmuth answered with 2:38 left in the period.

Jaden Young’s tally 4:42 into the third frame made things interesting but the Titans left in the Patriots in their wake when Sean Cutter, Jeff Kvectcher, and Joey Slobodrian scored goals in a two-and-a-half minute span.

South coach Shaun McGinty expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance.

“The boys needed that,” he said. “I thought it was three good periods.

“We definitely got to work, getting the puck deep, playing the physicality.”

McGinty stressed the importance if his team playing quality five-on-five hockey.

“I said to [his players] ‘You have an identity, you have to play that way,” he said. “You can’t sway into other teams’ ways and you can’t sway into individual high-powered offense.

“You stay five on five and play our way, pucks deep, playing physical. I thought our defense was much better than it had been the last two games.

“All in all, it was definitely a good team win, something that they needed.”

Lindenmuth says that with the postseason approaching, he and his teammates are focusing on what is to come.

“We’re definitely dialed in,” he said, “focusing on the path ahead, realizing it’s important to win these games, but not just game.

“Every period, every shift, every point, every goal, everything matters.”

Ice chips: The final order of finish in the National Division; Pennridge and Council Rock South are assured of the top two spots, the final order will be determined next week.

The next four spots will belong to Central Bucks South, Central Bucks East, North Penn, and Souderton in that order.

C.B. South 2 1 3—6

C.B. East 0 11—2

First-period goals: Ryan Frey (CBS) from DJ. Lindenmuth, 5:49; Grant Boyne (CBS) from Peter Herring, 11:34

Second-period goals: Corey Kosick (CBE) from Ethan Cenci and David Brown, 4:42; Lindenmuth (CBS) unassisted, 14:22

Third-period goals: Jaden Young (CBE) from Drew Trask and Gavin Widmer, 4:42; Sean Cutter (CBS) from Lindenmuth, 5:49; Jeff Kvectcher (CBS) from Logan Hood and Keith Waldron, 6:48; Joey Slobodrian (CBS) from Lindenmuth, 8:21

Shots: C.B. South 45, C.B. East 21; Saves: Nate Napolitano (CBS) 19, Cole Breen (CBE) 39

Pennsbury, Bensalem Set for Pink Out Game

A full house is expected Friday night at Grundy Arena when Pennsbury and Bensalem meet in the Falcons’ annual Pink Out game.

First played in 2011, the game is a fundraiser for cancer patients; the proceeds support. cancer patients and families of cancer patients to pay for services not covered by insurance perhaps the cost of transportation to a medical appointment for example or having groceries delivered.

The varsity game between Pennsbury and Bensalem is scheduled for a 7:20 start. It will be preceded by a middle school game at 6:00. Between games the Falcons and the Owls will celebrate Senior Night.

There will also be a series of raffles and drawings.

Tickets are five dollars and can be purchased from members of the Pennsbury and Bensalem hockey teams.

Tickets may be available at the door but there is no guarantee they will be available.

Flyers Cup Rankings

Below are the newest Flyers Cup rankings as of 2-5-24. This is the last set of rankings before the tournament field is announced on Sunday, February 25

Class AAA

La Salle
Malvern Prep
St. Joseph’s Prep
Holy Ghost Prep
Father Judge

Class AA

Pennridge
Council Rock South
Boyertown
Downingtown West
Haverford

Class A
1. Garnet Valley

2. West Chester East

3. Hershey

4. Marple Newrown

5. Lower Dauphin

Girls

Avon Grove
Downingtown West
West Chester Henderson
Kingsway

North Penn 5 C.B. East 5

Call it a playoff preview, a preview punctuated by controversy. In the end, North Penn and Central Bucks East skated to a 5-5 overtime draw Friday night in a SHSHL National Division skirmish at the Bucks County Ice Sports Center.

The emotions of the two sides following the final buzzer were a study in contrast.

The Patriots (10-4-2) overcame a 4-1 second-period deficit but also had two goals disallowed. The Knights (8-7-1) benefitted from the awarding of a goal but failed to hold their three-goal advantage before rallying down the stretch to force the deadlock.

