Category: Suburban High School Hockey League

Pennridge 7 C.R. South 3

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The level of anticipation could not have been higher for a regular-season game, particularly one being played nearly two weeks before Christmas.

A full house at the Hatfield Ice Blue Rink greeted Pennridge and Council Rock South when they took the ice Wednesday night for a matchup between two bona fide SHSHL and Flyers Cup title contenders.

On this night, it was Rams who emerged victorious by a count of 7-3 to remain unbeaten at 9-0 overall and in SHSHL National Division play. The Golden Hawks suffered their first setback of the season; they stand at 8-1 overall and 7-1 in the division.

Both teams rely on potent offenses and the stars were shining brightly. Shane Dachowski collected a hat trick for the Rams and added two assists. Andrew Savona’s two goals were accompanied by three assists.

Kevin Koles and Blaize Pepe had two-point nights for South; each contributed a goal and an assist.

But even amidst all this firepower, a goaltender stood out, namely Pennridge’s Jacob Winton. The Rams were outshot 40-30 but Winton a junior, finished his evening’s work with 37 saves.

“They’re an absolutely amazing high-output team,” Winton said of his opponents. “We knew that coming into it. They’re an absolutely great hockey team.”

Winton made some big stops at key times when the outcome was still in doubt. Among them was his denial of Illia Mukhin on a backhander five minutes into the second period.

“Obviously, that boosts my confidence,” he said, “giving me that extra jump when they come down. And I think it gives my team an extra jump when they go down to the other end of the ice.”

The Golden Hawks drew first blood when Jackson Mosley beat Winton 6:54 into the opening period. Colin Dachowski answered for Pennridge when he put in his own rebound with 1:37 left in the period, allowing his team to draw even in a period that saw it outshot 12-9.

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna noted that his netminder stepped up on a night when the spotlight was shining bright.

“He was never in this environment,” Montagna said, “even in the Flyers Cup finals. He was awesome tonight.

“In a 1-1 game I thought he made one of the best toe saves that you’ll see a goalie make. I thought that was the turning point in the game.”

Kevin Pico’s goal 5:33 into the second frame gave Pennridge the lead for good. Shane Dachowski extended the lead at 9:00 before Kevin Koles put in a rebound to make it a one-goal game with 8:22 left in the middle session.

Shane Dachowski took over from there, completing his hat trick before the period ended.

The Hawks found themselves shorthanded more than they would have preferred, they drew 14 penalties for 36 minutes. The Rams were whistled for nine infractions for 26 minutes. The two teams will have a rematch on February 7 at Grundy Arena.

C.R. South 1 1 1—3

Pennridge 1 4 2—7

First-period goal: Jackson Mosley (CRS) from Blaize Pepe, 6:54; Colin Dachowski (P) unassisted,15:23

Second-period goals: Kevin Pico P) from Nick Young and Andrew Savona, 5:33; Shane Dachowski (P) from Pico, 8:00; Kevin Koles (CRS) from Jake Weiner and Illia Mukhin, 8:38; Shane Dachowki (P) Savona 9:26; Shane Dachowski (P) from Pico and Savona, 14:56 (pp)

Third-period goals: Savona (P) from Shane Dachowski and Pico, 1:04; Savona (P) from Pico and Shane Dachowski, 6:15 (pp); Pepe (CRS) from Koles, 14:52

Shots: C.R. South 40, Pennridge 30; Saves: Trevor Rakszawski (CRS) 32, Jacob Winton (P) 37

C.B. South 8 C.B. East 1

 In boxing, there are crossroads fights. In hockey, there are crossroads games. Central Buck East and Central Bucks South found themselves at a crossroads Friday night, with each looking to vault themselves into the top tier of the SHSHL National Division standings.

It was the Titans who made the climb, on the strength of seven unanswered goals over the last two periods-plus to post an 8-1 win at the Bucks County Ice Sports Center that boosted their record to 6-1-1 in league play (6-2-1 overall. The result put South within three points of first-place Pennridge and a single point behind second-place Council Rock South, which has a game in hand.

Jeff Kvecher scored twice for the winning side, six other players scored one goal each.

Perhaps the most eye-catching stat of the evening however was the Titans limiting the Patriots (4-3) to just one goal.

South defenseman Aiden Linso touted his team’s defensive effort.

“We play together as a team,” he said, “so really we knew what we had to do.

“The offense comes back, plays [defense] and we work the puck out to our wingers, so we knew they weren’t scoring a lot of goals tonight.”

