Boyertown bests North Penn in Flyers Cup AA 1st round
UPPER PROVIDENCE >> North Penn’s Jake Snyder frustrated the Boyertown ice hockey team for large portions of Wednesday’s night Flyers Cup AA first round contest. But the Bears put just enough pucks into the net to stay alive in the tournament.
Six-seeded Boyertown struck first with a shorthanded goal late in the first period, then added two more early in the second. The No. 11 Knights pulled to within a goal in the third, but the Bears held on to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2012 with a 3-2 victory at Oaks Center Ice.
“We knew going in they have a very, very good goaltender and we knew we had to have consistent pressure throughout the game,” Boyertown coach Bryan Roth said. “That was our game plan and we pretty much executed. As expected, their goalie played very well and we were able to get enough past him to secure the win.”
Sean McGinley collected a goal and an assist for the Bears, who advance to face No. 3 Central Bucks West – which topped No. 14 Truman 3-1 – 7:25 p.m. Friday at Hatfield Ice.
“We need to focus on defense a little bit more,” McGinley said. “Other than that we should be good. We got the offensive (play) there.”
North Penn was down 3-0 at 10:33 in the second period, but despite missing a handful of key players, the Knights pulled to within two entering the third then made it 3-2 with 11:24 remaining when John Roberts poked in a loose puck.
“We were shorthanded, missing a number of guys, so I was actually very pleased with the effort that I had from a lot of guys out there,” North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis said. “We only had three lines of forwards up front and four (defensemen), and the guys they continued to battled the whole way. And yeah, we got a goal fairly early in the third to make it a one-goal hockey game, we just couldn’t get the third one then.”
Boyertown tried to extend its advantage in the third, Snyder denied the Bears on a few quality chances right at the net.
“Jake played awesome. He was outstanding. Stood on his head, made a number of spectacular saves for us,” Vaitis said. “He’s been great all year. It’s unfortunately, he’s a senior, this was his last game, but I’ve been fortunately enough to coach him the last three years and we’re really going to miss him as graduates from North Penn here.”
In the final minute and the Knights having pulled Snyder, Andrew Galetta – who scored NP’s first goal – had his shot glance off the crossbar. An icing gave North Penn a draw in the Boyertown zone with three seconds left, but a Knight shot from the point was blocked.
“We wanted to stifle them offensively,” Roth said. “They were without their top scorer (Alex Peterson) and we knew that and we just wanted to make sure that we didn’t give them an easy shots. We wanted to make them work for every inch of ice.”
North Penn had made the Flyers Cup quarters the past five seasons, last year reaching the AA final before falling to Downingtown East.
“Obviously, we’re not happy going home after one game in the Flyers Cup here when we’re in the finals last year,” Vaitis said. “But for the seniors that are graduating, I say the last couple years they’ve had a lot of success at North Penn. And with a lot of the guys coming up as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, we’re really excited towards the future and looking toward next season.”
The win snapped a two-game Flyers Cup losing skid for the Bears, whose last win in the tournament came against Pennridge in the 2012 first round.
“It’s been a while since we’ve made it this far, so really happy with it,” Roth said. “But we’re not stopping yet, we want to keep going.”
Boyertown took a 1-0 lead with 1:37 in the first period. North Penn had the man advantage, but Casey Sottanella forced a turnover right in front of the NP goal. After Snyder denied his shot, Sottanella got the puck to Bransen Mackey for the game’s opening tally.
Boyertown controlled the early second period, with the PAC-10 champs’ pressure by resulting in two goals in the first 5:27. McGinley made it 2-0 by skating around a sprawled Snyder for a goal at 12:02. It became3-0 Bears when McGinley sent a centering pass for Chris Moccia to redirect into the net at 10:33.
“I just saw him the whole way, just trying to get puck over to him,” McGinley said.
Galetta got the Knights on the scoreboard with his goal on the power play at 8:06 in the second. North Penn pulled within 3-2 at 11:24 in the third when Roberts, who is usually NP’s backup goalie, put in a loose puck at the left post.
“Johnny’s our backup goalie, but we’re missing so many guys he said, ‘Hey coach, I’d like to skate as a player,’” Vaitis said. “And I said, ‘You know what, come to practice Monday.’ So he came to practice Monday and did a decent job, so we put him out there.
“I didn’t know what to expect from him. But sure enough he had some chances throughout the game and then sure enough scored that goal there in the third to make it a one-goal hockey game. That was pretty cool to see.”