East’s Corey Kosick and North Penn’s James Boyle each had two-goal performances. But their efforts were overshadowed by the controversy, which emerged in opening seconds of the second period with North Penn holding a 3-1 lead.

A scramble on front of the East net saw Patriot goaltender seemingly deny the Knights’ Samuel Norton and play moved to the other end of the ice where Kosick put the puck behind North Penn netminder Ian McAteer, apparently making it a one-goal game.

At that point, the two officials huddled and ruled that Norton’s shot had actually crossed the goal line. North Penn was awarded a goal, thus Kosick’s effort did not count and instead of trailing 3-2 the Patriots found themselves down 4-1.

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis shared the explanation he received from the officials.

“The puck went in,” he said. [The official on the goal line] didn’t see it, the top ref did but let the play continue. Sure enough, they ended up scoring on it but you’ve to back to [the previous play.]”

East got off the canvas however. Jaden Young and Charlie Keiser scored goals before the second period ended and Kosick tied the game with a power-play goal. 1:23 into the third frame. It was East’s third power-play tally of the game.

Gavin Widmer put East in front at 5-4 off a setup from Young at the 5:51 mark.
The Patriots appeared to add a sixth goal off the stick of Kyle McIntyre with 3:09 left in regulation but the goal was disallowed when it was ruled the net was dislodged.

Meanwhile, Cole Breen in goal held the Knights at bay for virtually all of the last two periods but Norton scored his second goal of the game on a deflection with 1:37 left in regulation and that’s the way the evening finished.

The outcome left East coach Jeff Mitchell exasperated.

“I’m very upset at the officiating tonight,” he said. “I don’t really have any kind of excuse for them … It was pretty brutal.”

On the plus side, Mitchell noted his team’s performance over the last month; the Patriots are 5-0-2 in their last seven starts.

“Everybody’s kind of working as a team,” he said. “We’ve got some lines kind of figured out. It takes time to kind of jell together as a team and we’re getting a lot of production out of our top guys, but we’ve got some underclassmen that are shining too and they’re coming up into the ranks.

Vaitis expressed concern about his team’s in ability to hold a three-goal lead.

“I thought we had a couple penalties we probably wish we didn’t take,” he said. They had [three] power-play goals that I think gave them more life.

“They’re a good team. If you give them opportunities on the man advantage, they’re going to take advantage of it.”

Ice chips: The point East received in the standings for the tie assures the Patriots will finish no worse than fourth. If they win their two remaining regular-season games they could possibly finish third.

North Penn will finish fifth or sixth. If the Knights finish fifth, they will likely face the Patriots in the first round of the playoffs.

North Penn 3 1 1 0—5

C.B. East 1 2 2 0—5

First-period goals: Cole Pluck (NP) from Chase Kelly Del Ricci and Samuel Norton, 5:18; James Boyle (NP) from Nolan Shingle, 10:16 (pp); Corey Kosick (CBE) from Ethan Cenci, 12:52; Boyle (NP) from Shingle, 14:13 (pp)

Second-period goals: Norton (NP) from Chris Seward, :25; Jaden Young (CBE) from Gavin Widmer, 5:27 (pp); Charlie Keiser (CBE) from Kosick, 12:59 (pp);

Third-period goals: Kosick (CBE) from David Brown, 1:23 (pp); Widmer (CBE) from Young, 5:51; Norton (NP) from Del Ricci and Pluck, 14:23

Shots: North Penn 38, C.B. East 41; Saves: Ian McAteer (NP) 36, Cole Breen (CBE) 33

Pennridge 9 Pennsbury 1

For the first time in some time, Pennridge put all the pieces together at the same time.

After falling behind six minutes after the opening faceoff, the Rams got down to business and posted a 9-1 win over Pennsbury in a SHSHL national Division encounter at Hatfield Ice.

With the win, the Rams improved to 16-0-1 overall and 15-0-1 in divisional play. The Falcons fell to 3-12 overall and in the division. The loss eliminates Pennsbury from SHSHL playoff contention.

The contest was far more competitive than the final score indicates. The Rams but the game away with five goals in the third period but they worked for everything they got; to the immense satisfaction of their coach, Jeff Montagna.

“It was our best effort in about two months,” he said, “since the Council Rock South game.

