C.B. East 3 North Penn 1

HATFIELD—Any hockey team wants to make an impression at the start of a season. Central Bucks East did just that Wednesday night, scoring a 3-1 decision over North Penn at Hatfield Ice to help the Suburban High School Hockey League open its 50th season.

Corey Kosick scored two goals to help East start off its season on a winning note. Kosick, a junior, noted that this year’s edition of the Patriots runs the gambit when it comes to experience and that getting used to the style of play at the high-school level takes time.

“It’s all about being used to our level of play,” he said. “It’s all about hard work. Hard work is alway going to beat talent in the end and that’s why we came out on top today.”

Ethan Cenci gave the Patriots the early lead on a power-play goal 5:46 into the opening session and the two teams battled on even terms through the first two periods.

The officials kept a tight rein on the proceedings during that span, whistling 11 penalties for a total of 39 minutes.

With 15 seconds left in the second frame an engagement involving North Penn’s Sam Mostochuck and East’s Carter Keiser resulted in a major penalty and a game misconduct to Keiser and a three-minute power play for North Penn. The Knights however were unable to capitalize on their advantage.

“I think that sort of sums up our night,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “We had aa bunch of power plays early in the game and couldn’t really get any momentum going in the zone, had trouble getting out of our own zone, getting set up in there and working the puck around.

“Their first goal was a power play. It was 1-0 through two periods If you capitalize on one of those (power plays), you’ve got a 1-1 game going into the third.”

Kosick extended the Patriots’ lead with a goal 6:43 into the third frame. John Stinson made it a one-goal game when he scored for the Knights at the 9:09 mark but Kosick answered back just eight seconds later.

The final period featured six additional penalties, three to each side. East coach Jeff Mitchell stressed the importance of his team staying out of the box.

“The first goal definitely got the energy started in the right direction,” he said. “I think the penalties really killed us at the start of this game I think the refs did a great job moderating between both teams. But we’ve got to be able to stay out of the box and be able to keep five men on the ice and keep pucks in the net.”

C.B.East 1 0 2—3

North Penn 0 0 1—1

First-period goal

Ethan Cenci (CBE) from Patrick O’Brien and Charlie Keiser, 5:46 (pp)

Third-period goals

Corey Kosick (CBE) from Keiser and Cenci, 6:43; John Stinson (NP) unassisted, 9:09; Kosick (CBE) from Keiser, 9:17

Shots: C.B. East 33, North Penn 26; Saves: Matt Mangiacapre (CBE) 25, Nick Crist (NP) 30

Golden Hawks Open With a Win

Council Rock South got its season off to an impressive start Wednesday night. The Golden Hawks scored four goals in the first period and went on to a 6-1 win over North Penn in a SHSHL non-league curtain raiser at Revolution Ice Gardens.

Julian Sarne and Kevin Koles scored two goals apiece as the Golden Hawks picked up where they left after a 2020-21 campaign that saw then reach the SHSHL Class AA final.

Sarne got his team on the board 9:11 into the first frame off a feed from Koles on a play that started behind the North Penn net. Matt Yothers answered back for the Knights just 64 seconds later but Sarne scored his second goal at the 11:16 mark and the Golden Hawks rolled on from there. Koles made it 3-1 on a breakaway at 11:16 when North Penn got caught in a line change and Bobby Gilbert extended his team’s lead two seconds before the period ended.

Sarne, a senior, stressed the importance of the fast start. “I think it was very important that we came out buzzing today,” he said. “We need a good start to the season. We’ve got to kick it off great. It’s our senior year. We just needed a win in the books.”

Koles scored his second goal 4:24 into the second session and Matt Constanini completed the scoring at 14:36.

South coach Joe Houk was pleased with the win, but offered a qualifier. “It’s good to get off to a fast start.” he said. “I thought we didn’t play our best game. We were very sloppy, we had a couple selfish players, and stuff like that, But I thought overall, we did a good job.”

Houk said he was concerned about his team maintaining its focus in the late going. “I thought the flow of the game was okay,” he said. “But, when we get games like that, we get real complacent and we start doing stupid stuff. But, we haven’t had a lot of time together yet. By we’ll work on it. We’ll get back at it at practice on Monday.”

