North Penn 8, Souderton 5

HATFIELD—There were plenty of fireworks at Hatfield Ice Wednesday night. North Penn and Souderton combined for 13 goals with the Knights celebrating their Senior Night with an 8-5 win.

Apart from the result however, there was plenty for both coaches to feel good about.

For North Penn, which improved to 3-3-1-0 overall (2-2 in National/Continental divisional play) it was a night when all the pieces fit.

“We have three lines contributing for us when we have everybody here, and everybody is healthy and able to play” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “and I think we saw a little bit of that tonight, what we could do with the balanced lines. And if you can do that, it generates a lot of pressure for the other team. It’s tough for them to match up with the lines you have out there, and we were able to have all our lines contribute.”

Ryan Kaufhold paced the Knights with a hat trick, giving him eight goals on the season.

The sophomore thinks he and his teammates have turned a corner. “I think we’re hitting a turning point,” he said. “There are some tough teams we have to go against but I think we can win.”

Zachary Cline scored two goals for North Penn while Jeromy Porubski contributed three assists.

For a young Souderton team, it was another test in a demanding curriculum. The Big Red (0-6, 0-4 in divisional play), dressed 14 players Wednesday night. Eight of the 14 were freshmen.

Souderton coach Ryan Uchniat spoke to his team’s progress. “It’s been a year of growth,” he said. “Our goal is to get better each and every game. the first game we played (North Penn) we lost 10-0 (on January 14. Tonight was a much better battle.”

Seth Grossman, one of the freshman corps, paced the Big Red with four goals. Uchniat praised his work ethic. “He works hard,” he said. “You’ve got some players that wait. for things to happen he makes things happen.

“He shows signs of leadership already, as a freshman and I think when the other players see that, it makes them work that much harder.”

Noah Connor, another freshman, made 41 saves in the Souderton net.

Kaufhold and Zachary Cline scored goals to give North Penn a 2-0 lead after one period. The second stanza was a shootout with each team scoring three times’ Grossman scored all three of Souderton’s goals.

It was still a two-goal game entering the third period and Grossman’s fourth goal of the night made it a two-goal game for the last time with 5:48 still remaining in regulation. Kaufhold completed his hat trick 33 seconds later to give the Knights some insurance.

Souderton 0 3 2—5

North Penn 2 3 3—8

First-period goals: Ryan Kaufhold (NP) from Ryan Cunningham and John Stinson, 4:55 (pp); Zachary Cline (NP) from Jeromy Porubski and Cunningham, 12:55

Second-period goals: Cline (NP)from Porubski and Jack Bates, :35; Seth Grossman (S) unassisted, 1:37; Cunningham (MP) from Cline, 2:21; Grossman (S) unassisted, 7:14; Grossman (S) unassisted, 7:33; Kaufhold (NP) from Joseph Silvolfi, 9:53

Third-period goals: Porybski (NP) from Cunnningham and Cline, :16; Evan Thacker (S) from Jarden Garrick, 3:03; Tony Tuozzo (NP) from Chase Mueller, 5:44; Grossman (S) from Timothy Alexander, 10:12; Kaufhold (NP) unassisted, 10:45.

Shots: Souderton 18, North Penn 49; Saves: Noah Connor (S) 41, Jon Boyles (NP) 13.

The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services. We do a full range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook page or stop in and check us out!

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.”

Thursday Flyers Cup Schedule

The Class AA quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday

Boyertown 5, Central Bucks South 4 OT

Downingtown West 3, North Penn 2

Perkiomen Valley 4, Council Rock South 3

Haverford 8, Pennridge 1

Winners to semifinals on March 11 or 12

The Class AAA quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday

Holy Ghost Prep 8, Bishop Shanahan 0

Father Judge 6, Malvern Prep 2

St. Joseph’s Prep 3, Cardinal O’Hara 2

La Salle 8, Roman Catholic 1

Winners to semifinals on March 11 or 12

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Class AA Flyers Cup Bracket Opens Up on Tuesday

Tuesday, March 3 Class AA

Central Bucks South 4, Conestoga 1

Boyertown 4 Central Bucks East 1

North Penn 4, Ridley 1

Downingtown West 7, Pennsbury 3

Perkiomen Valley 8, Dowingtown East 5

Council Rock South 7, Parkland 5

Pennridge 4, Neshaminy 3

Haverford 8 Central Bucks West 0

We’ll have recaps of the two games at Grundy Arena later this evening at www.hockeyhappenings.wordpress.com

If you’re a fam of women’s golf or have a daughter who plays golf or would like to, we encourage you to check out our Women’s Golf Report podcast at www.buzzsprout.com/64464. Our guest is LPGA professional Tori Fitzgerald.

