SHSHL Playoffs Kick Off Monday

The SHSHL playoffs kick off Monday night with two national Division first-round games. Council Rock South, which has a bye into the semifinals, is the two-time defending National Division champion.

Pennridge enters the postseason as the defending Class AA Flyers Cup champion and state champion, having claimed those distinctions twice in the last three seasons. The Rams last won the SHSHL title in 2022. C.B. East’s last title cane in 2011

Central Bucks South’s last SHSHL National title came in 2018 when the Titans completed a run of four consecutive league titles, six in seven seasons, and seven in nine seasons. Pennsbury, which won the Class AA Flyers Cup title in 2023 won the SHSHL National title in 2021.

North Penn last won an SHSHL title in 2014.

Pennridge (12-7, 11-7 in National Division)

Coach: Jeff Montagna

Players to watch Shane Dachowski 32 goals, 25 assists, 57 points; James Rush 24-24-48; Jacob Winton 2.58 GAA, .918 sae percentage

Central Bucks East (10-8-1, 10-7-1 in National Division)

Coach: Jeff Mitchell

Players to watch: Alex Wilson 14 goals, 6 assists, 20 points; Jaden Young 10-6-16; Cole Breen 4.06 GAA, .875 save percentage

The winner will play top-seeded Council Rock South on Wednesday in the semifinals

Central Bucks South (15-5, 15-3 in National Division)

Coach: Shaun McGinty

Players to watch: Sean Cutter 16 goals, 19 assists, 35 points; Jeff Kvecher 12-21-33; Jake Matkowski 3.75 GAA, .838 save percentage; Nate Napolitano 3.81, .859

Pennsbury (7-12, 6-12 in National Division)

Coach: Ryan Daley

Players to watch: Chris Sarver 11 goals, 23 assists, 34 points; Shane Hicks 14-17-31; Brendan Milliken 5.71 GAA, .810 save percentage.

The winner will play second-seeded North Penn on Wednesday in the semifinals

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SHSHL Playoff Puzzle Solved

The last pieces of the puzzle have been filled in and the field is set for the SHSHL postseason.

Six National Division and three American Division teams will begin playoff action on Monday.

Three games Wednesday night solidified the final field.

Council Rock South 5 Neshaminy 2—Jordan Sarne and Jake Weiner each scored two goals as the Golden Hawks clinched the National Division regular-season title Wednesday night at Grundy Arena. Jeremy Rayher also scored for South (18-2, 17-1 in the division) who built a 5-0 lead before Ryan DeMatteo scored two third-period goals for the ‘Skins (6-12-1, 5-12-1).

The result means Pennsbury will be the sixth and final seed for the National Division playoffs.

See below for the complete list.

Central Bucks East 3 Pennridge 2—Dave Brown scored a shorthanded goal with 12:23 left in regulation to give the Patriots the win over the Rams at Hatfield Ice. The result locks the Rams (12-7, 11-7 in the division) into the fourth position for the National Division playoffs. The Patriots (10-8-1, 10-7-1) were already assured of the fifth seed. Gavin Widmer and Tyson Cowan also scored for East. James Embert and Kaden Gunning scored for Pennridge.

Springfield 4 Plymouth Whitemarsh 2—Kellen Warman broke a 2-2 tie when he scored with 2:42 left in the second period to put the Spartans in front for good Wednesday night at Grundy Arena. Gabriel Wells added an insurance goal in the third period as Springfield (8-8) closed its regular season with six consecutive wins to claim the third and final playoff spot from the American Division. The loss was the first for Plymouth Whitemarsh (15-1) which will enter the postseason as the division’s top seed. Hatboro-Horsham, which closes its regular season Thursday night, will be the second seed.

