Henderson blanks Trojans in opening night of Flyers Cup

WEST GOSHEN >> The opening game of the opening night of the 2022 Flyers Cup was a tutorial about what you need to win hockey games. Strong defense, timely goals and clutch goaltending all combined for a fun night for West Chester Henderson.
The seventh-seeded Warriors had a pair of goals in each period to support the 44-save effort from Dylan Krick in a 6-0 victory over No. 10 Wissahickon in the A first round Monday at Ice Line.
Henderson advances to meet No. 2 Springfield (Delco) in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
“We know Springfield is a very physical team, their penalty minutes show that,” said Henderson coach Dave Hendricks. “We hope our defense can be heavy as well.”
The first part of the opening stanza was a give-and-take affair with Henderson getting the better of the early chances. The Trojans started to slowly tilt the ice. Krick made a couple of timely saves to keep the game scoreless.
“It was a fun game. They got a lot of shots, but my defense did a good job of clearing the rebounds, keeping them far away,” said Krick. “It was busy. It’s more fun as a goalie when you’re busy.”
“It’s real easy to say you’re a defensive team when you have Dylan Krick in net,” added Hendricks. “All the boys just absoultely look up to his talent, but I know Dylan is just as invested as anyone. We’ve always said our offense stems from our defense, and I think the score showed that.”
Springfield suffered a 52-second slump that ended up dooming them for the evening.
First, the Warriors got on the board as a turnover in the Wissahickon end proved costly. Michael Liberace fed Brian Bowen, who glided in alone and flipped a shot over the right shoulder of goalie Michael Bonanni with 4:52 left.
Just a scant 27 seconds later, the Warriors went up a man as Nicholas Bonanni was whistled for a high sticking penalty.
The resultant man advantage didn’t last long as defenseman Christopher Laurenece jammed in a rebound at the four-minute mark to double the lead.
The second period was not much kinder to the Trojans. Henderson extended the lead to 3-0 as Andrew Denny’s mid-range snuck through Bonanni for a commanding 3-0 bulge. Denny ended up with two goals and two assists on the evening.
“I feel like I had a good game,” said Denny. “I feel that once I, and others scored, our team stepped it up.”
Tyler Aughey scored in the second and third periods, then Denny wrapped up the scoring with his second. Blake Platz, the team’s leading scorer, recorded four assists as Henderson, which last won the Flyers Cup in 2007, marched on in this year’s edition.
“It feels great. I think it’s real important for these guys,” said Hendricks. “We’ve been a program in transition, trying to be good human beings first, hockey players second. There’s a lot of character on this team, a lot of players with good hearts and they try to be the best team we can be, instead of a group of individuals.”

WC Henderson 6, Wissahickon 0
Wissahickon 0 0 0 – 0
WC Henderson 2 2 2 – 6
WC Henderson goals: Aughey 2, Denny 2, Bowen, Laurence.
Goalie saves: Bonnani (W) 18; Krick (WCH) 44.