Souderton can’t slow down Central Bucks South
HATFIELD TWP. >> A tough start to the season for the Souderton ice hockey team did not get any easier for the Indians Wednesday night.
Big Red could not slow down Central Bucks South at Hatfield Ice, the Titans claiming a 10-0 victory in a contest ended after two periods.
“We haven’t had a full lineup,” Souderton second-year coach Ryan Uchniat said. “Tonight we’re missing five guys but the group that we have coming, they’re improving, they’re getting better. That CB South team is a very strong team. Very heavy team on the forecheck, they can bury the puck, cycling’s just incredible.”
Five games in the Indians have yet to pick up a victory and while the scoreline Wednesday may not of indicated it, Uchniat saw positives from Souderton’s goaltender Jonathan Pritchard and its defense.
“I like the effort out there,” Uchniat said. “Goaltending was great. Jonathan Pritchard. They said they had maybe 40 shots but I counted well over 50. He played awesome. Our defense, we rolled three defensemen and they were getting gassed at the end of the game but the effort was there, they were blocking shots and I thought they did a good job at keeping this team to the outside for the most part.”
The 10 goals were a season-best for Central Bucks South. Forward Dominic Patrone says the Titans look to focus play with the same consistent effort no matter what opponent they face on the ice.
“We’re used to just playing are own game,” Patrone said. “We never let down for any team no matter what — if it’s like North Penn, Souderton we play at the same rate, every team.”
CB South opened the year with an overtime loss to La Salle but since then has won its last five, scoring at least five goals in four of the victories.
“Good start to the season,” CB South coach Shaun McGinty said. “Opened up with La Salle and went to overtime with them and since then we’ve been on kind of an uphill swing coming into tonight was just more of the same. Same thing we’ve always done — just stay focused, play our game.
“We try not to think about who we’re playing, it’s all about us, it’s all about what we need to do to accomplish our goals. Play our systems. We just want to stay the course and constantly play our game and not worry about the other team.”
Souderton is back in action Thursday against Abington 7:10 p.m. at Hatfield Ice with South next game Thursday, Dec. 12 against Neshaminy 7:10 p.m. at Hatfield Ice.
“Last year was a tough year, we battled all year,” Uchniat said. “This year is shaping up that way but to start the season we had one of the tougher schedules and we have some games coming up where they should be quite competitive and once we get a full lineup out there, we’ll have guys that’ll have more fresh legs — guys and gals.”