National Division Seedings

Council Rock South
North Penn
Central Bucks South
Pennridge
Central Bucks East
Pennsbury

American Division Seedings

Plymouth Whitemarsh
Hatboro-Horsham
Springfield

SHSHL Update 1-31-24

National Division W L T OW OL Pts

@ Pennridge (15-0-1) 14 0 1 1 0 0 29

@ Council Rock South (15-1-0) 14 1 0 0 0 28

@ Cent. Bucks South (10-5-1) 10 4 1 0 2 23

@ Central Bucks East (9-4-1) 9 4 2 0 0 19

North Penn (8-6-0) 8 6 0 0 0 16

Souderton (6-9-0) 6 9 0 4 1 13

Pennsbury (3-11-0) 3 11 0 0 2 8

Cent. Bucks West (3-11-1) 3 11 1 0 1 8

Council Rock North (2-13-0) 2 13 0 0 1 5

Neshaminy (1-11-2) 1 11 2 0 0 4

American Division W L T OW OL Pts

@ Plymouth White. (10-3) 9 1 0 0 1 19

@ Bensalem (9-3) 7 3 0 1 1 15

@ Abington (6-5-1) 5 3 0 0 0 10

Wissahickon (2-11) 2 9 0 1 4

Springfield (1-12) 1 8 0 0 0 2

@ Clinched playoff spots

National Division Scoring G A Pts

Kevin Pico (Pr) 25 36 61

Andrew Savona (Pr) 31 27 58

Maxwell Ryon (Soud) 33 18 51

Shane Dachowski (Pr) 23 27 50

Kevin Koles (CRS) 22 22 44

Jake Weiner (CRS) 23 18 41

Seth Grossman (Soud) 20 20 40

Blaize Pepe (CRS) 15 21 36

Nolan Shingle (NP) 6 22 28

Illia Mukhin (CRS) 11 16 27

American Division Scoring G A Pts

Alex Hood (Bens) 44 14 58

Alex Bazylevich (Bens) 11 19 30

David Branigan (PW) 17 12 29

Seamus Donofry (Ab) 6 22 28

Dylan Novitski (PW) 17 10 27

Tim Murphy (PW) 9 17 26

Daniel Guller (PW) 7 18 25

Owen Quinn (Sp) 13 9 22

Jason Segal (PW) 11 11 22

Michael Romano (Ab) 10 9 19

Cole Salayda (Bens) 6 13 19

SHSHL Playoff Pairings Announced

Pairings and game times have been finalized for the first leg of the Suburban High School Hockey League playoffs.

Two first-round National-round National Division games are set for Wednesday, February 22 along with the single American Division semifinal.

Wednesday 2-22

National Division

(3) Pennsbury vs (6) C.B. East 7:20 at Grundy

(4) Neshaminy vs. (5) C.B. South 9:00 at Grundy

(1) Council Rock South and (2) Pennridge have first-round byes
Semifinals March 1

Championship game March 2

American Division

(2) Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. (3) Quakertown 8:45 at Hatfield Ice

