MOON – Fresh off of the their first Flyer’s Cup title, the Knights (21-4, 16-2) headed five hours north to face Erie Cathederal Prep at Robert Morris University in the PA 2A Cup en route to the first hockey state title in North Penn history.
The ECP Ramblers (18-5, 15-4) wouldn’t be an easy matchup though, entering the game on an 8-game win streak, capped by their 5th Penguin’s Cup win and looking for their fourth state title, their last coming in 2015.
North Penn came into the title game hot, winning 15 out of their last 16 and capturing the Flyer’s Cup 8-2 over top ranked Council Rock South.
A scoreless first period watched North Penn’s Declan Leahy get sent out of the game after a big hit and Declan Wilson stepped up to fill the spot.
ECP took the lead in the second period on a Tucker Kinnear goal, while a North Penn goal off the stick of Derek Lugara that would’ve tied the game got called back because the goal came out of it’s pegs.
The third period was where the Knight started to heat up. Sophomore standout Sam Norton tied the game up 2:49 into the period, and James Boyle, assisted by Norton and Cole Pluck, lit the lamp on a power play with 4:17 remaining to give North Penn the lead for the last time in their dominant season.
After missing opportunities early in the game to score on power plays, North Penn made an adjustment prior to Boyle’s goal.
‘We made a little bit of an adjustment in the third, and got a little bit more traffic there in front of the net. It opened things up for guys like Danny, James and Nolan (Shingle),” head coach Kevin Vaitis said to SOL Sports.
Freshmen Andy Norton was a wall in the net, saving 26 of the 27 shots on goal from the Ramblers, just as he’s done all playoffs.
Not even a minute after the Knights took the lead, Danny Cabrales scored one of his own at even strength to extend the North Penn lead. The nail in the coffin was Nolan Shingle’s open-netter with 43 seconds left to seal the final score, 4-1, as North Penn celebrated on the ice and took home the first state title in school history.