The evening’s unsung hero was North Penn goaltender Nick Crist who faced a barrage of 62 shots and stopped 56 of them. It was the junior’s first varsity game.

“He did a great job for us,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. Sixty-two shots and six goals. “He kept is in it. It could have been worse.”

Vaitis noted that the evening was a learning experience for a young team. “We have some young players that got some quality minutes tonight,” he said, “and we’re going to look to kind of grow and build upon that.”

North Penn 1 0 0—1

C.R. South 4 2 0—6

First-period goals Julian Sarne (CRS) from Kevin Koles, 9:11; Matt Yothers (NP) from Justin Yothers, 10:15; Sarne (CRS) from Sam Cherkassky, 11:16; Koles (CRS) unassisted, 12:55; Bobby Gilbert (CRS) from Cherkassky, 15:58

Second-period goals: Koles (CRS) from Blaize Peppe, 4:24; Matt Constantini (CRS) from Koles, 14:36

Shots: North Penn 21, C.R. South 62; Saves: Nick Crist (NP) 56, Carson Lopez (CRS) 20

After Long Wait The SHSHL Season is at Hand

The road to where the Suburban High School Hockey League is now, the threshold of the start of its 48^thseason, was long, arduous, and at times seemingly filled with insurmountable obstacles. But, thanks to the efforts of league officials, coaches, and rink staffs, the league will kick off its 48^thseason Wednesday night.

Barring any interruptions, each of the nine teams in the Class AA division will play a 12-game schedule, facing four opponents once and the other four twice. In the latter scenario, the first meeting between the two teams will be a non-league game, the second meeting will be the game that will count in the league standings.

The seven teams in the American Division will play each other twice each; all the games will count in the league standings.

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis admits it will take time for the players to get their skates under them again.

“It’s definitely going to take a while,” he said. “we’ve had two practices (last week), we had another practice this past Monday so we’ll have three practices under our belt before our first game on Thursday.

“All the other teams are kind of in the same situation, it’s not like it’s a North Penn-only type thing.”
Vaitis says the compressed schedule will bring with it a sense of urgency. “It’s a 12-game season,” he said, “so we’ve got to really focus in on the things we need to do on the ice.

“We’ve had a lot of chalk talk off ice to clean up things that we need to.

“We’re going to have limited practice time this year. The second week of January is our first game and by the third week of March the (regular season) is over. “We’re looking at six or seven practices, that’s it.”

Senior defenseman Ryan Cunningham is North Penn’s captain this season. A four-year varsity players, Cunningham embraces the responsibility of encouraging his younger teammates.

“It puts me in a good position of being able to help the younger players feel comfortable and advance with their games,” he said.

Until the Knights resumed practices after the holidays, Cunningham had been off the ice for over a month. But he maintained his focus on hockey, doing off-ice workouts and taking in the recently completed World Junior championships.

He’s looking forward to stepping on the ice Thursday night when the Knights open their season against Souderton.

“It’s definitely going to be awesome,” he said. “The main thing is to go out and skate as a team,” he said. “It will definitely be exciting to be back on the ice.”

North Penn 5, Central Bucks West 1

HATFIELD— It was not a flashy performance. But it was a very efficient one to be sure. Five different players scored goals as North Penn got the better of Central Bucks West 5-1 Thursday night in a Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA game on the Blue Rink at Hatfield Ice.

The Knights (7-2 overall) stayed a perfect 6-0 in divisional play. The Bucks dropped to 6-3-2-1 overall and 3-3–2-0 in the division. They are ranked fourth in this week’s Flyers Cup Class AA power rankings.

The two teams skated on even terms through most of the first period with the Knights’ Ryan Cunningham scoring the only goal at 4:53 when he launched a wrister from in between the two circles and beat Bucks’ goaltender Jake Coddington along the ice inside the right post. Zachary Cline added a goal 5:03 into the second session just as a West penalty was about got expire. It was the Knights’ only power play of the game (there were just three penalties called).

Tyler Greenstein added a goal at 11:04 while the Knights had their goaltender out in anticipation of a delayed penalty and Quinn Holt scored with 47 seconds left in the period to stretch North Penn’s lead to 4-0.