(1) Abington has a first-round bye

Championship game March 1

SHSHL Recap

National/Continental-Class AA W L T OTL Pts

Pennridge (17-0-1) 9 0 1 0 19

Council Rock South (13-1-2-1) 9 0 1 0 19

Pennsbury (11-4-1) 8 2 0 0 16

Central Bucks South (6-6-1-2) 6 3 0 1 13

Neshaminy (8-6-1) 5 5 0 0 10

Council Rock North (9-7) 5 5 0 0 10

Central Bucks East (6-9) 5 5 0 0 10

Souderton (7-8) 4 6 0 0 8

Bensalem (3-11) 1 9 0 0 2

Central Bucks West (5-9) 2 8 0 0 2

North Penn (1-13) 0 10 0 0 0

American Division-Class A W L T OTL Pts

Abington (15-1) 12 0 0 0 24

Plymouth Whitemarsh (11-5) 9 3 0 0 18

Wissahickon (9-8) 8 4 0 0 16

Quakertown (7-9) 7 5 0 0 14

William Tennent (3-12) 3 9 0 0 6

Upper Dublin (3-10-0-1) 2 8 0 1 5

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

Overall records include playoff games

Playoff Results

Class AA
Quarterfinals

Council Rock South 9 Souderton 0

Council Rock North 4 Central Bucks South 3 OT

Pennridge 5 Central Bucks East 1

Pennsbury 5 Neshaminy 2

Semifinals

Council Rock South 7 Council Rock North 5

Pennridge 6 Pennsbury 3

Finals

Pennridge 5 Council Rock South 4 OT

Class A

Semifinals

Abington 6 Quakertown 2

Wissahickon 6 Plymouth Whitemarsh 4

Finals
Abington 4 Wissahickon 2

Scoring

Class AA G A Pts

Karson Grainey (CRN) 29 15 44

Shane Siegmund (PB) 18 24 42

Brendan Macainsh (Pb) 23 16 39

Kevin Pico (Pr) 18 15 33

Kevin Koles (CRS) 13 20 33

Nick Hahn (CRN) 10 21 31

Shane Dachowski (Pr) 18 7 25

Aeryk Lehrhaupt (Pr) 17 8 25

Jackson Accardi (CRN) 16 9 25

Max Gallagher (Nesh) 14 11 25

David Vergules (CRS) 11 12 23

Class A G A Pts

Luke Weikel (PW) 38 21 59

Aidan Keogh (PW) 18 41 59

Matt Kramer (Ab 30 20 50

Joe Stelacio (Ab) 18 25 43

Pat Stelacio (Ab) 24 14 38

A.J. Pounds (Wiss) 19 17 36

Will Hussa (Wiss) 19 15 34

Matthew Flynn (PW) 9 23 32

Matt Cholaj (Ab) 16 15 31

Danny Hussa (Wiss) 21 9 30

Jack Bocul (UD) 22 7 29

Nick Hussa (Wiss ) 13 16 29

Abington 4 Wissahickon 2

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP —Abington worked a very long time, all season in fact, for the right to hoist the SHSHL American Division (Class A) championship trophy, all season in fact.

But in the wake of their 4-2 win over Wissahickon Thursday night at Hatfield Ice, could be argued the top-seeded Galloping Ghosts had been working for far longer than that; Thursday’s win gave Abington its seventh SHSHL title but its first since 2004.

“It’s a huge win for our program,” said Abington coach Ken Brozowski. “We talked about before the game, about the history that Abington has. And it was important for us to come through and win this game.

Matt Cholaj and Pat Stelacio each scored two goals and each added an assist as top-seeded Abington won its 15^th straight game after opening the season with a loss to new SHSHL Class AA champion Pennridge.

“We lost the first game of the season,” Chelaj said, “but we came out hot after that We really didn’t let much get to us. We kept our heads in every game.

“It’s good when all four of our lines can really get going and score goals. All four of our lines are putting up points this year and it was just an overall good season.”

Cholaj put Abington in front 5:19 into the opening period. A.J. Pounds answered for third-seeded Wissahickon (9-8) at the 9:42 mark.
Abington’s next three goals came on power plays. Stelacio put his team in front for the second and last time with 3:11 left in the opening session before Abington broke the game open early in the second stanza thanks to consecutive Trojan penalties that gave the Galloping Ghosts a two-man advantage; Cholaj and Stelacio each scored goals during that interlude to put their team up by three goals just 3:01 into the middle period.

Will Hussa made it a 4-2 game at the 6:34 mark. Wissahickon had no further success against Ben Panella in the Abington net although the Trojans had two goals disallowed during the game.

Abington is classified Class AA for the Flyers Cup and as the 14^th seed will face third seed Council Rock South on Tuesday at Hatfield Ice. Wissahickon is seeded 10^th in Class A and will go against seventh-seeded West Chester Henderson Monday at Ice Line

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Pennridge 5 Council Rock South 4 OT

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—There wasn’t much to choose between Pennridge and Council Rock South Thursday night. Perhaps it was fitting that the Rams and the Golden Hawks went into overtime in their SHSHL Class AA championship game. It took 4 minutes, 27 seconds of extra time before Shane Dachowski found the back of the net to give the Rams a 5-4 win in front of a packed house at Hatfield Ice.