“I told them the blueprint of how we want to play. You just wear teams down and we wore that team down.”

The Falcon took it to the Rams early on. Chris Sarver have Pennsbury a 1-0 lead 5:47 into the first frame with a splendid dash down the right wing that finished when he backhanded the puck past Pennridge goaltender Jacob Winton.

Tyler Manto and Andrew Savona answered to give Pennridge a 2-1 lead after one period. Kevin Pico and Colin Dachowski added goals in the second stanza.

It was still a contest at that point and Dachowski was impressed with the fact that he and his mates were staying focused on the business at hand.

“I think the last couple games, we haven’t been playing like that,” he said. “We haven’t been playing more like a team. Going into the playoffs in four weeks, we’ve got to be ready and I think we showed that tonight.

Shane and Colin Dachowski, Savona, Dean Venner, and Nolan Shaw all scored third-period goals for Pennridge as the falcons’ gas tank dropped toward empty.

But Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley was impressed with his team’s effort.

“I think for two periods we were right there with them,” he said. “Their goalie is good. I feel like I say that a lot but he had a great game.

Daley noted his team had a number of quality chances.

“If you were really watching that game, we really did have a lot of scoring chances,” he said. “And the puck just wasn’t finding our stick, or [Winton] made a great save, or his defensemen blocked it. They were right spots at the right time.

“But, I was happy with the way we played, I was happy with the effort.”

Pico had a five-point night that included four assists. Shane Dachowski finished with three assists.

With the results of Wednesday’s games, the field for the National Division playoffs has been finalized. The six teams include Pennridge, Council Rock South, Central Bucks South, Central Bucks East, North Penn, and Souderton. The Rams and the Golden Hawks will have byes into the semifinals.

Pennsbury 1 0 0—1

Pennridge 2 2 5—9

First-period goals: Chris Sarver (Pb) unassisted, 5:47; Tyler Manto (Pr) unassisted, 8:33; Andrew Savona (Pr) from Kevin Pico and Shane Dachowksi, 13:11

Second-period goals: Pico (Pr) from Shane Dachowski and Savona, 7:09; Colin Dachowski (Pr) from Pico, 12:45 (pp)

Third-period goals: Shane Dachowski (Pr) from Nolan Shaw and Pico, 1:20; Dean Venner (Pr) unassisted, 5;10; Shaw (Pr) from Justin Dinsmore, 10:22; Savona (Pr) from Pico and Shane Dachowski, 11:20; Colin Dachowski (Pr) unassisted, 12:29

Shots: Pennsbury 26, Pennridge 46; Saves: Aaron McDaniel (P) 37, Jacob Winton (P) 25

