The Pennridge ice hockey team’s dream of back-to-back Flyers Cup championships ended on Tuesday night with a 5-3 loss to Pennsbury in the Class 2A final at Hatfield Ice Arena.
The second-seeded Rams end their season 16-6 while fifth seed Pennsbury (18-6) will take on South Fayette, the Penguins Cup titlist, in the Pennsylvania Cup final on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center in Pittsburgh.
Many expected this to be a particularly high-scoring game, so it was surprising that there was just one goal scored in the first period. At 4:39 into play, Pennridge sophomore Shane Dachowski put the puck in the net with an assist from junior Tyler Manto.
Pennridge goaltender Jacob Winton stopped a breakaway by Pennsbury’s Brendan MacAinish in the final seconds of the period to retain the lead for his team. MacAinish netted a hat trick in the game and had 11 for the tourney.
“We needed to contain MacAinish,” said Pennridge junior defenseman Colin Dachowski, the team captain. “He’s a great player and when he gets free he’s going to take advantage, and he did.”
That lead held for a rather long time. With 6:28 to go in the second period, Pennridge had a goal called back because the goal cage was off the moorings.
Pennsbury capitalized on the setback, netting back-to-back goals to end the second period with a 2-1 advantage.
The Falcons scored their third consecutive goal just 2:35 into the third period and had a comfortable 3-1 lead.
“Having that goal called back definitely changed the momentum for us because they scored two right after that and took the lead and then they had the momentum going into the third period,” Colin Dachowski said.
But the Rams were not finished.
Just two minutes later, Manto scored a power-play goal with an assist from freshman James Rush, then a minute later Shane Dachowski put in his second goal of the evening with an assist from Kevin Pico. Dachowski’s goal was shorthanded, as Manto was serving a tripping penalty.
Suddenly the game was tied, 3-3, and both teams picked up the pace.
But it was the Falcons who put in what proved to be the game-winner with 8:19 to go, then with just one tick remaining on the clock, tournament MVP Macainish netted one more to ice the win.
“We won it all last year and that was great,” Shane Dachowski said. “We dreamed about coming back. It’s very frustrating to get this close and lose.”
It was the fourth time the two teams faced each other. Pennsbury won the opener in November, 6-3, while the Rams came back with an 11-4 triumph on Jan. 12. But the Falcons ousted Pennridge in the Suburban High School Hockey League semifinals by a score of 8-5.
“We played them a couple of times this year so we knew what they were like,” Colin Dachowski said. “They had a great game. Their goalie (Aaron McDaniel) made some great saves and the bottom line is that they scored more.”
Shane Dachowski, who led the Rams with 10 goals in the tournament, missed part of the game. With 5:08 to go in the second period, he was hit by Pennsbury’s Justin Marlin and had to be assisted to the bench. He eventually was cleared to return in the third period.
“I got hit in the head,” said Dachowski, a forward.
Pennridge outshot the Falcons, 37-29. Winton made 24 saves for the Rams.
“We need to just turn the puck over less,” Colin Dachowski said. “Aside from that we played a pretty good game.
“We have a young team. We’re only graduating three seniors, so I think we’ll make a strong run next year. We’re definitely looking forward to next year, and this is going to motivate us a lot. When you lose the cup like this and you know you can win it next year, you definitely want to come back strong, and we will.”
Both Dachowski brothers were named to the all-tournament team.
Pico ended the season with a team high 24 goals and 28 assists for 52 points, the most on the team. Shane Dachowski scored 23 goals and had 14 assists for 37 points, while Andrew Savona had 19 goals and 28 assists for 47 points for the Rams.
There’s one thing Colin Dachowski is sure of.
“We’ll be back,” he said.
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