Knights seniors pose for picture during senior ceremony before game. (Credit: Ty Bryson/The Knight Crier)
Less than 45 seconds into the game, senior assistant captain Nolan Shingle got the scoring started when he put the Knights on the board
You couldn’t find a seat in the blue rink at Hatfield Ice Monday night, as family and friends packed the barn for senior night. Jumping out to an early lead, the Knights never looked back, cruising to an 8-1 win over the Washington Township Minutemen.
North Penn (17-1-0; 13-0-0) welcomed Washington Township (5-9-2) on the Knights’ senior night. With 13 seniors leading the way, the Knights picked up an easy win in a performance this group of seniors will remember forever.
“I think this is a fantastic group of seniors that we have had. A number of them have been on varsity since their freshman year,” head coach Kevin Vaitis said.
“Their freshman year they only won 1 or 2 games, their sophomore year they made it to the Flyers Cup, and then obviously last year they won the Flyers Cup Championship and the State Championship, it’s just a special group.”
After the pregame senior night ceremony ended, it was time for the puck to drop. North Penn has tended to start slow as of late, but that tendency was not apparent on Monday night. Less than 45 seconds into the game, senior assistant captain Nolan Shingle got the scoring started when he put the Knights on the board with a goal on assists from senior captain Chase Kelly Del Ricci and senior James Boyle.
With the momentum on their side, Boyle doubled the North Penn lead with an acrobatic goal, falling off his back foot into the glass, as he found the top corner of the net to put the Knights up 2-0.
With the Knights popping a couple quickly, coach Vaitis commented on how grabbing the lead early eased the pressure for the seniors who were getting their first varsity action on senior night.
“It was a matter of some of those guys leading the way… getting a lead made it easier for some of these other guys to get some additional ice time,” Vaitis said. “I thought the seniors who have been here for a couple of years did a real nice job, and the ones that came up for maybe their first varsity game did a nice job as well.”
Knights senior captain Chase Kelly Del Ricci breaks up a fight. (Credit: Ty Bryson/The Knight Crier)Five minutes passed with little action, but any more than that would’ve been too long for the Knights. With 9:30 remaining in the 1st, junior Deaclan Leahy shot and scored off assists from Shingle and junior assistant captain Sam Norton to make it 3-0 North Penn.
The momentum took a slight shift after the goal. Three and a half minutes later, S. Norton picked up the first penalty of the game when he earned a two minute break in the box, thanks to an interference penalty.
Just under five minutes after that, however, Norton quickly made up for his mistake in a big way, extending his squad’s lead with a goal off the assists by Leahy and senior Gabriel Dunn.
At the end of the 1st, the Knights led the Minutemen 4-0. The second period opened quietly, with no action for almost 8 minutes, until Knights senior Milo Little and Minutemen senior Julian Salter changed that in a hurry.
What began as pushing and shoving quickly escalated into punches being thrown by both players. The two seniors battled for an extended amount of time, and when the dust settled, Little was handed multiple penalties while Salter received just one. Both served their time in the box, with Knights senior Christopher Gehlert serving the additional penalty for Little.
After the fight, Vaitis talked about how to keep his team focused after the game gets more personal on the ice.
“I think it is just one of those things where it is a contact game,” Vaitis said. “We gotta play our game, we are getting ready for the playoffs and things like that, and we know teams are going to be coming after us.”
Luke Haftel skates over to celebrate with teammates after senior Nolan Shingles opening goal. (Credit: Ty Bryson/The Knight Crier)The Minutemen found themselves in power play territory and they took advantage. Washington Township freshman Bryce McCullough put his squad on the board when he shot and scored off an assist by junior Darien Heller. The Knights remained in the lead 4-1.
North Penn answered just a minute later, as Boyle was able to add on with assists from junior Christopher Silvotti and sophomore Izzy Cabrales. The Knights went back up by four, now leading 5-1.
The puck went up and down the ice for four minutes without much action until Leahy of the Knights was called for a roughing minor and sent to the box for two minutes. Despite the one man disadvantage, the Knights still found a way to score, this time I. Cabrales netted a goal off an assist from Silvotti, extending the Knights lead to 5.
Shortly after the Knights finished celebrating their goal, Dunn took a skate to the penalty box when he picked up a minor for cross-checking. Once more, North Penn scored while shorthanded, when Izzy Cabrales made it happen again, this time with assists from Silvotti and his brother, senior Danial Cabrales.
The buzzer sounded for the second time and it was the Knights leading 7-1 after two periods.
The third period had the least action of the night. Six minutes into the period, Minutemen junior Liam Ryan was hit with a high sticking penalty, earning him two minutes in the box.
The Knights would wait until after the power play ended to add on to their lead when Silvotti was able to pick up a goal of his own off an assist from Boyle.
Aside from McCullough taking a hooking minor for the Minutemen with 8 minutes remaining, the third period ticked down quietly. When the final buzzer sounded, the Knights had secured their 17th win of the season with an 8-1 victory.
With the regular season winding down, North Penn will face several multi-game weeks to finish out the schedule. Coach Vaitis spoke on how he plans to keep the boys conditioned and prepared for the playoffs.
“These guys play a lot of hockey between their school hockey and club hockey,” Vaitis said. “For right now, I think there are a couple things we want to continue to refine and continue to work on, and get better over the next couple of games to get ready for the playoffs.”
North Penn resumes league play later this week on Wednesday, February 4th, when they clash with the Bucks of Central Bucks West for the second time this season. The puck drops at 9:00 PM.
Final Score:
Knights 8
Minutemen 1
Shots on Goal:
Knights 43
Minutemen 18
Saves:
McAteer 17
Deich 35
This article appears courtesy of a student journalist at "The Knight Crier" at North Penn High School. To read more stories like this, visit https://www.knightcrier.org/.