The winning sequence began with a long pass from Trey Mikulich from inside the Pennridge blue line up the center of the ice. Dachowski collected it in full stride and went in on goal before beating South netminder Carson Lopez with a backhander.

“We knew we weren’t losing tonight,” Dachowski said. “We just went out there and did it.”

Second-seeded Pennridge, which remained unbeaten at 16-0-1 trailed 3-1 late in the second period before rallying win its third SHSHL title; the previous two came in 2008 and ’19.

Top-seeded Council Rock South (13-2-2) spent much of the first period killing four penalties and portions of the second period killing two more. Matt Constantini gave the Golden Hawks a 1-0 at the 10:34 mark but drew and unsportsmanlike conduct penalty while celebrating the goal.

Jack Lowery tied the game for Pennridge
“You can’t win games shorthanded,” said South coach Joe Houk. ”We literally skated shorthanded the first half of that. You can’t play catchup like that.

But in short order, it was the Rams playing catchup after Daniel Filippov and Gavin Nisenzon scored goals in a span of 2:06 to give the Golden Hawks a 3-1 lead with 3:07 left in the middle period.

Cooper White brought the Rams closer before the second period ended and Andrew Savona tied the game 1:57 into the third when he beat Lopez from the left faceoff circle.
Kevin Pico gave Pennridge its first lead of the lead at the 6:44 mark when he scored off a South turnover.

As the final minute of regulation counted down, the Rams fought to hold their lead but David Vergules emerged victorious from a scramble in front of Ram goaltender Ryan Pico to tie the game with 40 seconds left in regulation. The goal served as a prelude to an overtime session that brought the evening to a dramatic conclusion.

“That was one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna. It was back and forth, it was everything that a championship game should be.”

• Pennridge is seeded first for the Class AA Flyers Cup and will face 16^th seeded Ridley Tuesday night at Hatfield Ice. The Golden Hawks are seeded third and will face 14^th-seeded Abington on Tuesday, also at Hatfield Ice.

Pennridge 0 2 2 1—5

C.R. South 1 2 1 0—4

First-period goal: Matt Constantini (CRS) from Julian Wagenman and Kevin Koles, 10:34

Second-period goals: Jack Lowery (P) unassisted, 11:23; Dan Filippov (CRS) from Blaise Pepe, 11:47; Gavin Nisenzon (CRS) from Pepe, 13:53 (pp), Cooper White (P) from Andrew David and Andrew Lizak, 14:59

Third-period goals: Andrew Savona (P) from Kevin Pico and Aidan Boyle, 1:57 (pp); Pico (P) from Savona and Tyler Manto, 6:44; David Vergules (CRN) from Kyle Boss, 19:20

Overtime goal: Shane Dachowski (P) from Trey Mikulich, 4:27

Shots: Pennridge 48, Council Rock North 37; Saves: Ryan Pico (P) 33, Carson Lopez (CRN) 43

Council Rock South 2 Central Bucks South 1 OT

HATFIELD—In the end, both teams left every ounce of energy on the ice, like warriors spilling their last drop of blood on the battlefield.

Sam Cherkassky scored a power-play goal 5:23 into sudden-death overtime Wednesday night to give Council Rock South a 2-1 win over Central Bucks South in a Suburban High School Hockey League National/Continental semifinal at Hatfield Ice.

The third-seeded Golden Hawks (9-3-0-2) will try to defend their divisional title when they face top-seeded Pennsbury Thursday night at Grundy Arena (7:20) in the championship game.

The winning goal came as the second-seeded Titans, who had just 11 skaters dressed because of injuries, a suspension, and Covid issues, were dealing with a flurry of penalties; four of them in the last 2:19 of regulation plus overtime.