Updated Playoff Schedule

Wednesday, February 26

4:00 APAC Founders Cup Final: La Salle vs Holy Ghost Prep at Grundy Arena

At Hatfield Ice

6:30 SHSHL Class AA Semifinal C.B. South vs. Neshaminy

8:30 SHSHL Class AA Semifinal North Penn vs C.R. South

At Revolution Ice Gardens

7:20 SHSHL Class A Semifinal Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. Truman

9:00 SHSHL Class A Semifinal Hatboro-Horsham vs. Wissahickon

Thursday, February 27

6:30 SHSHL Class AA Final at Hatfield Ice

8:30 SHSHL Class A Final at Hatfield Ice

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North Penn 7, Pennsbury 4

Josh Kaufhold scored two goals and five other players scored one goal each as North Penn downed Pennsbury 7-4 Wednesday night in a SHSHL Class AA quarterfinal game Monday night at Hatfield Ice. The second-seeded Knights will face third Council Rock South in Wednesday’s semifinals (8:30 at Hatfield Ice). Both the Knights and the Falcons will open play in the Flyers Cup tournament next Tuesday.

Goals came fast and furious Monday night. Before the first period ended the Knights had a 3-2 lead. Ryan Kaufhold, Luke Van Why and Zachary Cline scored for North Penn while Jake Machlovitz and Andrew Falkenstein scored for Pennsbury.
Tyler Greenstein and Josh Kaufhold added second-period goals to give the Knights a 5-2 advantage with 4:16 left in the middle period.

Erik Eisler brought Pennsbury closer with a goal with 9:09 left in regulation but Josh Kaufhold’s second goal, which came during a power play with 5:05 remaining, extended North Penn’s advantage. Eisler scored his a second goal of the night for the Falcons with 1:16 left before Thomas Boyle finished the scoring for the Knights with an empty-net goal.

“Pennsbury is a very good hockey team,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “They came out ready to play, great wanted it just as bad as we did. Not the cleanest of games for us but I think coming out of the C.B. South game last week there was a little bit of a letdown.

“We got out of here with a 7-4 win but we’ve got to come ready to play, we’ve got to play much better on Wednesday,”
Pennsbury 2 0 2—4
North Penn 3 2 2—7

Elsewhere

Neshaminy 5, Central Bucks East 3—Rob Seewagen and Joey DeMatteo scored two goals each as the fourth-seeded ‘Skins bested the Patriots Monday night in a quarterfinal game at Grundy Arena. Neshaminy will face top seed Central Bucks South in Wednesday’s semifinals.

Central Bucks South 3, North Penn 2 OT

HATFIELD—The evening was a fitting conclusion to the regular season. Daniel Kvecher scored 72 seconds into overtime to give Central Bucks South a 3-2 win over North Penn Thursday night in a SHSHL Class AA game at Hatfield Ice.

With the win the Titans (14-0-0-1 overall) completed a 12-0 run through the Class AA division, claimed the regular-season division title and the top seed for next week’s SHSHL playoffs, and enhanced their claim on the top seed for the Flyers Cup tournament next month. That’s a lot to accomplish in one evening of work.

The Titans controlled play in the overtime. The game-winning sequence started when Colin Abbonizio made a move down the left wing and the puck didn’t leave the North Penn defensive zone thereafter. Kvecher beat Knight goaltender Nick Ebbinghaus on a shot from the right circle.

“Something we stress as a team is just getting it in the zone,” Abbonizio said. “Get it on net and once you get it in the zone, keep it there.”

The Titans we’re playing their second game in 24 hours but Abbonizio, the Titans’ captain, said he and his teammates found the energy they needed late in the game. “We were exhausted,” he said, but you know in a game like that you’ve got to push through, you’ve got to give it your all. Something that I personally look at is you just go hard for those last couple minutes. You’ve got a couple days to rest and you’ve got to give it your all.”

