North Penn was a winner in Wednesday’s SHSHL semifinal contest. Ben Reese was there to recap the action. Central Bucks South & Hatboro-Horsham also were winners on Wednesday. North Penn/Pennsbury 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.
SHSHL Tournament National Division semifinals
NORTH PENN 11, PENNSBURY 1
By Ben Reese
HATFIELD — The North Penn express train is running hard and fast.
The Knights put together a picture-perfect offensive and defensive game to win Wednesday’s semifinal game of the Suburban High School Hockey League playoffs at Hatfield Ice, pounding out an 11-1 win over Pennsbury.
The game actually was a mercy-rule win. North Penn scored its 11th and final goal of the game with 1:37 remaining in the third period.
The mercy rule states that when a team is ahead by 10 goals, the game is declared over.
Knights’ center Chris Silvotti took care of a lot of the offense. He scored three goals and assisted on three more.
“Chris is an extremely talented player,” North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis said. “He’s been great for us all year.
“He’s had various linemates that he’s played with during the year. It doesn’t matter who he’s playing with, he brings his ‘A’ game every time he’s out on the ice.”
Silvotti was a little surprised by his offensive output.
“I did not (expect three goals and three assists),” he said. “I just got lucky bounces, I guess.”
But you do like scoring goals, right?
“It’s very fun,” he said with a smile.
To say that an 11-1 game was unexpected would be an understatement. In two previous games against the Falcons, the Knights won but not by that wide a margin.
“They’re a good hockey team,” Vaitis said. “We played them tight two games this year.
“We played our ‘A’ game tonight. That’s what we needed to do. It was good to see us have that start.”
The start Vaitis was talking about was the five goals North Penn scored in the first period. It pretty much put the game out of reach in the first 17 minutes.
Silvotti had a lot to do with that lead. He recorded his hat trick and added an assist on James Boyle’s goal. Danny Cabrales had the fifth goal of the period.
Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley wasn’t exactly pleased with his team’s performance.
“That clearly was not our best game,” he said. “We didn’t play our best defensively.
“We had a really good game Monday against Pennridge. Everything was clicking, was good.
“I don’t know if the moment got to them. The team is still pretty young.”
But Daley did acknowledge that the team the Falcons played was something else.
“North Penn’s a helluva team,” he said. “It’s virtually the same team as last year.
“They’ve got crazy good chemistry, three good lines. It’s hard to stop them and we know that.
“In the first period, we were just kind of hanging in there. We got that goal near the end, and I thought we were starting to turn it around, but they (North Penn) smelled the blood in the water.”
Boy, did they ever.
Silvotti got things started in the first period, beating Pennsbury goalie Brendan Milliken with only 1:43 gone in the stanza. Two minutes and 41 seconds later, Cabrales netted what was actually the game-winning goal unassisted.
The Knights didn’t slack off from there. Silvotti got his second goal at 10:01, Boyle scored at 14:13 and Silvotti finished up at 15:45. The only blemish on the Knights’ first period barrage was a goal scored by the Falcons’ Shane Gleisner at 12:05.
Nothing changed with the beginning of the second period. Sam Norton powered in two goals at 3:07 and 3:30 and Declan Leahy got one at 14:07 with help from Silvotti and Cabrales.
In the third period, Boyle opened it up with a tally at 1:57. It was followed by a marker from Luke Haftel and then the finishing touch from Landon Hostetter at 15:23.
North Penn goalie Aidan Quigley contributed an outstanding night between the pipes. Except for the goal by Gleisner, who led the league in goals, Quigley kicked out 26 shots.
The Knights now advance to the SHSHL AA championship game tonight (Thursday) against Central Bucks South, an upset winner over second seeded Council Rock South 2-0. The game will begin at 6:10 p.m. at Hatfield Ice.
North Penn 11, Pennsbury 1
Pennsbury 1 0 0 — 1
North Penn 5 3 3 — 11
First period: 1, Chris Silvotti NP (Derek Lugara, Declan Leahy) 1:43; 2, Danny Cabrales NP (unassisted) 4:34; 3, Silvotti NP (Chase Del Ricci, Declan Willison) 10:01; 4, Shane Gleisner Pb (Francis DeLucia) 12:05; 5, James Boyle NP (D. Cabrales, Silvotti) 14:13 PP; 6, Silvotti NP (Lugara) 15:45.
