Pennridge 4, North Penn 3 OT

By Rick Woelfel

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The stars shined brightly at Hatfield Ice Monday evening. And in the end, Eric Slater lit up the night like a supernova. Slater’s goal 3 minutes, 25 seconds into overtime gave Pennridge a 4-3 decision over North Penn in a Flyers Cup Class AA quarterfinal.

The fourth-seeded Rams (16-2-3) will take a five-game winning streak and a 13-game unbeaten streak into Thursday’s semifinals against two-time defending Flyers Cup and state champion Downingtown East (5:15 at Ice Line).

Nathan Oh, playing in what turned out to be his final high-school game, delivered a hat trick for fifth-seeded North Penn (12-5-3).

It was a night when the best players on both teams came up big, but none more than Slater, who scored two goals and assisted on a third. His game-winner came on a shot from just beyond the faceoff circles off a feed from Matt Guinette. The shot beat Knight goaltender Nick Ebbinghaus on his stick (right) side but the freshman could not be faulted on the play.

“I was trying to drive the net,” Slater said. (Guinette) gave me a perfect pass. I made a move and shot it and hoped for the best.”

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna said he was expecting Slater to step up at the start of the 15-minute sudden-death period. “He’s going to go out other shift in that overtime,” Montagna said, “and if we’re going to win, most likely, he’s going to win it for us.”

The Knights had far the best of the opening period, outshooting the Rams 15-3 but the session ended with teams deadlocked at one goal each. Oh gave North Penn the lead with a dash down the wing after his team own a faceoff in its own zone. He beat Pennridge goaltender Luke Stranick at the 7:39 mark. Slater answered back just under two minutes later with a wrister from the left wing after finding himself alone one on one with a Knight defenseman.

North Penn’s Josh Kaufholf (with puck) goes against Pennridge’s Frankie Rota in the first period of Monday’s game. (photo by Kathy Leister)

Michael Walker gave Pennridge the lead once more 63 seconds into the second period when he collected a feed from Guinette and made a move around a defender and beat Ebbinghaus.

The freshman came up big however with 1:50 left in the period however with a kick save on a shot from Walker that would have given the Rams a two-goal lead, Instead, Oh tied the game with 53.6 seconds left to send the teams to the third period all even.
Pennridge took the lead for the third time on Blake Stewart’s power-play goal with 5:17 left in the third period. With North Penn’s Will Hughes in the box serving a hooking minor, the Rams’ Franke Rota set up shot at the right point and sent a pass across the ice to Slater who launched a rocket along the ice. Stewart tipped the puck past Ebbinghaus.

Oh completed his hat trick with 2:16 left in regulation to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The Knights, who finished with a 37-21 wedge in shots, had a good chance early in the extra period but Stranick stood his ground and the teams played on until Slater delivered his game winner.

“You got Nate Oh on North Penn and Eric Slate on Pennridge,” North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis pointed out. “They’re two of the best high-school players in the (SHSHL) and definitely in the Flyers Cup tournament.

“They got the bounce to go their way in overtime and that’s part of the game. We were probably inches away from winning it there early in overtime and didn’t capitalize.”

Pennridge goaltender Luke Stranick covers the puck. He finished with 34 saves. (Photo by Dara N. King)

North Penn 1 1 1 0—3

Pennridge 1 1 1 1—4

First-period goals: Nathan Oh (NP) from Jared Albano, 7:39; Eric Slater (MP) from Frankie Rota, 9:36;

Second-period goals: Michael Walker (P) from Matt Guinette, 1:03; Oh (NP) from Jake Nelson, 15:07

Third-period goals: Blake Stewart (P) from Walker and Rota, 10:43 (pp); Oh (NP) from Albano, 13:44

Overtime goal: Slater (P) from Guinette, 3:25

Shots: North Penn 37, Pennridge 21; Saves: Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 17, Luke Stranick (P) 34

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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 8 CR North 4

By Rick Woelfel

North Penn scored three goals in a 21-second span midway through the second period and went on to beat Council Rock North 8-4 Friday night in a Suburban High School Hockey League Class 2A crossover game at Hatfield Ice.

Jake Nelson scored three goals and added an assist for the Knights, who improved to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in the Continental Division, Andrew Galetta and Nathan Oh scored two goals each.

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis shuffled his lines Friday night and the juggling paid off. “We mixed it up to try to get a little bit more offense up front,” he said. “Andrew Galetta is a special player and then Nate Oh and Jake Nelson, we’ve had them together a few games now and they’ve really clicked together.”

The Knights built a 3-0 first-period lead on two goals from Nelson with a talley from Galetta in between. The last two goals came on power plays. The margin could have been greater but Rex Goldberg made 14 saves in the period to keep the Indians (3-3-1, 1-2-1 SHSHL National Division) in the game.

“I thought the goaltending held up very well in the first period,” said North coach Chris Gallagher. “If it weren’t for (Goldberg) it could have been 6-0 in the first period. He stood on his head; he played a great game for us.”

William Sohn got the Indians on the scoreboard at the 7:35 mark of the middle period but the Knights Brooke the game open less than a minute later. Galetta scored his second goal of the game at the 8:09 mark before Oh scored back-to-back goals at 8:18 and 8:30 to give North Penn a 6-1 lead.

The Indians kept battling however and got back in the game before the period ended on goals from Cavan Tully, Brandon Simonides, and Harrison Treiman, the latter on a power play.

North had a two-man advantage to start the third period but Zac Herman drew a boarding penalty just 28 seconds into the third session to reduce that advantage. The teams traded minor penalties after that before George Boyle scored for North Penn during a four-on-three power play at the 2:23 mark. Nelson completed his hat trick with 5:41 left in the game.

“We had new lines,” he said. “I had new players out there with me. We did what we had to do, and we got it done.”

Council Rock North 0 4 0—4
North Penn 3 3 2—8
First-period goals: Jake Nelson (NP) from Tyler Greenstein and Nathan Oh, 5:36; Andrew Galetta (NP) from Nelson, 14:29 (pp); Nelson (NP) from Jared Albano, 15:58 (pp).
Second-period goals: William Sohn (CRN) from Brandon Simmonds and Ian Rice, 7:35; Galetta (NP) assist unavailable, 8:09; Nathan Oh (N) from George Boyle, 8:18; Oh (NP) from Thomas Boyle, 8:30; Cavan Tully (CRN) from Dan Guest, 9:09; Simmonds (CRN) from Tully, 10:10; Harrison Treiman (CRN) from Simmonds, 14:54 (pp).
Third-period goals: George Boyle (NP) from Thomas Boyle and Josh Kaufhold, 2:23 (pp); Nelson (NP) from Oh, 10:19.
Shots: Council Rock North 34, North Penn 48; Saves: Rex Goldberg (CRN) 40, Andrew Zanoni (N)) 30.
Records: Council Rock North (3-3-1, 1-2-1 SHSHL National Division); North Penn (4-2, 2-2 Continental Division)

12-8-17