Ben Reese recaps the action in Thursday’s key SHSHL contest pitting the American Conference’s top two teams. Photo courtesy of Michael Rice Photography. Visit the photo gallery for a complete gallery. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports' ICE HOCKEY GALLERIES.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — Luca Staffieri wasn’t where he usually is when Hatboro-Horsham plays an ice hockey game.
He’s usually on the blue line, playing defense. But, on Thursday night at Hatfield Ice, he was playing up front.
And all he did was score two goals, including the game-winner, and add two assists as the Hatters beat Plymouth Whitemarsh 5-4. The win boosts the Hatters one point past the Colonials and into first place in the American Division of the Suburban High School Hockey League.
“Luca is generally a defenseman for us,” said HH coach Shane Smith. “With us being down (shorthanded), we know that Luca carries a lot of good skills like shooting and scoring.
“So, we moved him up and it turned out to be a very good move for us. He had a very good game tonight especially for not being a forward.
“He did everything we asked of him. It worked out in our favor.”
It was Staffieri’s second goal that sent Hatboro-Horsham home smiling. With 58 seconds left in the third period, he took a feed from Vince Graziani and beat PW goalie Lucas Bennett to put the game away.
The Hatters played keep-away for the final 58 ticks on the clock to seal the game and to pick up a degree of revenge after losing last week to Wissahickon.
“I’d just like to thank my teammates,” Staffieri said. “I was just in a good position, and they just set me up for what happened so there’s nothing else I can ask for.”
What about the rebound from the loss to Wissahickon?
“That was our motto coming into this game,” Staffieri said. “Obviously, we didn’t play our best last week. We just kind of used that to fuel us for this game and we came out with the W.”
But Staffieri didn’t do it all by himself. His partner in the victory was HH goalie Patrick Murphy.
Murphy, who kicked out 46 shots on the night, transferred into the Hatboro-Horsham High School just after Christmas, leaving LaSalle College High School to become a Hatter.
But it wasn’t a strange scene for him. He was familiar with the school district.
“I went all the way through middle school (at Hatboro-Horsham),” Murphy said. “Then for high school I went to LaSalle for two and a half years.”
As for his play in goal, well, he said it best.
“I knew I had to come up big,” he said. “We had a lot of shots (coming on goal) going into the third period.
“I knew I had to keep (us) in the game. We found a way to come back.”
Smith appreciates what he received from LaSalle.
“He’s a good solid player for us,” Smith said of Murphy. “We’re lucky to have him.
“Obviously he’s a very good goaltender for us. We play three goaltenders. It’s great to have a goaltender to plug in.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti also credited Murphy.
“I think their goalie played really well,” said Forti. “(We had) a couple of rebound chances that we couldn’t bury.”
But Forti also had a thought about the rematch with Hatboro-Horsham next week.
“Obviously it’s a big game but we’ll just treat it like any other game,” he said. “Take it one shift at a time. Control what we can control.”
The Colonials had a difficult time controlling Staffieri.
After a scoreless first period, Plymouth Whitemarsh came out in the second period and scored twice. The first one came from Cooper Kanze at the 11:06 mark and that was followed by a power play goal from Dan Molony for a 2-0 lead.
It didn’t stay that way long into the third period. Staffieri got HH on the board with only 53 seconds elapsed.
Thirty-eight seconds later, Reid Rochestie tied the score at 2-2. And then, 2:11later Graziani untied it with an assist from Staffieri.
The see-saw swung the Colonials’ way at the 8:43 mark when Dan Guller beat Murphy to once again tie the score. The Hatters’ Nathan Nemchinov got the lead back at 12:51 but Jarret Olenginski got the Colonials even again at 15:01.
But then Staffieri, with some help from his friends, especially Graziani, notched the game-winner.
The two teams will meet again next Wednesday, Feb. 11, at Hatfield Ice for a rematch at 9 p.m.
Hatboro-Horsham 5, Plymouth Whitemarsh 4
Hatboro-Horsham 0 0 5 — 5
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 2 2 — 4
First period: No scoring.
Second period: 1, Cooper Kanze PW (Liam Kelly, Dan Guller) 11:06; 2, Dan Molony PW (Luke Smith, Guller) 14:41 PP.
Third period: 3, Luca Staffieri HH (Kyle Roesing) 0:53; 4, Reid Rochestie HH (Vince Graziani) 1:31; 5, Graziani HH (Staffieri) 3:42; 6, Guller PW (Kanze, Molony) 8:43; 7, Nathan Nemchinov HH (Staffieri, Roesing) 12:51; 8, Jarret Olenginski PW (Ryan Jagher) 15:01; 9, Staffieri HH (Graziani) 16:02.
Shots: HH 28, PW 50. Saves: Patrick Murphy (HH) 46, Lucas Bennett (PW) 23.
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