March 13, 1995
The Suburban High School Hockey League finals were not a major disappointment to champion Germantown Academy or runner-up Council Rock I. GA and Rock will advance to the postseason Class AAA Flyers Cup tournament, and both played very well in the SHSHL finals. The Patriots, who were unbeaten during the SHSHL regular season, won the playoff title with a thrilling 3-2 victory last Tuesday at the Face-Off Circle in Warminster. GA won the best-of-three championship series, two games to none. Council Rock will face Triton, the champion of the South Jersey Scholastic Hockey League, at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Ice Line Twin Rinks in West Goshen. Germantown Academy will play Bensalem, the second-place finisher from the Lower Bucks County Hockey League, at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Face-Off. “This is the time of year where nothing comes easy,” Germantown Academy coach John loia said. “Council Rock is a much better team right now than they were earlier in the year, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we get to play them again down the road in the semifinals, providing we don’t lose in the first round.” The road to the Flyers Cup semifinals will be a tougher one for Rock. The Indians must beat not only Triton, but also the winner of Thursday’s Father Judge-Shawnee game. The Rock-Triton winner will face the Judge-Shawnee victor next Monday. Judge was the regular-season champion of the LBCHL, and Shawnee finished second in the SJSHL As champion of the SHSHL, Germantown Academy needs to beat only Bensalem to get to the semifinals. “We have to play more games by finishing second in the league, but really don’t like having time off this time of year,” Council Rock coach Paul Gilligan said. “Bad things can happen, of course, like playing poorly and being knocked out of the tournament. But I’d much rather play, and sometimes you can build some momentum when you have to play more games.” The Patriots and the Indians both are playing excellent hockey, and the deciding game of their series showed that. The teams were tied, 2-2, entering the final minute, and a goal by GA junior Tony Mauriello with :59 seconds left proved to be the winner. Patriots senior Rob Shaner scored the first two goals for GA. Sopho- more Matt Skinner and junior Dan Blum scored for Rock. “Council Rock could just as easily have won the game,” Ioia said. “The game
was played pretty evenly all the way through, and right now Rock is capable of beating anyone, including us.” The Patriots and the Indians would like nothing better, than to have an SHSHL semifinal rematch on March 23 at the Face-Off Circle.
To the limit
William Tennent forced a third and final SHSHL Class AA game with a hard-fought 5-4 victory over Central Bucks East last Thursday at Face-Off. The deciding game will be played tomorrow, and the winner will represent the league in the President’s Cup tournament.”We play well in parts of the game, but we’re still looking to be more consistent,” Tennent coach Mike Lang said. “We had a nice burst of momentum in the second period against East, and that was enough to carry us for the game.” East and Tennent were tied, 2-2, entering the final three minutes of the second period. The Blazers had received goals from juniors Eric Kirlin and Tony Tedesco, and seniors Brad Fox and Mark Platt had scored for Tennent.
However, the Panthers struck for three goals in the final three minutes to gain a 5-2 advantage. Fox, Platt, and Fox scored in quick succession, but the Blazers refused to quit.”I told the players between the second and third period that they were still going to have to play hard,” Lang said. “But we didn’t follow through, and East made a run at us.” East goals by freshman Eric Rodgers and Kirlin
closed the gap, but Tennent junior T. J. Schreiber shut out East in the final 6:09 to secure the win.
“I have to give T. J. credit,” Lang said. “He came up with some big saves to help us win. We’ll need him to come up with another big game.”
Finale for Wood-Rock II
Archbishop Wood will play Council Rock II tomorrow to determine who will be the SHSHL Class A representative in the Director’s Cup
Tournament, which will begin on March 23.
The Vikings, who skated to a 4-0 victory last Thursday at Face-Off after losing, 4-2, in the series opener Tuesday, had beaten Rock II three times during the regular season. “We weren’t ready mentally the first time we played them,” Wood coach Dave Loring said. “We beat them pretty easily during the regular season, and we didn’t focus real hard on them. We played poorly in the first game, but I thought we finally played some good hockey in the second game. “Wood received a hat trick from freshman Steve Krol. Senior Dominic Vecchione scored the other goal, and sophomore goalie Brandon Venziale stopped all 13 of the Indians’ shots. “Paul Gilligan is an excellent coach, and Rock isn’t going to give us anything,” Loring said. “We’re going to have to earn it.”
Eagles fly to finals
Conwell-Egan cannot represent the Lower Bucks County Hockey League in the Class AAA Flyers Cup because of its third-place finish in the regular season. But the Eagles could still win the LBCHL playoff title. Conwell-Egan advanced to the best-of-three championship series against regular-season champion Father Judge with a two-game sweep of second-place Bensalem. The series will begin tonight and continue tomorrow, with a third game, if needed, scheduled for Wednesday. The Eagles, who will represent the LBCHL in the Class AA Director’s Cup, defeated the Owls, 6-5, last Monday and followed that with an 8-6 victory Wednesday. Both games were played at the Grundy Ice Rink in Bristol. “We’re going to have to keep playing well if we want to beat Judge,” Conwell-Egan coach Rich Slack said. “We have to put them on the defensive, and keep them there.” Judge won two of three with Egan during the regular season. The Crusaders earned 6-1 and 5-4 victories and also recorded a 4-4 tie. The Eagles had big semifinal performances from junior Mike Rivels, who scored four goals in the series, and from seniors Drew Bowden, Mike Rigney, and Brian Slavin, who each had three goals in the series. Bensalem, which despite the loss in the semifinals will represent the league on the Class AAA level, was led by senior Mike Hood, who scored three goals in the two games. Senior Mike Catalano added two goals for the Owls in the series.
By Scott Huff
The Philadelphia Inquirer
