HATBORO HORSHAM SLEEPS WITH THE FISHES
The Lansdale Catholic Crusaders are the champions of the Suburban hockey league. In a tense game, the Crusaders prevailed 3 to 1. Our goalie Ben Mills played the game of his career. The Lansdale Catholic student body showed up en mass. We were able to match the loudness of the 500 HH fans with our 100 fans. There were numerous thundering body checks, with a number being delivered by Kevin Quinn. In the last 5 minutes he single handedly kept the puck in the HH zone for over a minute battling along the boards.
My Fred Shero post made the rounds among the team prior to the game. I’m sure it was the key to the victory.
CONGRATULATIONS LANSDALE CATHOLIC. YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT WILL LIVE WITH YOU FOREVER.
HARD WORK, DEDICATION, AND TEAMWORK ALWAYS PAYS OFF.
LC tops H-H to win league championship
The Crusaders captured the best-of-three Class A series in their first year in the American Division.
WARWICK TWP. – The building was packed, the crowd energetic. And the deciding game of the Suburban High School Hockey League Class A championship series matched expectations.
Both teams will be back in action next week in the Class A Flyers Cup tournament but, for the Crusaders, who moved over to the American Division from the defunct Catholic League Blue this season, this was the night that mattered.
“Oh my God, this feels amazing,” said LC winger Sette. “Words can’t describe the feeling. It’s almost like winning the Cup.”
The energy in the stands spread to the players on the ice; the opening period featured an abundance of end-to-end skating.
The Crusaders’ McGarity scored the period’s only goal on a shot from the right wing. Hatters goalie Jimmy Salfiti couldn’t quite cover the right post and the Crusaders had a 1-0 lead.
“I think we came out flat in the first period,” said Hatters coach Trish Silvestri. “I think we thought it would just happen instead of making it happen.”
Settle made it a 2-0 game at 7:55 of the second period when he beat Salfiti at close range.
By that point, both teams were feeling the effects of the game’s pace.
There was plenty of hitting and, for the most part, the officials let the players play on, whistling only the most serious of infractions.
Tim Boyle scored for the Hatters with 1:51 left in the second period to make it a one-goal game.
The Hatters failed to capitalize on an opportunity at the start of the third period when the Crusaders successfully killed off back-to-back minor penalties.
The Crusaders’ Andrew Hart spent two minutes in the box after being whistled for holding at 2:44 but, only moments later, scored the game-clinching goal when Lansdale Catholic dumped the puck into the Hatboro-Horsham defensive zone.
The Hatters were slow to go after the puck and the Crusaders’ Anthony Valerio got to it instead on the offensive left wing. He put the puck on Hart’s stick and it wound up behind Salfiti.
“We could see they weren’t working hard (around) the puck,” said Crusaders coach Mark DiDonato. “That (third) goal was huge.”
“They got a lot of bounces we didn’t get,” Silvestri said. “We had a lot of chances right by the net that just wouldn’t go in. I think our overall effort was there.
“Some of these kids have never been in a game like this. For them to work as hard as they have, that’s achieving a goal in itself.”
Rick Woelfel can be reached at [email protected]
Lansdale Catholic 3, Hatboro-Horsham 1
Lansdale Catholic 1 1 1-3
Hatboro-Horsham 0 1 0-1
First-period goal: Joe McGarity (LC) from Liam McCorry, 13:38.
Second-period goals: Nick Sette (LC) from Brendan Curtis and Andrew Hart, 7:55; Tim Boyle (HH) from Harry Nesbitt, 13:09.
Third-period goal: Hart (LC) from Anthony Valerio, 5:27.
Shots: LC 27, HH 24. Saves: Ben Mills (LC) 23; Jimmy Salfiti (HH) 24.
Records: LC (15-9); HH (14-9-3).
