COLMAR – Wednesday night, the North Penn Knights (13-2) clashed with the Council Rock South Golden Hawks (14-0) at their home rink looking to flip the script. The last time these teams met, the Knights were defeated 6-3, but not this time. The Knights entered the rink with a vengeance, returning the favor and beating the Hawks 5-3, giving South their first loss of the season, and dropping them down to second place in the league behind North Penn.
“[Council Rock] has a very strong team,” North Penn Head Coach, Kevin Vaitis stated. “They’ve got multiple lines up front that can score. We were focused on getting some good matchups with Sam’s line and Chris’ line against their top lines.”
Despite losing the initial faceoff, North Penn pounced on an early turnover, Declan Leahy slipped one past Council Rock South goalie, Evan Ayala, Cole Pluck and Sam Norton tallying an assist just 21 seconds into the first period.
Eight minutes later, South’s Weston and Weiner found themselves in a 2 on 1, and capitalized on the opportunity, tying the game at one. The Hawks rode this momentum, banking another goal less than a minute later, giving them the lead.
Shortly after North Penn’s, Gabriel Dunn was called for roughing, Sam Norton scored an unassisted shorthanded goal, his first of three on the night.
Going into the second period, the teams split 4 goals and 20 shots, exemplifying the stroke-for-stroke fashion of this matchup.
Norton recorded another goal, assisted by Pluck and Leahy, during a North Penn powerplay with 8:17 left to play in the middle frame. Not only did this goal give the Knights the go-ahead, it also marked Pluck’s 100th SHSHL career point.
South’s Jordan Shrine responded with his second goal of the night, tying the game once again.
While the Hawks were working to burn off the three consecutive penalties they accumulated in the final two minutes of the period, Norton completed his hat trick, making it a 4-3 game.
Although the Knights were outshot on the night, Aidan Quigley came up big with 38 saves, keeping them in it. Cole Pluck scored an insurance goal with three minutes left in the matchup, securing the victory for North Penn.
“Aidan Quigly played outstanding in net,” Vaitis said. “I thought we did a great job overall. They are a very talented team.”
With playoffs coming up in a few weeks, Vaitis thinks this is just the beginning of the future for these two teams.
“My guess is we’re going to see them at least once, maybe twice more the rest of the season,” he continued.
The Knights look to continue their 11 game winning streak against Pennsubury at Grundy Ice Rink next Wednesday at 9PM.
