Ben Reese recaps Wednesday’s game action with photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos: CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports' ICE HOCKEY GALLERIES.
North Penn holds Hockey Fights Cancer game
Wednesday’s game pitting North Penn and Souderton took on special meaning for both squads. North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis explained.
“We have all been impacted by cancer to some extent throughout our life,” the Knights’ coach said. “We have either lost family members or friends, or we have friends/family who have survived their battle with cancer.
“USA Hockey has created a Hockey Fights Cancer game, and this is our first year participating as a club/program. We are playing four games over the next four days between our Varsity, JV, and Middle School teams to help raise money for the fight against cancer.
“The players created the signs that say who we are playing for and then can list a person they know that has lost their battle or survived their battle with cancer. In addition, we will have purple tape for socks and sticks as well as wearing specialty jerseys we purchased as a club.”
Anyone wishing to contribute to the cause, please click on the following link: https://raiseyourway.donordrive.com/Northpennhockey
NORTH PENN 11, SOUDERTON 1
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — Cancer is a relentless disease.
It attacks and attacks and, even when it appears to have been conquered, it returns and keeps on attacking.
On a night when North Penn’s and Souderton’s ice hockey teams played in a game to raise money for the fight against cancer, the Knights, the defending state champions, were the relentless ones.
They parlayed an eight-goal second period into an 11-1 mercy rule victory over the Indians in a Suburban High School Hockey League game at Hatfield Ice. The win kept North Penn undefeated in league play and atop the National Division.
Souderton coach Ryan Uchniat had to play without his two leading scorers, Max Ryon and Matt Cross, who were both injured. While having them healthy might have helped somewhat, it doesn’t seem possible they could have made that much difference except making the two teams play the entire third period.
Uchniat had a strategy in place for playing against the Knights of emphasizing the defensive side of the game.
“First period, it looked like it was going to work,” he said. “The second period, it fell apart. We didn’t really stick to what we had planned.”
The fault for that rests with North Penn. The Knights came at Souderton in waves, especially in the second period.
They scored eight goals in the middle stanza, leading off with a goal at 1:03 of the period and not quitting until they scored their 10th goal with 31 seconds left in the second.
“Going into the first period, I thought we did some good things early in the game but then we really took our foot off the gas,” said Knights coach Kevin Vaitis. “After the first period, it was a 2-1 hockey game. I told the boys that this is a close hockey game.
“If we allow them to get the next goal it’s a 2-2 hockey game and we’ll be giving them all the momentum.
“The big message to them was to treat this like it’s 0-0, get that first goal. As soon as we did that, we were able to pump eight goals in there and really end the game for all intents and purposes.”
It was a very close game, at least on the scoreboard, in the first period. However, North Penn outshot Souderton by 10 shots on goal in the opener.
Sam Norton and Gavin Lombardi scored in the first for the Knights, both goals on the power play. Pierce Miller cut that lead in half for the Indians.
Then came the second period. Just as a point of the domination of North Penn, the Knights took 30 shots to four for Souderton.
Seven different Knights scored in the second. Norton got one and Lombardi, a freshman, netted two for his first varsity hat trick.
For Norton, the Hockey Against Cancer game, meant something.
“With Hockey Against Cancer, there was a lot of anticipation coming into the game,” he said. “We just played our game and ended up winning.”
As to Souderton’s strategy, well, he was complimentary.
“They put up a good fight,” he said of Souderton. “They played defensive hockey. Those games are always hard when you play a team like that.”
Vaitis had good things to say about a couple of players who only showed up on the scorecard briefly.
“Declan Leahy and Gabe Dunn were two players in the first period that I thought just had some jump,” Vaitis said. “We played them a little early in the second and it kind of got us going.”
Leahy scored the final goal at the 3:14 mark of the third period to win it and had an assist in the second. Dunn contributed an assist on the first goal of the second period.
But Vaitis also had good things to say about his main contributors to the scoring.
“Gavin’s been solid all year,” he said of Lombardi. “He had a great game tonight. He’s been great all year for us.”
And then there was Norton.
“In my opinion, Sam’s the best player in the league,” he said. “The guys feed off him.
“He can play physical; he plays with speed; he creates plays by passing the puck. There are times when he can just score on his own. It’s great to have him on our side.”
And credit should go to both goalies. North Penn’s Aidan Quigley had a relatively sedate night, making only 11 saves. Souderton’s Alex Archer faced 51 shots but still kept the Indians in the game, especially in the first period.
North Penn 11, Souderton 1
Souderton 1 0 0 — 1
North Penn 2 8 1 — 11
First period: 1, Sam Norton NP (Danial Cabrales) 2:53 PP; 2, Gavin Lombardi NP (Ismael Cabrales, Chase Del Ricci) 7:37 PP; 3, Pierce Miller S (Cameron Fairweather) 13:56.
Second period: 4, Norton NP (Gabe Dunn, I. Cabrales) 1:03; 5, Chris Silvotti NP (James Boyle, Del Ricci) 6:33; 6, Tyler Evans NP (Norton) 8:16; 7, Lombardi NP (Norton) 8:32; 8, D. Cabrales NP (Declan Leahy) 9:52; 9, Lombardi NP (Landon Hostetter) 10:15; 10, Boyles NP (Norton) 13:35; 11, Milo Little NP (Lombardi, Luke Haftel) 16:29.=
Third period: 12, Leahy NP (Del Ricci) 3:14
Shots: S 12, NP 51. Saves: Alex Archer (S) 40, Aidan Quigley (NP) 11.
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