North Penn had tied the game with 10:06 left in the third period when Tony Trozzi scored after corralling a lose puck in his offensive right-wing corner, darting in front of the net and putting in a rebound after South netminder Mason Moyer stopped his original shot.

Both teams worked hard at both ends of the ice and scoring chances were minimal. Ryan Gingras gave the Titans a 1-0 lead 2;53 into the first period off as turnover and a bounce. Abbonizio made it 2-0 40 seconds into the second frame when he put in a rebound off his own initial shot but Josh Kaufhold got North Penn (12-3, 11-1) on the scoreboard at the 4:59 mark on shot from the right faceoff circle.

Both teams gave the impression they’d like to play hockey for a while longer, say, another month.

“It’s a great way to end the season,” said South coach Shaun McGinty. “Obviousy, going to (overtime) is a lot of fun for the kids. It’s great for high-school hockey as well and we. We’re fortunate to come out on top.”

The Knights aren’t planning on going away anytime soon either.”It was a great hockey game,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “A well-played game by both teams, coming down to the end of the season, first place on the line. It’s everything you want in a hickey game and I think everybody got to see that tonight.”

Ice Chips: The win was the Titans’ 14th straight. Their only loss has been to La Salle in overtime in their season opener. North Penn’s three losses include two to the Titans and one to Hioly Ghost Prep. The Titans won a no-league game from the Knights 5-1 on November 27.

North Penn 0 1 1 0—2
C.B. South 1 1 0 1—3
First-period goals: Ryan Gingras (CBS) unassisted, 2:53
Second-period goals: Colin Abbonizio (CBS) unassisted, :40; Josh Kaufhold (NP) from Tyler Greenstein, 4:59 (pp)
Third-period goals: Tony Tuozzo (NP) unassisted, 5:54
Overtime goal: David Kvecher (CBS) from Abbonizio and Gingras, 1:12
Shots: North Penn 23, C.B. South 31; Saves: Nick Ebbinghaus (NP), Mason Moyer (CBS) 21

SHSHL Update for 2-17-20

Game results through 2-19

Standings

Class AA W L T OTL Pts

C.B. South (13-0-0-1) 12 0 0 0 24

North Penn (12-3-0-0) 11 1 0 0 22

C.R. South (10-6-0-0) 10 1 0 1 21

Neshaminy (11-4-0-0) 9 3 0 0 18

C.B. East (9-4-1-1) 6 4 1 1 14

Pennridge (10-6-0-0) 7 5 0 0 14

Pennsbury (10-5-1-0) 6 5 1 0 13

C.B. West (7-6-2-1)) 4 6 2 0 10

Souderton (3-11-1-1) 3 7 1 1 8

William Tennent (5-10-0-1) 3 8 0 1 7

Abington (4-13-0-0) 3 9 0 0 6

Quakertown (2-13-1-0) 1 9 1 0 2

Council Rock North (1-15-0-0) 0 12 0 0 0

Class A W L T OTL Pts

Plymouth Whitemarsh (16-1-0-0) 12 0 0 0 22

Hatboro-Horsham (11-5-0-1) 6 5 0 1 13

Wissahickon (9-8-0-0) 6 6 0 0 12

Truman (3-13-0-0) 3 9 0 0 6

Lower Moreland (3-14-0-0) 3 9 0 0 6

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. If the game is still tied it will be recorded as a tie game.

