Council Rock South wins in OT over Pennridge in Flyers Cup AA quarterfinals

HATFIELD TWP >> John Hearn’s first varsity goal couldn’t have come at a better time for surging Council Rock South.

Hearn scored 2 minutes and 55 seconds into overtime, lifting the fifth-seeded Golden Hawks to a 3-2 victory over No. 4 Pennridge in the quarterfinal round of the Flyers Cup AA Tournament Thursday night at Hatfield Ice.

The win sends Rock South to a semifinal matchup Tuesday night at 7:45, back at Hatfield Ice against top-seeded Central Bucks South.

“Good overtime win,” Hearn said.

Matt Owens was on the ground and got a shot off that was saved by Rams keeper Luke Stranick. The rebound bounced right out to Hearn, who put it away into an open net.

“It was a good win all around,” said Golden Hawks coach Joe Houk. “It was a good hockey game. Pennridge is a class act and (coach) Tom Coyne is a good guy. (Assistant coach Jeff) Montagna is a good guy and they’re all good players.

“We were a couple of the top teams all year so now we get to play CB South on Tuesday.”

The Titans advanced to the semis courtesy of their 5-3 win over North Penn earlier in the evening.

Rock South battled back from a 2-0 deficit, cutting the margin in half when Owens scored with just nine tenths of a second left in the second period.

Logan Hurwitz tied things up at two apiece three minutes into the third, and the two squads would remain deadlocked into overtime.

“We made two early mistakes and battled back, battled back,” Houk said. “Pennridge played a good game. They coached a very good game. They didn’t give my big guys a lot of breathing room.

“(Dylan) Feoli, my best player, every time he came up the ice, somebody was on top of him. Pennridge has some good players — (Eric) Slater is probably one of the top guys in the league. But we just kept getting pucks deep. It was a matter of mistakes and we got the bounce.”

Slater scored both goals for Pennridge, one in the first period and another in the second before Rock South mounted its comeback. The Rams’ season is over, but Slater will be one of many key players returning next season for Pennridge.

The goalies were about equally busy: Mason Procz made 27 saves for Rock South, Stranick 24 for Pennridge.