Wissahickon’s Dicus Has Picked Up a Whistle

When Logan Dicus isn’t on the ice with a stick in his hands he might be found on the ice blowing a whistle. The Wissahickon senior is a USA Hockey referee and spends his Saturday and Sunday mornings officiating youth games.

Dicus started thinking about officiating last summer.

“I didn’t really have much going on so I thought I’d just look into it. A couple of my friends did it so I thought ‘Why not?’ So, I signed up and have been doing the early morning games and slowly making my way up.

I have a lot of fun doing it as well. And it’s a good time.”

As a Level 1 official, Dicus is certified to work games including players as old as age 10. But hockey, like all sports, is dealing with a shortage of officials and it’s theoretically possible he could be assigned at a high level.

USA Hockey’s requirements for new referees include paying an application fee ($55), completing on-line and classroom training sessions, a rules test, and a background check. Those 18 and older (birth year 2008, as Dicus is, or prior) must also complete a SafeSport training protocol.

Dicus says officiating has him seeing the game differently than he does as a player.

“When you’re reffing, you see a different perspective from when you’re playing the game,” he said. “You’re not even paying attention to the score, honestly.

“You’re staring at the puck. You’re staring at the players around the puck. You’re barely paying attention to the game, honestly. You’re just kind of watching in areas. It’s definitely a different perspective than playing the game.”

Dicus has gotten an abundance of support from his more experienced officiating partners.

“All the refs that I have {officiated} with have been very nice,” he said, “very respectful, and that makes it an easier environment to learn in.”

Dicus will head to college next fall but plans to take his striped shirt and whistle with him. He says being on the ice as a referee brings back memories of when he was getting started in the game himself.

“Watching younger kids playing the game and knowing that I was once on that position,” he said. “I didn’t really understand hockey at that point and how much it was going to have to do with my life. And I just get to see my life all over again.”

Wissahickon 8 Springfield 5

Wissahickon and Springfield have labored in obscurity much of the season, their efforts limited by roster size. Hatboro-Horsham and Plymouth Whitemarsh have dominated the SHSHL’s American Division, leaving the Spartans, the Trojans (and Abington) in their wake.

But on Thursday night, the Trojans and Spartans were able to compete on an equal footing. The result was an 8-5 Wissahickon win at Hatfield Ice that added to the festive mood on the Trojans’ Senior Night and not incidentally tightened their hold on the third and final American Division playoff slot.

The win improved Wissahickon to 4-7 overall and in the division while Springfield fell to 3-8 overall and 3-7 in divisional play.

The result also allowed Wissahickon to avenge a 10-0 loss to the Spartans on November 20; the teams are scheduled to face each other on two additional occasions before the regular season concludes next month.
Joseph Gambino, one of Wissahickon’s captains, spoke of what the victory meant to him and his teammates and the experience they’re having this season

“This group definitely isn’t the most talented,” he said, “but we have the most heart. Last year on Senior Night we couldn’t get it done for them. It was a heartbreaking OT loss that definitely motivated us this year.

“We came prepared, suits and ties and ready to play and we came out and proved it today. I think that was our best game of the year.”

Wardrobes aside, Wissahickon got contributions from multiple sources. Mack Risnychok had a five-point night with four goals and an assist. Gambino added two goals and an assist while Chase McClintic delivered two goals. Logan Dicus, one of five seniors in the Trojan lineup, chipped in with two assists.

“Like any team I guess eight now, we have a short bench,” said Wissahickon coach James Rumsey. “Each one of them did their part. They all did something special to come out and take the win.”

The teams traded goals for most of the first two periods a before McClintic and Risnychok scored goals 82 seconds apart to put Wissahickon up 6-4 with four minutes left in the second period. Gambino’s goal 3:05 into the third frame have his team some additional breathing room.

Grayson Quinn had a hand in every Springfield goal; he scored their first and added four assists after that.

“After the first period it was 2-2 and each team had nine shots,” said Springfield coach Don Quinn. “You can’t get more even than that.

“We traded goals back and forth and then they took advantage of some mistakes and the net thing.” you know, it’s 8-4.”

Quinn notes his team has some critical games coming over the final month of the regular season.

“We know P-W and Hatboro-Horsham kind of have those one and two positions in our league,” he said. “It’s between us, Wissahickon, and Abington to get that final spot.”

