Hendersonville forward Harvey Rench recorded a hat trick and fellow forward Brodie Ruffing added a four-point night (one goal, three assists) as the Hendersonville-Station Camp hockey team defeated the JPII-CPA Knights 7-3 Monday night at Centennial Sportsplex.
Hendersonville got the scoring started at 13:07 of the first period when Blake Fuqua took a feed from Ruffing and beat JPII-CPA goalie Garrett Bennett. The Commandos added two more first-period goals from Rench and Ruffing, taking a 3-0 lead after one.
“A great deal of respect for the players on the HHS/Station Camp roster,” JPII-CPA coach Justin Clark said. “They have a lot of skill on their roster and they controlled the first period. Garrett Bennett held us in the game and we were fortunate to only be down by three after the first period.”
At 10:47 of the second, Tommy Chunchokov got JPII-CPA on the board with third goal of the year. Hendersonville-Station Camp extended its lead to 5-1 with goals from Rench and Alexander Yarger. Dylan Guy got the Knights to within 5-2 minutes before the end of the second.
Hendersonville-Station Camp took a five-goal lead at 11:02 of the third on an Emma Knoll goal, assisted by Ruffing. Benny Ennis pulled the Knights to within 6-3 at 7:34 with a power-play goal, assisted by Jacob Harrison. However, with 1:44 remaining, Rench notched his third goal of the game, sealing the 7-3 win for Hendersonville.
“We adjusted to the speed of the game in the second and were able to capitalize on a few opportunities due to hard work and determination,” Clark added. “The depth of HHS/Station Camp was evident in the third period and our gas tanks were on empty. (I’m) proud of my team as we continued to compete all night long.”
Gavin Damewood added three assists for Hendersonville-Station Camp, while Yarger and Owen Gardner had the other assists. For JPII-CPA, Bennett recorded an impressive 37 saves on 44 shots.
Hendersonville-Station Camp improved to 8-1-1, sitting in second place in the Greater Nashville Area Scholastic Hockey League (GNASH), while JPII-CPA falls to 2-7-1.
Hendersonville-Station Camp’s next game is on Monday, Jan. 22 against Lipscomb-Brentwood Academy. JPII-CPA returns on Friday, Jan. 19, hosting undefeated Brentwood.
