PW defeated Abington 4-1 in SHSHL action Thursday. Ben Reese was there to capture the action.
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — On paper, Plymouth Whitemarsh’s ice hockey game on Thursday night at Hatfield Ice against Abington looked like it might not take a whole lot of effort to put it in the win column.
However, games are not won on paper. They are won, in this case, on the ice.
Abington is 0-8-1 in the American division of the Suburban High School Hockey League. PW is 7-0-1 and sits in second place.
But the records didn’t mean a whole lot once the two teams skated out for the first period. The Colonials didn’t look too dominant, not just in the first period, but throughout the game while the Ghosts put together what might have been their best game of the year.
Sure, Plymouth Whitemarsh outscored Abington 4-1. And, yes, the Colonials grabbed their eighth win of the season but it wasn’t easy.
“Not our best game,” said PW coach Vince Forti. “I think we know we can play better.
“It’s tough to go in there (the locker room) and be upset after a win but I think each guy in there knows we can play much better than we showed today.”
Cooper Kanze, who scored two of the Colonials’ goals, agrees.
“Overall, the whole team needs to play better,” he said. “We know that. (We can) forget it now and move on.
“We just have to have the mindset to do it. We can’t go in thinking it’s going to be easy. We have to lock in and dominate.”
On the other hand, the Ghosts turned in one of their better games. After all, Plymouth Whitemarsh had beaten them 10-0 twice in November.
“You can talk about those 10-0 games that we’ve had,” said Abington coach Ken Brzozowski, “but this team has not quit. Every single one of them comes to practice and works, every single one of them comes to the games.
“I’d say it was more of an anomaly these last couple of games. I told our team tonight that they are faster, they are more skilled than us and a little bit more seasoned than us.
“We’ve got 21 on the roster; I’ve got three seniors. We’re young.”
One thing Brzozowski has is a very good goalie. Matt Evangelist did everything in his power to prevent a loss.
“He definitely played well,” Brzozowski said of Evangelist. “We wanted to limit the number of shots against him to keep him fresh (PW took 41 shots on goal).
“We hoped to play three periods and keep close to them, and Matt certainly did that for us. He played outstanding tonight.”
Evangelist deferred any credit to his teammates.
“I think everyone just wanted to come and play tonight,” he said. “We wanted to beat this team.
“We tried our best. There’s nothing else we can do. Everyone stepped up and wanted to play.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh got the first goal in the first period. Kanze netted his first goal of the game at the 12:23 mark off assists from Daniel Guller and Dan Molony.
That lead didn’t last too long into the second period. The Ghosts’ Joseph Widmeier took off on a breakaway and beat PW goalie Brayden Campbell to tie the game at 1-1 only1:54 into the stanza.
That deadlock held up for most of the rest of the period. However, Morgan Hulitt gave PW a 2-1 lead at the 13:37 mark of the second.
The third period belonged to the Colonials, at least on the scoreboard. Kanze notched his second marker of the game and John Zawislak added the clincher.
Forti was concerned about his team’s focus for most of the game.
“I think focus is the biggest thing,” he said. “We keep having the same conversations over and over.
“The start was okay, but we started losing focus. We have to stay locked in for three periods.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh 4, Abington 1
Abington 0 1 0 — 1
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 1 2 — 4
First period: 1, Cooper Kanze PW (Daniel Guller, Dan Molony) 12:23.
Second period: 2, Joseph Widmeier A (unassisted) 1:54; 3, Morgan Hulitt PW (Liam Kelly) 13:37.
Third period: 4, Kanze PW (Guller) 2:20; 5, John Zawislak PW (Hulitt) 14:23.
Shots: A 7, PW 41. Saves: Matt Evangelist (A) 37, Brayden Campbell (PW) 6.
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