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

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

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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

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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

Hatboro-Horsham 6, Lower Moreland 5

WARWICK— Hatboro-Horsham and Lower Moreland kicked into overdrive Friday night. The Hatters and the Lions played run-and-gun hockey most of the evening before the Hatters emerged with a 6-5 win in a Suburban High School Hockey League American Division matchup at Revolution Ice Gardens.

Ben Lerner scored two goals for the Hatters who improved to 7-4-1 overall and squared their divisional record at 4-4-1. Marcus Soucy provided a goal and two assists.

Hatboro-Horsham coach Gianni Lafratta praised Soucy’s work with the puck. “He put the pressure on,” Lafratta said, “he created opportunities for his teammates. It was everything we preach; put pressure on the puck carrier, make them make mistakes, and we go the other way.”

Five different Hatboro-Horsham players scored goals and 10 Hatters got onto the scoresheet.

Adam Bostock delivered a hat trick for the Lions (7-2-3, 4-2-3) who were without Coleman Peppelman, the SHSHL’s leading scorer, who was away on club duty.

The first period was, to say the least, up tempo. It was Bostock who got the scoring started, 3:25 into the period. It was the first of five goals in the first frame, which ended with the Hatboro-Horsham holding a one-goal advantage. Seth Lerner, Aidan Esack and Ben Lerner scored for the Hatters before Bostock added a second goal for the Lions.

Bostock tied the game 2:08 into the second period on a brilliant move up the middle of the ice through the Hatter defense before beat netminder Joe Gambino.

But with Peppleman absent and only eight skaters available, Lower Moreland coach Gus Scalfitti had to make some adjustments. “I rotated the guys,” he said, “but we definitely were missing a big, big chunk of our offense.”

Ben Lerner scored his second goal of the game to put the Hatters up 4-3 just 25 seconds after Bostock completed his hat trick. By period’s end the Hatters held a 6-4 lead.

The key stretch of the third period came early on when the Hatters were able to kill consecutive penalties. Gambino made three big saves in a stretch of half a minute to kill off the first one.

The junior said he was able to refocus while his team was shorthanded. “You can’t worry about it,” he said. “You’ve just got to fight and keep playing.”

Tyler Scolnick scored for Lower Moreland with 4:51 left in the game to set up a wild finish. The Lions swarmed the net in the waning seconds before the final buzzer came to the Hatters’ rescue.

“I think for most of the game, we had control,” Lafratta said. “(At the finish) We got out of hand in our own defensive zone, scrambled, not doing the things we needed to do to support our goaltender.”

By Rick Woelfel

Hatboro-Horsham 3 3 0—6

Lower Moreland 2 2 1—5

First-period goals: Adam Bostock (LM) from Vincenzo DeMaio and Simon Pezalla, 3:25; Seth Lerner (HH) from Marcus Soucy, 5:17; Aidan Esack (HH) unassisted, 5:53; Ben Lerner (HH) from Seth Lerner and Alex Howieson, 7:58; Bostock (LM) from Devin Green, 12:10.

Second-period goals: Bostock (LM) unassisted, 2:08; Ben Lerner (HH) from Kyle Mullen, 2:33; Green (LM) from Alex Silverman, 5:51; Howieson (HH) from Vince Tarsi and Sayvion Jones, 7:08; Tarek Elsabash (HH) unassisted, 7:43.

Third-period goal: Tyler Scolnick (HH) from Bostock and Green, 11:09.

Shots: Hatboro-Horsham 31, Lower Moreland 23; saves: Joe Gambino (HH) 18, Jacob Lungin (LM) 25

The most significant stretch of the high-school hockey season is straight ahead. The Suburban High School Hockey League and the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference are in the final weeks of the regular season.

Following that; the league playoffs and the 40^th Flyers Cup tournament. We’ll be following all the action here at Hockey Happenings and here’s your opportunity to be part of it all.

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Wissahickon Tips Hatters 2-1

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP— The penalty shot is arguably hockey’s most dramatic event. On this occasion, it resulted in a game-winning goal.

Wissahickon’s Sean Garry scored with 1:07 left in the third period to give the Trojans a 2-1 win over the Hatters Wednesday night in a Suburban High School Hockey League American Division matchup at Hatfield Ice.

The penalty shot was awarded after Garry, who had beaten the last Hatter defenseman, was pulled down from behind. He responded with an effort that beat Hatboro-Horsham goaltender Joe Gambino low on netminder’s stick (right) side.

“I knew what I was hoping to do before I went down,” Garry said. “I came down, looking to spot what was open and just ripped it right past him.”

Prior to the penalty shot, there was a serving of some pretty good hockey. There was an abundance of offensive opportunities but Gambino (28 saves) and Michael Henderson (30 saves), his Wissahickon counterpart, were in top form.

Hatboro-Horsham coach Gianni Lafratta praised his team’s defensive effort. “Joey is (a quality goaltender),” he said, “but of course it takes the five guys in front of him to shut it down.”

The game was scoreless for much of the first two periods. The Hatters finally got the scoring started with a power-play goal with just 4:34 left in the second frame. With Wissahickon’s Alex Corozza in the box serving a holding penalty, Tarak Elsbbash scored off a feed from Ben Heywood. Matt Cade tied the game for Wissahickon (3-0-1) 9:09 into the third stanza. Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington admitted he was surprised by the scoreline at that juncture.

“I thought if anything it was going to be a 5-3 game or something like that,” he said.”

Gary pointed out that for much of the night the Hatters were able to keep he and his brother Bryan, the Trojans two biggest offensive threats, away from the net. “They were stacking the middle a lot,” he said, “just trying to keep us to the outside. They did a good job cutting off most of the passing lanes but I think once we got the puck in the middle we could kind of two what we wanted.”

The Hatters had an apparent go ahead goal waved off with 2:08 left in the game. A shot from the left circle found the net behind Henderson but the official on the play ruled the net had been dislodged.

That set the stage for what turned out to be a dramatic finish.

“That was a fantastic game,” Lafratta said, “except for the outcome.”

Hatboro-Horsham 0 1 0—1

Wissahickon 0 0 2—2

Second-period goal: Tarik Elsbbagh (HH) from Ben Haywood, 11:26

Third-period goals: Matt Cade from Brian Garry and Alex Carozza, 9:09; Sean Gary penalty shot, 14:53.

Shots: Hatboro-Horsham 31, Wissahickon 30; Saves: Joe Gambino (HH) 28, Michael Henderson 30