No one is busier than Santa Claus in the days before Christmas. But the Quakertown ice hockey team could have given St. Nick a run for his money.
Quakertown (5-3-1) thumped Springfield (M) 8-0 last Wednesday night for the Panthers’ second straight win. Branden McNally had a hat trick – hats were also off to McNally the first time Quakertown played Springfield – and Matthew Krem stopped all 22 shots he faced.
Just 48 hours later, Quakertown gave American division rival Abington its first blemish. The Ghosts took to the ice with a perfect 8-0 record, but two Connor Ellmore goals nullified two first period Abington scores and Quakertown earned a 2-2 tie. Krem stopped 38 of 40 shots; Ellmore picked the season’s biggest stage for his second two-goal game.
Central Bucks South also faced a Quakertown-like work load right before the break. The Titans (5-4-0-1) thumped Souderton 9-2 last Wednesday before falling 2-1 to two-loss Neshaminy 24 hours later. D.J. Lindenmuth and Aydin Thierolf, who has 21 points on the year, both scored twice for South against Souderton. The two also both lit the lamp in South’s 4-1 Dec. 16 win over Central Bucks East.
South outshot Neshaminy 41-22, yet failed to convert any of seven power plays into a score.
Rounding out the week in the Suburban High School Hockey League, Pennridge (5-3) played up but fell to 3A Holy Ghost Prep 7-3 in the opener of last Wednesday’s doubleheader at Grundy. SHSHL National teams are 2A. Kevin Pico, Andrew Savona, and Shane Dachowski all scored for the Rams; all three have scored at least six goals this winter.
CB East (4-4) fell to Pennsbury 6-1 in the Grundy nightcap. Corey Kosick scored the Patriots’ lone goal, his 10th of the year. Kosick has scored in all but one of East’s games. East is looking to get back on track after winning its first four games.
On Thursday, Pennsbury took to the ice again and needed overtime to top Council Rock North (2-6-0-1) 2-1. Jackson Accardi scored North’s lone goal while Ian Goldberg stopped 38 of 40 Falcon shots. Accardi now has a point in four straight games.
Friday night’s clash between Council Rock South (6-1) and Central Bucks West (3-6) was postponed due to weather. Luke Tremmel leads the Bucks with 10 points. First-place CR South already has four players with double digit points – Blaize Pepe (15), Kevin Koles (11), Chase Tovsky (10) and Jake Weiner (10). Pepe and Weiner are tied for the team lead with eight goals each.
Both teams look to get back on the winning side of the ledger. The Bucks have dropped three in a row; CR South suffered its first defeat of the season on Dec. 15 against Pennridge.
SHSHL play resumes on Jan. 4.
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