Even when sharing the ice with talented teammates, Connor Bechtel stands out. He has a presence about him that is difficult to miss, one opponents ignore at their peril. The Central Bucks South junior scored 26 goals and added 28 assists this season to help the Titans claim the Suburban High School Hockey League championship. His efforts earned him Intelligencer Player of the Year honors for 2012<\/em><\/strong>, but Bechtel will be the first to point out that this year’s South team featured an abundance of accomplished, savvy hockey players. Bechtel was part of one of the most potent scoring lines in the area, playing the right wing alongside center Nick DeLaurentis and left wing Kevin Casey. The trio combined for 58 goals. “It worked really well,” Bechtel said. “We always knew where to put the puck. We always knew where each other would be.” The line came together after Casey joined on, a move precipitated by the shift of Bobby Mallon to the blue line. “That really helped our defense,” Bechtel said. All told, the Titans had seven players score 10 goals or more. The scoring balance helped. So did a sense of togetherness. “That’s why we were so successful,” Bechtel said. “We were really united, more than other teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had good players all the way around. It was more than having one or two good lines. “Some other teams have one good player and, if that player is shut down, they lose.” Bechtel started skating at age 4 at what is now the Bucks County Ice Sports Center. He’s played for various club teams since then, including a Hatfield Ice Dogs team that recently won a Midget 16 AA national championship. High-school hockey is hardly an afterthought, however. The end of the Titans’ 2012 season was bittersweet to say the least. They were seeded first for the Class AA Flyers Cup tournament and seemed poised for a championship run. But after beating Hempfield, 5-2, in the round of 16, the Titans ran into a very good Cherokee team in the quarterfinals, one that was much stronger than its No. 9 seed indicated. Cherokee scored a 2-0 win and eventually advanced to the championship game before falling to Council Rock South. Meantime, Bechtel and his teammates were left on the sidelines, smarting and looking forward to next season. “I think it was really frustrating,” he said. “We expected to go a lot farther. It was a disappointing way to end the season.” Bechtel is spending his spring playing for the South lacrosse team. But he’s already thinking about getting back on the ice. “We’re really determined,” he said. “We want to go a lot farther than we did this year.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIRST TEAM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n