ICE HOCKEY

South’s High Powered Offense Just Another Day At the Office for Rogers

Central Bucks West goaltender, Liam Rogers, makes a save on one of the dozens of shots he faced throughout the game against CR South.

By: CR South News
STAFF WRITER

COLMAR, PA - By now Liam Rogers is used to seeing a lot of shots in his SHSHL games. Totals of forty, fifty or even more shots are commonplace for the Central Bucks goaltender. Wednesday night he hit the sixty-one-shot mark and made an amazing fifty-five saves in a lopsided loss to the Council Rock Golden Hawks.

There’s not much drama involved in this editorial, after a good first shift CB West was on the defensive the entire game. Not even a power play could spare them from the Golden Hawks offensive pressure. The Liam Rogers show started on the second shift of the game as he made several saves from in tight, rebound after rebound finding Council Rock sticks. It took ten shots, but Jeremy Rayher finally opened the scoring, smashing home a rebound after yet another net-mouth scramble. Not much later, Bobby Gilbert, a player that shoots from anywhere, anytime, would float a seemingly innocent backhander towards the net from the left point. As everyone kind of froze and watched it float towards Rogers, South freshman Jordan Sarne alertly deflected the shot as it landed and surprised Rogers for Sarne’s first goal at the varsity level. The first period ended 2-0 thanks to Roger's heroics, but more alarmingly, the shot totals after one period favored South 29 to ZERO!

The second period would be a carbon copy of the first with Council Rock dominating in zone time. West got its first shot after Council Rock had tallied thirty-one, a fact given a light Bronx cheer by the Hatfield Ice crowd. Daniel Filipov made a nice play to deke a sprawling Rogers, and his rebound found Rayher crashing the net, Jeremy netting his second of the game. Filipov would then score one of his own on a wrist shot low to the glove side, maybe the only goal Rogers would want back, and it was a 4-0 lead after two periods. Shots were now 49 to 6 Golden Hawks.

Rogers prepares himself as CR South offense surges.

The third period was more of the same, however West more than doubled their shot totals from the first two periods. Golden Hawks goaltender Carson Lopez wasn’t tested like Rogers and had to make less than a half dozen quality saves to preserve the shutout. The Golden Hawks were kept off the board for the first half of the period, but that ended when Blaize Pepe was the recipient of a turnover that left him alone in the slot with the puck. Pepe wound up and blasted a rocket past a helpless Rogers for a 5-0 South lead. Jeremy Rayher completed his hat trick and rounded out the scoring with a redirection of a nice, hard pass from Jake Weiner.

Is it just me or have the Golden Hawks come up against great goaltending in every game this season? Central Bucks is not a terrible team, and was playing with a short bench, but it was Rogers that kept the crowd from being sent home early via mercy rule. Council Rock, to their credit, did not let off the pedal or get lazy, as often happens to teams who are controlling a game. They will need that same effort Thursday night when facing off against a talented Pennsbury team looking to assert themselves as the top dog in the division.





3 Stars of the Game

• 1- Liam Rogers - It’s not hyperbole to say that Rogers was the best player on the ice. 55 saves, most of which were top notch scoring chances, he made it look routine
• 2- Jeremy Rayher - Continues his fine play teamed with Jake Weiner. The young South team counts on those two to perform every game and they’re delivering
• 3- Daniel Filipov - Maybe it was the practice jersey or maybe he’s finally recovered from a lengthy illness, but Filipov is showing the form expected of him when the season started

GAME RECAP

1ST PERIOD
5:40 CR SOUTH #10 Jeremy Rayher (even strength) (#14 James Diiulio, #18 Jake Weiner)
13:46 CR SOUTH #53 Jordan Sarne (even strength) (#24 Bobby Gilbert, #72 Ilya Kudzinau)
2ND PERIOD
6:02 CR SOUTH #10 Jeremy Rayher (even strength) (#16 Daniel Filippov)
12:33 CR SOUTH #16 Daniel Filippov (short handed)
3RD PERIOD
1:28 CR SOUTH #76 Blaize Pepe (even strength) (#17 Gavin Nisenzon)
8:36 CR SOUTH #10 Jeremy Rayher (even strength) (#18 Jake Weiner, #8 Kevin Koles)