Pennridge's Trey Mikulich, 7, is congratulated by his teammates after a third-period goal in the Flyers Cup AA quarterfinal game against Downingtown East on Thursday, March 7, 2024 at Hatfield Ice. Ru. (Mike Cavley/Media News Group)
Hatfield Twp. – The Pennridge ice hockey team put up 25 shots against the Downingtown East Nets in the first period of Thursday night's Flyers Cup AA quarterfinals. But only one shot got past Cougars goaltender Basil Hemberger, and Shane Dashowski sent a shot into the top right corner to tie the Rams.
Pennridge needed a bit of luck to get its second goal. The clearing try behind the net instead went to Colin Dashowski near the left post, and the Rams' senior defenseman sunk the shot into the net for a 2-1 lead at 10:22. In the second period.
“I threw it behind the net and the kid just blindly threw it and it hit my stick,” Colin Dashowski said. “I just went out and the goalie was looking the other way, so I just put it in the net.”
Kevin Pico scored on the break off an assist from Shane Dashowski in the final minute, and Pennridge headed it in for a 3-1 lead. Brody Matthews got the Cougars within the basket with 9:54 left in regulation, but Trey Mikulic put the Rams back within two points with 7:31 left, making it 5-2 for top-seeded Pennridge, No. 9 in the East, at Hatfield. won. ice.
“Yeah, it was a really lucky bounce, but it was my win,” Rams coach Jeff Montagna said of Colin Dashowski's go-ahead goal. “You made that bounce. As a defenseman, I'm not 100% sure why he got hit there in the first place, but you got those breaks, and we made one.” We were going to break out of one.”
Shane Dashowski had a goal and two assists for Pennridge, which advanced to play No. 4 Downingtown West, which beat No. 5 Haverford 8-2 in Thursday's semifinals.
The Rams have advanced to the semifinals for the fourth straight season and fifth time in the last six years. Pennridge won both the Flyers Cup and state title in 2022, but lost to Pennsbury in the Flyers Cup final last season.
“It's interesting because last year was — to be honest — a tough year overall,” Montagna said. “It's been a tough year, it's been tough to bounce back from the year before. It's been a lot of work, but for most of this year we've come back with a common goal and it's really helped I thought it benefited us.
“And I'm just enjoying it because you're going to see some of the best players in the history of this club and some of the best players in the history of this league. And I want them to get another chance from there. I want them to succeed and truly leave a mark.”
For Downingtown East, Dylan Miller had two assists and Hemberger made 42 saves on 47 shots.
“We played a good hockey team,” said Montagna of the Cougars. “What we were talking about before the game was that a lot of the teams at the bottom are the same, they have a lot of depth and when you play a team like that, you don't have a lot of familiarity.” 5 or 10 minutes is the real deal. And I thought that that first period, those first few shifts, would set the tone for the entire evening.
“And their goalie had a great game, he kept them in the game.”
Pennridge goaltender Jacob Winton stopped 22 of 24 shots, including a 2-on-1 denial of East that remained 1-1 in the second period.
The Rams outscored the Cougars 25-9 early, but East took a 1-0 lead at 5:21 when Parker Nassor made a shot off assists from Christian McCue and Miller.
But Pennridge got a goal less than two minutes later with Shane Dashowski scoring in the top right corner at 3:41.
“That’s exactly where I wanted to be – top right – because the defenseman was in my way, I thought he was also in the goalie’s way,” Shane Dachowski said. Told. “And, yeah, we really needed it to get started.”
Colin Dashowski gave the Rams a 2-1 lead in the second period with a solo puck that hit the left post at 10:22.
“I thought the goalie was there, but when I looked up he wasn't there, so I just took the shot,” Colin Dashowski said.
The Rams made it 3-1 late in the period when Shane Dashowski drove from a clearance, evaded a defender and sent a pass to Pico, who took the shot with 28 seconds left.
“After the move, I thought it was just Kevin and the goalie, so I let him slide,” Shane Dashowski said. “And I always know he's going to finish in front of the goal.”
The two-goal cushion proved beneficial, as Matthews scored on a rebound at 9:54 of the third to bring East within 3-2.
However, the Cougars were called for a holding penalty at 9:47, Mikulic's shot went into the net at 7:31, and the Rams scored 16 seconds after the end of the power play.
“They're going to push. We got a lucky power play out of it. I really thought we shouldn't have had a power play, but it gave us momentum back,” Montagna said. Ta. “And from that point on, we pretty much had that game over the top.
“As a joke, we call Trey Mr. March, but two of his four career goals came in the Flyers Cup, two huge goals by him. ” But that was clearly the biggest play of the game. ”
The score remained 4-2 until 33 seconds left when Andrew Savona scored a power-play goal.