Trailing 1-0 heading down the stretch with the Titans’ Aydin Thierolf in the box for elbowing, the Golden Hawks pulled goaltender Jimmy Sweeney, giving them a six-skaters-to-four advantage. Julian Wagenmann tied the game with 1:12 left in regulation when he poked in the second rebound of a shot from the right point.

The Titans found themselves shorthanded again when D.J. Bray was whistled for elbowing 3:04 into the 15-minute extra period. Just 11 seconds later, Owen Mendham was called for interference with a bench minor attached, a bench minor that didn’t start until Bray’s penalty expired. Mendham’s penalty lapsed without incident but Emilee Lindenmuth, who was serving the extra penalty, could only watch, along with her teammates, as Cherkassky scored the game winner.

Council Rock South forward Doug Lopez said it was important for he and his teammates to step up their games entering the third period.

“We just knew that they were shorthanded,” he said. “We came into the locker room after the second period and said ‘We’ve got to give it our all.’

“I think them being short and a combination of them being short and us coming out hard really changed the game in our favor.”

Council Rock South coach Joe Houk noted that after a break for an ice cut following the second period, his players found another gear.

“I felt we were not focused the first half of the game,” he said. I thought our puck possession in the third, plus in overtime, whether there were penalties or not. I thought we controlled the entire overtime.”

Central Bucks South coach Shaun McGinty tried to find solace in his team’s work rate. “The boys played a great game,” he said. “The effort was there. Hat’s off to (Council Rock South), we’ll take the loss and move on to the Flyers Cup.”

Notes—The Titans’ goal came from Adam Cusick 63 seconds into the second period. Central Bucks South is seeded sixth for the Class AA Flyers Cup tournament and will face 11^th-seeded Own J. Roberts on Tuesday at Hatfield Ice. The Golden Hawks, who are seeded fifth, will take on 12^th seed Avon Grove on Tuesday at the same venue.

C.R. South 0 0 1 1—2

C.B. South 0 1 0 0—1

Second-period goal: Adam Cusick (CBS) unassisted, 1:03

Third-period goal: Julian Wagenmann (CRS) unassisted, 14:48 (pp);

Overtime goal: Sam Cherkassky (CRS) unassisted, 5:23 (pp)

Shots: CR South 29, CB South 22; Saves: Jimmy Sweeney (CRS) 21, Mason Moyer (CBS) 27

SHSHL Semifinal Pairings Finalized

The matchups for Wednesday’s SHSHL semifinals are finalized, along with game sites and times.

National/Continental Division

5 Pennridge vs. 1 Pennsbury 7:20 at Grundy Arena

3 Council Rock South vs. 2 Central Bucks South 6:30 at Hatfield Ice

American Division

4 Hatboro-Horsham at 1 Wissahickon, 8:40 at Hatfield

3 Plymouth Whitemarsh at 2 Abington 9:00 at Bucks County Ice

Sites and times are subject to change

The championship games in both division are scheduled for Thursday with sites and times to be announced.

SHSHL Playoff Pairings

The game sites and times for Monday’s Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA quarterfinals have been set.

Quarterfinals Monday, February 24

Game 1 (1) Central Bucks South vs. (8) Central Bucks West 7:20 at Hatfield

Game 2 (4) Neshaminy vs. (5) Central Bucks East 7:20 at Grundy

Game 3 (3) Council Rock South vs. (6) Pennridge 7:20 at Revolution Ice Gardens

Game 4 (2) North Penn vs. (7) Pennsbury 9:00 at Hatfield

Semifinals Wednesday, February 26

Winners of Games 1 and 2 6:30 at Hatfield

Winners of Games 3 and 4 8:30 at Hatfield

Finals Thursday, February 27

6:30 at Hatfield

The Class A semifinals will be played as a doubleheader at Revolution Ice Gardens on Wednesday, February 26

Game 1 (1) Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. (4) Truman 6:30

Game 2 Wissahickon vs. Hatboro-Horsham 8:20

(This game matches the second and third seeds. As of Friday morning the deedings had not been finalized)

Finals Thursday, February 27

8:30 at Hatfield