Central Bucks East 5, Central Bucks West 0

HATFIELD— Central Bucks East did a lot of things well on Wednesday night. The Patriots strengthened their case for a place in the Class AA Flyers Cup field with a 5-0 win over Central Bucks West at Hatfield Ice in a SHSHL matchup. Sean Gorman scored twice for East, which is now 9-2-1-1 overall and 6-2-1-1 in divisional play. They were ranked 10th in the Flyers Cup power rankings at the start of the week.

Sean Gorman scored twice for the Patriots, but the evening will be remembered for what happened at the other end of the ice, where Chris McIntyre was perfect. He saw 55 shots and turned aside every one of them.

“I don’s think in all my years of coaching I ever saw a team get (55) shots and not win,” said West coach Dave Baun, “let alone lose 5-0.”

The Bucks (6-4-2-1, 3-4-2-0 in the division) didn’t make it easy on McIntyre. Many of their shots were dangerous and several we’re from point-blank range. But the junior was more than equal to the task.

“He was technically superb,” Baun said.

It was Senior Night for both schools but McIntyre didn’t prepare any differently than usual. “I try to be sharp for every game,” he said, “prepare the same for every game, even if I’m not playing. Every game is the same.”

Connor Keiser and Phil McIntyre scored first-period goals to give the Patriots a 2-0 lead. Chris McIntyre signaled what was to come when he denied Jake Lang on a breakaway with just over five minutes left in the period. Lang is the leading scorer in the SHSHL’s Class AA division.

The Bucks had a chance to get back in the game six-and-a-half minutes into the middle period when back-to back penalties to Max Ermigiotti and Marc Green gave them a two-man advantage for 1 minute, 39 seconds. West failed to score however and Keiser added his second goal of the night nine seconds after the second penalty expired to make it a 3-0 game.

Gorman added two goals in the third period. The final shot totals were 55-33. In the Bucks’ favor. West failed to score despite having six power-play chances.

That statistic was a concern to East coach Ken Latchum. “Your goalkeeper makes up for your mistakes,” he said, “and he made up for every one of them.””

With Flyers Cup selection Sunday now three-and-a-half weeks out, Latchum senses his team is getting more focused. “We’re starting to hit a good stride,” he said, “a very good stride. “Tonight they were hyped, they were playing as a team.

“I thought our first period was probably our best period. (Then) we started taking penalties.”
C.B. East 2 1 2—5
C.B. West 0 0 0—0
First-period goals: Connor Keiser (CBE) from Ian Treger, 5:24; Phil McIntyre (CBE) from Sean Gorman, 8:22.
Second-period goals: Conner Keiser (CBE) unassisted, 8:31.
Third-period goals: Sean Gorman (CBE) from Max Ermigiotti, 12:21; Gorman (CBE) unassisted,14:06.
Shots: C.B. East 33, C.B. West 55; Saves: Chris McIntyre (CBE) 55, Jake Coddington (CBW) 28

Central Bucks East 4, Pennridge 1

HATFIELD— Central Bucks East and Pennridge came into Friday night’s Suburban High School Hockey League matchup shorthanded. The Patriots were without leading scorer Sean Gorman who was serving a suspension. The Rams were minus goaltender Ryan Pico (3.43 GAA) who was absent.

It was East that earned the decision, 4-1 at Hatfield Ice to improve to 5-1-0-1 overall and 2-1-0-1 in SHSHL Class AA play. The Rams slipped to 4-5 overall and 1-4 in league play. It was their second loss in a 24-hour span; they dropped a 5-1 decision to Council Rock South on Wednesday.

Pennridge actually had a 36-31 edge in shots but junior Chris McIntyre was sharp in the East net.

“I think he’s the best in the league,” said Central Bucks East assistant coach Mike Capps. He works very hard at it. He keeps us in every game.”

The Patriots gave McIntyre some breathing room when Bogen Borodenko beat Pennridge netminder Jacob Gilbert at the 6:31 mark of the first period. Aiden Schmidt, Phil McIntryre, and Borodenko added goals in a span of 4:45 to give East a 4-0 lead with 6:17 left in the second session.

None of the goals were Gilbert’s fault. The freshman was making his first varsity appearance and more than acquitted himself well by stopping 27 shots.

“I thought he would play well,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna. “I didn’t know if (the setting) would be too big for him. They were legit goals, there were no softies.”

The Rams had two big opportunities to get back in the game. The first occurred with 1:18 left in the second period when the Patriots’ Connor Keiser drew a five-minute major penalty plus a game misconduct for a hit on Pennridge’s Dane Fichett. The Rams’ power play sputtered however and they never mounted a serious threat during the man advantage.

Pennridge got another chance at the 4:28 mark of the third period when the Patriots’ Max Ermigiotti received a major penalty for head contact plus a game misconduct. The Rams scored a goal during the subsequent power play when Jack Lowery found the net at the 6:25 mark but that was his team’s only serious chance during two extended power plays.

