HATFIELD-After a spirit-crushing overtime loss to Downingtown East in the second round of the Flyers Cup that ended the North Penn Men’s Ice Hockey team’s 2011-2012 season, the Knights are on the hunt for a championship once again.
It certainly won’t be easy to improve upon last season’s impressive 11-3-3 record, but senior defenseman Caleb Witzaney believes this team has the right ingredients.
“I feel if we play to the level that we are capable of, we can win the Flyers Cup, but it’ll be challenging [having to face] good teams like Central Bucks South and Council Rock South,” said Witzaney.
After dropping its first game to Souderton (4-2-0), 4-3, the Knights (3-1-1) rebounded with a three-game win streak. The Knights pummeled Central Bucks West, 11-1, and then man-handled Pennsbury, again, winning 11-1. The team’s next game was against its arch rival, Lansdale Catholic (1-2-0).
In recent years, Lansdale Catholic would pack the rink with “some 200 fans, while [North Penn] wouldn’t have any,” said Witzaney. This game was a whole different story. By the time the puck dropped, North Penn students held their own, nearly matching the Crusaders’ massive student section.
The Knights got off to a hot start, going up 2-0 after goals from Witzaney and senior Matt Barkley. Down by two goals, the Crusaders would finally get on the scoreboard with a goal from John Volpe with 8 minutes, 56 seconds left in the second period.
The Knights maintained the lead heading into the third period, but Patrick Longhitano erased the deficit 4 minutes, 45 seconds into the period. After losing the lead, Witzaney and the Knights knew exactly what they needed to do to bounce back.
“We just had to regain focus and get back into the game offensively. As far as changing our style of play, we just needed to respond with more energy and make sure to get the next goal,” said Witzaney.
And that’s exactly what happened. Nearly five minutes after Longhitano’s goal, Witzaney netted his second goal of the night — the Knight’s wouldn’t look back. With two more goals from Alex Peterson and Christian Ahn, the Knights sealed the deal on a 5-2 victory.
None of the players were familiar with playing in front of such a large home crowd, so when asked about how it felt to do so, Witzaney responded with three simple words: “It was awesome.”
Head coach Kevin Vaitis felt the same way.
“It was simply awesome,” said Vaitis. “I’ve been coaching with North Penn for twelve years now and that reminded me of our crowd from a few years ago when we ended up making it all the way to the Flyers Cup Championship.”
The Knights will look to continue theirhot start when they take on William Tennent (3-2-1) at 7:20 PM at Hatfield Ice thsi Friday.