Over the course of his four-year career at North Penn, James Boyle has made it a point to step up when his team needed him most. He came up big Thursday night.
Boyle set the tone by scoring his team’s first two goals in the second period as the Knights bested Owen J. Roberts 6-3 at Hatfield Ice Arena to advance to the Class AA Flyers Cup semifinals. The top-seeded and defending-champion Knights (24-1) will face fourth seed Downingtown West next Thursday in the semifinal at the same venue (6:30 start).
Boyle, who is regarded as one of the area’s premier defensemen, missed Tuesday’s first-round win over Shawnee due to illness.
“It was good to get back,” he said, and get a couple right away.”
North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis cited Boyle’s contributions to the Knights’ success over the past two seasons.
“I said at one point that {North Penn’s Samuel Norton} is probably the best player in the league,” Vaitis said, “but James is right up there. He’s honestly, the energy of this team.
“We won on Tuesday but it wasn’t our best game. We were missing something; were missing James.”
The evening’s opening goal was set up when Norton made a dash down the left wing and made a cross-ice pass to Boyle who collected the puck between the circles and beat Wildcat goaltender Page Faith on the netminder’s glove/left side 6:55 into the frame. It was his 16th goal of the season.
His 17th came five-and-a-half minutes later when Vaitis used his timeout with the Knights in the midst of an extended power play; the Wildcats’ Maximillian Connell was serving a double minor for boarding and unsportsmanlike conduct. One minute, 37 seconds later, Quinn Rafter was sent off for slashing Vaitis took advantage of the situation to give his power-play unit a breather.
“I think that was huge,” Boyle said, “to settle down and just gather ourselves to capitalize on the five-on-three. I think we needed it, just to settle ourselves down.”
North Penn’s two-man advantage was extended when the Wildcats’ Jaxton Rafter drew a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct followed by a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct
By the time things had quieted down, Nolan Shingle and Chris Silvotti had added power play goals and North Penn had a 4-0 lead.
“We had a full five-on-three for two minutes,” Vaitis said. “It was a 1-0 game at the time. Our power play unit was out there at the beginning of {the four-minute power play}. We called a timeout to draw a couple things up, but also to give them a breather.
“It was a big moment for us, and the boys did a great job on that power play.”
Declan Leahy extended North Penn’s lead 5:38 into the third period before Brody Majcher got Owen J. Roberts (13-8) on the scoreboard with 9:42 left in regulation. Shingle added a sixth goal for the Knights before Richie Pupek and Tyler Moyer added goals for the Wildcats.
Emotions were on edge throughout the final period. By evening’s end, each team had been called for 10 penalties.
Now the Knights will prepare for Downingtown West.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Vaitis said. “They’re a good team down there in the Intercounty League. We have some time off here to go rest up, practice Monday, watch some film on Monday, and get ready for therm.”
Owen J. Roberts 0 0 3—3
North Penn 0 4 2—6
Second-period goals: James Boyle (NP) from Samuel Norton and Nolan Shingle, 6:55; Boyle (NP) from Norton, 12:18: Shingle (MP) from Ismael Cabrales and Norton, 13:21; Chris Silvotti (NP) from Shingle, 14:21
Third-period goals: Declan Leahy from Silvotti and Gavin Lombardi, 4:38; Brody Majcher (OJR) from Colin Daugherty, 7:18; Norton (MP) from Shingle, 9:44; Richie Pupek (OJR) from Daugherty, 14:14; Tyler Moyer (OJR) from Majcher and Tanner Nau, 15:21
Shots: OJR 41, North Penn 50; Saves: Page Faith (OJR) 44, Andy Norton (NP) 38
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