North Penn 12, William Tennent 2

WARWICK—If there is a single word or phrase that would best describe North Penn’s performance Wednesday night it would be workmanlike. The Knights did a lot of things well against William Tennent. They moved the puck well in the offensive zone, worked hard inside their own blue line, and supported a goaltender making his first varsity start.
The result was a 12-2 win that kept the Knights unbeaten in Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA league play (5-2) overall. Josh Kaufhold scored five goals and assisted on two others and Tyler Greenstein scored one goal and provided six assists before the game was called with 6:57 remaining in the third period.

The Knights score two power-play goals and added another while shorthanded. Kaufhold was pleased with the way he and his teammates moved the puck.

“Hopefully I’ll move the puck and get everyone involved,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t want everyone just doing it by themselves, so it’s good to include everyone. “

The Knights used two goals from Kaufhold and goals from Greenstein and Jeremy Porubski to take a 4-0 lead at the 11:53 mark of the first period and were in full control thereafter.

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis was pleased his team maintained its focus. “We continued to play for the entire game all the way to the very end,” he said. “That’s what we wanted to do. We had a similar game last week against Abington (an 11-1 win) and one tonight where I said to the guys ‘From start to finish, we’ve got to play to the very end. Whether it’s a 3-2 game or a game that ends early, that’s what we’ve got to do.’”

Justin Carrilelli scored for Tennent (3-6, 1-5) with 2:17 left in the first period and then again 57 seconds into the second to make it a 4-2 game. But North Penn responded with eight unanswered goals before the contest was halted.

The scoreline should in no way diminish the work of Tennent goaltender Thomas Lomas. The sophomore saw 50 shots in 41 minutes and 3 seconds of play and turned aside 38 of them. Many of his saves were difficult, several were nothing short of spectacular.

“He battled,” said Tennent coach Nick D’Aurizio. “We’re young. With that comes defensive deficiencies. We gave up (50) shots. For a sophomore to take that kind of onslaught; they were all quality chances. He played really well.

At the other end of the ice, North Penn junior, John Boyles made his first varsity appearance in goal and stopped eight of 10 shots.

“He came in and stopped the puck,” Vaitis said. “He did the things that we needed him to do and it was one of those things where all we needed him to do as make the saves that we would want him to make. He didn’t need to make any spectacular saves. I told all the guys in front of him that they had to elevate their games and help support him in his first start.”

North Penn 4 6 2—12

William Tennent 1 1 0—2

First-period goals: Jeremy Porubski (NP) from Ryan Cunningham and Zachery Kline, 5:51; Josh Kaufhold (NP) from Tony Tuozzo, 8:52; Tuozzo (NP) from Tyler Greenstein and Thomas Boyle, 9:33; Kaufhold (NP) from Greenstein, 11:53 (pp); Justin Carrilelli (WT) unassisted, 13:43.

Second-period goals: Carrilelli (WT) from Mason McKeever and Matthew Castan, :57; Kaufhold (NP) from Greenstein and Tuozzo, 2:22; Kaufhold (NP) from Greenstein, 3:29 (sh) Boyle (NP) from Kaufhold and Greenstein, 5:58 (pp); Boyle (NP) from Luke Van Why and Cunningham, 10:38 (pp); Greenstein (NP) from Kaufhold, 13:46; Cline (NP) from Porubski, 15:19.

Third-period goals: Kaufhold (NP) from Van Why and Tuozzo, 1:50; Cline (NP) from Van Why, 9:03.

Game called at 9:03 of the third period.

Shots: North Penn 50, William Tennent 10; Saves: John Boyles (NP) 8, Thomas Lomas (WT) 38.

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 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!

