(File photo courtesy of Michael Rice Photography)
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — For Sam Gottesman, it was amazing.
“It” can be defined, at least in this context, as a game-winning goal in overtime. “It” boosted Central Bucks East to a 4-3 victory over Pennridge on Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice.
The Patriots had jumped off to a 3-0 lead early in the second period of their Suburban High School Hockey League game against the Rams. But Pennridge came back, scoring two goals to draw within one after two stanzas.
With 13:22 elapsed in the third period, the Rams’ James Rush tied the score at 3-3. That forced overtime when neither team could unknot it in regulation.
But it only took 1:51 for Gottesman to untie it and give the Patriots the win.
So, what were the circumstances of that goal, Sam?
“It was a good play,” Gottesman said. “I rushed the puck up (ice). I saw the two players on Pennridge skating toward me.
“I saw an opening for Rhett (Walter). I passed it to him. I skated to an open spot. Got it in, got the goal.”
So, you felt amazing?
“To see that we beat Pennridge was very nice to see,” he said. “It was a team effort, and I don’t think we could have gone back home without the team effort.”
East coach Jeff Mitchell was pleased with how the game finished up.
“I really like how we came together at the end,” he said. “We kind of took our foot off the gas in the second period but it’s nice to finish strong like that.
“Everybody stood together at the end and kind of bailed out our goaltender who bailed us out all game.”
In addition to Gottesman’s “amazing” play at the end, the performance of Patriot goalie Matt Urena stood out. He made numerous excellent saves en route to stopping 32 Pennridge shots.
For Ram coach Jeff Montagna, it was a frustrating loss.
“This group deserves so much better than they got tonight,” he said. “When you’re down 3-0 with just 10 guys (available) and you just keep coming and coming and you go out and outplay a team for two periods and then get it tied.
“It’s happened a whole lot of times this year. It’s frustrating for me and it’s frustrating for them.”
But this is a different Pennridge team from the one that won a pair of state titles. Those names on the trophies are gone.
“It’s different but they still put themselves in position to win every game this year,” Montagna said. “It hasn’t always gone our way.
“We’re learning to play different. I’m used to playing a different style. They are much better at it now than they were to begin the season.”
The Patriots struck first, netting two in the opening period. Tyson Cowan got the first goal and Ethan Cenci followed with the second for the 2-0 lead after one.
Walter upped the lead to 3-0 early in the second period before the Rams came back. Dean Venner took care of that, scoring both goals to draw Pennridge within one.
In the third, with the Rams on the power play, they tied it up with only 3:38 left in regulation. Rush got one past Urena to send the game into overtime.
That’s when Gottesman and Walter did a little magic to give East the victory.
CB East 4, Pennridge 3
CB East 2 1 0 1 — 4
Pennridge 0 2 1 0 — 3
First period: 1, Tyson Cowan CBE (Ben Dempsey) 5:22; 2, Ethan Cenci CBE (Viktoras Lipski-Vitrinas, Evan Asimakopoulos) 11:54.
Second period: 3, Rhett Walter CBE (Cowan) 4:16; 4, Dean Venner P (James Rush) 6:04; 5, Venner P (Luke Hagenbuch, Ryan Burke) 10:07.
Third period: 6, Rush P (Landan Bishop) 13:22 PP.
Overtime: 7, Sam Gottesman CBE (Walter) 1:51.
Shots: CBE 22, P 35. Saves: Matt Urena (CBE) 32, Andrew Slutsky (P) 18.
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