D.J. Lindenmuth gave South a 1-0 lead 2:56 into the opening period on a shot from the deep right wing.  Corey Kosick tied the game at the 14:56 mark when he forced a turnover in the South defensive zone and scored on a solo effort.

The East offense, which been averaging better than four goals a game prior to Friday night, was not heard from thereafter, to the chagrin of Patriot coach Jeff Mitchell.

“I don’t know what was up with my team tonight,” he said. “It’s completely unacceptable in my opinion.”

Leading 2-1 after the first frame, the Titans broke the game open with two goals in the second period and four more in the third.

Linso, who assisted on three goals himself, stressed the importance of he and his teammates maintaining their focus after they built their lead.

“It’s real important,” he said. “Teams can come back just like that. We had to make sure everybody was doing their job. People can’t be getting goal hungry. If we stay together as a team, we’ll keep winning games like that.”

South coach Shaun McGinty noted that his team’s defensive work could have been better.
“I don’t want to take anything away from East,” he said. “They’re a good team, they’ve got some guys that can put the puck in the net but we had some guys that were trying to fly the zone a little earlier than normal and not protecting the house as we call it.

“That stuff’s going to haunt you against a C.R. South, Pennridge, against East when they’re firing.”

Ice chips—The National Division standings may look different at the end of next week. Council Rock South and Pennridge will met on Wednesday before the Rams take on the Titans the following night. Both games will be at Hatfied Ice.

C.B. East 1 0 0—1

C.B. South 2 2 4—8 

First-period goals: D.J. Lindenmuth (CBS) from Jake Stepp and Aidan Linso, 2:51; Corey Kosick (CBE) unassisted, 14:56 (sh); Joey Slobodrian (CBS) from Jeff Kvecher, 16:34

Second-period goals: Jake Kunkle (CBS) unassisted, 1:50; Kvecher (CBS) from Sean Cutter 16:27 (pp)

Third-period goals: Ryan Frey (CBS) from Cutter, 2:27 (sh); Colin Mendham (CBS) from Linso and Alex Cannon, 6:21; Stepp (CBS) unassisted at 7:12; Kvecher (CBS) from Linso and Logan Hood, 9:32

Shots: C.B. East 14, C.B. South 31; Saves: Cole Breen (CBE) 23, Dom Varacallo (CBE) 13

Bensalem 4 P-W 3 OT

Plymouth Whitemarsh and Bensalem have moved to the head of the pack in the SHSHL’s American Division. On Thursday night at Hatfield Ice, they began finding out about each other.

Alex Hood’s goal 1:38 into overtime gave the Owls a 4-3 win in what is shaping up as an entertaining season-long series. Thursday’s game was the first of three meetings between the two teams. 

The result pushed Bensalem to 5-1 overall and in the division; the Owls have been perfect since an opening-night loss to Wissahickon. They came from behind three times on Thursday.

The Colonials (4-2 overall) lost for the first time in five league starts.

Alex Baylevich set up the winning goal when he put the puck on net from his post at the right point. Hood was on hand to score his second goal of the game and his 22nd of the season. He also contributed two assists to his team’s cause.

Hood described the winning goal.

“All three of their kids were puck watching,” he said, “so I went backdoor. [Baylevich] found me like he always does. Tic tac toe in the back of the net.”

Both teams came into Thursday’s encounter at less than full strength. The Colonials had three regulars out of the lineup including two front-line centers. For their part, the Owls had only eight skaters available. That circumstance forced their coach Bill Hood to do some juggling.

“We had a lot of penalties (8) which hurt,” he said. “But we’ve got kids that play very high level club hockey so they’re used to this kind of pace.”

The scoring started early. David Branigan put Plymouth Whitemarsh in front just 55 seconds into the first period. Hood tied the game at the 2:21 mark.

Jason Segal put the Colonials back in front with 44 seconds left in the middle period and Plymouth Whitemarsh seemed to have the upper hand heading into the third frame, but the momentum shifted dramatically when Cole Salayda tied the game with a shorthanded with 12:13 left in regulation.

Tim Murphy gave Plymouth Whitemarsh the lead for the last time with a one timer from the high slot with 6:33 remaining.

But that wasn’t enough; Lucas Gonzalez poked in a rebound with 4:01 left to kick off the mad dash to the finish line.

Ricky Gonzalez in the Bensalem net might have made the biggest contribution to his team’s win. He finished with 32 saves, many of them difficult.

“Ricky’s been a rock all year,” Bill Hood said. “He definitely gives us confidence back there. We take some risks at times defensively and he’s always back there.”

The loss was a tough one for the Colonials but their coach Dave Cox took a pragmatic view.

