Hatboro-Horsham skates past Lower Moreland for SHSHL-A title

HATFIELD TWP. >> Hatboro-Horsham may have narrowly missed the cut for the Flyers Cup, but the Hatters skated into their offseason passing around a league championship trophy.
Hatboro raced to an early lead and used a strong final push to put away Lower Moreland, as the Hatters earned a 7-4 victory Thursday night in the Suburban High School Hockey League A Final.
“I think this is more important to the boys than the Flyers Cup. We wanted this, and I don’t think the Flyers Cup was really on our minds. This is all we thought of for the past week,” said senior defenseman Nathan Reilly, whose goal gave the Hatters a 2-1 lead three minutes into the contest.
“This is a great win for the boys. We wanted this since we started, Day One of the season. This is all we’ve been thinking about for the past week.”
Hatboro took a 4-2 lead into the third period, and after Coleman Peppelman’s goal cut it to 4-3, the Hatters closed things out with back-to-back goals by Dylan McClure and Jacob Mueller. Things got ugly late, as several Lower Moreland players instigated a fight with 11 seconds left.
Five Bear players were hit with game misconducts, which means Lower Moreland may have to forfeit the Flyers Cup. It was an unfortunate way to end a season filled with many firsts.
The Bears reached the playoffs for the first time and also had an eight-game winning streak going into Thursday.
“That was our goal, to make the playoffs this year and we got there and got to the final game,” said coach Anthony D’Orazio, whose team got a pair of goals each from Peppelman and Campbell Manin. “We (got to within 4-3 in the third) and then we ran outta gas.
“We hadn’t lost since mid January so it was a good run. Congrats to (Hatboro). They’re a very well-coached team.”
Gianni Lafratta’s squad got a five-goal effort from Mueller, a sophomore forward.
“Mueller, he’s a beast,” Reilly said, “and the boys worked really hard.”
The Bears trimmed it to 6-4 on Manin’s second tally but an open netter by Mueller finished it.
“We were buzzing tonight,” Reilly said.