The 45th Flyers Cup dropped the puck in Tuesday 2A first-round action. Three area teams advanced to the quarterfinals.
No. 1 Pennridge (17-2-1) is known for its big three. Rams Kevin Pico, Andrew Savona and Shane Dachowski were three of the four Suburban High School Hockey League National players to score 60-plus points in the regular season. Yet it was Nate McKean who broke the scoreless tie just a minute in to start things off in the Rams’ 10-2 win over No. 16 Bensalem in the nightcap of a Hatfield Gray doubleheader. Seven different Rams found the back of the net; Pico had a hat trick.
In the quarterfinal, the Rams will face No. 9 Downingtown East, who held off No. 8 Central Bucks East 3-2 in the Hatfield Gray opener. The Cougars built a 3-0 lead until Patriots ace goalie Cole Breen shut out Downingtown East for the game’s final 32:27. David Brown and Corey Kosick both scored but it wasn’t quite enough to prolong CB East’s (11-7-2) season. This season, Kosick’s 26 regular season goals were sixth in the SHSHL National while Breen’s .891 save percentage ranked third.
No. 2 Council Rock South (19-1) made very short work of No. 15 Spring-Ford with a 12-0 rout at Grundy. The Rams managed just three shots on goal. Kevin Koles scored two goals in the game’s opening three minutes and eventually assisted three others. Teammate Nikita Volobuiev had a hat trick.
The Golden Hawks, who had three 40-plus point regular season scorers in Koles, Blaize Pepe and Jake Weiner, have been flying very high of late. CR South is now unbeaten in its last 13 games. The biggest of those wins was No. 12, a 7-2 triumph over Pennridge on Leap Day to repeat as SHSHL National champions.
A tight championship game was knotted at 2 late in the second period until Weiner’s goal broke the tie. The Golden Hawks proceeded to score five unanswered goals over the next 17 minutes, with Weiner picking up three of them. The Golden Hawks, who were the No. 1 seed in last year’s Flyers Cup before being stunned by eventual winner No. 5 Pennsbury in the semifinals, hope to finish business and extend their win streak to 17 – which would mean a Flyers Cup and Pennsylvania state title.
Defenseman Aiden Linso only had five goals on the year, but he tallied the first of the evening in Hatfield Blue. It helped the No. 6 Central Bucks South Titans (14-6-1) build a 3-0 lead and give them a wire-to-wire 5-2 win over No. 11 Avon Grove. CB South goalies had an .875 save percentage in the regular season and Nathan Napolitano turned in another strong performance between the pipes, turning away 20 of 22 shots.
CR South will next face No. 10 Cherokee while CB South takes on No. 3 Boyertown. All quarterfinals will be this Thursday.
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