Knights and Titans meet on the ice for the first time this season in front of a packed house at Hatfield Ice Arena
Titans control puck possession deep in North Penn's end of the ice | courtesy Brandi Marlin
Erik Jesberger
North Penn Knights Writer
11/27/2019HATFIELD, PA. - North Penn’s head coach, Kevin Vaitis, knew the kind of play on the ice his boy’s of North Penn Ice hockey would be lacing up to battle and endure against in their biggest test of the young season. A well suited Central Bucks South squad standing undefeated, like the Knight’s, set for a clash on a fresh sheet of ice at Hatfield Ice Arena. And for how every rivalry game goes; fast paced play, hard checks along the boards, open ice tie ups, and the occasional scrum in front of the goalie crease, every fan was brought to their feet from the very first puck drop at center ice.
The Titans on the ice however, stood taller.
“CB South took away a lot of our ability to transition to offense by having five guys we had to skate through. They had a good game plan and executed in the neutral zone over us tonight,” stated coach Vaitis.
The Central Bucks South Titans(2-0-1) topped the North Penn Knights(2-0) by a score of 5-1 Wednesday night, preserving their undefeated record in the early weeks of the 2019-20
SHSHL season, and taking home the title as County Line Cup winners.
For the Knights on the ice, a hard lost to Central Bucks foe only marks their first loss of the season, serving as an opportunity to step back and make adjustments in games on the calendar with still plenty of hockey to play till the postseason. This notch in the L column also serves as a spark already for the Knight’s next date with the boys in black and blue on the ice.
“Deflections and bounces their way are gonna happen, but one thing we focus on is forcing guys out of the crease which happens frequently with a team like this that likes to play rough and battle, but as long as we are playing strong offensively and defensively at the same time, it will be a different kind of game next time,” expressed Knight’s goaltender, Nick Ebbinghaus.
The physical play and battle for possession along the boards and in open ice made up the style of play all of those in attendance love to see in a rivalry game.
After the Titan’s captain, Colin Abbonizio, laid on the night first booming hit of the contest on Knight’s captain, Tyler Greenstein, the physical play would ramp up and from then on out, it would not disappoint.
“{The atmosphere} was awesome and the student section for both teams were loud {after big hits}. They definitely help us play better and if they show out again, that would be awesome,” said Tyler Greenstein.
Those big hits on the ice and wins in battles for puck possession would translate into the first marks on the scoreboard on the night. Following a scoreless first period with only two shots put up by the Knight’s offense, CB South found their groove and found it fast once the puck dropped to commence play in the second period.
Big hits and the flares of a rivalry game made up most of the play in the Wednesday night square off
Within thirty five seconds of each other at the fourteen minute mark in the second period, the Titans broke the tie score and displayed a shooting barrage on Ebbinghaus and the Knight’s defense. Thirteen shots and back of the net connections from Stephen McMillian and Matt Milanesi tallied up by the Titan’s offensive attack kicked off CB South’s dominance in the game from there on out with a defensive effort and goal keeper in between the posts that showed no efforts of letting a Knight’s shot seep its way past the goal line.
Big hits and the flares of a rivalry game made up most of the play in the Wednesday night square off | courtesy Brandi Marlin“Their defense and goaltending were pretty good, but we had a lot of opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on. {Mason Moyer} played well in net against us tonight and we were just unable to score on those rebound attempts when we had them which cost us the game.”said Knight’s Assistant Captain, Josh Kaufhold.
The Titan’s would reinforce their 2-0 second period lead with one more connection with twine before entering the third period and it would be their captain getting in on the shooting parade as Abbonozio found a way to tap home a loose puck in traffic through North Penn defensemen’s skates, picking up his first goal of the night and sixth on the season.
The final period of play held no let down of heavy checking and battle for puck control on both ends of the ice. And the offensive attack of CB South didn’t skip a beat either. Another scrum in front of the net would allow the stick of Dominic Patrone to trickle in the puck through the crease, and into the net for a 4-0 Titan’s lead with 4:19 remaining in the square off.
The final four minutes of play in the County Line Cup clash would hold the Knight’s first appearance on the scoreboard, a connection that had been sniffed out and batted away by the Titan’s defense throughout all of early measures of the contest.
“We usually try and work a back door pass and on that occasion it found its way through and I was able to put a shot up. It didn’t make it through the first time, but I was able to jam it through the second time and it found its way in,” stated Greenstein.
Kaufhold’s cross ice feed for a Greenstein one-timer on a North Penn power play would draw the deficit within 3. This idea of a late game comeback for the Knight’s however was quickly squashed as the Titan’s allowed only one more additional shot on net. A slap shot of the stick of Milanesi, with time expiring, would tally up the young man’s second goal the team’s fifth goal on the night in the County Line Cup contest. That late third period goal adding salt to the wound and perhaps a message for how the Titans want the next game to go next time both ice hockey squads find themselves on the same sheet of ice. That date set for February 20th, the final game of the regular season and a game that will serve as a shot at revenge for the North Penn ice hockey squad.
“I said to the guys that there are a lot of good teams in the league and the chances of us on the table of going undefeated were probably slim. Use this as a lost, but also something we can learn from.
FULL GAME REPLAY AND BOX SCORE - CB South Titans vs North Penn Knights 11 27 2019“We don’t like the feeling we have right now and we have to go out there with more intensity. We gotta get mad, we gotta get angry, and we are gonna look to do that next week against Pennsbury,”concluded coach Vaitis.The Knights are back on the ice in a square off with the Falcons of Pennsbury next Thursday, the 5th, with puck drop set for 7:20 pm at Grundy Ice Arena.
Be sure to follow @NP Ice Hockey on Twitter for more team and season information on North Penn Knights 2019-2020 ice hockey.--------------------
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