SHSHL Update for 12-15-19

SHSHL Standings Through Friday 12-13

Class AA W L OTW OTL/T Pts

Neshaminy (6-2-0-0) 5 1 0 0 10

C.B. South (6-0-0-1) 4 0 0 0 8

C.B. West (6-0-0-1)) 3 0 0 0 6

North Penn (4-2-0-0) 3 0 0 0 6

Pennsbury (5-2-0-0 3 2 0 0 6

C.R. South (2-3-0-0) 2 0 0 0 4

C.B. East (4-1-0-1) 1 1 0 2 4

Quakertown (0-4-0-0) 0 1 0 0 0

William Tennent (3-5-0-0) 1 4 0 0 2

Abington (1-4-1-0) 0 2 1 0 2

Souderton (0-6-0-1) 0 4 0 2 2

Pennridge (4-3-0-0) 1 2 0 0 2

Council Rock North (1-5-0-0) 0 4 0 0 0

Class A W L OTW OTL/T Pts

Plymouth Whitemarsh (6-1-0-0) 3 0 0 0 6

Wissahickon (3-4-0-0) 2 2 0 0 4

Hatboro-Horsham (6-2-0-0) 1 2 0 0 2

Lower Moreland (1-4-0-0) 1 1 0 0 2

Truman (0-6-0-0) 0 2 0 0 0

Standings are calculated as follows

2 points for a win whether in regulation or OT

1 point for a tie or overtime loss

If a game is tied at the end of regulation there will be five minutes of three-on-three overtime, similar to the NHL.

If the game is still tied it will be recorded as a tie game.

The shootout will not be used

Scoring

Class AA G A Pts

Jake Lang (CBW) 19 15 34

Chris Trefz (CBW) 9 19 28

Robert Seewagen (Nesh) 16 11 27

Sean Gorman (CBE) 12 1 13

Dominic Patrone (CBS) 8 9 17

Colin Abbonizio (CBS) 9 6 15

Joey DeMatteo (Nesh) 10 5 15

Jack Lowery (Pr) 10 4 14

Keith Orlando (CBW) 6 8 14

Beau Brusius-Yedman (Pb) 6 7 13

Justin Carelli (WT) 8 5 13

Sean Gorman (CBE) 12 1 13

Class A G A Pos

Aidan Keogh (PW) 12 11 23

Jake Weikel (PW) 9 10 19

Seth Lerner (HH) 9 7 16

Luke Weikel (PW) 7 9 16

Alex Howieson (HH) 9 10 19

Dean Keller (PW) 6 9 15

Colin Franzoni (PW) 6 4 10

Tarek Elsabbagh 6 4 10

Plymouth Whitemarsh 4, Hatboro-Horsham 3

WARWICK— It has been said by some observers that a hockey goaltender plays the most demanding position in any team sport. Playing the position well, in fact, at all, requires a unique mindset.

Friday’s Suburban High School Hockey League matchup between Hatboro-Horsham and Plymouth Whitemarsh offered a strong thesis to support that argument.

Aidan Keogh gave the Colonials a 4-3 win with 1:09 left in overtime when he stole the puck at the Hatter blue line and went in alone to score the winning goal.

It was the Colonials’ second win over the Hatters in eight days; thy were victorious 13-3 last Friday.

The storyline at Revolution Ice Gardens revolved around the two goaltenders, the Colonials’ Ben Yuter and Hatboro-Horsham’s Joe Gambino. Between them they faced 65 shots and made 58 saves. Gambino stopped 35 shots, Yuter 23. Both made some truly remarkable saves.

Plymouth Whitemarsh assistant coach Chris Zawislak was in charge behind the bench, filling in for the absent Josh Aiello.

“I thought both goaltenders played a great game today,” he said. “I saw their goaltender make at least three or four saves that kept them in the game as we made one of our big pushes in the second period, and especially in the third period … our goaltender came up huge.”

Each team scored a goal in each regulation period. The Hatters (6-2, 1-2 in the American Division) took a 3-2 lead 1:37 into the third frame when Alex Howieson beat Yuter from just inside the right faceoff circle. But with 2:23 left in regulation, the Colonials (6-1, 3-0) answered. Keogh took the puck behind the Hatboro-Horsham net and found Dean Keller in front who in turn deposited the puck behind Gambino to draw his team even.

