Photo courtesy of Jennifer McDonald. To view game galleries, click on the following link: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f807679856
By GORDON GLANTZ
The proving grounds otherwise known as the second season is in full gear in the SHSHL.
Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
National Division Semis
Who: North Penn vs. Pennsbury
When: Wednesday, 6:30 p.m., Hatfield Blue
How They Got Here: North Penn was a perfect 16-0 in the regular season and earned a first-round bye; Pennsbury advanced with a first-round win, 4-3, over Pennridge for its fourth triumph in five outings.
The Winner Gets: The winner of Council Rock South vs. Central Bucks South for the league championship.
Previous Meetings: North Penn leads the season series with 6-2 and 7-2 wins.
Key Players: Pennsbury’s Shane Gleisner led the league in goals (45) and points (67), while Nolan Shingle paced the Knights with 26 goals. Teammate Samuel Norton led in assists (32) and points (56).
In Goal: Brendan Milliken (3.82 goals against, .882 save percentage) will be in the crease for the Falcons while North Penn will counter with either Aidan Quigley (1.29, .928) or Andy Norton (1.50, .923)
Both coaches – North Penn’s Kevin Vaitis and Pennsbury’s Ryan Daley -- caution against reading too much into the final scores of the previous meetings.
“In the last game, Pennsbury was up, 2-1, on us in the second period,” said Vaitis. “It goes to show that anything can happen high school hockey, and we are at a point where we need to show up each night and each shift when we are out there.
“You have to play as a team, like Team U.S.A. did.”
Daley believes his team is playing its best hockey right and is up to the challenge of playing the defending Flyers Cup and state champions in AA.
“It’ll be a tough game,” said Daley. “I’m confident that, if we play our best, we can come out with a W.
“Both regular season matchups with North Penn featured some great hockey by us and, at times, we were the team controlling the pace. A few mistakes were made, and North Penn is a team that capitalizes on mistakes.
“Hopefully, we learned from those situations and bring our best Wednesday night.”
Who: Council Rock South vs. Central Bucks South
When: Wednesday, 7:20 p.m., Grundy
How They Got Here: Council Rock South earned a first-round bye with a second-place finish; Central Bucks South advanced with a 2-1 win over Central Bucks East in the first round.
The Winner Gets: North Penn or Pennsbury
Previous Meetings: The Hawks won the first meeting, 3-0, but dropped a 5-2 decision in the rematch.
Key Players: Jake Weiner is C.R. South’s all-time scoring leader. This season, he has 38 goals and 19 assists for 57 points. Ryan Frey paces the Titans with 19 goals and 26 assists for 45 points.
In Goal: Trey Prozzillo (2.71, .894) gets the call for the Hawks while it will be Nathan Napolitano (2.78, .902) for the Titans
Council Rock South coach Joe Houk, in his 19th season, is well aware of the difference between regular season and playoff hockey,
“You can’t look too far into the future,” said Houck, who led the Hawks to Flyers Cup titles in 2011 and 2012 and 15 National Division crowns. “You just have to take it one game at a time, and stick to the game plan. Even though we have some firepower, we are a very defensive-minded team. “That’ll be the difference. The next two weeks are the fun part. It’s up to the kids -- win, lose or draw – they have to just go out there and battle and stick to the game plan.”
And play smart.
“And you have to stay out of the box,” he added. “You have play 5-on-5 hockey.”
As for the matchup with the Titans, Houk is expecting a tight game.
“It should be a good one,” he said. “We’re really evenly matched. The last time, they came out and beat us, 5-2. We didn’t play our best game and they played their best game and had the hot goaltender. We outshot them, but that doesn’t matter. Look at the U.S. gold medal game. Same thing. You just have to find a way to get it done.”
First-year Titans coach Josh Sklar is also expecting his team to play disciplined playoff-style hockey, saying his team needed to “keep pushing and stay the course down the stretch.”
Sklar, whose team has won four of its last five games, added the importance of buying into team systems and playing as a team, adding that if the Titans “focus on what they can control,” they will “get good results.”
Despite ending the season with losses to C.B. South and North Penn, Houks insists the Hawks’ wings have not been clipped.
“The kids are playing pretty well right now,” said Houk, who can roll three lines and two defensive pairs. “We’ve really bounced back.”
“There is no pressure on them. They just have to go out there at battle. If we battle hard and stick to our game plan, we’ll do fine.”
American Division
Who: Springfield vs. Hatboro Horsham
When: Wednesday, 8:30, Hatfield Blue
How They Got Here: Springfield finished third with a 7-10 record while Hatboro Horsham placed second with a 14-2 mark that included an overtime loss.
The Winner Gets: First-place finisher Plymouth Whitemarsh earned a bye and lays in wait for a Friday (8:20, Hatfield Gray) clash for the championship.
Previous Meetings: HH won all three meetings – 12-3 on Nov. 12, 5-4 on Nov. 26 and 12-2 on Dec. 17.
In Goal: Emmett Kline (5.59, .821) is the iron man for the Spartans. The plan for the Hatters is to go with Eric Miller (2.63, .873) against the Spartans and Patrick Murphy (5.40, .880) if/when they are in the championship game.
Key Players: Grayson Quinn leads the Spartans with 26 goals and 41 points, while Kellen Warman has a team-high 15 helpers. Vincent Graziani leads HH in goals (30), assists (28) and points (58).
“We have nothing to lose,” said Springfield coach Don Quinn. “We are going to try and set up a game plan and implement it and see what happens.
“It could be the last game for our seniors, and we want to give it our best to see what happens.”
While not counting any chickens before they are hatched, HH coach Shane Smith is hoping to repeat as league champions on against PW.
“Definitely,” he said. “It’s going to be a great game with two evenly matched teams. Hopefully, the good guys come out victorious.”
The Final Cut
Springfield, as it turned out, was the only playoff team from the SHSHL to not make the cut for the Flyers Cup.
“My thought is that the A Division is just an afterthought for the Flyers Cup,” said a disappointed Quinn. “I was really hopeful this year. I mean, I was hopeful last year, too. I really thought we had a chance of making it in the last two years, but it just seems that the whole (American Division) is overlooked. HH and PW are great teams, and they are 6 and 8 seeds, which is kind of unbelievable.”
Meanwhile, Souderton just missed the playoffs in the National Division but still earned a Flyers Cup bid in the AA field, albeit as a No. 15 seed slotted to face No. 2 seed Boyertown.
“We’re pumped,” said coach Ryan Uchniat. “It’s a tough matchup, but I’ll take it.”
All-League Teams
The coaches voted on all-league teams for each division and … drum roll … here they are:
In the American Conference, the first team forward line consists of HH’s Graziani and Nate Nemchinov, along with PW’s Danny Guller.
The second team forwards are Springfield’s Quinn, PW’s Cooper Kanze and H-H’s Billy Moffa.
The first team defensive pair was Wissahickon’s Logan Dicus and PW’s Ryan Jaegher with the second pair of HH’s Luca Staffieri and Reid Rochestie.
Abington’s Matt Evangelist was the first-team goalie and PW’s Max Yoder was second.
Weiner, Gleisner and Norton were the first-team forwards in the National. Max Ryon (Souderton), Jordan Sarne (C.R. South) and Chris Silvotti were second team choices.
North Penn’s James Boyle and C.B. South’s Jamison Crouch were the first-team defensemen while C.B. East’s Ben Dempsey and C.B. South’s John Lord were on the second team.
The first team goalie was North Penn’s Norton and C.B. West’s Isaac Mays was second team.
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