Wissahickon 2 4 2—8

Springfield 2 2 1—5

First-period goals: Mack Risnychok from Logan Honeycutt, 4:41 (pp); Grayson Quinn (S) from Richard Belles, 12:38 Owen Campbell (S) from Grayson Quinn, 14:36; Risnychok from Dryden Jaisle and Logan Dicus, 16:50

Second-period goals: Lincoln Coleman (S) from Quinn, :30; Chase McClintic from Dicus, 5:21; Joseph Gambino from Honeycutt, 7:45; John Barr (S) from Quinn, 9:06; McClintic from Risynchok and Jaisle 11:38 Risnychok unassisted, 13:00

Third-period goals: Gambino from Link Matozzo, 3:05; Gavin McManus (S) from Bennett Warman and Quinn, 5:04; Risnychok from Gambino, 5:57

Shots: Wissahickon 30, Springfield 29; Saves: Fletcher Lynch 24, Emmett Kline (S) 22

PW 8 Wissahickon 4

Keeping up. That’s what Plymouth Whitemarsh’s season is about right now.

All season long, the Colonials have been locked in a day-to-day, shift-to-shift duel with Hatboro-Horsham for supremacy in the SHSHL American Division. Their matchup against Wissahickon Wednesday night was another puzzle.

The Colonials took care of business with an 8-4 win, their ninth victory in 10 starts, all in divisional play. They are even with Hatboro-Horsham in the loss column; the teams have split two meetings and are scheduled for two more.

Plymouth Whitemarsh took dominated the first period Wednesday night but led just 1-0 when the period concluded. The goal came off the stick of Brandon Wooldridge 4:35 into the period.

The Colonials took control of the game in the second stanza when goals from John Zawisliak, Wooldridge, Jack Condon, and Cooper Kanzee extended their lead to 5-0 before Wissahickon (3-7 overall and in the division) got on the scoreboard thanks to Mack Risnychok with 61 seconds left in the period.

“We really just kept our foot on the gas, Wooldridge said. “I thought we played well the first period, I think we had (16) shots, just couldn’t bury it but then we figured it out and got it past their goalie (Fletcher Lynch). He played really well today.”

The Trojans didn’t go away. Goals from Joseph Gambino and Logan Honeycutt sandwiched around a Plymouth Whitemarsh goal from Connor Barclay, making it a 6-3 game with 8:32 still left in regulation but Chris London and Dan Guller added additional goals to put the game away.

Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti is still striving to get a solid effort from his troops for a full 51 minutes.

“I think we’re still trying to figure out putting in three full periods of work,” he said. “We get a lead and we end up taking our foot off the gas. And we’re wanting to not create a bad habit for the future because it’s not going to work in the playoffs.”

Wissahickon assistant coach Jason Jaisle has just 12 skaters on his roster and that was a factor on this occasion.

“It’s difficult when you only have two lines,” he said. “They’re rolling three-and-a-half. I thought we’d be tired. I wanted to call timeout, {His players} told me not to.

“But other than that, I’m proud of the guys. Every single one of them We played the best team in the league with two lines and the shots were just about even.

Jaisle says his short bench mandates he slow the pace of the game.

“I try to tell the goalie to cover everything and slow the game down,” he said. “If you’re caught in the defensive one just ice it. Just basic one-on-one hockey from Squirt level really. Unfortunately, without the third line, we’re tired.

‘We have to take advantage of every power play chance we get. We have to kill the penalties

Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 4 3—8

Wissahickon 0 1 3—4

First-period goal: Brandon Wooldridge (PW) from Luke Wynn and Carson Wooldridge, 4:35

Second-period goals: John Zawisliak (PW) from Cooper Kanzee, 1:33; B. Wooldridge (PW) from Daniel Guller, 6:33 (pp); Jack Condon (PW) from Luke Smith and Connor Barclay, 10:27; Kanzee (PW) from Guller and Wynne, 15:50; Mack Risnychok from Chase McClintic and Dryden Jaisle, 15:59

Third-period goals: Joseph Gambino unassisted, 3:02 (pp); Barclay (PW) from Condon and Smith, 6:42; Logan Honeycutt Link Matozzo and Gambino, 8:28; Chris London (PW) from Kanzee, 11:46; Guller (PW) from Kanzee and Wynne, 14:16 (sh); Risnychok from McClintic, 16:13

Shots: Plymouth Whitemarsh 49 Wissahickon 33

Saves: Lucas Bennett (PW) 29, Fletcher Lynch 41

P-W 6 Wissahickon 2

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Coaches in all sports talk a lot about remaining disciplined. Plymouth Whitemarsh was in a winner in that department Thursday night and eventually prevailed on the scoreboard.

