Of Southeastern Pennsylvania
By: Youth Hockey Info
STAFF WRITER
COLMAR, PA. - The regular season fired off on all cylinders Wednesday evening when the Central Bucks East Patriots faced off against the North Penn Knights.
The lead-in is a bit of a mischaracterization as it was the Patriots who got off to a quick start with the Knights playing catch-up for more than half of the game. Coach Mitchell had his offense firing the puck from anywhere and everywhere hoping to capitalize, and they did almost four minutes in. After a barage of shots on Nick Crist and the Knights unable to clear their defensive zone, Ethan Cenci picked up a loose puck off of a rebound and deposited it for the first goal of the game. The Patriots continued buzzing firing the puck non-stop at every opportunity. The first period ended 1-0, and the Patriots tripled the Knights in shots 13-4.
The second period was much the same as the first with the Pats keeping their foot on the gas, but the Knights defense and a fine goaltending effort by senior, Nick Crist kept Central Bucks to a 1-0 lead heading into the third. CBE and NP slightly doubled their shot totals with the Patriots in control 27-13.
The Knights, still looking for an answer to putting their game plan together were scored on again around the seven minute mark which put CB East ahead by two. North Penn skated through the halfway mark of the third period before John Stinson was able to beat Pats goalie, Matt Mangiacapre low on the short side, unassisted to bring the Knights to within one goal. But the one goal defecit wouldn't last long as CB East struck again twenty seconds later widening their lead to 3-1 where the score stood when the final horn sounded. The Knights offense probably could've dumped the puck more to increase their offensive opportunities. CB East consistently had 3 men back which was almost an inpenetrable defense to skate through, however, The Knights continued to attempt beating double and triple coverage to no avail. To their credit they did wind up finding their game late in the third as they finished the game with 26 shots, matching their total across both the first and second periods combined. Once the passing game opened up they had numerous chances but Mangiacapre came up big on breakaways and rebound opportunities. Both goalies played a spectacular game, as North Penns Nick Crist also did the heavy lifting keeping the game close giving his teammates a chance to get back in it. Notables, Knights swing player Filip Pienkowski played in his first varsity game.
GAME RECAP
TEAM |
1ST |
2ND |
3RD |
END |
---|---|---|---|---|
CB EAST |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
NORTH PENN |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
First period goals: (CBE) #86 Ethan Cenci, (#20 Patrick O'Brien, #48 Charlie Keiser) PP 3:46
Second period goals: NO SCORE
Third period goals: (CBE) #68 Cory Kosick , (#48 Charlie Keiser, #86 Ethan Cenci) EVEN STRENGTH 6:43 ; (NP) #53 John Stinson (1), (UNASSISTED) EVEN STRENGTH 9:43 ; (CBE) #68 Cory Kosick, (#48 Charlie Keiser) EVEN STRENGTH 9:17
The Quakertown Panthers defeated the Bensalem Owls by a score of 6-1 in the early game Wednesday night at Grundy Arena.