Samuel Norton – Hockey Happenings

By Karen Sangillo

It was an early season matchup that could become a harbinger for the post-season.

Council Rock South hosted the defending National Division, Flyers Cup and state champion North Penn and fell to the Knights, 5-2, on Wednesday night at Grundy Ice Arena.

Both teams entered the game undefeated at 3-0.

CR South got on the board first with a goal by Jake Weiner, midway through the first period.

“Scoring first definitely gave us a lift, but we have to learn to keep our heads up and keep moving when the other team scores,” said CR South goaltender Trey Prozzillo, a senior.

Late in the first period the Golden Hawks (5-1 overall) got into some trouble when they were issued a bench minor, served by Xavier Prozorov. He joined Jordan Sarne, already in the penalty box for cross checking.

The five-on-three power play was too good of an opportunity for the Knights to miss, and they didn’t. Samuel Norton stuffed it in with an assist from goaltender Andrew Norton and the period ended tied, 1-1.

“We knew they were going to come out strong right away, so it wasn’t too surprising when they scored first, but we bounced back pretty fast,” said Norton, a junior forward. “We thought this was going to be one of the toughest games of the year for us and we came out of it pretty well.

“We did a good job of moving the puck into the neutral zone and we played pretty good defense. Our offense needs a little work but it’s still early in the season so I think we’ll get it down by the time the playoffs come around.”

North Penn’s Chris Silvotti IV made it 2-1 three minutes into the second period, but CR South tied it up on a goal by Keegan Spence.

North Penn (5-0 overall) took control in the third period, with Samuel Norton netting the game winner two minutes into play and Declan Leahy and Silvotti providing a pair of insurance goals.

“Being the defending state champions hasn’t changed anything for us,” said North Penn senior Danial Cabrales, a defenseman. “We aren’t doing anything different, but I do feel like we’re more of a target this year. Everyone knows we’re the defending state champion so everyone wants to beat us.

“But we pretty much have the same team back again so I feel like we definitely can do it again.”

There are quite a few new faces on the CR South squad, which graduated nine from last year.

“This was a good early test for us,” Prozzillo said. “Next time we see them we’re going to work harder and not take our foot off the gas.

“We hung in there for a while but we have kids who have to fill new roles and they’re still learning. We’re definitely going to go to practice on Monday and work on the things we need to work on.

“I think they’ll figure out their assignments and know what they need to do next game. This was the toughest game we’ve had all year against probably the toughest team we’ll see all year, and we’ve got to learn from it.”

North Penn 1 1 3—5

Council Rock South 1 1 0—2

First-period goals: Jake Weiner (CRS) from Allen Pronin, 8:44; Samuel Norton (NP) from Andrew Norton, 16:16 (pp)

Second-period goals: Christopher Silvotti IV (NP) from James Boyle and Declan Willison, 14:00; Keegan Spence (CRS) from Brendan Rooney, 14:24

Third-period goals: S. Norton (NP) from Danial Cabrales, 1:48; Declan Leahy (NP) from Luke Haftel and Chase Kelly Del Ricci, 10:29; Silvotti (NP) from Del Ricci, 12:47

Shots: North Penn 38, Council Rock South 24; Saves: A. Norton (NP) 22, Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 33

Samuel Norton did it all for North Penn Wednesday night. The sophomore assisted on the first goal of the night, went on to score three goals himself and helped with a crucial four-minute penalty kill in the third period.

All those elements were part a winning formula as the Knights scored a 5-3 decision in a much-anticipated SHSHL National Division showdown with Council Rock South at Hatfield Ice.

The win was the 11^th straight for the Knights (15-2, 14-2 in the division) and lifted then into first place in the division, three points clear of the Golden Hawks (15-2, 14-1) who have a game in hand and three conference games remaining to North Penn’s two.

North Penn also has the inside lane in the race for the top two seeds in the division playoffs, which provide byes into the semifinals.

“It was definitely on our minds, Norton said.

The teams split four goals in the first frame before Norton’s second goal of the night gave North Penn a 3-2 lead with 8:17 left in the middle period. Jordan Sarne responded for South with a power-play goal, his second goal of the night, to tie the game with 2:19 remaining but Norton put North Penn back in front and completed his hat trick when he scored with 6.7 seconds left in the period during a stretch when the Hawks were trying to kill three consecutive penalties.

The game’s most critical sequence commenced with 13:50 left in the third period. North Penn held a 4-3 lead at that point and Norton had already pocketed his three goals but the Knights’ James Boyle was called for two cross checking penalties, giving South a four-minute power play.

At that point, there were some anxious moments behind the North Penn bench.

“They’ve got probably the best power play in the league,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “With [Jake] Weiner and [Jeremy] Rayher and Sarne and [Daniel] Fillipov, and [Jonah] Weston they have a very talented power-play unit when they go out there.

“We did a great job killing that off.”

The threat did not end however when the extended power play expired. The Hawks outshot the Knights 20-8 in the third period but Aidan Quigley stopped everything headed his way.

Cole Pluck added an insurance goal with 3:31 remaining.

{North Penn} played well tonight,” said South coach Joe Houk. “We did not play our best game but that’s only an excuse. North Penn has got a good team.

“I kept telling everybody ‘Listen. We’re not a 14-0 team. We’ve had a couple wins. But we can’t come and play ‘C’ hockey and expect to win games at the end of the year.

“We knew coming into the game it was going to be a challenge,” Norton said. “I think the North Penn boys really performed. It was a solid team game.”

Ice chips—South won the first meeting between the two teams, 6-3 on November … South stands first in the present Class AA Flyers Cup listings. North Penn is ranked third … With two assists on addition to his goal, Pluck went over the 100-point mark for his high-school career.

Council Rock South 2 1 0—3

North Penn 2 2 1—5

First-period goals: Declan Leahy (NP from Cole Pluck and Samuel Norton, :21; Jonah Weston (CRS) from Jake Weiner 8:37; Jordan Sarne (CRS) from Jake Maurer and Weiner 9:01; Norton (NP unassisted, 14:32 (sh)

Second-period goals: Norton (NP) from Leahy and Pluck, 8:43; Sarne (CRS) from Weiner, 14:41 (pp); Norton (NP) from James Boyle and Danial Cabrales, 16:54 (pp)

Third-period goal: Pluck (MP) from Leahy, 13:29 (pp)

Shots: Council Rock South 41, North Penn 34; Saves: Ryan Ayala (CRS) 29 Aidan Quigley (NP) 38

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North Penn 5 Council Rock South 2

North Penn 5 Council Rock South 3