“We knew coming in that Bensalem was going to be a tough opponent,” he said, “and I believe it was a good test of our character and what we need to work on. 

“I’m proud of our boys for faced the adversity. We had a very short bench tonight, A lot of the boys were playing with different linemate pairs and that took some adjusting to, and our power-play wasn’t working well but they worked hard every shift. Overtime losses are never easy, but we look forward to seeing this team a couple more times.”

Bensalem 1 0 2 1—4

P-W 1 1 1 0—3
First-period goals: David Branigan (PW) unassisted, :55; Alex Hood (B) from Cole Salayda and Brandon Stahl. 2:21;

Second-period goal: Jason Segal (PW) from Tim Murphy and Daniel Molony, 16:16

Third-period goals: Salayda (B) from Lucas Gonzalez and Hood, 4:47 (sh); Murphy (PW) from John Zawislak and Molony, 10:27; Gonzalez (B) from Justin Rapone and Hood, 12:59

Overtime goal: Hood (B) from Alex Baylevich, 1:38

Shots: Bensalem 25,  Plymouth Whitemarsh 35; Saves: Ricky Gonzalez (B) 32; Julian Lucks (PW) 21

NP Ice Hockey Toy Drive is an Annual Tradition

The North Penn Hockey Club is once again conducting a toy drive in support of the North Penn Valley Boys and Girls Club, and its efforts to serve needy families in the North Penn area.

Those interested in participating are asked to Venmo North Penn Ice Hockey at @NPHockey with a donation.

North Penn Ice Hockey will match up to $500 of the donations. The club will utilize the donations to purchase toys for children ages 5-12 and gift cards to local grocery stores for those in need.

They will be delivered to the Boys and Girls Club on Monday, December 18.

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis says the toy drive in part of North Penn Ice Hockey’s ongoing effort to serve its community.

“We look at it as we’re one community here,” he said, “and if there is an opportunity for us to help out those less fortunate right now, those going through some difficult times, we want to lend a hand.

“This past weekend, a bunch of us went over and we were raking leaves at an over-55 community, helping some of the elderly who can’t get out there or can’t afford to pay somebody to rake their leaves up.

“I think we’re teaching these kids to give back to the community. We’re fortunate with the situation we’re in; we’re able to play ice hockey, it’s not the cheapest sport. So, if we can give back a little and help those less fortunate or having a difficult time right now, we’re willing to do it.”

For more information about the toy drive, contact Vaitis at kevinvaitis@comcast.net