“We haven’t played in two weeks,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “We came out a little slow I think to start, but then we kind of got things going a little bit there in the second period.

“We had some opportunities there on the power play and one on the delayed penalty, Our power play is the key for us this year.”

Greenstein’s goal was his only point of the evening but the senior’s abilities at reading the play and creating opportunities for teammates were as impactful as ever. “We were a little bit rusty coming out,” he said. “The game plan was to get pucks deep and try to cycle and get quality shots on net just to try to get the flow back.”

Greenstein noted that moving the puck well is critical to the Knights’ success. “We lost all bunch of seniors (to graduation),” he said, “some offensive threats up top. So this year I’ve tried to be more of a playmaker.”

To their credit the Bucks, who are winless in their last five games, didn’t back off and made North Penn goaltender Nick Ebbinghaus earn his 24 saves. Jake Lang finally got his team on the scoreboard at 12:11 of the third period. That was all that West could muster but coach Dave Baun was pleased with what his young team gave him.

“I’m very proud of them,” he said. “I’m very encouraged by the way they played. North Penn is a fast team, they’ve got a lot of skill.

“We focused on making sure we stacked our (defense), we covered the middle lane much better and we didn’t give up chances on the transition.”

North Penn 1 3 1—5
C.B. West 0 0 1—1
First-period goals: Ryan Cunningham (NP), 4:53
Second-period goals: Zachary Cline (NP) from Jeremy Porubski, 5:01 (pp); Tyler Greenstein (NP) from Tony Tuozzo and. Porubski 11:04; Quinn Holt (NP) unassisted, 15:13.
Third-period goals: Jake Lang (CBW) from Chris Trefz and Billy Loughnane, 12:11; Josh Kaufhold (NP) from Tuozzo, 13:44.
Shots: North Penn 32, C.B. West 25; Saves; Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 24, Jake Coddington (CBW) 27

North Penn 4 Pennsbury 2

By Rick Woelfel

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Prior to taking the ice Monday night in their Suburban High School Hockey League quarterfinal, Pennsbury and North Penn were fully aware they are scheduled to face each other next Wednesday in the opening round of the Flyers Cup tournament. With that fact in mind, the Falcons and the Knights would have been forgiven for playing things close to the vest, since the results of the SHSHL playoffs have no bearing on the Flyers Cup seedings.

Instead, they chose to go another way. Both teams stepped up their games Monday night, the Falcons, who were seeded sixth in the SHSHL tournament, especially so.

It took a third-period goals from Josh Kaufhold and Nathan Oh to give the Knights a 4-2 win in an entertaining affair at Hatfield Ice. North Penn (11-3-3) will face second-seeded Pennridge on Wednesday at 7:00 in the semifinals while Pennsbury (7-8-3) will wait for next Wednesday’s rematch in the Flyers Cup.

Oh, who assisted on Kaufhold’s winning goal, was quick to point out that winning a SHSHL title would mean a lot to the Knights.

“Winning the league would mean so much for us,” he said. “Obviously, (Central Bucks South) has been on top forever and for us to get some hardware, that would be awesome. It would be great for me and the rest of the seniors.”

Jake Nelson gave the Knights an early lead when he scored just 2:02 into the first period but Ben Dous scored twice for the sixth-seeded Falcons (7-7-3) to give them a 2-1 lead after one frame.

Tyler Greenstein tied the game for North Penn with 5:51 left in the second period on the most picturesque play of the night; he skated up the middle of the ice and split the two Pennsbury defensemen before beating Falcon netminder Topher Seiler with a forehander.

At the start of the third period it was anyone’s hockey game.

The teams hadn’t played each other since November 29 and North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis noted that both had evolved since then. “Obviously both teams have changed a lot over the last three months,” he said. “Hats off to them. They came out really ready to play and they kind of went toe-to-toe with us for two periods.”
Kaufhold scored the winning goal on a power play with 9:09 left in the third period. The goal came while the Falcons Beau Yedman was in the box serving a hooking penalty.

Oh added an empty net goal with four seconds remaining.

