Haverford 4, Pennridge 1

WEST GOSHEN— It took Haverford some time to get started Wednesday night. But over the course of 51 minutes the Fords found the right gear and prevailed 4-1 over Pennridge in a Class AA Flyers Cup semifinal at Ice Line.

Third-seeded Haverford (15-1), a winner of its last 13 starts, will face top-seed Downingtown West in Tuesday’s final at Ice Line (6:15 start). The 10th-seeded Rams closed their season at 10-6.

At the evening’s outset, the Rams face the question of how to neutralize Haverford’s speed.
They were successful for most of the first period until Dane Fichette drew the game’s first penalty at the 11:10 mark, giving the Fords the game’s first power play.

It was Pennridge however who got on the scoreboard first when Aidan Boyle blocked a shot from the high slot, which set up Aeryk Lehrhaupt for a shorthanded breakaway. Lehrhaupt deposited the puck behind Haverford goaltender Jai Jani at 13:25.

The Rams maintained their lead past the midway point of the second period but the momentum was starting to shifting the Fords’ way when Quinn Carson tied the game with at the 11:41 mark of the period; his shot from the right wing caromed off Pennridge netminder Ryan Pico and into the net.

Haverford took the lead three-and-a-minutes later when Dan Quartapella tried to score on a wraparound inside the right post. Pico made the save but Alex Gattone poked in the rebound.

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna saw Gattone’s goal as a turning point. “That second goal took a lot out of us,” he said.

By that point, Pico was keeping Pennridge in the game; after two periods The Rams were being outshot 27-14.

The Fords controlled the third period. Jacob Orazi extended his team’s lead when he scored a shorthanded goal at the 6:44 mark off a turnover in the Pennridge zone. Dan Quartapella completed the scoring for the evening at at 10:14. At evening’s end, the Fords’ shot advantage was 37-18.

Montagna saluted his team’s effort. “They did what I wanted,” he said. “They did it our way. It wasn’t sitting back and it wasn’t just waiting for the inevitable to come, They took it to them to start that game as best they could.”

The person perhaps most impressed by Pennridge’s performance was Haverford coach John Povey. “Pennridge gave us everything that we could handle,” he said. Hats off to their team, hats off to their coaching staff.

“That was one of the tougher games we’ve played all year. Hats off to them, but hats off to our guys, down 1-0. I don’t think we’d trailed in a game since the beginning of February, so it was good for us to find a way to win.”

The Fords made some adjustments to neutralize the Rams’ early surge. “We just started getting pucks behind their (defense),” Povey said. Our forecheck was really good. Halfway through the game, we were able to possess the puck and wear them down a little bit.”

The Rams had a long ride home Wednesday night but Blake Stewart, their captain, was quick to point out that the Rams earned the right to hold their heads high at evening’s end.

“We came into the season with low expectations,” he said. “I can say right now, no one thought we’d be here, especially the only SHSHL team here. And that gave us firepower. We came into the playoffs, we came into the Flyers Cup with nothing to lose. We did nothing but prove people wrong.”

Downingtown West defeated 12th seed Avon Grove 4-3 in the other semifinal.

Pennridge 1 0 0—1
Haverford 0 2 2—4
First-period goals: Aeryk Lehrhaupt (P) from Aidan Boyle, 13:25 (sh)
Second period goals: Quinn Carson (H) from Daniel Quartapella and Nate Rabadam, 11:41; Alex Gattone (H) from Quartapella and Carson, 15:13
Third-period goals: Jacob Orazi (H) from Rabadam and Cally Moran, 6:44 (sh); Quartapella (H) Rabadam, 10:41
Shots: Pennridge 18, Haverford 37; Saves: Ryan Pico (P) 33, Jai Jani (H) 17

Rams Reach out to a Family in Need

The hockey community is renowned for rallying around those in need of support. So it was on Wednesday night when Pennridge and Quakertown came together for a hockey game that was about much more than what happened on the rink.

In conjunction with their regularly scheduled SHSHL matchup at Hatfield Ice, the Rams, with help from the Panthers, held a fundraiser for two Pennridge students. Lexi and Abigail Boleski, who were involved in an automobile accident last Friday. Both were hospitalized and Abigail required surgery.

The sisters are acquainted with members of the Pennridge hockey team.

