The beginning of the game certainly wasn’t indicative of how it would end.
The Central Bucks South ice hockey team topped host Council Rock North, 7-4, in a Suburban High School Hockey league clash on Wednesday, Jan. 4 at Grundy Ice Arena.
It started out extremely well for CR North, as the Indians scored on their first shot on goal. Lucas Siomos scored just 44 seconds into play with an assist from Michael Booth.
CB South took advantage of Siomo’s two-minute roughing penalty to tie the score when Matt Crouch found the net with assists from Jeffrey Kvecher and DJ Lindenmuth with 3:12 to go.
CR North returned the favor, scoring a power-play goal while Jake Stepp was serving a tripping penalty. Karson Grainey netted the goal with 1:14 remaining, with assists from Ryan Keil and Jackson Accardi, sending the Indians into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
The second period began with CB South tying it up on the Titans’ first shot of the frame. Ryan Frey was the goal scorer with assists from Keith Waldron and Sean Cutter less that two minutes into play.
Less than two minutes later, the tie was again broken by the Indians with a goal by Nicholas Hahn and assists from Grainey and Noah Epstein and CR North held a 3-2 lead.
CB South scored back-to-back goals by Aydin Thierolf (unassisted) and Stepp, assisted by Thierolf and Crouch and the Titans entered the second break with their first lead of the game, 4-3.
The Titans’ scoring streak continued into the third period with a pair of goals by Colin Mendham, the first from Thierolf and Lindenmth and the second on a power play from Crouch and Lindenmuth to make it 6-3.
With 44 seconds remaining the Indians scored a power-play goal by Epstein from Siomos and the score was 6-4.
The Titans capped the win with an empty net goal awarded to Logan Hood with 13 ticks left on the clock.
“This was our first game after the break so I was expecting a little lethargic game,” said Crouch, a senior captain. “We didn’t have a whole lot of time to practice. But we found a way to win and I’m proud of the boys for sticking with it. We were down a couple of times, but we kept at it.
“It comes down to discipline. You go for the breaks, and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. We stuck with it, and in the third period, we definitely came together.
“We didn’t really have the lead until the end of the second period and a lot of our goals came from people who don’t score a lot, me included. I was really excited when I scored. It took a lot out of me to not scream. As a defenseman, the opportunity doesn’t come up too much for me and we had two defensemen score in this game (Stepp was the other).
“Colin Mendham had two and that really helped us out. We found ways to put the puck in the net.
“When they scored right away at the beginning of the game I think that set us back a bit, especially our younger players. Fresh off the break and first shift, and we were already behind, but everybody picked it up.
“It feels nice to come off the break with a win. I think it sets us up for the rest of the year. I think we definitely have the capabilities to win out. We’ve kind of let some teams get back into the game on us and if we can stop doing that, we’ll be fine.”
Crouch, who also plays lacrosse for the Titans, plans to study marine biology at Florida and play ice hockey.
CB South is back in action on Wednesday, taking on Pennridge at Hatfield Ice Arena at 7:20 p.m.
For the Indians, the loss came after they fell in overtime to Pennsbury, 2-1.
“We really got off to such a good start,” said Epstein, a senior captain. “Before the game we had such energy and we had good momentum from our last couple of games. Even though we lost in overtime in our last game we played well and we were missing some key players, so we came out swinging after the break.”
CB South defeated CR North in the season opener, 3-2.
“We lost that game to them but it was close and we thought we were going to take this one. We gave it our all out there and we went right out there and got a goal.
“Every game we always say we need to get shots on net, that’s how you’re going to score goals, that’s how you’re going to win games, and we work on that but they were able to get a lot of shots off and they were able to start scoring.
“We need to just go into practice and wake up. We had the energy in the first period but then we let them get their momentum going and we were tired by the third period. We let them skate around us and we gave up at the end.
“We need to just keep going and not give up. We made a late run last year and I think we can do it again this year.”
Epstein will play lacrosse at Stockton University and major in exercise science.
On Friday, the Indians tied Neshaminy, 3-3. Grainey scored a pair of shorthanded goals and Accardi netted a power-play goal for CR North.
The Indians return to play on Thursday, facing Bensalem at Grundy at 5:40 p.m.
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