“With a lot of new guys, we really haven’t had a chance to work on that with a lot of the things we’ve had to do,” Montagna said, “I just told them, we’ve got to be better. For as well as we played, we just gave away opportunities there.”

C.B. East 1 3 0—4

Pennridge 0 0 1—1

First-period goal: Bogen Borodenko (CBE) from Matt Cipriano and Aiden Schmidt, 6:31.

Second-period goals: Schmidt (CBE) from Phil McIntyre (CBE) and Tyler Godown, 4:58; McIntyre (CBE) from Schmidt and Ian Treger, 7:37; Borodenko (CBE) from Schmidt and McIntyre, 9:43.

Third-period goal: Jack Lowery (P) from Conrad Frisch, 6:25 (pp).

Shots: Central Bucks East 31, Pennridge 36; Saves: Chris McIntyre (CBE) 35, Jacob Gilbert (P) 27

Elsewhere:

Holy Ghost Prep 2, St. Joseph’s Prep 1 OT—Brady Baesher scored in overtime to give the Firebirds the win over the Hawks at the Class of 1923 Arena. The two teams traded goals in the second period.

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!

Central Bucks East 2, Abington 2

WILLOW GROVE—As is the case with most high-school hockey games, there were moments of brilliance mixed with a miscalculation or two. When the final buzzer sounded, Central Bucks East and Abington had skated to a 2-2 draw Thursday night at Wintersport Arena in front of an audience that had turned out in large part to celebrate the Galloping Ghosts’ Senior Night festivities.

Perry Carpenter, playing in his final true home game, tied the game for Abington with 7:14 left in the third period when he scored off a left-wing faceoff that he himself took. His laser-like shot beat East goaltender Chris McIntyre in a matchup of the two players who, it could be argued, were the best on the ice for their respective sides.

“Our defenseman shot it,” Carpenter said, “and it got tipped. One of my wingers shot it with his backhand and I just shot it, hoping to get a scoring opportunity.”

Jeff Carp had given the Patriots a 2-1 led when he beat Mason Large in the Abington net on a shot from the right circle at the 5:03 mark of the third frame.

Carpenter’s goal, his 17^th of the season, kept Abington’s Suburban High School Hockey League playoff hopes alive. The Galloping Ghosts now stand at 3-7-4 overall and 2-5-3 in the Class AA standings for seven points with one league game remaining.

The tie allowed the Patriots to pick up a point; they now carry a mark of 9-4-2 overall and 5-4-1 in league play and have what would appear to be a firm hold on a playoff spot.

The player with the biggest smile at the end of the night was likely McIntyre. The sophomore netminder hadn’t played in a game since before Christmas for medical reasons but returned to action Wednesday in a 5-1 won over Truman. He came into the week with a goals-against average of 2.60 and a league-best save percentage of .912 before recording 25 saves Thursday night.

“It feels great to be back on the ice,” he said. “I was on the ice all week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and today. It feels great. I enjoy it a lot.”

McIntyre said he only had to deal with a minimal amount of rust as he prepared for a return to game competition. “A little bit on Monday,” he said, “but that was it, and I kind of got back into it.”

Sean Gorman put East up 1-0 7:50 in to a first period that saw McIntyre make three superb saves. Ryan Gosselin tied the game for Abington 5:13 into the second frame.

The Galloping Ghosts lost senior defenseman Elijah Coston at the 8:53 mark of the second period after a tussle with East’s Max Ermigliotti earned him a double minor plus a misconduct and a game misconduct.

Large, who, along with Carpenter and Coston, was part of an eight-member senior class that was honored before the game, was as sharp as McIntyre, and finished with 26 saves.

Central Bucks East 1 0 1—2

Abington 0 1 1—2

First-period goal: Sean Gorman (CBE) from Rob Kern and Shane West, 7:50.

Second-period goal: Ryan Gosselin (A) unassisted, 5:13 (pp).

Third-period goals: Jeff Carp (CBE) from Nick Locastro, 3:33; Perry Carpenter (A) unassisted, 8:46.

Shots: C.B. East 28, Abington 27; Saves: Chris McIntyre (CBE) 25, Mason Large (A) 26.