SHSHL Update 1-31-24

National Division W L T OW OL Pts

@ Pennridge (15-0-1) 14 0 1 1 0 0 29

@ Council Rock South (15-1-0) 14 1 0 0 0 28

@ Cent. Bucks South (10-5-1) 10 4 1 0 2 23

@ Central Bucks East (9-4-1) 9 4 2 0 0 19

North Penn (8-6-0) 8 6 0 0 0 16

Souderton (6-9-0) 6 9 0 4 1 13

Pennsbury (3-11-0) 3 11 0 0 2 8

Cent. Bucks West (3-11-1) 3 11 1 0 1 8

Council Rock North (2-13-0) 2 13 0 0 1 5

Neshaminy (1-11-2) 1 11 2 0 0 4

American Division W L T OW OL Pts

@ Plymouth White. (10-3) 9 1 0 0 1 19

@ Bensalem (9-3) 7 3 0 1 1 15

@ Abington (6-5-1) 5 3 0 0 0 10

Wissahickon (2-11) 2 9 0 1 4

Springfield (1-12) 1 8 0 0 0 2

@ Clinched playoff spots

National Division Scoring G A Pts

Kevin Pico (Pr) 25 36 61

Andrew Savona (Pr) 31 27 58

Maxwell Ryon (Soud) 33 18 51

Shane Dachowski (Pr) 23 27 50

Kevin Koles (CRS) 22 22 44

Jake Weiner (CRS) 23 18 41

Seth Grossman (Soud) 20 20 40

Blaize Pepe (CRS) 15 21 36

Nolan Shingle (NP) 6 22 28

Illia Mukhin (CRS) 11 16 27

American Division Scoring G A Pts

Alex Hood (Bens) 44 14 58

Alex Bazylevich (Bens) 11 19 30

David Branigan (PW) 17 12 29

Seamus Donofry (Ab) 6 22 28

Dylan Novitski (PW) 17 10 27

Tim Murphy (PW) 9 17 26

Daniel Guller (PW) 7 18 25

Owen Quinn (Sp) 13 9 22

Jason Segal (PW) 11 11 22

Michael Romano (Ab) 10 9 19

Cole Salayda (Bens) 6 13 19

Souderton 9 C.B. South 8 OT

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Souderton and Central Bucks South had quite a shootout Thursday night. With SHSHL playoff positioning and possible Flyers Cup seedings in the mix, the Big Red and the Titans, both of whom were coming off losses 24 hours earlier, took the ice at Hatfield Ice with guns blazing.

What followed was a collection of 17 goals, 16 penalties and a result that posed some interesting questions about what the stretch run if the regular season will look like.

It was Souderton who prevailed in the end. Ben Fadden’s power-play goal 68 seconds into overtime gave the Big Red a 9-8 win in a game that reconfigured the SHSHL National Division’s landscape.

The win lifted Souderton to 6-8 on the season and strengthened its hold on the division’s sixth and final playoff spot.

Souderton coach Ryan Uchniat spoke to the significance of the result.

“It’s huge,” he said. “We lost a tough one {Wednesday to Central Bucks West]. We needed this.”

Fadden’s game winner, his second goal of the game, came while the Titans’ Sean Cutter was in the box serving a holding penalty.

“It was a big win,” Fadden said. “We had to have it, we needed it for the team.”

On only one occasion did either team hold more than a one goal lead. That moment came with 5:32 left in the second period when Seth Grossman completed a hat trick and in so doing gave Souderton a 5-3 advantage.

At that point, South coach Shaun McGinty made a goaltender change, lifting Nathan Napolitano in place of starter Dominic Varacallo.

Aidan Linso and D.J. Lindenmuth scored goals for South to tie the game with 2:35 left in the period and neither team led by more than a goal the rest of the way.

At evening’s end the scoresheet listed some impressive totals. Grossman paced Souderton with four goals and two assists while Maxwell Ryon scored two goals and contributed six assists.

D.J. Lindenmuth had a six-point night for the Titans (10-5-1, 10-4-1 in divisional play) on the strength of three goals and three assists. Aidan Linso added two goals and two assists while Jake Stepp contributed a goal and two assists.

The ramifications of Thursday’s result will likely reverberate for some time.

“This is big for us,” Uchniat said. ”It gives our guys some confidence that we can play with the upper-echelon teams. South is one of the top programs in the league and they have been for years.

“The team rallied tonight. We ran into some penalty trouble but our kill was on. Out goalie [Connor Paulus] played strong and gave us an opportunity to stay in it.”

McGinty said his team was impacted by having to spend much of the night in special-teams situations.

“Lots of penalties is just not our game on both sides,” he said. I don’t want to kill penalties. I want to be five on five; we’re a five-on-five team.

“But kudos to then, you’ve got to tip your hat. It’s a loss for us to take and learn from.”

Fadden believes Thursday’s win will help he and teammates set a tone for the balance of the season.

“Just through work ethic and going out and wanting to just take everything we can,” he said. “Every inch of ice. Every step we can possibly take to get past a team.”

Souderton 2 3 3 1—9

C.B. South 2 4 2 0—8

First-period goals: D.J. Lindenmuth (CBS) from Aidan Linso, :49 (pp); Seth Grossman (S) from Nick Smith, 5:51 (pp); Grossman (S) from Max Ryon and Drew Savarese, 15:09; Lindenmuth (CBS) from Peter Herring, 16:44

Second-period goals: Ryan Frey (CBS) from Jake Stepp and Lindenmuth, :20; Savarese (S) from Ryon, 4:38; Ben Fadden (S) from Grossman and Ryon, 5:16; Grossman (S) from Ryon, 11:28; Linso (CBS) from Lindenmuth, 12:05 (pp); Lindenmuth (CBS) from Linso, 14:25 (sh); Linso from Stepp and Lindenmuth, 16:18 (pp)

Third-period goals: Grossman (S) from Ryon, :41 (pp); Ryon (S) from Savarese and Grossman, 1:14; Keith Waldron (CBS) from Jeff Kvetcher and Logan Good, 2:21; Stepp from Sean Cutter, 13:44; Ryon (S) from Smith, 14:24.