The shootout will not be used

Scoring Through 2-17

Class AA G A Pts

Michael Roby (CRS) 26 15 41

Jake Lang (CBW) 24 17 41

Chris Trefz (CBW) 12 29 41

Tyler Greenstein (NP) 18 22 40

Antii Autere (CRS) 14 22 36

Josh Kaufhold (NP) 17 19 36

Robert Seewagen(Nesh) 21 14 35

Beau Brusius-Yedman (Pb) 13 20 33

Dominic Patrone (CBS) 14 18 32

Sean Gorman (CBE) 26 4 30

Colin Abbonizio (CBS) 15 14 29

Justin Carrelli (WT) 21 7 28

Class A G A Pts

Aidan Keogh (PW) 23 31 54

Jake Weikel (PW) 33 20 53

Dean Keller (PW) 20 22 42

Alex Howieson (HH) 20 18 38

Luke Weikel (PW) 17 20 37

Bryan Gary 21 15 36

Nicholas Hussa 26 8 34

Seth Lerner (HH) 19 12 31

Robert DiCostra (Tr) 16 14 30

Colin Franzoni (PW) 14 13 27

Aidan Esack (HH) 11 15 26

Goals Against MP GA GAA

Mason Moyer (CBS) 608 17 1.34

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS) 554 21 1.82

Brian Nelson (Nesh) 524 28 2.56

Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 628 34 2.60

Ryan Pico (Pr) 720 40 2.67

Chris McIntyre (CBE) 726 41 2.71

Save Percentage MP Sh Svs Sv Pct.

Mason Moyer (CBS) 608 259 242 .934

Chris McIntyre (CBE) 726 448 407 .908

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS)554 216 195 .903

Ryan Pico (Pr) 720 400 360 .900

Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 628 302 268 .887

Topher Seiler (Pb) 519 359 318 .886

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, Neshaminy 3

HATFIELD—Call it a postseason preview. Two of the top teams in the Suburban High School Hockey League shared the stage at Hatfield Ice Thursday night and the evening lived up to expectations. Thomas Boyle scored a power-play goal with 58.5 seconds left in regulation to hand the Knights a 4-3 win in the only regular-season meeting of two teams that figure to be SHSHL and Flyers Cup contenders.

The game-winning goal came when Boyle put in a rebound of Luke Van Why’s slapshot from the left point. “I didn’t think it was going to go in,” Boyle said. “I was so excited I had something left at the end of the game.”

It was a night when special teams play proved decisive. Five of the game’s seven goals, including all four of North Penn’s, came on power plays. Kevin Vena and Adam Brock kept a tight rein on the proceedings by whistling 19 penalties.

“We take as lot of pride in our power play,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis, “getting it in, setting it up. We had four power-play goals so it goers to show you that the work we put in on the power play can be the difference in a game like tonight’s and it was.”

North Penn’s Josh Kaufhold and Neshaminy’s Robert Seewagen traded goals in the first period and that was all the scoring until the third frame.

Neshaminy (7-3, 5-2 in league play)) squandered an opportunity late in the second session when it failed to score during a two-man advantage that last for 1 minute, 41 seconds (two seconds of which carried over into the third period).

“I thought the power play played fairly well except for the five-on-three,” said Neshaminy coach Matt DeMatteo. “The five-on-three we just couldn’t get our rhythm for once reason or other. We weren’t moving the puck well on that and I think that was kind of a turning point for us.”

Tyler Greenstein gave North Penn (6-2, 5-0) the lead for the second time when he scored at the 3:04 mark of the third period. Thomas Gallagher tied the game for Neshaminy 47 seconds later.

Greenstein scored his second goal of the game on a shot from the left point at 5:45 before Neshaminy drew even on Nolan Geria’s effort with help from Matt Bunchinski at 9:45.

The Knights scored their three third-period goals on just four shots; they were outshot 26-15. At the other end, Nick Ebbinghaus recorded 23 saves.

It would not be a surprise to see these two teams meet again when the stakes are higher. “No doubt, we’ll definitely see these guys,” DeMatteo said. “We’ll see them in the playoffs hopefully, we’ll see them in the Flyers Cup.”

Ice Chips—North Penn is ranked fourth in this week’s Class AA Flyers Cup power rankings while Neshaminy is listed fifth. Seewagen’s goal was his 20th of the season.

Neshaminy 1 0 2—3
North Penn 1 0 3—4
First-period goals: Josh Kaufhold (NP) unassisted, 2:39 (pp); Robert Seewagen (N) unassisted, 7:24 (pp).
Third-period goals: Tyler Greenstein (NP) unassisted, 3:01 (pp); Thomas Gallagher (N) from Daniel McColgan, 3:31; Greenstein (NP) from Thomas Boyle, 5:45 (pp); Nolan Geria N) from Matt Buhiiski, 9:04; Boyle (NP) from Greenstein and Luke Van Why, 15:02 (pp).
Shots: Neshaminy 26, North Penn 15; Saves: Brian Nelson (N) 11, Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 23.

The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services. We do a range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook page or stop in and check us out.