Yuter had to come up big once more when his teammate Colin Franzoni drew a high sticking penalty with 1:17 left in regulation. The abbreviated power play was constricted further when the Hatters’ Nick Long was sent to the box himself with 11 seconds of regulation time remaining. As a result of all this, the Colonials spent some early portions of the overtime with four skaters to three advantage. Franzoni came close to ending the game he hit a post some 100 seconds into the five-minute session.

Both teams went three on three with 2:11 remaining before Keogh’s solo effort brought down the curtain on an entertaining evening of hockey.

Yuter enjoyed being tested by a quality opponent in the Hatters and facing a quality opposing goaltender in Gambino. “I’m always on my A game,” he said, “It’s just a reason to want it even more. We all just feed off of each other’s energy. When we’re able to score off a goaltender like that, it really just pumps us up. He’s an amazing goaltender, he had some really quality saves out there.”

Hatboro-Horsham coach Gianni Lafratta summed up the evening. “Both goalies stood on their heads,” he said. “At times they had support of all five teammates, at times they had to call their own shots.

“ It’s definitely not a game you want to lose, but definitely a tight battle and a better response to last week’s loss

Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 1 1 1—4

Hatboro-Horsham 1 1 1 0—3

First-period goals: Seth Lerner (HH) from Marcus Soucy, 4:23; Aidan Keogh (PW) from Jake Weikel, 13:46.

Second-period goals: Aidan Esack (HH) from Tarek Elsabbagh and Ziyad Elsabbagh, 6:49; Dean Keller (PW) from Logan Westerfer and Ben Lubas, 9:36.

Third-period goals: Alex Howieson (HH from Esack and Ziyad Elsabbagh, 1:34; Keller (PW) from Keogh, 13:37.

Overtime goal: Keogh (PW) unassisted, 3:51.

Shots: Plymouth Whitemarsh 39, Hatboro-Horsham 26; Saves: Joe Gambino (HH) 35, Ben Yuter (PW) 23.

Other scores: Pennsbury 9, Council Rock North 1

St. Joseph’s Prep 4, Father Judge 2

Central Bucks South 7, Neshaminy 3

HATFIELD— For roughly a decade now, Central Bucks South has set the standard against which the rest of the Suburban High School Hockey League is measured. On Thursday night, the Titans showed they still hold that distinction although it took them some time to do so.

Matt Buchinski, Nolan Geria, and Joey DeMatteo propelled Neshaminy to a 3-0 first-period lead. But the Titans woke up and scored five consecutive goals in the second period before adding two more in the third.

The 7-3 victory that resulted put South alone at the top of the SHSHL Class AA standings at 4-0 (6-0-0-1 overall). It was a win that didn’t come easily after the slow start but what transpired at Hatfield Ice Thursday night will serve as a primer for March, when both the Titans and the ‘Skins (6-2, 5-1) figure to be legitimate Flyers Cup contenders.

If there was a single moment that triggered the comeback, it might have been at the 7:02 mark of the first period following Geria’s goal when South coach Shaun McGinity called the only timeout he was permitted and delivered what would best be termed an inspirational address.

“I don’s think they deliberately came unprepared,” McGinity said of his troops. “I don’t think they overlooked Neshaminy. I don’t think they overlooked anybody or through anybody. Neshaminy has got firepower. (The Titans) just didn’t come ready to play.”

It took a while for McGinty’s message to sink in; DeMatteo put his team up 3-0 with 3:58 to play in the period.

But in the second frame, the Titans got rolling. Colin Abbonizio scored just 37 seconds into the period. Matt Milanesi made it a 3-2 game at the 3:18 mark off a feed from Dominic Patrone to complete a lovely session of tic-tac-toe. Goals from Abbonizio and Patrone followed before Abbonizio completed a hat trick at the 13:25 mark to give South a 5-3 lead.

All five goals came at even strength.
Patrone scored on a shorthanded effort 1:47 into the third period before Ryan Gingras scored a power-play goal with 8:33 left in the game.

“A lot of the (comeback effort) was from the coaches,” Abbonizio said. “They really kept us in it. We just went out there and played our game and we got seven goals.”