Blake Ambler scored two goals and assisted on another as the Colonials prevailed over Wissahickon 6-2 in a SHSHL American Division matchup at Hatfield Ice Arena.

The win kept Plymouth Whitemarsh unbeaten at 8-0 overall and most importantly, head and shoulders above the rest of the division with a 7-0 mark.

The key moment of the game came with 4:49 left in the second period just moments after Logan Discus scored a goal to left the Trojans (5-4, 5-3 in the division) into a 1-1 tie.

Discus and one of the Colonials exchanged pleasantries and what began as pushes and shoves evolved into a skirmish in front of the Plymouth Whitemarsh bench. When the dust had settled, the Trojans found themselves without Aiden Brooks and Joseph Gambino, two of their top four scorers. The Colonials were minus Charles Spause but also were granted a five-minute power play.

Ambler’s first goal of the night came with 49 seconds left in the second frame when he carefully put the puck to the right of Wissahickon netminder Fletcher Lynch to give his team a lead it would hold for the balance of the evening.

Ryan Jagher made it a 3-1 game 2:39 into the final period. Logan Honeycutt scored for the Trojans two minutes and change later to make it a one-goal game once more but the Colonials answered emphatically with three goals in a span of 4 minutes, 41 seconds and left their opponents in their wake.

“With the holiday break you could tell there was a little bit of rust, aid Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti. “But, I think halfway through the second, we started picking it up and getting back to our game. And, I think it showed by the end result.

Forti credited his team for the way it moved the puck.

“I would say that’s been one of our strengths all season,” he said. “Our puck movement has been great. We try to work on it a lot at practice but {the players} deserve a lot of credit too because they’ve been really good about that.”

Wissahickon coach James Rumsey said the altercation impacted his team’s cohesion.

“We have too small a team to lose two people,” he said. “Especially key people. That hurt us a lot. But we felt good for the time we were playing. We had a close game the whole time up until then.”

Ambler noted the importance of the Colonials maintaining their composure following the altercation.

“If we started brawling and fighting everyone, then it would just turn into penalty after penalty, after penalty” he said. “You wouldn’t be able to do anything, you wouldn’t be playing hockey. You’ve just got to play hockey if you want to go out and win.”:

Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 1 4—6

Wissahickon 0 1 1—2

First-period goals Daniel Molony (PW) from Daniel Guller, 13:51

Second-period goals: Logan Discus unassisted, 12:11; Blake Ambler (PW) from Luke Smith and Chris Londen, 16:11 (pp)

Third-period goals: Ryan Jagher (PW) from Londen, 2:39; Logan Honeycutt unassisted, 4:54; Guller (PW) from Smith and Ambler, 9:16; Cooper Kanzee (PW) unassisted, 9:30; Ambler (PW) from Londen and Kanzee, 13:57

Shots: Plymouth-Whitemarsh 49, Wissahickon 26; Saves: Julian Lucks (PW) 24, Fletcher Lynch 40

Hatboro-Horsham 8, Wissahickon 7

By Amanda Graham

Hatboro-Horsham and Wissahickon got their second look of the season at each other on Thursday night and while the game held the same excitement and back-and-forth action it was the Hatters that walked away with the victory this time around, 8-7 Thursday night at Hatfield Ice.

Nathan Nemchinov’s goal with 45 seconds left in regulation was the game winner.

With the win, the Hatters improved to 5-3 in SHSHL American Division play and 5-4 overall. The Trojans dropped to 5-3 overall and 5-2 in the division.

Looking to avenge their overtime loss the last time the two teams met, Hatboro-Horsham came out of the gate hot and dominated the offense with the only shots in the first two minutes.

The tides quickly turned in favor of Wissahickon when Jack Raebiger took the puck up ice for the unassisted goal, 1-0. Hatboro-Horsham continued to dominate the offense over the course of the next three minutes tallying eight more shots, but the Trojans’ Benjamin Raebiger collected the puck from Logan Honeycutt converting their second shot of the game for the 2-0 lead.

Penalty trouble hit Wissahickon hard doing down by two players but the team’s grit prevailed when Benjamin Raebiger found the back of the net for his second goal of the game to put the Trojans in a three-goal advantage.