Despite the loss, and his team’s elimination from the SHSHL playoffs, Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley feels his team has taken some big steps forward of late. The Falcons were 4-1-1 in their last six games prior to Monday night.

“The kids have been on fire,” he said. “I was telling the guys before the game that we’re a dangerous team. We’re an underdog playing extremely good hockey and I knew we had good shot. A couple bounces didn’t go our way, but it’s hockey.”

Notes: Both goaltenders came up with some big saves. Seiler and North Penn’s Nick Ebbinghaus combined to stop 52 shots.

Pennsbury 2 0 0—2

North Penn 1 1 2—4

First-period goals: Jake Nelson (NP) from Tyler Greenstein, 2:02; Ben Dous (P) from Jake Sieger, 11:34; Dous (P) from Sieger and Erik Eisler, 12:51.

Second-period goal: Greenstein (NP) from Jared Albano and Luke Van Why, 10:09.

Third-period goals: Josh Kaufhold (NP) from Nathan Oh, 6:51 (pp); Oh (NP) from Albano, 15:56 (en).

Shots; Pennsbury 25, North Penn 33; Saves: Topher Seiler (P) 29, Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 23

North Penn 5, Central Bucks West 3

It took the North Penn Knights a while to get going Wednesday night. But once they got their engines going it was full speed ahead.

Jake Nelson, Tony Tuozzo and Jake Albano scored third-period goals to propel North Penn to a 5-3 non-league win over Central Bucks West at Hatfield Ice. The win extended North Penn’s winning streak to five games and improved its record to 8-2-3 overall. The result will not count in the Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA standings but will factor into the seedings for the Flyers Cup tournament in March. The Knights and the Bucks (6-6) will play their league game against each other on February 20 to conclude the regular season.

The first three goals of Wednesday’s affair were of the shorthanded variety. Chris Trefz started things off for West at 5:54 of the first period when he scored off a two-on-one situation following a turnover at the West blue line. The goal came while the Bucks’ Matt McCarthy was in the box serving a hooking penalty.

Pavel Serhiayenka, who assisted on Trefz’s goal, scored one himself with 2:17 left in the opening period on another shorthanded situation, one that arose when the Bucks drew a bench minor for too many men on the ice. Serhiayenka put in a rebound of Jake Lang’s original shot off a two-one-one situation; North Penn goaltender Andrew Zanoni could not be faulted on either goal.

The Knights got on the board exactly two minutes into the second frame on Ryan Cunningham’s shorthanded effort.
Roughly three minutes after that the pace of the game picked up, which worked to North Penn’s advantage. Jared Albano tied the game at the 12:47 mark of the middle period, the first even-strength goal of the game.

Jake Nelson put the Knights in front with a power-play goal just 21 seconds into the final period. Lang responded for the Bucks with a power-play goal of his own at 4:12, but the Knights had the upper hand from there.

“I thought (North Penn) played hard,” said West coach Dave Baun. “They played well, they played hard, they skate hard. But, the game that they play isn’t our game.

“Puck movement is our game. And when our team can move the puck well and skate hard without it, like we did in the first period and half of the second, then we’re a good team. But, as the guys get tired, they sort of lose it a little bit and they default into some other game that isn’t our game.”

Tuozzo, a freshman, scored what proved to be the winning goal for the Knights 9:06 into the third period during a scramble that developed at the doorstep of West goaltender Anthony Kennard. The goal came while Lang was in the box for the Bucks serving a double minor (tripping/unsportsmanlike conduct).

“(Tuozzo) has played well all season for us,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “He’s sort of moved up, playing with Albano and (Nathan) Oh the last couple games and he’s contributed, gone out there and worked hard, done the things that we’re asking him to do, and he got rewarded with the game winner tonight.”

Tuozzo said he’s making the adjustment to varsity hockey. “After a couple games I kind of got used to it,” he said. “I know where I should be, know where not to go and stuff like that. It’s very different.”

Albano scored his second goal of the evening for the Knights with 3:57 left in the game to provide insurance.

North Penn had a 47-21 edge in shots. West goaltender Jeremy Kennard made 42 saves. the loss snapped a four-game West winning streak.