The Titans are young in spots this season but Abbonizio, the team’s captain, says the newcomers are taking their cues from the veterans. “The younger guys are always listening,” he said. “They’re willing to take whatever they can get from the older guys. I think their cooperation could contribute to us really going a long way.”

Neshaminy coach Matt DeMatteo noted his team couldn’t sustain its early momentum. “We had them on the ropes,” he said. “We were up 3-0 in the first period and the guys were playing the game plan. They switched some things up and we just adapt as well as I’d hoped.”

Despite the loss, the ‘Skins proved they belong on the list of the SHSHL’s upper-echelon teams. “Neshaminy’s a great team,” Abbonizio said. “They’re a great team and that’s something that we’ve told these guys. That was a playoff game right there.”

Neshaminy 3 0 0—3
C.B. South 0 5 2—7
First-period goals: Matt Buchinski (N) from Joey DeMatteo, 2:43; Nolan Geria’s (N) unassisted, 7:02; DeMatteo (N) unassisted, 12:02.
Second-period goals: Colin Abbonizio (CBS) from Brian Keilman and Matt Milanesi, :37; Milanesi (CBS) from Dominic Patrone, 3:18; Abbonizio (CBS) from David Kutcher, 4:53; Patrone (CBS) from Milanesi, 10:06; Abbonizio (CBS) from Stephen McMillan, 13:25.
Third-period goals: Patrone (CS) from Keilman, 1:47 (sh); Ryan Gingras (CBS) from Patrone, 7:27 (pp).
Shots: Neshaminy 22, C.B. South 30; Saves: Brian Nelson (N) 23, Evan Moyer (CBS) 19

SHSHL Update for 12-8-19

Class AA W L OTW OTL/T Pts

Neshaminy (5-1-0-0) 4 0 0 0 8

C.B. South (5-0-0-1) 3 0 0 0 6

C.B. West (5-0-0-1)) 3 0 0 0 6

North Penn (3-2-0-0) 2 0 0 0 4

C.B. East (4-1-0-1) 1 1 0 1 3

C.R. South (1-3-0-0) 1 0 0 0 2

Pennsbury (3-2-0-0) 1 2 0 0 2

Quakertown (0-3-0-0) 0 0 0 0 0

William Tennent (3-3-0-0) 1 2 0 0 2

Abington (1-3-1-0) 0 1 1 0 2

Souderton (0-3-0-1) 0 2 0 1 1

Pennridge (3-2-0-0) 0 2 0 0 0

Council Rock North (1-5-0-0) 0 4 0 0 0

Class A W L OTW OTL/T Pts

Plymouth Whitemarsh (5-1-0-0) 2 0 0 0 4

Lower Moreland (1-4-0-0) 1 1 0 0 2 Wissahickon (2-3-0-0) 1 1 0 0 2

Hatboro-Horsham (5-1-0-0) 0 1 0 0 0

Truman (0-5-0-0) 0 1 0 0 0

Standings are calculated as follows

2 points for a win whether in regulation or OT

1 point for a tie or overtime loss

If a game is tied at the end of regulation there will be five minutes of three-on-three overtime, similar to the NHL.

If the game is still tied it will be recorded as a tie game.

The shootout will not be used

Scoring

Class AA G A Pts

Jake Lang (CBW) 18 14 32

Chris Trefz (CBW) 9 19 28

Robert Seewagen (Nesh) 13 10 23

Sean Gorman (CBE) 12 1 13

Dominic Patrone (CBS) 6 7 13

Keith Orlando (CBE) 5 8 13

Joey DeMatteo (Nesh) 8 4 12

Phil McIntyre (CBE) 4 8 12

Colin Abbonizio (CBS) 6 6 12

Bogden Borodenlo (CBE) 9 2 11

Justin Carrelli (WT) 7 4 11

Mason McKeever (WT) 8 3 11

(seven players with 7)