The Hatters took advantage of the power play and began mounting their comeback scoring three goals in the final five minutes of the first period to even the score. Darius Graziani started the resurgence with a goal off the assist of Victor Wilkins before going on to help Nathan Nemchinov, the Hatters top scorer of the night, with one of his two goals over a 45- second span.

“I knew the team was better than what they were playing. We called a timeout to help settle it in and we kept chipping away to get us back to even again,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Shane Smith.

Penalty trouble continued to plague the Trojans, a holding call in the final 18 seconds of the first period to begin the second a player short. Benjamin Raebiger broke the tie in favor of the Trojans with his third goal of the night just under four minutes into the second period. A slashing call on Wissahickon gave the Hatters a chance to even the score with Victor Wilkins answering the call for the power-play goal.

With 6:19 left to play in the second, Benjamin Raebiger collected the loose puck off a blocked shot and found the back of the net for his fourth goal to break the tie and put the Trojans back on top, 5-4. Logan Honeycutt followed up two minutes later with the unassisted shot creating the first two-goal advantage for Wissahickon for the first time since early in the first period, 6-4.

The scoring didn’t slow in the final period. Vincent Graziani and Nathan Nemchinov found the stick of Darius Graziani (6-5) just a minute and a half in to start what would become a four-goal comeback for the Hatters. Offense slowed over the ensuing two minutes, but Graziani and Nemchinov converted their shots within 45 seconds of one another to push Hatboro-Horsham into the lead, 7-6. Scoring machine Raebiger capitalized on the power play a minute later to keep Wissahickon in reach evening the score at seven apiece.

Just 15 seconds later and down a player, Vincent Graziani and Darius Graziani worked together to get the puck to the stick of Nemchinov for the Hatters game-winning goal, 8-7. The goal marked the fourth of the game for Nemchinov.

“The game winning goal, we needed it. It was a clutch goal. Three minutes left in the game, we needed to burry one and luckily we got it and capped off the game,” Nemchinov said.

Coming back from an overtime let down the last time these teams faced one another, Hatboro-Horsham knew a victory was key for them tonight.

“They knew that this was a big game for them,” Smith said. “They knew that this was an important game for them. It was exciting to see my captains and upperclassmen take the lead. I didn’t have to do much cheering on for the boys. They really cheered each other on and pumping each other up.”

“I thought we played great,” said Wissahickon head coach James Rumsey. “We were down a lot of people and played late last night, but I think they all played extremely well and tried their hardest. [Goaltender] Fletcher did great and he kept us in there a lot.”

Lynch finished the game with 39 saves.

Hatboro-Horsham 3 1 4 – 8

Wissahickon 3 3 1 7 – 7

First Period Goals: Jack Raebiger unassisted, 13:39; Benjamin Raebiger from Logan Honeycutt, 10:08; Benjamin Raebiger unassisted, 05:58 (sh); Darius Graziani (HH) from Victor Wilkins, 05:01(pp); Nathan Nemchinov (HH) unassisted, 01:30; Nathan Nemchinov (HH) from Vincent Graziani, 00:45.

Second Period Goals: Benjamin Raebiger unassisted, 13:31; Victor Wilkins (HH) unassisted, 11:17 (pp); Benjamin Raebiger unassisted, 06:19; Logan Honeycutt unassisted, 04:12.

Third Period Goals: Darius Graziani (HH) from Vincent Graziani and Nathan Nemchinov, 15:24; Vincent Graziani (HH) from Darius Graziani and Nathan Nemchinov, 04:54; Nathan Nemchinov (HH) from Vincent Graziani, 04:09; Bejamin Raebiger from Joseph Gambino IV, 03:19 (pp); Nathan Nemchinov (HH) from Vincent Graziani and Darius Graziani, 03:04 (sh).

Shots: Hatboro-Horsham 47, Wissahickon 17; Saves: Eric Miller (HH) 10, Fletcher Lynch 39

Wissahickon 7 H-H 6, OT

Hatboro-Horsham and Wissahickon got their first look at each other Thursday night, a month into the SHSHL season.

The wait was worth it.

The Trojans and the Hatters matched each other shift for shift and goal for goal for 51 minutes and beyond before Jack Raebiger’s goal 51 seconds into overtime gave Wissahickon a 7-6 win at Hatfield Ice Arena.

