Rams trying to get over stunner

By Steven Lienert
The Phanatic Magazine

PHILADELPHIA – Following Saturday’s devastating triple-overtime loss to Conestoga in the finals of the Flyers Cup, several Pennridge ice-hockey players lingered on the bench in shock.

Coach Frank Reago had spoken openly about how this was a team of destiny, how their fate was already written and it was just playing itself out.

But none of the Rams expected their season to end so abruptly.

In the bowels of the Spectrum, after watching Conestoga hoist the Flyers Cup following its’ 3-2 win, the Rams sat quietly in their locker room and contemplated how to move on.

“It just doesn’t run through your head,” Pennridge forward A.J. Moyer said. “We had a lot of chances – two power plays we didn’t capitalize on. We didn’t finish.”

Pennridge clanged the puck off of metal twice in the first overtime period alone. With about seven minutes left in the stanza, Rams’ leading scorer Harrison Welch ripped a wrister from the slot that rang off the crossbar.

“I thought, ‘Couldn’t it have gone a little lower,” Welch said.

Just over a minute later, Moyer flipped a backhand on net from below the left circle. Somehow, the puck slid through a mosh pit of bodies in front of the Conestoga net and hit the far post before skittering harmlessly away.

Then, just over two minutes into the second overtime, Conestoga forward Alex Smith was called for a cross check, which put the Rams on the power play. Pennridge forward Tim Chubb had an opportunity to put the game away after a rebound sat on the doorstep in front of a gaping net but he couldn’t get his stick on the bouncing puck.

The Pioneers killed off that penalty but quickly went back on the disadvantage when Ryan Buttenbaum was whistled for boarding.

While on the second man advantage of the period, Moyer had a chance stopped by Conestoga goalie Wesley Mazda and Chubb chipped another rebound wide.

And considering Pennridge outshot Conestoga 11-1 in the second overtime, the Rams may have been getting a bit gassed.

“It didn’t hit me until after the game was over,” Moyer said. “We had to dump it in and catch our breath.”

Moyer, Welch, Chubb and defenseman Cody Lighthart played nearly every minute of the three overtimes.

“We rode our horses ‘til they dropped,” Reago said.

Meanwhile, Pennridge goalkeeper Steve Conolly kept the Rams in the game. In the first overtime, Conolly stoned Conestoga forward Rich Masciantonio’s wrister from the right circle and, later, he stopped Vince Masciantonio’s vicious one-timer from the slot.

Early in the third overtime, Smith tried to stuff one past Conolly and was denied.

Following the save, both Moyer and Welch each had chances to end the contest but came up empty. Moyer’s shot actually got through Mazda, but Buttenbaum swooped in and cleared the puck away before it crossed the goal line.

All of which set up the game-ending dramatics.

Rich Masciantonio controlled the puck in the right circle and he unleashed a wrister from the slot that beat Conolly glove side. Just like that, it was over.

“It happened kind of quick,” Conolly said. “I was expecting him to pass.”

Smith got the Pioneers on the scoreboard less than two minutes into the game after he crashed the net for a rebound and poked it past Conolly for a 1-0 lead.

Welch netted the equalizer just over five minutes later after he slipped a rebound past Mazda.

Moyer gave the Rams their only lead of the contest with 1:39 left in the opening stanza while on the power play. Moyer collected a flip pass at the blue line and deked to his forehand before depositing a backhand through Mazda’s five-hole.

Smith tied the game with 6:58 left in the second period after he beat Conolly stick side on a break.

Pennridge had three power plays through the rest of regulation but couldn’t slip another past Mazda. Moyer, Welch and Lighthart were each named to the Flyers Cup Tier AAA all-tournament team, and Moyer was named Most Valuable Player, but none of those accolades meant much on Saturday.