WARWICK—For Pennridge it was all in an evening’s work. The Rams remained unbeaten Wednesday night with a 5-0 win over Central Bucks East in a SHSHL Class AA matchup at Revolution Ice Gardens.

Pennridge is now a perfect 10-0 on the season, 6-0 in divisional play, and sits atop the Flyers Cup Class AA rankings to boot.

Adam Boyle scored two goals and assisted on another. Aerek Lehrhaupt also scored twice as the Rams bested the Patriots for the second time this season; they prevailed 5-1 on December 8.

“We talked before the game,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna. It was a point of emphasis the way we played against them last time. We did not play well and they outworked us last game.

“We stressed that in the locker room all week, about getting off to a better start against this team and not being outworked.”

The Rams dominated the first period although they scored just once. Boyle collected a loose puck in front of the East net and tucked it inside the left post with 4:16 left in the opening session.
As is often case in such circumstances, it was a case of a goaltender keeping his team in the game. In this case was the netminder was Matt Magiacapre who was credited with no few 26 saves in the opening 17 minutes and gave the Patriots (3-7, 2-4 in the division) reason to hope.

But East’s hopes were dashed 5:10 into the second frame when Shane Dachowski scored for the Rams on a breakaway while his team was skating two men short.

Boyle added his second goal of the night at the 14:14 mark before Lehrhaupt added two goals in the third period.

Emotions boiled over with 9:21 left in regulation when the Rams’ Pierce McGinley took the Patriots’ Kyle McIntyre into the wall on the Pennridge’s offensive right wing just beyond the faceoff circle. No penalty was called on the play. Phil McIntyre stepped up in defense of his brother and teammate and wound up drawing nine minutes in penalties; minor penalties for elbowing and roughing, plus a major. As a result, the Patriots were shorthanded virtually all of the rest of the game. but they kept battling.

“I loved how we stayed in the game the whole team,” said Central Bucks East coach Jeff Mitchell. “They put a lot of shots up on us in the first period so I was starting to get a little worried that we were sitting on our heels. But, the boys kept fighting back, it just wasn’t going I for us tonight.”

Montagna works to keep his team focused on the task at hand while also acknowledging what is possible. He’s counting on his seniors to show the way.

“The seniors that we have have been through this,” he said. “They know there’s a bigger goal than just getting through the regular season and they’ve been real good about teaching the other guys that and telling them that. They know what we’re fighting for.”

Ice Chips—Ryan Pico pitched a shutout in goal, making 24 saves while Mangiacapre was credited with 44 … The Rams will make up a game with Pennsbury Monday night at Hatfield Ice (6:20 start).

Pennridge 1 2 2—5

C.B. East 0 0 0—0

First-period goals: Adam Boyle (P) unassisted, 12:44

Second-period goals: Shane Dachowski (P) from Boyle and Colin Dachowski, 5:10 (sh); Boyle (P) unassisted, 14:14

Third-period goals: Aerek Lehrhaupt (P) from Colin Dachowski, 6:43; Lehhaupt (P) unassisted, 12:40

Shots: Pennridge 49, C.B. East 24; Saves: Ryan Pico (P) 24, Matt Mangiacapre (CBE) 44

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 full 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!

Jeff Mauro has written a book on the history of the Pennsylvania state high school hockey championship. To find out more and order a copy CLICK HERE