Penncrest’s growth rewarded with Flyers Cup win over Plymouth Whitemarsh

ASTON – Kain Walker doesn’t need any reminders about the difference a year can make.

A year ago, Penncrest hockey went winless in 18 outings. Its opponents outscored them by 71 goals.

But 2020 was firmly in the past Monday night at IceWorks, when Walker and the current crop of Lions showed not just their tremendous collective growth but earned a pretty good reward for all that toil.

“We went from not winning a game to winning in the Flyers Cup,” Walker said, “so I’d say it’s pretty big growth.”

Walker tallied five points in a stellar offensive performance as eight-seeded Penncrest eliminated No. 9 Plymouth Whitemarsh, 5-1, in the Flyers Cup Class A opener.

Penncrest’s reward is a date with top-seeded West Chester East on Thursday.

The difference for each team from last year is monstrous. Plymouth Whitemarsh went 18-1, won the Suburban High School Hockey League title and outscored opponents by a 180-60 margin. A young Penncrest team went 0-16-1-1. But in that pain contained growth that has blossomed this year.

The anchor has been goalie Gannon Walker, who was outstanding in net with 22 saves. He owes a lot to his defense, led by Shane Kokoska and Colin Curran, that forced the Colonialsinto a bevy of shots from the outside with little net-mouth traffic.

For a goalie as solid as Walker, beating him from that range won’t happen often.

Plymouth Whitemarsh nearly snuck back in the game when Conlan Carpenter cleaned up a rebound in front of the net at 12:46 of the second period to halve the lead. But Walker scored 13 seconds into a power play with 42 ticks left in the second, Tyler Conn’s back-hander going off the post and Walker first to the rebound to poke it across the goal line.

Kain Walker’s five points means he has 23 on the year, leapfrogging Conn for the team lead. Their top-line chemistry makes the Lions go.

“We practice together and we play hard together, and it works,” Kain Walker said.

That the Lions are built around the Walker sibling axis is a big reason for the growth. It’s a readymade pairing, the sophomore Kain able to hone his skills shooting on the senior Gannon and vice versa. Gannon said the rivalry in workouts can “get a little heated sometime,” but watching him develop this season has been a pleasure.

“It’s good to see him progress as a player through his high school career,” Gannon Walker said. “I’m excited to see where he goes with the next few years.”

“Our D did a good job,” he said. “I got some shots but they weren’t too hard. My D did a good job keeping it to the outside.”

With that platform, the Lions were able to attack. Van Evans opened the scoring 75 seconds in, Kain Walker doing the hard work circling behind the net to find Evans open on the doorstep. Ryan Anderson made it 2-0 late in the period after he picked off a pass in the zone and fed Walker for a shot that Anderson deposited the rebound of in the back of the net.

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