Overtime goal: Fadden (S) from Smith and Ryon, 1:08

Shots: Souderton 40, C.B. South 48 Saves: Connor Paulus (S) 40, Dominic Varacallo (CBS) 16 and Nathan Napolitano (CBS) 15

SHSHL Sets Playoff Dates

The start the SHSHL playoffs is just four weeks away.

Six teams will qualify in the National Division. A pair of first-round games is set for Wednesday. February 21 with seeds three and six paired against each other in one matchup and seeds four and five in the other.

The winners will face the top two seeds in semifinal games on Wednesday, February 28 with the championship game set for the following night, Thursday, February 29.

Three teams will qualify for the American Division playoffs, with seeds two and three meeting on Wednesday or Thursday, February 21 or 22 with the winner to face the top seed in the championship game on February 28.

Game dates are subject to revision based on weather and ice-availability issues.

SHSHL Playoffs

National 2/21 Wed: 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5 (rink TBD)

2/28 Wed: 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 (rink TBD)

2/29 Thu: 1 vs 2 (rink TBD)

American 2/21 Wed or 2/22 Thu: 2 vs 3 (rink TBD)

2/28 Wed: 1 vs 2 (rink TBD)

JV Final 2/21 Wed or 2/22 Thu: 1 vs 2 (rink TBD)

MS AAA – 2/21 or 2/22: 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 (rink TBD)

AA – 2/21 or 2/22: 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 (rink TBD)

A – 2/21 or 2/22: 1 vs 2 (rink TBD)

AAA & AA Finals: 2/28 or 2/29

SHSHL Update for 1-22-14

National Division W L T OW OL Pts

x Pennridge (14-0-1) 13 0 1 0 0 0 27

x Council Rock South (14-1-0) 13 1 0 0 0 26

x Cent. Bucks South (10-3-1) 10 2 1 0 1 22

Central Bucks East (8-4-1) 8 4 2 0 0 17

North Penn (7-5-0) 7 5 0 0 0 14

Souderton (5-8-0) 5 8 0 3 1 11

Pennsbury (3-10-0) 3 10 0 0 2 8

Cent. Bucks West (2-11-1) 2 11 1 0 1 6

Neshaminy (1-10-2) 1 10 2 0 0 4

Council Rock North (1-12-0) 1 12 0 0 1 3

American Division W L T OW OL Pts

x Plymouth White. (9-3) 8 1 0 1 1 17

x Bensalem (9-2) 7 2 0 1 1 15

Abington (4-5-1) 4 3 0 0 0 8

Wissahickon (2-10) 2 8 0 0 1 4

Springfield (1-10) 1 8 0 0 1 1

x clinched playoff spot

National Division Scoring G A Pts

Kevin Pico (Pr) 23 36 59

Andrew Savona (Pr) 28 26 54

Shane Dachowski (Pr) 22 25 47

Kevin Koles (CRS) 22 22 44

Maxwell Ryon (Soud) 29 12 41

Jake Weiner (CRS) 22 18 40

Blaize Pepe (CRS) 15 21 36

Seth Grossman (Soud) 16 17 33

Corey Kosick (CBE) 18 8 26

Illia Mukhin (CRS) 11 15 26

American Division Scoring G A Pts

Alex Hood (Bens) 43 14 57

Alex Bazylevich (Bens) 10 19 29

Seamus Donofry (Ab) 6 21 27

Dylan Novitski (PW) 16 10 26

David Branigan (PW) 15 11 26

Tim Murphy (PW) 9 15 24

Daniel Guller (PW) 7 16 23

Owen Quinn (Sp) 13 9 22

Jason Segal (PW) 11 11 22

Michael Romano (Ab) 10 9 19