As they say, they don’t call it special teams for nothing.
Central Bucks East showed why last week vs. Suburban High School Hockey League National Conference foe Souderton at Hatfield Ice, killing all six penalties and scoring twice on the power play to dispatch Big Red 6-3 for its third win in four pairings.
The game was tied 3-3 late in the third period before the Patriots pulled away.
“We got off to a slow start,” admitted CB East head coach Jeff Mitchell. “We kinda got caught up in a couple bad penalties here and there – it got a little chippy in the second (period) – but all in all, our penalty kills were great tonight.”
The Pats fell behind on a late first period goal by Souderton sophomore Liam O’Neill – who had a hat trick – before drawing even about a minute later on a strike by senior Stephen DiRugeris, who is East’s second leading scorer with seven goals and four assists.
The 12th grader had a good night on offense with a goal and two assists, helping out on Corey Kosick’s strike late in the third period that put the Patriots up 4-3, this time for good.
“They had a lot of momentum to start out, scoring the first goal, so I’m just glad we could overcome that and put some goals in,” said DiRugeris.
Kosick and Carter Keiser tallied power-play strikes for CB East with Keiser’s coming early in the second period, putting the Patriots on top for the first time in the contest. His brother, Charlie, added an insurance goal almost nine minutes into the final period.
The team’s leading scorer with 14 goals and eight assists, Kosick had two goals in the game, his second coming in the final seconds of this skirmish.
The Patriots entered the season without the services of high-scorer Phil McIntyre, wingers Tyler Godown and Ian Treger along with MVP center Aiden Schmidt and goalkeeper Chris McIntyre, a starter between the pipes since his freshman year.
That didn’t stop East from getting off to a quick start with wins over North Penn, Souderton, Plymouth Whitemarsh and crosstown rival CB West.
“We lost a lot of seniors last year and four of the five were key players, putting big points up every single night so it was good to see we had some chemistry coming out of the gate,” stated Mitchell.
But a four-game midseason slump triggered by two losses to Pennsbury and another to Central Bucks South dropped the Pats back in the SHSHL standings. And that’s unfortunate, especially this year, considering the fact the league is only allowing the first six teams in the conference to make playoffs. Last year, it was eight.
“We started off 4-0 then we lost four straight against a couple of teams we should have been able to stay closer with than we did,” explained Mitchell.
East finally broke out of its midseason slump in a 5-3 revenge victory over Bensalem Jan. 5 at Grundy Ice Rink. Trailing 2-0 early, the Pats rebounded with goals by DiRugeris and Charlie Keiser.
Owen Brackbill put East up to stay with a second period goal and DiRugeris tallied twice more in the third including a power-play strike, cementing the win over the Owls.
The following night at Bucks County Ice vs. Central Bucks West, the Patriots broke out of a scoreless first period, scoring four times in the second period on their way to a 7-1 triumph over the Bucks. DiRugeris tallied twice in the contest with Ethan Cenci, Brackbill, Ryan Gerken, Kosick and Drew Trask adding single strikes for East.
With five games left starting Friday night vs. Neshaminy, the Patriots have a tough road ahead of them if they are to hold onto their current spot in sixth place.
“Those four games that we dropped in the middle of the season, they’re really going to come into play throughout these last few games,” admitted Mitchell. “We can’t give up a single point. We’re teetering right on the edge.”
Meanwhile, Souderton which went 0-6 on power plays vs. East, falls to eighth place at 2-5 in the SHSHL.
Trailing the Patriots 3-1 early in the second period, Big Red battled back to tie.
“Hockey is a game of momentum,” said Souderton head coach Ryan Uchniat. “We beared down and were able to work it in their offensive zone. We got some opportunities that way and we got a power-play goal.
“It was a back and forth match.”
Until the third period when East took control.
“The third period was a different story. They really pressed us. They were rolling three lines; we were rolling two,” explained Uchniat. “They had a couple of defensemen that played a strong game and really bogged down our first line.
“Fortunately, Liam (O’Neill) stepped up and really carried the team with the hat trick.
“We just came up a little short.”
While East was 2-for-3 on power plays, Souderton was 0-for-6.
“Special teams really hurt us tonight,” stated Uchniat.
It was the CB East defense that made sure of it.
“All the kills from the second period into the third were just stellar,” added Mitchell.
“They weren’t getting any shots. They didn’t have any kind of presence in our zone and we were just clearing the puck.
“It all kind of came together in the second half of the game.”
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