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Class A G A Pos

Aidan Keogh (PW) 11 10 21

Jake Weikel (PW) 9 9 18

Seth Lerner (HH) 9 7 16

Luke Weikel (PW) 7 9 16

Alex Howieson (HH) 7 8 15

Dean Keller (PW) 6 9 15

Colin Franzoni (PW) 6 4 10

Tarek Elsabbagh 6 3 9

Goals Against

Class AA MP GA GAA

Mason Moyer (CBS) 288 7 1.16

Brian Nelson (Nesh) 258 9 1.67

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS) 128 5 1.88

Jake Coddington (CBW) 275 12 2.09

Chris McIntyre (CBE) 245 17 3.32

Class A MP GA GAA

Kolton Galie (PW) 96 3 1.50

Ben Yuter (PW) 192 11 2.75

Joe Gambimo (HH) 192 12 3.00

Save Percentage

Class AA MP Shots GA Sv Pct.

Mason Moyer (CBS) 288 132 7 .947

Jimmy Sweeney 128 60 5 .917

Chris McIntyre (CBE) 245 191 17 .911

Brian Nelson (Nesh) 258 87 9 .897

Jake Coddington (CBW) 275 116 12 .897

Class A MP Shots GA Sv Pct/

Joe Gambino (HH)) 192 162 12 .926

Kolton Galie (PW) 96 24 3 .875

Ben Yuter (PW) 192 88 11 .875

Thanksgiving Eve Hockey Scores

Pennsbury 4, Neshaminy 3

Upper Dublin 12, Truman 2

William Tennent 14, Archbishop Wood 4

Hatboro-Horsham 6, Moreland/NHS 4

Central Bucks East 5, Central Bucks West 4 OT

Council Rock South 11, Council Rock North 1

Central Bucks South 5, North Penn 1

Pennridge 6, Souderton 1

Malvern Prep 3 vs. Cardinal O’Hara 1

Holy Ghost Prep 4, Father Judge 2

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Wednesday’s Neshaminy-Pennsbury Game Will Send a Powerful Message

Like the other games being played around the Suburban High School Hockey League on Wednesday night, the matchup between Pennsbury and Neshaminy (7:20 at Grundy Arena) won’t count in the league standings. But it will be a special occasion, and an emotional one.

The two teams will play for the Gannon Cup, which is named for Patrick Gannon a former Neshaminy Middle School hockey player who tragically died in an accident at age 13. He played club hockey with many of the players on both teams who will be in uniform Wednesday night.

“We thought it would be a great way to remember him during the game every year,” said Neshaminy coach Matt DeMatteo.

Neshaminy won the inaugural Gannon Cup game last year

As tragic as Patrick Gannon’s death was, he gave back to others via organ donation. The game is being played in part to benefit the Donate Life and the Gift of Life Foundation in his memory. There will be an assortment of gift basket raffles and a Chuck-a-Duck fund raiser.,

Patrick Gannon will be recognized prior to game time along with Phil Oseredzuk, a former Neshaminy player who was killed in a kayaking accident last May at age 16. His jersey will be retired before the game and will thereafter be displayed at Grundy Arena.

SHSHL Update 12-2-19

SHSHL Standings Through Friday 11-29

Class AA W L OTW OTL/T Pts

Neshaminy (4-1-0-0) 3 0 0 0 6

C.B. East (3-0-1-1)) 1 0 0 1 3

C.B. South (4-0-0-1) 2 0 0 0 2

C.B. West (4-0-0-1)) 2 0 0 0 2

North Penn (2-2-0-0) 1 0 0 0 2

Pennsbury (3-1-0-0) 1 1 0 0 2

C.R. South (1-3-0-0) 0 0 0 0 0

Quakertown (0-2-0-0) 0 0 0 0 0

William Tennent (1-2-0-0) 0 1 0 0 0

Abington (1-3-0-0) 0 1 0 0 0

Council Rock North (1-4-0-0) 0 2 0 0 0

Pennridge (2-2-0-0) 0 2 0 0 0

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

Class A W L OTW OTL/T Pts

Plymouth Whitemarsh (4-1-0-0) 1 0 0 0 2

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

Hatboro-Horsham (5-0-0-0) 0 0 0 0 0

Lower Moreland (0-4-0-0) 0 1 0 0 0

Truman (0-5-0-0) 0 1 0 0 0

Standings are calculated as follows

2 points for a win whether in regulation or OT

1 point for a tie or overtime loss

If a game is tied at the end of regulation there will be five minutes of three-on-three overtime, similar to the NHL.

