By GORDON GLANTZ
After 11 games in the 2025-26 SHSHL season, Pennridge sits at a tough luck 4-5-2 with a much-needed chance to catch their collective breath with no games until Jan. 21 against Council Rock South (7:20, Hatfield Blue).
However, the current record and place in the standings only tells part of the tale for the Rams.
The fact that this team is even on the ice this season is a victory, in and of itself, as there almost wasn’t a team at all.
While head coach Jeff Montagna considered not returning after last year, he felt compelled to help rescue a program that won it all – Flyers Cup and state championship – in 2022 and again in 2024.
“I was originally going to step down but, when I saw what the numbers were going to be, I just couldn’t leave that to a new coach,” said Montagna. “I came back for one more year.
“I had a coach in place. He was all ready to go, but I just felt I owed it to the program to give it one more year.”
Perfect Storm
The numbers crunch was real and dramatic and the product of a perfect storm that left damage in its wake.
“I had a couple of kids who would have been freshmen and would have helped us who went to private school,” said Montagna. “Originally, James Rush wasn’t coming back, either.
“I went out for that first practice. There were eight kids there, and I didn’t know four of them. It was a little bit depressing, because I honestly didn’t know how we were going to do this.”
It was certainly a different look from what was generally expected from a Pennridge ice hockey team.
“We graduated 11 kids,” said Montagna. “We originally brought back five kids, and the other four had never played varsity hockey before. We are very, very raw. It’s been challenging. It’s been challenging from a numbers standpoint. That has gotten better, though, as we have gotten going.”
Magnifying Glass
A closer look at the season shows a team that has battled from behind in several games, only to fall twice in overtime.
“When you are playing with a short bench, you can run out of gas late in games, but we have gotten stronger,” said Montagna, during a recent weekend while traversing the East Coast on a weekend trip as a club coach. “That’s a credit to the guys who I have playing 70 percent of the game. They are logging a ton of minutes. They are being asked to do a lot, and they have really done a good job.”
Montagna pointed to a 9-4 loss to upstart Pennsbury earlier in the season where the score doesn’t tell the whole story.
The Rams played back-to-back games with nine skaters and fell behind, 5-0, in the first period and cut the deficit to 5-4 with 10 minutes left.
“They had every excuse to roll over and they just kept coming,” said Montagna of his team. “Like I said, it has been a lot of fun. It’s a very different vibe, but we will never make excuses, and they have played their guts out.
“They have played well. Considering all the hardships they have had to deal with, I’m really happy with what they have done so far.”
Skating Shorthanded
Due to an unlucky streak of injuries and some club commitments, the Rams played a few early games with barely enough skaters to get by.
“We started the season with nine skaters, and now we have 13,” said Montagna. “But, out of that 13, eight had never even played a varsity game in their lives.
“They are more used to it now. They are getting more used to playing that much, but it’s still hard.”
Spark Plugs
Montagna prefers to play four defensemen, with senior Justin Dinsmore (4 assists) as the pillar, even if he has to shift a forward back to the blue line.
“We pretty much always run four defensemen,” he said. “Whatever we have left there at forward that night is what we run with. It varies from night to night.
“It’s been interesting, to say the least.”
Montagna can’t say enough about junior Ryan Burke (6 goals, 9 assists), who plays with a non-stop motor.
“Ryan is absolutely hardest working dude on this team,” said Montagna. “That’s nothing against anybody else, but he just never stops. He only knows one way to play.”
Other warriors for the Rams have been seniors Kaden Gunning (5 goals, 5 assists) and Drew Engler (1 goal, 6 assists) along with juniors Dean Venner (7 goals, 3 assists) and top gun Landon Bishop (14 goals, 8 assists). Sophomore Colby Booth (1 goal, 6 assists) has also stepped up and played key minutes.
Andrew Slutsky, a junior, has stood tall as the only option between the pipes in goal, going the distance with a solid 3.61 goals against average and an .873 save percentage.
The Rams got an additional boost when James Rush (11 goals, 8 assists) decided to rejoin the team after one game and play out his final year.
“I’m not sure why he wasn’t going to play, but I’m glad he is back because of how productive he is while logging huge minutes,” said Montagna of Rush, who is the only current Ram to have skated a regular shift on the 2024 state championship team.
Leaving a Legacy
The goal for this year is understandably much different.
“We are not competing for a state championship,” said Montagna. Expectations? They change, and rightfully so.”
The message to the 2025-26 Rams is to make a different type of mark on the program’s history.