SHSHL Update

National Division         W   L   T  OW   OL  Pts

Council Rock South (7-0)    6    0    0   0   0   12

Pennridge  (6-0)                   6    0    0   0   0   12

Cent. Bucks South (4-2-1)     4    1    1    0    0   9 

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

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

Pennsbury  (2-4)                 2   4     0    0    1   5

Cent. Bucks West (1-4-1)      1    4    1    0   0    3

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

Neshaminy (0-4-2)                 0    4    2    0    0   2

Council Rock North (0-6)  0   6      0   0     0   0

American Division           W    L   T  OW OL  Pts

Bensalem (4-1)                3     1   0     0    1   7

Plymouth White. (4-1)  3     0   0     0    0   6

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

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

Springfield (0-6)             0     5   0   0     0    0 

 National Division Scoring   G   A   Pts

Kevin Pico (Pr)                     11    16 27

Andrew Savona (Pr)           12  14 26

Shane Dachowski (Pr)       12   12  24

Kevin Koles (CRS)               10   14  24

Jake Weiner (CRS)             11   6   17

Corey Kosick (CBE)           12   4   16

Blaize Pepe (CRS)               8   7   15

Maxwell Ryon (Soud)        8    6   14

Seth Grossman (Soud)      7    5   12

Chase Tovsky (Soud)         3    9   12

Gavin Nisenon (CRS)         5    5   10

Jordan Sarne (CRS)            3   7    10

American Division Scoring  G   A   Pts

Alex Hood (Bens)                 16   5   21

David Branigan (PW)            8    4   12

Daniel Hussa (Wiss)             9    2   11

Alex Bazylevich (Bens)       2    8     10

Tim Murphy (PW)                2     7     9

Seamus Donofry (Ab)        2    6       8

Cole Salayda (Bens)           3    4       7      

SHSHL Update 11-28-23

National Division        W   L   T  OW   OL  Pts

Council Rock South    5    0    0   0   0   10

Pennridge                    5    0    0   0   0   10

Central Bucks East     3    1    0    0   0   6

Cent. Bucks South     2    1    1    0    0   5 

North Penn                 2    2    0    0   0   4

Cent. Bucks West      1    3    1    0   0    3

Pennsbury                  1   3     0    0    1   3

Neshaminy                 0    3    2    0    0   2

Souderton                  1    3    0    1     0   2

Council Rock North  0   4      0   0     0   0

American Division     W    L   T    OW    OL    Pts

Bensalem                    3     1   0     0    1    7

Plymouth White.       3     0   0     0    0    6

Abington                     1     1   1    0     0    3

Wissahickon               1      2   0   0     1    2

Springfield                  0      5   0   0     1    1 

 National Division Scoring G A Pts

Andrew Savona (Pr)             10  12 22

Kevin Pico (Pr)                     9    11 20

Shane Dachowski (Pr)         8    12  20

Kevin Koles (CRS)                9   9   18

Maxwell Ryon (Soud)        8    6   14

Blaize Pepe (CRS)                7   7   14

Jake Weiner (CRS)              8    4   12

Corey Kosick (CBE)            10   1   11

Chase Tovsky (Soud)         3    8   11

Gavin Nisenon (CRS)         5    5   10

Jordan Sarne (CRS)            3   7    10

American Division Scoring  G   A   Pts

Alex Hood (Bens)                 16   5   21

Seamus Donofry (Ab)          2    9   11

Alex Bazylevich (Bens)       2    8     10                                                                                        10

Dylan Novitsky (PW)           6    3    9

Michael Romano (Ab)        4    4    8        

Jason Segal (PW)                3    5    8

Daniel Guller (PW)             2    5    7     

Isaac Mishkin (PW)            2    5    7 

Cole Salayda (Bens)           2    5    7      

C.B. East 4 C.B. West 2

WARWICK TOWNSHIP—With the demise of Thanksgiving Day high-school football, scholastic hockey, now more than ever, has become an entrenched holiday tradition, one which brings together traditional rivals.

Central Bucks East and Central Bucks West have been rivals in all sports for over half a century, since before either school fielded a hockey team. And their traditional Thanksgiving Eve shootout on ice brought with it a full measure of emotional energy.

“It’s good to get a lot of support from the fans from the respective schools,” said East coach Jeff Mitchell. “The homecoming [football] game and rivalry games aren’t too much of a thing anymore, especially since Covid, so it’s good that the league still lets us have these games and tries to make a little bit more special than the rest of them.”

West Coach Dave Baun spoke of the familiarity the players on both side have with one another.

“Many of the kids know the opponent,” he said, “because they went to Tohickon [Middle School] together. It’s a great rivalry, there are great kids on both teams, and we have a lot of fun.”

On this occasion, it was the Patriots who had the upper hand. Corey Kosick scored three goals in a span of 4 minutes, 57 seconds in the first period to pace his team to a 4-2 win in front of a full house at Revolution Ice Gardens.

It was the second win for the Patriots (3-1) over the Bucks (1-3-1) in 13 days; East won the first meeting 7-3 on November 9.

Kosick’s first goal of the night, his eighth of the season, came off a turnover when he when in on West netminder Liam Rogers essentially unchallenged. His second tally came at the 7:57 mark, he completed his hat trick just 19 seconds later.

Kosick was playing in his third East-West holiday matchup.

“I think we probably had the most people here for this year,” he said. “There was a lot of energy. It was fun to play in front of all these people because we don’t usually get that many.”

Evan Asimakopoulos made it a 4-0 game 29 seconds into the middle period but the Bucks were still hanging around, largely due to the work of Liam Rogers in goal. The senior made 26 saves over the course of the first two periods.

When Anthony Dowd and Adam Ricci scored goals 20 second apart West found itself trailing just 4-2 with a period-and-a-half of hockey remaining. But Cole Breen kept the Bucks at bay the rest of the way.

“I feel like we kind of took our foot off the gas at the start of the second period,” Mitchell said, “which kind of gave them room to kind of start getting back into the game and we took a couple of bad penalties.

“But all in all, the boys were pretty much giving 110 [percent] throughout the entire game.”

West was unable to take advantage of five power-play chances (one of them abbreviated).

“You would never guess that we worked on our power play breakout at practice on Monday,” said West coach Dave Baun. “but sometimes they have short memories.  Some of this stuff should be second nature and it’s not.”