C.B. West 2 0 1—3

North Penn 0 2 3—5

First-period goals: Chris Trefz (CBW) from Pavel Serhiayenka, 5:54 (sh); Serhiayenka (CBW) from Jake Lang, 14:43 (sh).

Second-period goals: Ryan Cunningham (NP) from Nathan Oh, 2:00 (sh); Jared Albano (NP) from Tony Tuozzo, 12:07.

Third-period goals: Jake Nelson (NP) from Tyler Greenstein, :21 (pp); Lang (CBW) from Serhiayenka and Trefz, 4:12 (pp); Tuozzo, from Albano, 4:06; Albano (NP) unassisted, 12:53.

Shots: C.B. West 21, North Penn 47; Saves: Jeremy Kennard (CBW) 42, Andrew Zanoni (NP) 18.

Records: Central Buck West (6-6), North Penn (8-2-3)

Pennridge Holds Off North Penn 5-4

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP— Two of the top teams in the Suburban High School Hockey League demonstrated Thursday night why they earned that distinction.

It was Pennridge that prevailed, by building a three-goal lead in the third period before hanging on to defeat North Penn 5-4 in a Class AA game at Hatfield Ice.
It was the fifth straight victory for the Rams, who improved to 5-1-1 overall and 4-1 in league play. The loss was first in league play for the Knights (5-2-1, 4-1) who saw a three-game winning streak snapped.

It was the second regular season meeting between the two teams, who played to a 4-4 tie in a. non-league encounter on November 9

Pennridge defenseman Jeff Manto scored his first goal of the season Thursday night. He said the win over an elite opponent was a signal to the rest of the league. “We’re trying to prove we’re the best team in the league,” he said. “We are trying to stand out.”

The first period featured close checking at both ends and limited offensive opportunities; the teams combined for just 14 shots. Nathan Oh opened the scoring for North Penn with 3:30 left in the period but it took Michael Walker just 21 second to respond for the Rams.

Michael White gave Pennridge a 2-1 lead just 30 seconds into the second frame, only to see Jake Nelson tie the game for North Penn just 51 seconds later. Manto’s shot from just inside the blue line during a power play put the Rams up for good with 3:35 left in the period.

Eric Slater scored his Class AA-leading 17th goal of the season 5:48 into the third period to put Pennridge up 4-2. But by that point, the Knights had demonstrated an ability to keep Slater and Walker more or less under control. Blake Stewart extended the Pennridge lead with 5:09 left and Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna was quick to point out the importance of having multiple offensive threats

“We were able to win on a night when they neutralized Eric and Michael,” he said. ” They got their goals but (North Penn) really did a good job neutralizing Eric and Michael.”

Having veteran goaltender Luke Stranick between the pipes didn’t hurt the Rams’ chances. “When you make mistakes, you don’t have to worry about them ending up in the net all the time,” Montagna said. “He’s the rock back there, he’s the given on our team.”

Trailing by there goals, the Knights were in no mood for a concession speech. Luke Van Why scored with 1:25 remaining and then, with their goaltender out, the Knights received a power-play chance when Manto drew a roughing call with 48 seconds left. Jared Albano beat Stranick at the 15-second mark and the Knights swarmed again following the ensuing faceoff before the final buzzer came to the Rams’ aid just as Tyler Greenstein, North Penn’s sniper-in-chief, was teeing up a shot from the high slot.

“The guys continued to battle to the very end,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “We never give up. We got down 5-2 with a couple minutes left and could have easily packed it in, but the boys continued to battle.”
North Penn 1 1 2—4
Pennridge 1 2 2—5
First-period goals: Nathan Oh (NP) from Jared Albano and Will Hughes, 12:30; Michael Walker (P) unassisted, 12:51.
Second-period: Michael White (P) unassisted, :30; Jake Nelson (NP) from Josh Kaufhold,
1:21; Jeff Manto (P) from Nick Eissler, 12:25 (pp).
Third-period goals: Eric Slater (P) from Matt Guinette, 5:48; Blake Stewart (P) from Michael Walker, 10:51; Luke Van Why (NP) from Ryan Cunningham and Nelson, 14:35; Jared Albano (NP), from Tyler Greenstein and Oh 15:45.
hots: North Penn 26, Pennridge 27; Saves: Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 22, Luke Stranick (P) 22.