The third period and overtime served as a fitting climax to the evening. There were seven goals scored in the final period including three on power plays and two in shorthanded situations.

There were five penalties called in the third period, one of them a misconduct that accompanied a boarding call.

Raebiger’s winning goal, his second goal of the game came after a puck caromed out of the Wissahickon defensive zone to center ice. Raebiger, the Wissahickon captain, won a closely contested sprint for the puck and beat Hatter goaltender Eric Miller to send the Trojan fans home happy.

“I saw that puck and my legs were cramping up,” he said. “My calves were cramping up, but I did not want to lose to that team.”

The Trojans (3-2, 3-1 in the SHSHL’s American Division) took a 3-2 lead into the third frame. Ben Raebiger’s goal 2:11 into the period extended his team’s lead but Reid Rochestie and Darius Graziani scored goals for the Hatters (3-3, 3-2) 20 seconds apart to tie the game with 5:34 remaining in regulation. Graziani’s goal came during a power play.

Plenty of fireworks remained. Ben Raebiger and the Hatters’ Aidan North traded goals before Joseph Gambino’s rocket from the left wing seemingly put the Trojans over the finish line with 47.6 seconds remaining.

But Hatboro-Horsham got a last chance when a stoppage resulted in a faceoff in the circle to the right of Trojan goaltender Fletcher Lynch. The Hatters won the faceoff and the ensuing scramble near the crease and Nathan Nemchinov scored just before the final buzzer.

Jack Raebiger said he was anticipated a right game with the Hatters who returned to the American Division as a unified team this season.

“We saw their record,” he said. “We saw they beat the teams that we beat and we lost to the team that we lost against [Plymouth Whitemarsh] and we thought this was a crucial game for us.”
Thursday’s game was the first of three meetings between the Trojans and the Hatters. The next is set for December 19 and Hatboro-Horsham coach Shane Smith was not surprised with how Thursday’s game evolved.

“When we looked at the other games that we both played we kind of had similar scores,” he said. “So, we knew it was going to be a dogfight and a battle all the way through.”

Wissahickon 0 3 3 1—7

Hatboro-Horsham 1 1 4 0—6

First-period goal: Vincent Graziani (HH) from Darius Grazianai, 7:58

Second-period goals: Jack Raebiger unassisted, 2:15; Evan McCutcheon unassisted, 7:47; Victor Wilkins (HH) from Nathan Nemchinov and Joseph MaGinn, 8:50; Logan Honeycutt from John Kuffner, 16:54

Third-period goals: Ben Raebiger from Jack Raebiger, 2:11 (pp); Reid Rochestie (HH) from MaGinn, 11:06; Vincent Graziani (HH) from William Moffa and Darius Graziani, 11:26 (pp); Ben Raebiger from Honeycutt and Aiden Brooks, 12:20 (pp); Aidan North (HH) from Vincent Graziani, 15:27 (pp); Joseph Gambino from Jack Raebiger, 16:13 (sh); Nemchinov (HH) from North and Darius Graziani, 0:00

Overtime goal: Jack Raebiger (W), :51

Shots: Wissahickon 25, Hatboro-Horsham 35; Saves: Fletcher Lynch 29, Eric Miller (HH) 18

Abington 10 Wissahickon 2

Call it Mission Accomplished

Abington took the ice against Wissahickon Friday night knowing a win, a tie, or an overtime loss would assure it of a slot in the SHSHL American Division playoffs.

The Galloping Ghosts went out and took care of business, posting a 10-2 win at the Bucks County Ice Sports Center.

The win lifted Abington to 5-3 in American Division play and 6-5 overall. More importantly. The Galloping Ghosts will join Plymouth Whitemarsh in the divisional playoffs on February 21 or 22 with the championship game set for February 28. The seeds of the three teams are still to be determined.

Wissahickon dropped to 2-11 overall and 2-9 in the division.

Leading 2-1 after the first frame, the Galloping Ghost broke the game open with six goals in the middle period against a young Wissahickon team that had just nine players in uniform.

Sam Abramson led the way for the victors with a four-goal effort. Shane Meltzer and Devin Bates added two goals each; Jude Large and Ben Biko also scored goals.

Abington coach Ken Brzozowski took advantage of the score line to give his younger skaters some extra ice time.