Pennridge junior Blake Stewart helped organize the effort. “All of us felt really bad,” he said, “but my buddy (and teammate) Conrad Frisch wanted to do something to help this girl out and I was totally on board. We brought the idea of having a 50-50 raffle to the board and promoting it to get a good amount of kids from Pennridge and some from Quakertown to come out to the game.”

The plan came together on Wednesday night. The proceeds from the evening, nearly $1,600, were donated to a Go Fund Me page that was set up in support of the Boleski family.

The two officials who worked the game, Kevin Vena and Christian Haas, donated their game fees to support the effort.

As of early Friday afternoon, over $25,000 had been donated through the site with a goal of $30,000.

Glenn Stewart, Blake’s father, sits on the board of the Pennridge Ice Hockey Club. “We are so proud of the boys pulling this together in two days, not only Blake and Connor but the entire Pennridge team did this all on their own. We have a great group of kids and community.”

Pennridge 12, C.B. West 2

HATFIELD—Pennridge got hot early Thursday night and stayed hot. Blake Stewart scored three goals and assisted on three others and Jeff Manto scored three goals of his own as the Rams blasted Central Bucks West 12-2 in a Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA game at Hatfield Ice.

Pennridge is just 2-4 in league play but has improved to 5-5 overall. With the start of the new year, a young team is beginning to blossom.

“I didn’t really see that coming,” said Ram coach Jeff Montagna. “We’ve just been preaching, ‘Do things the right way. And more times than not, it’s going to go your way. If it doesn’t, keep going at it.’

“They got some breaks tonight.You’re not going to beat that team 12-2 very often.”
The opening period featured five goals in a 10-and-a-half minute span. The Rams opened the scoring 2:30 into the period when Connor Frisch delivers a wrister from 10 feet inside the West blue line. Arek Lehrhaupt made it a 2-0 game at the 5:25 mark. Luke Tremmel scored for West at 7:33 to cut the margin in half but Pennridge took over from there. Jack Lowery extended his team’s lead at the 9:41 mark before Stewart ended the flurry with a goal at 10:58.

The Bucks (6-1-1-1, 3-1-1 in the league) were shorthanded because of injuries. They had just 13 skaters available including four freshmen. West coach Dave Baun felt his team was suffering the effects of the holiday layoff.

“That’s what a team that relies in structure looks like when they play without any,” he said. “We haven’t practiced for a month and a lot of the things that we work on a lot were clearly forgotten.”

The Rams kept coming in the second period when Stewart and Manto scored two goals apiece.

Kyle Fasolak replaced Jeff Coddington in the West net at the start of the final period. Tremmel scored a second goal for the Bucks but the Rams scored four times themselves before Manto completed his hat trick to send everyone home with 1:05 left in regulation.

“It was a great feeling to have it all click,” Manto said. “It felt real good as a a team.”

Manto is hoping Thursday’s win will give his team a jump start as the long match to the postseason begins. “Hopefully it will give us a confidence boost,” the junior said.

Stewart, who is also a junior, is optimistic about what lies ahead for Rams. “We’re a young team,” he said, and if we just connect like we have been all season we’ll get a lot of goals. And out a lot of pressure on these other teams.”

Notes— Thursday’s game was the second and final meeting between the two teams this season. The Rams suffered a 4-3 loss to the Bucks in a non-league encounter a week before Christmas.
C.B. West 1 0 1—2
Pennridge 4 4 4—12

First-period goals: Connor Frisch (P) unassisted, 2:30; Arek Lehrhaupt (P) from Blake Stewart, 5:25; Luke Tremmel (CBW) from Danny Poliak, 7:33; Jack Lowery (P) from Lehrhaupt, 9:41; Blake Stewart (P) unassisted, 10:58.
Second-period goals: Stewart (P) from Andrew David and Richie Shanks, :48; Jeff Manto (P) from Stewart, 7:11(sh); Stewart (P) from Shanks, 13:00; Manto (P) from Lowery, 14:34.
Third-period goals: Jacob Lizak from Sian Boyle and Cooper White; 53; David (P) from Stewart, 1:43; Tremmel (CBW) from Poliak, 8:38; Manto (P) from Frisch, 11:39; Shanks (P) from Frisch, 14:55.
Shots, C.B. West 27, Pennridge 42; Saves: Jake Coddington (CBW) 22 and Kyle Fasolak (CBW) 8, Ryan Pico (P) 25.