If the game is still tied it will be recorded as a tie game.

The shootout will not be used

Scoring

Class AA G A Pts

Jake Lang (CBW) 17 12 29

Chris Trefz (CBW) 7 18 25

Robert Seewagen (Nesh) 11 9 20

Joey DeMatteo (Nesh) 8 4 12

Phil McIntyre (CBE) 4 8 12

Sean Gorman (CBE) 11 1 12

Bogden Biredenko (CBE) 9 2 11

Colin Abbonizio (CBS) 6 4 10

Mason McKeever (WT) 7 3 10

Keith Orlando (CBW) 4 6 10

Class A G A Pos

Seth Lerner (HH) 8 6 14

Alex Howieson (HH) 7 7 14

Aidan Keogh (PW) 8 5 13

Jake Weikel (PW) 6 6 12

Luke Weikel (PW) 5 7 12

Dean Keller (PW) 4 7 11

Colin Franzoni (PW) 4 4 8

Tank Elsabbagh (HH) 5 2 7

James McCoy (HH) 3 4 7

Logan Wesrerfer (PW) 2 5 7

Faith Family and Football is the story of the life and career of longtime Lansdale Catholic football coach Jim Algeo and his wife Mickey, who passed away on November 16. The story is told through the eyes of the author, their daughter Bridget. It captures the essence of a man who was passionate about football, but more passionate about his faith and his family, and having a positive impact on the lives of the young men who played for him than he was about winning any football game.

If you’re any kind of a high school sports fan, you will find this book thoroughly enjoyable. You can order on line at Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble

Goals Against

Class AA MP GA GAA

Mason Moyer (CBS) 240 7 1.40

Brian Nelson (Nesh) 210 8 1.83

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS) 128 5 1.88

Jake Coddington (CBW) 243 10 1.97

Chris McIntyre (CBE) 197 11 2.67

Class A MP GA GAA

Kolton Galie (PW) 96 3 1.50

Ben Yuter (PW) 144 8 2.67

Joe Gambimo (HH) 192 12 3.00

Chris Shea (Wiss) 192 26 6.50

Save Percentage

Class AA MP Shots GA Sv Pct.

Mason Moyer (CBS) 240 129 7 .946

Chris McIntyre (CBE) 197 148 11 .926

Jimmy Sweeney 128 60 55 .917

Austin Stout (Q) 96 118 10 .915

Jake Coddington (CBW) 243 100 10 .900

Class A MP Shots GA. Sv Pct

Joe Gambino (HH)) 192 150 12 .926

Ben Yuter (PW) 144 67 8 .881

Kolton Galie (PW) 96 24 3 .875

Goaltenders must play a minimum of 96 minutes to be listed

High School Hockey as Much a Part of Thanksgiving as Turkey

The Suburban High School Hockey League’s schedule of Thanksgiving Eve games may be the league’s most enduring tradition. By any measure, it’s a highlight of the season, an occasion for alumni to reconnect with former teammates and for today’s players to connect with the history of their respective clubs. Many of matchups are traditional rivalries.

There are four SHSHL doubleheaders on the schedule Wednesday night. In addition, two Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference teams will see action.

The schedule

Neshaminy vs. Pennsbury 7:20 at Grundy Arena

Truman vs. Upper Dublin 9:00 at Grundy Arena

William Tennent vs. Archbishop Wood 7:00 at Bucks County Ice Sports Center

Hatboro-Horsham vs Moreland/NHS 9:00 at Bucks County Ice Sports Center

C.B. East vs. C.B. West 7:00 at Revolution Ice Gardens

C.R. North vs. C.R. South 9:00 at Revolution Ice Gardens

Central Bucks South vs. North Penn 7:00 at Hatfield Ice

Pennridge vs. Souderton 9:00 at Hatfield Ice

Malvern Prep vs. Cardinal O’Hara 6:45 at Skatium

Holy Ghost Prep vs. Father Judge 7:00 at Flyers Skate Zone NE

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One Step at a Time

Chris Gallagher has some definite ideas about what he wants the hockey program at Council Rock North to be.