“It gave us the opportunity to play our third and fourth lines a little bit more,” he said. “It’s great to see them get some ice time. They’re working hard in practice. So, getting some real game opportunity experience is important.”

Officially earning a spot in the postseason with four regular-season games remaining will give Brzozowski’s troops a chance to refocus.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Brzoowski said. “Being able to make the playoffs again and have the opportunity to get some experience. Once you get there, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Dryden Jaisle and Nolan Pounds scored goals for Wissahickon. Jaisle’s effort gave the Trojans a 1-0 lead 4:19 into the first period but Wissahickon was undermined by its youth and lack of manpower.

Trojan coach James Rumsey says his young team has had to grow up quickly.

“We have no seniors,” he said, “nobody graduating, so all these kids are going to be playing with us for the next two years at minimum.

“It’s definitely a young team, definitely a good group. We lost one of our guys to juniors this year and just another for the same reason. We have a little less players but a lot of heart.”

Wissahickon 1 1 0—2

Abington 2 6 2—10

Plymouth Whitemarsh 7 Wissahickon 5

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Plymouth Whitemarsh climbed out of a hole Wednesday night. Facing a three-goal deficit late in the first period, the Colonials rallied for a 7-5 win over Wissahickon in a crackling SHSHL American Division game at Hatfield Ice.

Tim Murphy scored the winning goal when he snapped a 5-5 dreadlock with a forehander from between the circles with 2:33 left in regulation time. Dylan Novitsky added empty-net insurance with 42 seconds left to bring down the curtain on a remarkable comeback.

Plymouth Whitemarsh (2-0) was forced to climb a steep hill. Daniel Hussa’s hat trick helped propel the Trojans (1-1) to a 4-1 lead with 2:54 left in the opening period. The Colonials hurt their own cause with a series of early penalties although only one Wissahickon goal came on a power play. That goal, Hussa’s second of the first frame, gave his team a 2-1 lead.

But the Colonials regained their focus.

“We have heart,” Murphy said. “ That’s the mindset on this team, heart. “We play for each other. We play for the name on the front, not the back. We play for the seniors. This could be the last year for them ever playing.”

David Branigan, who spent much of the first period serving a minor penalty plus a misconduct for a check from behind, unleashed some pent-up energy with a goal 31 seconds into the second session to make it a 4-2 game.

Hussa scored his fourth goal of the night at the 6:24 mark but the Trojans would not score again, in no small measure due to the work of Julian Lucks in the Colonial net and just as importantly, the efforts of the defense corps in front of him.

Meantime, Daniel Moloney was scoring two goals and Jason Segal contributed one of his own to tie the game with 12:02 left in the third period and set up the finish.

“It wasn’t the start we wanted,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Dave Cox, “ but once we settled in, we kind of got our feet, we found our stride, and we really came together.

“When they called a timeout I said ‘We need to win our zone over the last five minutes and everything will take care if itself.”

The Trojans were able to take an abundance of positives away from the encounter. Like the Colonials, they gave a workmanlike effort at both ends of the ice and goaltender Fletcher Lynch made some quality saves down the stretch.

James Rumsey, in his second game behind the Wissahickon bench, was smiling at evening’s end despite coming up one goal short.

“We did a really good job,” he said. “We have a few less players (just 15 on the roster) but these guys state their heart out. Every time they play offense, they play defense.

“Our goalie played played defense for me in middle school two years ago. He stood on his head this game. He was awesome. We have a really good team and we’re excited to build on it.”

Ice Chips—The Trojans will honor their seniors Monday night when they will face Boyertown at the Wells Fargo Center,

Wissahickon 4 1 0—5

PW 1 3 3—7

First-period goals: Daniel Hussa from Logan Honeycutt, 3:13 (pp); Isaac Mishkin (PW) from Jason Segal and Tim Murphy, 4:12 (sh); Hussa unassisted, 5:29 (pp); Hussa unassisted, 9:56; Jack Rarberger unassisted, 14:06

Second-period goals: David Brannigan (PW) :31; Hussa from Aiden Brooks, 6:24; Daniel Moloney (P) from Daniel Gullet and Charles Spause, 9:25; Moloney (PW) from Brooks, 11:35

Third-period goals: Jason Segal (PW) unassisted, 4:58; Murphy (PW) from Mishkin, 14:27; Dylan Novitsky (PW) from Mishkin and Murphy, 16:18 (en)

