Of Southeastern Pennsylvania
By: Youth Hockey Info
STAFF WRITER
LANSDALE, PA. - In high school ice hockey, it's common place to see freshmen players making the regular season roster, in most cases they'll play swing with JV being their primary responsibility and Varsity whenever necessary. Rarely will more than one player make the jump from middle school directly to the varsity roster and play a regular shift. Three players from the Knights previous seasons Middle School AAA program, Gabe Dunn (D), Chase Kelly-Del Ricci (D), and Nolan Shingle (F) have done just that and add in newcomer James Boyle (D) to the mix for this newly formed squad of fresh[men] faces. While Boyle is new to the program, the family is not, his older brothers George and Tommy also serviced the blueline for the Knights in years past. The integration of the new players has paid instant dividends, with Boyle, Dunn, and Kelly-Del Ricci helping sure up the defensive zone coverage, while Nolan Shingle has brought much needed energy to the offensive side of the puck. There is a whole new dimension to North Penn Ice Hockey, a completely different look to the Knights this season, aside from the past two seasons of almost constant individual play. The 2022-2023 team moves the puck cohesively, plays both ends of the ice with regularity and all appear to be on the same page bought into overall team play. If not for anything else, the preseason has shown that there is a completely different concept and mentality; playing together as a team is their main objective. Win or lose it will be a group effort.
The North Penn Knights closed out their preseason with a 4-1 win over the Central Bucks West Bucks on Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice. The Knights regular season roster looks set, in addition the Knights coaching staff had an opportunity to take a look at possible swing players Ryan Patenaude, and Luke Haftel. Overall, the Knights played exceptionally well, outshooting the Bucks by a 45-15 margin. North Penn started the scoring in the first period with Tyler Porubski making a cross ice pass to Joey Silvotti. Silvotti flipped to Nolan Shingle in the Neutral Zone and Shingle skated in past the Bucks defense down the right wing crashing the net where he slid the puck past Bucks goalie, Liam Rogers. The Bucks got on the board shortly thereafter, approximately one minute later The Bucks dumped the puck in behind North Penn goalie Nick Crist. The bucks forecheck was able to recover giving wide open Elven Paulus a one timer which trickled in behind the North Penn goaltender. The shots were 17-5 North Penn after one. The second period was all Knights, Julian Ma tipped in a shot from Matt Yothers on the power play just over 6 minutes in. John Stinson capped off second period scoring on a rebound shot from Derek Delong. Shots were 30-11 North Penn after two. The third period went back and forth much the same as the first two periods with the Knights outshooting the Bucks. Nolan Shingle scored his second goal of the game after a rush by Knights defenseman Gabriel Dunn. Dunn skated into the Bucks defensive zone and from behind the net spotted Shingle wide open. Dunn fed Shingle who put the puck past the prone Bucks goaltender, putting the Knights ahead for good, 4-1. A simulated OT was played with no goals scored. The Knights end their preseason with 2 wins and 0 losses.
GAME RECAP
TEAM |
1ST |
2ND |
3RD |
END |
---|---|---|---|---|
CB WEST |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
NORTH PENN |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
First period goals: (NP) Nolan Shingle 1, from Joey Silvotti, Tyler Porubski 14:47; (CBW) Elven Paulus 16:19
Second period goals: (NP) Julian Ma 2, from Matt Yothers (PP) 6:21; (NP) John Stinson 2, Unassisted 12:21
Third period goals: (NP) Nolan Shingle 2, from Gabe Dunn 12:12
The 2022-2023 Suburban High School Hockey League is set to begin and the first games are on Wednesday, November 2nd. The evening's events are listed as follows.
Council Rock North Indians @ Central Bucks South Titans | Hatfield Blue | 7:20pm
Quakertown Panthers @ Bensalem Owls | Grundy B | 7:20pm
Central Bucks East Patriots @ North Penn Knights | Hatfield Gray | 8:30pm
Souderton Indians @ Council Rock South Golden Hawks | Grundy B | 9:00pm