C.B. West 0 2 0—2

C.B. East 3 1 0—4

First-period goals: Corey Kosick (CBE) unassisted, 3:19; Kosick (CBE) from Evan Asimakopoulos and Drew Trask, 7:57; Kosick (CBE) from Asimakopoulos and Trask, 8:16

Second-period goals: Asimakopoulos (CBE) from Kosick, :29; Anthony Dowd (CBW) unassisted, 12:35; Adam Ricci (CBW) from Dowd, 12:55

Shots: C.B. West 25, C.B. East 40; Saves: Liam Rogers (CBW) 36, Cole Breen (CBE) 23

Thanksgiving Eve Scoreboard 11-22-23

La Salle 4 Malvern Prep 1

Julian Tarsi scored a pair of second-period goals to pace La Salle to a 4-1 win over Malvern Prep Wednesday night in an APAC game at Ice Line. It was the second conference win of the season for the Explorers who are 5-0 overall and have won 10 straight dating back to last season.

Aidan Kelly gave the Friars (3-2, 1-1 in conference) the lead just 21 seconds into the opening period. Michael Esmond tied the game for La Salle at the 14:34 mark.

Tarsi’s goals came in a span of 3:14 late in the second period.

La Salle 1 2 1—4

Malvern Prep 1 0 0—1

First-period goals: Aidan Kelly (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, :21; Michael Esmond (L) from John Mullen, 14:34

Second-period goals: Julian Tarsi (L) from Dean Carvalho, 11:21 (pp); Tarsi (L) from Declan Kelly, 14:35

Third-period goal: Will Carpenter (L) from Patrick Brace and Will Gregorio 16:46 (sh),

Shots: La Salle 41, Malvern Prep 19; Saves: Jacob Rossi (L) 18, Matt Crawford (MP) 37

Elsewhere

Central Bucks East 4 Central Bucks West 2 (Recap available on this blog)

Pennsbury 3 Neshaminy 0—Three different players scored goals for the victorious Falcons. Aaron McDaniel earned the shutout in goal.

Pennridge 13 Souderton 5—Six different players scored goals for the Rams. Andrew Savona, Kevin Pico, and Shane Dachowski all delivered hat tricks.

Council Rock South 10 vs. Council Rock North 0—Kevin Koles, Jackson Mosley, and Nikita Volobuiev all scored two goals as the Golden Hawks shut out the Indians at Revolution Ice Gardens

Central Bucks South 4 North Penn 2—Ryan Frey, Jeff Kvecher, and Audan Linso all scored third-period goals to lead the Titans over the Knights.

Hatboro-Horsham/Upper Dublin 7 Springfield 6 OT

Father Judge 3 Holy Ghost Prep 1—Jason Sarmon, Joe Mullen, and Colin Howell scored goals for the victorious Crusaders in the non-league game at Grundy Arena. Anthony Prete scored for the Firebirds (0-3)

SHSHL Update 11-19-23

National Division        W   L   T  OW   OL  Pts

Council Rock South    4    0    0   0   0    8

Pennridge                    4    0    0   0   0    8

Central Bucks East     2    1    0    0   0    4

North Penn                 2    1    0    0   0    4

Cent. Bucks South     1    1    1    0    0   3 

Cent. Bucks West      1    2    1    0   0    3

Neshaminy                 0    2    2    0    0   2

Souderton                  1    2    0    1     0   2

Pennsbury                  0   3     0    0    1    1

Council Rock North  0   3      0   0     0   0

American Division     W    L   T    OW    OL    Pts

Bensalem                    3     1   0     0     1    7

Plymouth White.       3     0   0     0     0    6

Abington                     1     1   1    0      0    3

HH/UD                         1     1   1    0      0    3

Wissahickon               1      2   0   0     1      2

Springfield                  0       4   0   0     0     0 

If you’d like to promote your product or service here at Hockey Happenings, contact us at rwoelfel2013@gmail.com

 National Division Scoring   G   A   Pts

Andrew Savona (Pr)             7    9   16

Kevon Koles (CRS)                7    8   15

Shane Dachowski (Pr)         5    8   13

Blaize Pepe (CRS)                7    6   13

Kevin Pico (Pr)                     6    6   12

Jake Weiner (CRS)              8    4   12

Alex Bazylevich (Bens)       2    8  10

Maxwell Ryon (Soud)        7    3   10

Chase Tovsky (Soud)         3    7   10

American Division Scoring  G   A   Pts

Alex Hood (Bens)                 16   5   21

William Hulbert (HH/UD)   10  3    13  

Seamus Donofry (Ab)          2    9   11

Dylan Novitsky (PW)           6    3    9

Kevin McGinley (HH/UD)   3    5    8

Michael Romano (Ab)        4    4    8        

Jason Segal (PW)               3    5    8