Shots: Wissahickon 29, Plymouth Whitemarsh 30; Saves: Fletcher Lynch 23, Julian Lucks (PW) 24

Flyers Cup Results Monday, March 6

Class A First Round

Penncrest 4 Plymouth Whitemarsh 0

Lower Dauphin 5 vs Unionville 1 6:30

Marple Newtown 7 vs. WC Henderson 2

Hershey 4 Strath Haven 2

Council Rock North 7 Radnor 2

7. Garnet Valley vs. 10. Springfield-Delco 9:00 at Skatium

WC Rustin 10 Wissahickon 0

Class AA First Round

Conestoga 6 Downingtown West 3

Class AAA First Round

Holy Ghost Prep 10 Cardinal O’Hara 1

Malvern Prep 6 Father Judge 2

All Tickets for Flyers Cup games must be purchased online via the Box Office link on the Flyers Cup web site. Make sure you select the correct game. Flyers Cup Programs will also be sold only online. The link for that is at the top of the Box Office. You can pick your program up by showing your Program purchase ticket at any Flyers Cup venue.

Abington 6 Wissahickon 3

HATFIELD Township—With two of its leading scorers idled by injury, Abington needed a big game from its goaltender Thursday night, and it got it. Sam Nemec came up big as the Galloping Ghosts remained unbeaten with a 6-3 decision over Wissahickon in a SHSHL American Division encounter at Hatfield Ice.
Abington stands a perfect 8-0 on the season heading into the Christmas break and 7-0 in divisional play. The Galloping Ghosts’ last loss came to Council Rock South last March in the opening round of the Class AA Flyers Cup tournament.

On Thursday, they were without Pat Stelacio, the SHSHL’s leading scorer, and Matt Kramer, who between them have combined for 26 goals and 17 assists this season. That scenario raised expectations for Nemec and the senior delivered. Officially, he was credited with 37 saves against a Wissahickon team that came in averaging better than seven goals a game.

“It was definitely one of my busier games this year,” Nemec said, “and I felt I had it locked in as soon as the puck dropped. I felt good in warmups tonight.”

Like many goaltenders, Nemec prefers a lot of work.

“I would much rather be busy, rather than stay cold and face a couple shots a period,” he said. “I enjoy being busy down there.”

Abington coach Ken Brzozowski called Nemec’s effort the best game of his Abington career.

“I told him that was the best game I’d ever seen him play,” Brzozowski said. “I’ve been watching him play for four years and we asked him before the game; we said ‘We need one, we need a good game.’ And that’s what he did tonight, he gave us a great game.”

Jordan Heydt gave Abington a 1-0 lead 4:58 into the first period. Danny Hussa answered for Wissahickon (4-4, 4-3 in the division) five-and-a-half minutes later.

The Trojans took the lead when Hudson Honeycutt scored of a setup from Jack Raebiger 3:04 into the second period on a play that started when Raebiger made a rush up the left wing. But Sam Paulik tied the game for Abington with a power-play goal less than two minutes later before Heydt scored his second goal of the night to put the Galloping Ghosts back in front with 3:52 remaining in the period.

Ian Heydt extended Abington’s lead to 4-2 1:29 in to the third period but the Trojans weren’t finished. Will Hussa scored off a setup from Danny Hussa and it was a one-goal game once more with 5:14 still left in regulation. But Ian Heydt responded for Abington just 19 seconds later.

Devin Bates added an empty-net goal just before the final buzzer.

Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington said his team ran out of energy in the late going.

“We were gassed,” he said. “We had a short bench tonight. They were (fatigued) on the bench

“But, we just couldn’t get the puck over the goalie.”

Wissahickon 1 1 1—3

Abington 1 2 3—6

First-period goals: Jordan Heydt (A) unassisted, 4:58; Danny Hussa from Nolan Pounds and Griffin Lynch, 10:31

Second-period goals: Hudson Honeycutt from Lynch, 3:04; Sam Paulik (A) from Sean Doyle 4:56 (pp); Jordan Heydt (A) unassisted, 12:08

Third-period goals: Ian Heydt (A) from Sam Abramson, 1:29; Will Hussa from Danny Hussa, 11:46; Ian Heydt (A) from Abramsom and Brian Murdoch, 12:05; De vin Bates (A) unassisted, 16:59 (en)

Shots: Wissahickon 39, Abington 18; Saves: Fletcher Lynch 12, Sam Nemec (A) 36