Maslij saves the day for Plymouth Whitemarsh, keys win over Wissahickon

HATFIELD TWP. >> Chris Maslij’s pressure-packed save of a Daniel Hussa penalty shot with just 1 minute, 8 seconds left to play provided a thrilling climax to a terrific performance by Plymouth Whitemarsh’s senior goaltender.

“It felt great. I was just trying to relax,” Maslij said of his clutch stop in the final moments. “I knew he was a really good player coming down the ice so I just tried to do my best.”

Maslij made 35 saves in all, helping the Colonials lock down a 4-3 victory over Wissahickon at packed Hatfield Ice Thursday night.

In a battle of 3-1 squads in the American Conference, the win raised PW’s record to 4-1 on the season while the Trojans dropped to 3-2. Matthew Flynn’s hat trick powered the Colonial offense.

“It feels really great. Wiss is one of our biggest rivals so it feels good to go out there and win the game. It was a great team effort,” said Maslij.

In a battle of evenly-matched squads, everything added up right for the Colonials.

The difference was “just working hard, out-skating them, trying to get to the puck,” Maslij said. “Winning those small battles is essential. And just putting the shots on net.”

The two teams felt each other out in the opening minutes, battling to a scoreless draw midway through the first period.

The Trojans opened the scoring.

John Kuffner fed Jack Raebiger, his goal making it 1-0 Wiss with seven minutes left in the first.

The Colonials answered quickly though, with Flynn scoring on the power play, off assists from Dylan Novitski and Jayson Yoder.

Konrad Foulk broke the 1-1 tie for the Trojans, set up by passes from Hussa and Nolan Pounds, to give Wiss the edge heading into the second.

However PW sandwiched together a pair of goals in just a 23-second span in the second period – one by Flynn, one by Jeffrey Mencken – to give the Colonials their first lead, 3-2.

Flynn extended the lead to 4-2 before Raebiger scored his second for Wiss, pulling the Trojans within 4-3 heading into the third.

Wiss had a 38-18 edge in shots but Maslij made almost three dozen stops.

“This is huge, a huge confidence booster,” he said.

Plymouth Whitemarsh 4, Wissahickon 3
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 3 0 – 4
Wissahickon 2 1 0 – 3
First Period
W-Jack Raebiger (John Kuffner), 7:00; PW-Matthew Flynn (power play, Dylan Novitski, Jayson Yoder), 4:42; W-Konrad Foulk (Daniel Hussa, Nolan Pounds), 1:45.
Second Period
PW-Flynn (Isaac Mishkin, Yoder), 14:45; PW-Jeffrey Mencken (Novitski, Yoder), 14:22; PW-Flynn (David Branigan), 3:23; W-Raebiger (Foulk), 1:10.
Shots
PW 6 11 1 – 18
Wiss 14 14 10 – 38
Saves: Maslij (PW) 35; Fletcher Lynch (W) 14.