SHSHL By the Numbers

Suburban High School Hockey League statistics as of 1-6-19

Scoring GP Goals Assists Points

Sean Gary Wiss 8 22 15 37

Bryan Gary Wiss 8 22 12 34

Dean Keller PW 9 13 18 31

Vincent DeMaio LM 9 16 14 30

Coleman Peppelman LM 9 18 11 29

Tyler Greenstein NP 10 15 12 27

Nathan Oh NP 10 10 14 24

Perry Carpenter Ab 8 15 8 23

Steven Avellino Tr 8 17 5 22

Reis Bracio CBS 9 11 10 21

Eric Slater Pr 7 17 4 21

Matt Cade Wiss 8 10 11 21

Ari Nordlinger UD 8 12 9 21

Colin Franzoni PW 9 13 8 21

Jake Weikel PW 9 15 6 21

Josh Kaufhold NP 10 6 14 20

John Gray Soud 9 12 8 20

Devin Green LM 9 8 12 20

Goals against Ave.(Min. 192 minutes played) GP Min. GAA

Chris McIntyre CBE 8 240 2.60

Luke Stranik Pr 7 329 2.62

Andrew Zanoni NP 8 240 2.80

Nick Ebbinghus NP 8 240 2.80

Joe Gambino HH 8 336 3.14

Ben Yuter PW 8 312 3.22

Oscar Levin CBS 8 312 3.23

Jimmy Sweeney CRS 6 208 3.46

Michael Henderson Wiss 8 384 3.50

Steven Glik, Nesh 8 336 3.86

Save Percentage (Min 192 minutes played) GP Min Sv Pct.

Chris McIntyre CBE 8 240 .912

Steveb Glik Nesh 8 336 .902

Luke Stranik Pr 7 329 .901

Joe Gambino HH 8 336 .900

Oscar Levin CBS 8 312 .881

Jonathan Pritchard Soud 10 432 .880

Jeremy Wedul Tr 9 384 .866

Jacob Snellenburg Ab 8 240 .863

Michael Henderson Wiss 8 384 .859

Ben Yuter PW 8 312 .858

C.B. South Stops C.B. East

By Rick Woelfel

WARWICK— As the clock counts down to the Suburban High School Hockey League’s annual holiday break, the upper-echelon teams are beginning to emerge.

Central Bucks South continues to be the measuring stick for the 12 teams in the SHSHL’s Class AA Division. But the Titans got all they wanted from Central Bucks East Wednesday night before prevailing 3-2 over the Patriots in an entertaining scrap at Revolution Ice Gardens.

Reis Braccio scored a goal and assisted on two others as South (6-2, 5-0 SHSHL) won its sixth straight. But the Patriots (5-2-1, 2-2) made a statement as well and served notice they are a team to be reckoned with.

“That’s what we just told them in there,” said East assistant coach Jim Stampler. “That was a good gut check after what happened to us last week (a 6-2 loss to Pennridge last Thursday).”

The Titans started out strong. Alex Glushek put in a rebound of D.J. Loverdi’s one-timer from the left point to put his team in from 2:19 into the first period. Ryan Gingras scored from the left point himself on a power play at 6:33 to make it 2-0 and South was seemingly in control.

12.19.18-CBSvsCBEDNK_0991 C.B. South’s Braccio looks to shoot against C.B. East Wednesday night. Connor Kelser is defending on the play; Chris McIntyre is the goaltender. South won the SHSHL game 4-2.

Photo: Dara N. King

But Sean Gorman scored a power-play goal of his own with 1:08 left in the period and it was a one-goal game the fact that The Patriots were outshout 11-2 in the first frame.

Braccio said he and his teammates might have had a loss of focus after their quick start. “There shouldn’t be,” he said, “but I guess we just got too comfortable and we just let our foot off the gas. Now, we’ve learned from that …not to take our foot off the gas pedal.”

South coach Shaun McGinty conceded his troops might have gotten caught up in their own success at the start. “We changed what we were doing or the kids started getting too confident too early,” said. “It was only 2-0. Yeah, we were outshooting them by quite a bit but I think the kids kind of got ahead of themselves.”

With 3:55 left in the second period the Patriots; arc Green was sent to the box for tripping. The Bucks scored off the ensuing faceoff with Braccio beating East goaltender Chris McIntyre.

But East responded almost immediately or, more specifically, Gorman did, forcing a turnover at his own blue line and going end to end on a breakaway. South netminder Oscar Levin made the initial save but Gorman put in the rebound with 1:07 left in the period.

East had the momentum at the state of the third period as well but midway through the final session, momentum shifted. McIntyre made some big saves for the Patriots to keep the margin at one goal before Matt Milanesi scored insurance goal for the Titans with 1:19 remaining. The sequence started seconds earlier when the Titans won a faceoff deep in their own zone to prevent East from lifting McIntyre for an extra skater.

The sophomore finished with 32 saves.

C.B. South 2 1 1—4

C.B. East 1 1 0—2

First-period goals: Alex Glushek (CBS) from D.J. Loverdi, 2:19; Ryan Gingras (CBS) from Reis Braccio, 6:33 (pp); Sean Gorman (CBE) unassisted, 14:52 (pp).

Second-period goals: Braccio (CBS) from Colin Abbonizio, 11:09 (pp); Gorman (CBE) unassisted, 14:53

Third-period goals: Matt Milanesi (CBS) from Braccio, 14:41.

Shots: C.B. South 36, C.B. East 14; Saves: Oscar Levin (CBS) 12, Chris McIntyre (CBE) 32.