Second period: 7, Sam Norton NP (Nolan Shingle) 3:07; 8, S. Norton NP (Izzy Cabrales) 3:30; 9, Leahy NP (Silvotti, D. Cabrales) 14:07.
Third period:10, Boyle NP (Silvotti) 1:57; 11, Luke Haftel NP (Gabriel Dunn, Boyle) 12:32; 12, Landon Hostettere NP (Tyler Evans, Milo Little) 15:23.
Shots: Pb 27, NP 52. Saves: Brendan Milliken (Pb) 41, Aidan Quigley (NP) 26.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0
The Titans scored a pair of first period goals, and that stood the rest of the way as they upset the second-seeded Golden Hawks at Grundy on Wednesday night.
Nathan Napolitano was perfect in goal for the Titans, turning away all 27 shots he faced – 22 in the opening two periods combined.
His teammates scored the only goals he would need in the first period. Jamison Crouch found the net with a goal that stood as the game-winner 36 seconds into the contest, using assists from Joseph Slobodrian and Ryan Montagna.
Ten minutes later, Ryan Frey scored a goal with an assist from Slobodrian. Neither team scored the rest of the way.
Central Bucks South will face top-seeded North Penn in the SHSHL Tournament title game Thursday night at Hatfield Ice. Council Rock South will return to action next week in the Flyers Cup.
Central Bucks South 2-0-0 2
Council Rock South 0-0-0 0
Shots: CBS 27, CRS 27; Saves: Nathan Napolitano (CBS) 27, Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 25.
First period: 1. Jamison Crouch CBS (Joseph Slobodrian/Ryan Montagna) 16:24; 2. Ryan Frey CBS (Joseph Slobodrian) 6:28.
Second period: No score
Third period: No score
SHSHL Tournament American Division semifinal
HATBORO-HORSHAM 11, SPRINGFIELD 1
Vincent Graziani’s four-goal night led the Hatters to Wednesday’s decisive win over Springfield to set up yet another showdown against Plymouth Whitemarsh in Wednesday’s title game at Hatfield Ice.
Luca Staffieri (1g, 2a) and Nathan Nemchinov (2g, 1a) both had three-point games for the Hatters.
Graziani scored the lone goal of the first period in the opening seconds of the frame. He scored the first two goals of the second period to complete his hat trick – the first with a Staffieri assist and the second with an assist from Evan Snow.
Graziani (Nemchinov assist) closed out the period with his fourth goal with 19 seconds remaining. In between, the Hatters received single goals from Nemchinov (Staffieri and Kyle Roesing assists), Staffieri and Joseph Magnin Jr (Aiden North assist).
Adding goals in the third period were Giovanni Bucci (Mangin assist), Lincoln Coleman (McManus assist), Roesing (Nicholas Gallo/Bucci assists), Nemchinov and Snow (Cole Meyer assist).
In a winning effort, goalie Patrick Murphy turned away 35 of 36 shots he faced for the Hatters, who held a 53-36 advantage in shots.
Springfield 0-0-1 1
Hatboro-Horsham 1-6-4 11
Shots: HH 53, S 36; Saves: Emmett Kline (S) 42, Patrick Murphy (HH) 35.
First period: 1. Vincent Graziani HH, 16:53.
Second period: 2. Vincent Graziani HH (Luca Staffieri) 11:36; 3. Vincent Graziani HH (Evan Snow) 9:43; 4. Nathan Nemchinov HH (Luca Staffieri/Kyle Rosing) 6:52; 5. Luca Staffieri HH, 2:13; 6. Joseph Magnin Jr HH (Aiden North) 00:27; 7. Vincent Graziani HH (Nathan Nemchinov) 00:19.
Third period: 8. Giovanni Bucci HH (Joseph Magnin Jr) 15:52; 9. Lincoln Coleman S (Gavin McManus) 12:51; 10. Kyle Roesing HH (Nicholas Gallo/Giovanni Bucci) 7:08; 11. Nathan Nemchinov HH, 3:34; 12. Evan Snow HH (Cole Meyer) 1:56.
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