“One of the things that we have always stressed here is legacy and making your mark when you’re here and leaving a legacy for the guys moving up,” said Montagna. “And the legacy that these guys need to leave right now is probably even more important than after the 2022 and the 2024 season. They are tasked with bridging the gap for this program and keeping this program afloat right now for those guys still in middle school. That’s really important right now, and that is what they are playing for. It’s something that they should take pride in and something that they should take seriously. They are literally holding the program together right now.”
With no JV league this year, the numbers across most of the circuit are troublesome. That was felt at Pennridge where a few eighth graders will move up and then more seventh graders from there.
“If a few guys decided they didn’t want to play this year, we may not have had a team,” said Montagna. “That is sometimes hard to come back from, if you don’t have a team one year.
“Aside from maybe a team like North Penn, a lot of these teams are dealing with the same issues.”
Ram Tough
As it is, the Rams are a tough out for any team in the National Division.
For example, five of their seven losses have been by two goals or less, and they actually have a plus-11 goal differential (51-40).
“That’s our goal,” said Montagna. “It’s not to win a state championship. It’s to bridge that gap and try to win as many games as we can and keep this thing going.
“It’s really been cool coaching them. It’s different. When the expectations are different and the pressure is different, it’s all about teaching. The kids have been great about that.”
And it makes coaching rewarding, despite the challenges.
“I told them that I don’t want to hear that they are tired, and I haven’t heard one complaint about it,” said Montagna. “They play hard every game. If you can walk out of the rink proud of the way your team has played, then you have done your job.”
Streak Snapped … Sort of
Pennsbury carried a three-game winning streak into the New Year but that ended by Central Bucks East in a 3-3 deadlock on Jan. 7, but the Falcons (5-3-1) are still carrying a four-game unbeaten streak into their next game against still- winless Central Bucks West on Jan. 22 (9 p.m., Hatfield Gray).
The Patriots, meanwhile, pulled their record up to 5-5-1 on Wednesday with an 8-0 win over Central Bucks West.
The eight goals were a season-high for the Patriots, who were led by Benjamin Dempsey (2 goals) and Alex Wilson (1 goal, 2 assists).
Logan Mitchell made 13 saves en route to posting the shutout.
Spoiler Alert
If the last two seasons are any indication, Springfield opponents better beware from this point on, as the Spartans have proven to be a team that improves as the season continues and also throw in an upset or two to shake things up in the American Division.
Last season went down the wire for the final playoff spot, and the Spartans beat previously unbeaten Plymouth Whitemarsh and took Hatboro Horsham to the limit in the American Division title game.
“They learned on the job together, and we put together our best season to date last year,” said coach Don Quinn.
With HH (11-1) and PW (9-1, two games in hand) locked in a battle for first place, and playoff spots virtually nailed down, Springfield and Wissahickon are again in mortal combat for the third and final playoff spot.
Springfield is currently 3-6 while Wissahickon is 3-7. They will play three more times, beginning on Jan. 22 (7:10, Hatfield Gray).
They play again on Feb. 6 and 22. Quinn is also wary of Abington (0-10-1), which can always steal a game with goalie Matt Evanglelist (.863 save percentage) between the pipes.
The Spartans play the Ghosts two more times, on Jan. 28 and Feb. 11, and even a tie could allow an opening for Wissahickon to slide back into third place.
“PW and HH are both very good teams,” said Quinn. “It’ll be us, Wissahickon and Abington fighting for the last playoff spot.
“All of our games with Abington and Wissahickon so far have been close. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out.”
The Spartans were winless in the 2022-23 season but started getting more competitive once Quinn took over as coach and built his team around his oldest son, Owen, who is now playing at West Chester and “loving every minute of it.”
Last season marked a high point, but there is no reason to believe the 2025-26 version of the Spartans, despite graduating 11 seniors, can’t follow tradition and be a strong finisher/spoiler as well.
The Spartans are led by senior Grayson Quinn (12 goals, 3 assists), who is the coach’s younger son and the highest scorer in the American Division of any player not from HH or PW.
Quinn is supported by fellow senior captains Gavin McManus (6 goals, 6 assists) and Kellen Warman (5 goals, 6 assists).
“I ask them to play a lot of minutes per game,” said Quinn, adding that he generally plays his son with Lincoln Coleman (4 goals, 4 assists) and McManus and Warman while mixing in other skaters. “They kill penalties and play on the power play.”
A young but developing defensive corps features John Barr (2 goals, 5 assists), Trent Gardiner (2 assists) and Luke Belles.
After losing both goalies to graduation, freshman Emmett Kline has stepped into void.
“The surprise of the season has been freshman goalie, Emmett Kline,” said Quinn. “He does not play like a freshman.”
Kline has a 5.44 goals against average and a solid .836 save percentage, but those numbers don’t tell the full story.
Said Quinn: “He has played solid every game and has really carried us and kept us in most of our games.”
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