By Rick Woelfel

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AHA Showcase About More Than Hockey

The Athletes Helping Athletes Showcase has become a fixture in local hockey circles. For the eight teams involved, (Central Bucks South, Central Bucks East, Father Judge, North Penn, Souderton, William Tennent, Hatboro-Horsham, Archbishop Wood) it is an opportunity to tune up for the season to come.

But it also an opportunity to promote the Athletes Helping Athletes effort as AHA founder Rick Leonetti explains.

“When the (AHA) kids come in here, I know they’re excited to be here,” Leonetti said Monday night. “I know the teams are excited to have them all which is even more beneficial. The parents get to sit back and watch the kids (participate in a ceremonial puck drop) and be a part of the team.

“Some of the teams let the let kids go into the locker room before the game. It’s an exciting thing because the kids get to do something typical.

“We have some high-school kids coming tonight that will host them and sit with them and talk to them. Whether they’re into the hockey games or not, the girls that are here tonight will sit with them and talk to them about everything under the sun.”

The showcase is now in its fifth season. North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis has brought his team to the showcase since Year Two.

“There are a few of my players that have been here since we started,” he said. “It just something that shows them that there’s more to ice hockey. Having some of these athletes here and cheering us on up against the glass, it’s really a thrill for them and it’s a great experience for us to kind of give back to them.”

The tournament will continue at Revolution Ice Gardens through October 26.

C.B. South 9, North Penn 5 12-20-17

WARWICK— It took Central Bucks South some time to get going against North Penn Wednesday night. The Titans made up for lost time however, by scoring five goals in the second period to post a 9-5 win over the nights in a Suburban High School Hockey League matchup at Revolution Ice Gardens.

It was the second victory for South over North Penn in just under a month; the Titans scored a 7-0 shutout on Thanksgiving Eve, but this one counted in the Continental Division standings. South improved to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the division while the Knights slipped to 4-3 and 3-1.

Matt Stoll paced the Titans with four goals and an assist. “We beat North Penn 7-0 the last game we played them,” he said. “We came into this game ‘Okay, maybe this should be an easy game but you never really should think that.”

The Knights jumped in front just 36 seconds the first period when John Kaufhold scored on a. forehanded from theft circle on the first shot of the game. When Jared Alebano scored on the Knights’ fourth shot at the 7:13 mark, South goaltender Tim White departed in favor of Oscar Levin.

South coach Shaun McGinty was perplexed with his team’s slow start. “We can’t do it,” he said. “We had a slow start tonight and gave them an opportunity to put in two on us. But it’s good for these boys to have the adversity and push through and come together as a team.”

The Titans finally erupted in the second frame when Evan King, Reis Braccio, Colin Abbonizio, and Tyler Boylan scored goals in a span of 7 minutes, 27 seconds to give their side a 4-2 advantage.

We came out and played the way we wanted to in the first period,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “But it’s tough to keep that team off the scoreboard.

Brian Leinheiser scored for North Penn to make it a one-goal game again with 3:19 left in the middle period With 1:18 left in the period, the Titans lost Braccio, who drew a five-minute penalty for a check from behind plus a game misconduct for taking the Knights’ George Boyle into the boards directly in front of the North Penn bench. Boyle lay face down on the ice for more than two minutes before being helped to the dressing room.

“There’s no place in the game for a hit like that,” Vaitis said. “I thought it was not needed.”

Vaitis indicated that Boyle was not seriously injured on the play.

South extended its lead when Stoll scored his first goal, a shorthanded effort that came with 36 seconds left in the period.

Jared Albano scored fro North Penn 2:53 into the third period to bring his team within a goal at 5-4 but Alex Glushek answered for the Titans 59 seconds later. North Penn’s last goal came off the stick of Jake Nelson at the 5:08 mark but Stoll scored three consecutive goals to finish the scoring.

The Titans outshot the Knights 35-34. Levin finished with 25 saves in 40:43 of action.

North Penn 2 1 2—5

C.B. South 0 5 4—9

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