Tag: Luke Stranick

Pennridge Wins SHSHL Class AA title

By Rick Woelfel

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The combination of solid defense and quality goaltending will win a lot of hockey games, especially in the postseason. The Pennridge Rams utilized that formula to become champions Thursday night.

Luke Stranick stopped 35 shots and Matt Guinette and Michael Eissler provided the necessary scoring as the Rams downed Central Bucks South 2-0 in the Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA championship game at Hatfield Ice

It’s the second SHSHL title in history for the second-seeded Rams, who improved their record to 14-2-3. The top-seeded Titans (13-4-2) were attempting to capture an unprecedented fifth straight SHSHL crown and their ninth in history.
After shutting down one of the most potent offenses in the area, the Rams were savoring their success.

“I’ve only gone here for two years, and it feels great to me” said junior defenseman Frankie Rota, who transferred from Quakertown prior to last season. “I can imagine the guys that have been going here for four, I imagine it feels incredible.”

The Rams outshot the Titans by just 40-35 but the efforts of the blueline corps limited South’s quality chances and made life easier for their goaltender.

“My defense played perfect,” Stranick said. “They did everything I could have asked for. They kept the shots to the outside, they kept the screens out of my way, they made it real easy.”

The Titans had the better of things early on until the pace picked up midway through the opening period. Guinette got the Rams on the board at the 8:18 mark of the first frame with a shot from midway between the tops of the two faceoff circles that beat South netminder Oscar Levin, who had a solid game between the pipes despite the defeat.

Pennridge’s second goal, which came 3:30 into the middle period, was the result of a picturesque individual effort by Eissler, who went up the middle and over the blue line before deking around a South defender and beating Moyer. That was all the scoring there was but that was all that was needed.

“Defensively, we gave up some chances,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna, “but we did a real good job not giving up second-chance opportunities. Our defensemen blocked a ton of shots in this game and we swept everything up.

“(South) is a hard team to hold off for 51 minutes and we did.”

Notes:  The Rams won their first league crown in 2008 …Both teams will see action in the Flyers Cup tournament next Wednesday. The second-seeded Titans will face 15th-seed Downingtown West on Wednesday at Revolution Ice Gardens at 7:15. The fourth-seeded Rams will take on 13th seed Garnet Valley the same evening at Hatfield Ice at 8:40 … Shaun McGinty was not behind the Titans’ bench Thursday night because of work commitments. Assistant Tyler Skronski stepped in for him.

Pennridge  1 1 0—2

C.B. South 0 0 0—0

First-period goal: Matt Guinette (P) from Eric Slater, 8:18

Second-period goal: Michael Eissler (P) from Jeff Manto, 3:30

Shots: Pennridge 40, C.B. South 35; Saves: Luke Stranick 35 Oscar Levin (CBS) 33

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Pennridge 6, North Penn 4

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Truly great players step up when it matters. That’s the case in every sport and it was certainly the case when North Penn and Pennridge squared off Wednesday night in their Suburban High School Hockey League semifinal.

Michael Walker scored what proved to be the winning goal with 9:55 left in the third period and followed up by scoring into an empty net with 18 seconds to go to give the Rams a 6-4 win on a night when some of the SHSHL’s elite players showed the audience at Hatfield Ice why they have achieved that status.

Walker provided an assist to go with his two goals. Eric Slater, perhaps the premier sniper in the SHSHL’s Class AA division, helped the Rams’ cause with a goal and an assist while Luke Stranick was impressive in goal.

Meantime, Josh Albano was contributing three goals for the Knights while Nathan Oh was helping out with three assists.

As a result of all this, it was anyone’s game until the late going. With the game tied 4-4 the third-seeded Knights (11-4-3) lost Luke Van Why to a tripping penalty. It took Walker just 17 seconds to put the Rams (13-2-3) in front; he scored via a feed from Slater off a faceoff.

But Stranick knew he and his teammates couldn’t relax. “It definitely keeps me dialed in,” he said. “My defense does a really good job of keeping the pucks coming from the outside and when they do that, it makes it a lot easier for me and the team.”

Blake Stewart and Tommy Pichardo sported the Rams two goals to the good by the 5:18 mark of the first period but Albano answered back, scoring two goals in a span of 2 minutes, 9 seconds to tie the game.

“I thought that early on we struggled a little bit defensively,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna. “We started to settle down. I told them ‘The mark of a good team is when you do struggle and don’t have your ‘A’ game’ … The older guys made a play every single time we needed one.”

Freshman Aidan Boyle scored his first varsity goal to put Pennridge up 3-2 at the 3:02 mark of the second frame. Thomas Boyle answered for the Knights just 41 seconds later.

Slater put the Rams back in front when he scored with 39 seconds left in the period but Albano finished his hat trick at 5:19 of the third frame to set the stage for the conclusion.

“We knew they had a number of talented players up front,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “I don’t think you’re ever going to stop them, I think you just look to contain them. I thought we did a decent job of that but they’re still (dangerous).”

The win puts second-seeded Pennridge into Thursday’s championship game (6:50 at Hatfield Ice) against top-seed Central Bucks South which is seeking an unprecedented fifth straight SHSHL title.

Pennridge is seeking to claim its first title since 2008.

Notes: The semifinal featured 17-minute periods (instead of 16) and in ice cut after the second stanza, the same format that will be utilized for the Flyers Cup semifinals and finals … Four officials were on the ice.

North Penn 2 1 1—4

Pennridge 2 2 2—6

First-period goals: Blake Stewart (P) from Matt Guinette, 3:14; Tommy Pichardo (P) from Guinette, 5:56; Josh Albano (NP) from Nathan Oh and Tommy Tuozzo, 10:06; Albano, (NP) from Tyler Greenstein and Oh (pp).

Second-period goals: Aidan Boyle (P) from Frankie Rota, 3:02; Thomas Boyle, (NP) from Oh, 3:44; Eric Slater (P) from Stewart, 16:39.

Third-period goals: Albano (NP) from Oh and Josh Kaufhold, 5;17 (pp); Michael Walker (P) from Slater, 7:05 (pp); Walker (P) unassisted, 16:42.

Shots: North Penn 32, Pennridge 35; Saves: Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 29, Luke Stranick (P) 28.

 

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