HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The usual Opening Night atmosphere was missing at Hatfield Ice Wednesday night. Which, considering the circumstances, was entirely understandable.
Council Rock North took the ice against Pennridge in the wake of the passing of Greg McDonald, the Indians’ former coach, who lost a battle with cancer on October 10.
Both teams wore helmet decals displaying McDonald’s initials and observed a moment of silence in his honor prior to the opening faceoff.
At the start of the 2021-22 season, McDonald was charged with resurrecting the North program. Over the next two years he had an immense impact on his players on and off the ice.
Shawn Dorsey is succeeding McDonald as the Indians’ coach.
“Greg was a phenomenal person,” he said. “He cared so much about our kids and gave so much to our organization.
“Not just time with our kids, but giving up time with his kids in order to advance our players.
“Not only on the ice, but the impact that he had on them off the ice. Being positive members of the community, being good people. He instilled all of that in them.”
Dorsey called McDonald’s passing “A massive loss.
“Our kids are still feeling it,” he said. “But, at the same time, the impact that he made on our kids is very evident in their response; how they’re handling all of this. They’ve kind of gone to work and are working as hard as they can in honor of Greg.”
McDonald had planned to step from behind the vatsity bench this season and coach North’s middle-school team instead.
Blair Greiner is the President of the Council Rock North club.
“Greg was so passionate about these kids,” she said. “He even helped us interview Shawn.’
Greiner noted that McDonald was committed to his players’ future success apart from hockey.
“He wanted them to be leaders,” she said. “He wanted them to grow in their development, to be gentlemen, and just be good members of society, honestly.
“He was a champion for every single kid. The hard-to-reach kids, he always championed for.”
Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna crossed paths with McDonald at both the high-school and club levels.
“The coaches all know each other,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a fraternity. We know each other in a lot of different areas, whether it’s coaching in high school, club, whatever it is. When one goes, everybody feels it.”
Montagna “I think that’s why he was around as long as he was,” he said. “He didn’t have to come back here and get [the C.R. North] program on the path that he did. The best think you could say about him is everybody knew who he was. You can’t say that about every coach.”
The Game: Pennridge broke a 2-2 tie by scoring three straight power-play goals in the second period and went on to a 7-3 win. Andrew Savona scored two goals for the Rams and assisted on two others.
Jackson Accardi scored twice for the Indians.
Council Rock North 1 1 1—3
Pennridge 2 3 2—7
First-period goals: Nolan Shaw from Ian Brouse (P), 3:04; Kevin Pico (P) from Andrew Savona and Joe Mikulich III, 4:18; Jackson Accardi (CRN) unassisted, 8:34
Second-period goals: Accardi (CRN) unassisted, 3:37; James Rush (P) from Shane Dachowski, 6:14 (pp); Tyler Manto P) from Mikulich III, 13:02 (pp); Savona (P) from Dachowski and Rush. 15:58 (pp)
Third-period goals: Dachowski (P) from Savona, 2:45; Nick Hahn (P) from Ivan Bondra, 5:30; Savona (P) unassisted, 14:42
Shots: C.R. North 26, Pennridge 38; Saves: Ian Goldberg 31, Jacob Winton (P) 23
Hockey Happenings 