By Rick Woelfel

Council Rock North took another step forward Thursday night. The Indians fell to Central Bucks West 11-0 at Hatfield Ice in a Suburban High School Hockey League matchup that was called after the second period but there were an abundance of signs the program is moving in the right direction.

North had just 12 skaters and a goaltender in uniform. Eight of the skaters were freshmen and no one on the blueline corps had any experience there prior to the start of this season, but the Indians played hard and maintained their composure against an unbeaten West team (4-0) that was more mature physically and processed superior skating ability.

“I was happy with the way the boys played,” said North coach Chris Gallagher, “and I thought they put a lot of effort in tonight. They’re learning on the fly and everyone appreciates the effort.”

Gallagher has put in a lot of effort himself over two seasons plus, resurrecting a program that dropped off the radar because of declining numbers. He and assistant coach Mike Epstein understand that building a quality program doesn’t happen overnight. But Gallagher has a plan in place.

“One was to have a middle-school program (originally run by Epstein),” he said. “Two was to have good kids play. Kids you could be proud of and get the numbers up, and I think we see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Senior Colin Kiefer is North’s captain. He will not be around to see his leadership efforts come to complete fruition. But what the North program will become over the next few seasons will be determined in part by the example Kiefer is setting now.

“My sophomore year we had nine seniors,” he said,” and we were just phenomenal. We played really well that season and obviously lost year we lost them all. We’ve got a new of new freshmen. It’s definitely going to be an experience teaching them how to play high-school hockey and what it’s like. It’s definitely a lot different than club hockey.”

Kiefer points out wearing a jersey with a school’s name on it brings with it a certain responsibility. That’s a point he tries to get across to his younger teammates.“They need to understand that this is a serious thing and represent the school,” he said.

Another element in building a program is building a relationship between the hockey club and the school’s administration. Gallagher says the process starts in the classroom.

“That’s probably my number-one priority this year,” he said, “Making sure these kids are student-athletes. They’re excelling the in the classroom, they’re doing the best they can on the ice, but they’re becoming good people and people that we can be proud of that are going to graduate from this program.

“They’re complying with the same requirements that every student-athlete has at North and if there are any incidents at school or on the ice, there’s going to be consequences and if any grades aren’t up to our requirements there’s going to be consequences as well.”

Like hockey programs at other public schools in the area and many probate ones, the Indians are a club team and not a varsity sport. But like many of his peers who oversee programs at other schools, Gallagher wants a good relationship with the school whose name his players carry on their jerseys.

“We’re not owed anything from Council Rock North,” he said. “We have a great group of kids here and we’re looking to set an example that we’re doing things the right way.”

The Game—Jake Lang had a big night for the Bucks with four goals and three assists. Seven other players score one goal each. West is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. The Indians dropped to 1-3 and 0-2.

Council Rock North 0 0 x—0
C.B. West 4 7 x—11
First-period goals: Billy Loughnane (CBW) from Reese Dalzell, 1:31; Chris Trefz (CBW) from Evan Hee and Grant Funseth, 3:34; Nikita Ushakov (CBW) from Jake Lang and Sammy Poliak, 8:58; Hee (CBW) from Lang and Keith Orlando, 15:49.
Second-period goals: Lang (CBW) from Funseth, 1:51; Jack Boland (CBW) from Poliak and Hee, 2:18; Lang (CBW) from Ushakov and Orlando, 10:11; Orlando (CBW) from Lang and Trefz, 10:40; Lang (CBW) from Trefz and Orlando, 12:09 (pp); Lang (CBW) from Loughnane and Poliak, 13:29; Ben Morris (CBW) from Funseth 15:39.
Shots: Council Rock North 11, C.B. West 35; Saves: Rex Goldberg (CRN), Jake Coddingfton (CBW) 11.