Month: January 2020

Rams Reach out to a Family in Need

The hockey community is renowned for rallying around those in need of support. So it was on Wednesday night when Pennridge and Quakertown came together for a hockey game that was about much more than what happened on the rink.

In conjunction with their regularly scheduled SHSHL matchup at Hatfield Ice, the Rams, with help from the Panthers, held a fundraiser for two Pennridge students. Lexi and Abigail Boleski, who were involved in an automobile accident last Friday.  Both were hospitalized and Abigail required surgery.

The sisters are acquainted with members of the Pennridge hockey team.

Pennridge junior Blake Stewart helped organize the effort. “All of us felt really bad,” he said, “but my buddy (and teammate) Conrad Frisch wanted to do something to help this girl out and I was totally on board. We brought the idea of having a 50-50 raffle to the board and promoting it to get a good amount of kids from Pennridge and some from Quakertown to come out to the game.”

The plan came together on Wednesday night. The proceeds from the evening, nearly $1,600, were donated to a Go Fund Me page that was set up in support of the Boleski family.

The two officials who worked the game, Kevin Vena and Christian Haas, donated their game fees to support the effort.

As of early Friday afternoon, over $25,000 had been donated through the site with a goal of $30,000.

Glenn Stewart, Blake’s father, sits on the board of the Pennridge Ice Hockey Club. “We are so proud of the boys pulling this together in two days, not only Blake and Connor but the entire Pennridge team did this all on their own. We have a great group of kids and community.”

 

 

North Penn 5, Central Bucks West 1

HATFIELD— It was not a flashy performance. But it was a very efficient one to be sure. Five different players scored goals as North Penn got the better of Central Bucks West 5-1 Thursday night in a Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA game on the Blue Rink at Hatfield Ice.

The Knights (7-2 overall) stayed a perfect 6-0 in divisional play. The Bucks dropped to 6-3-2-1 overall and 3-3–2-0 in the division. They are ranked fourth in this week’s Flyers Cup Class AA power rankings.

The two teams skated on even terms through most of the first period with the Knights’ Ryan Cunningham scoring the only goal at 4:53 when he launched a wrister from in between the two circles and beat Bucks’ goaltender Jake Coddington along the ice inside the right post. Zachary Cline added a goal 5:03 into the second session just as a West penalty was about got expire. It was the Knights’ only power play of the game (there were just three penalties called).

Tyler Greenstein added a goal at 11:04 while the Knights had their goaltender out in anticipation of a delayed penalty and Quinn Holt scored with 47 seconds left in the period to stretch North Penn’s lead to 4-0.

“We haven’t played in two weeks,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “We came out a little slow I think to start, but then we kind of got things going a little bit there in the second period.

“We had some opportunities there on the power play and one on the delayed penalty, Our power play is the key for us this year.”

Greenstein’s goal was his only point of the evening but the senior’s abilities at reading the play and creating opportunities for teammates were as impactful as ever. “We were a little bit rusty coming out,” he said. “The game plan was to get pucks deep and try to cycle and get quality shots on net just to try to get the flow back.”

Greenstein noted that moving the puck well is critical to the Knights’ success. “We lost all bunch of seniors (to graduation),” he said, “some offensive threats up top. So this year I’ve tried to be more of a playmaker.”

To their credit the Bucks, who are winless in their last five games, didn’t back off and made North Penn goaltender Nick Ebbinghaus earn his 24 saves. Jake Lang finally got his team on the scoreboard at 12:11 of the third period. That was all that West could muster but coach Dave Baun was pleased with what his young team gave him.

“I’m very proud of them,” he said. “I’m very encouraged by the way they played. North Penn is a fast team, they’ve got a lot of skill.

“We focused on making sure we stacked our (defense), we covered the middle lane much better and we didn’t give up chances on the transition.”

North Penn 1 3 1—5
C.B. West 0 0 1—1
First-period goals: Ryan Cunningham (NP), 4:53
Second-period goals: Zachary Cline (NP) from Jeremy Porubski, 5:01 (pp); Tyler Greenstein (NP) from Tony Tuozzo and. Porubski 11:04; Quinn Holt (NP) unassisted, 15:13.
Third-period goals: Jake Lang (CBW) from Chris Trefz and Billy Loughnane, 12:11; Josh Kaufhold (NP) from Tuozzo, 13:44.
Shots: North Penn 32, C.B. West 25; Saves; Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 24, Jake Coddington (CBW) 27

Wissahickon 14, Truman 4

The Evening was About Much More than the Result

HATFIELD—The outcome of Wednesday’s Suburban High School Hockey League American Division game between Truman and Wissahickon was never in doubt. The Trojans scored eight goals in the first period and went on to a 14-4 win at Hatfield Ice in a game that was halted with 6:09 left in the third period via the 10-goal mercy rule.

There was a much deeper meaning to the evening however than the final result. What mattered most is that the young men wearing the Truman colors of old gold and back were getting the opportunity to play hockey and to do so representing their school.

The Tigers are winless in 12 starts this season. But their passion for the game of hockey remains, harkening back to a time when today’s players’ parents may not have been born, a time when players seized every opportunity they could to satisfy their craving for the sport.

The Truman roster includes 12 players and a goaltender, six of whom have experience playing travel hockey. Only one of the 13 rostered players is a senior.

On Wednesday night goaltender Connor Pilla was on hand, supported by just eight skaters. But the Tigers battled on, as they have all season.

Truman is coached by Bill Keyser, who takes a back seat to no one when it comes to having a passion for hockey. Now, he concentrates on helping his players nurture their own passion for the sport and is proud of fact that his players have bonded despite being overmatched on most nights.

“They all come together,” he said. “They like each other. They come out and they play for me and I’m not going to be a coach that’s going to be on them. I want to make sure they come and have fun, and I try to make it fun for them every game, Even though we lose, I try to make it their team.”

To that end, Keyser allows his team considerable input into the decision-making process. ‘I think by allowing them to feel like it’s their team they have more responsibility,” he said. “They want to become something.”

Pilla is in a unique situation. A freshman, he played B Division middle school hockey last year. Now he is facing shots from players who may be three or four years older than himself; on Wednesday he faced 45 of them in just under 42 minutes of playing time.

Had Pilla not accepted the challenge of stepping into the varsity nets Truman would not have been eligible to compete in the SHSHL this season. League rules require purity, i.e. that all players attend the school they represent. In fact, Keyser readily admits that without Pilla the Tigers would not be able to field a team at all.

“We’re putting him in an environment that really, he shouldn’t be in,” Keyser said. “But he’s able to take the challenge he steps himself up, an d gave us a chance to put a team in and still be a varsity team. Without him, we wouldn’t have been able to make this possible.”

Ice Chips—Bryan Gary scored eight goals and added five assists for the Trojans, who improved to 8-6 overall and 6-4 in divisional play … Wissahickon goaltender Chris Shea, a junior, is a lacrosse goalkeeper who was persuaded to give hockey a try. Without him, the Trojans likely would also have had difficulty fielding a pure team this season.
Truman 3 1 0—4
Wissahickon 8 3 3—14
First-period goals: Bryan Gary (W) unassisted, :13; Gary (W) from Will Hussa,1:04; Nicholas Hussa (W) from Gary, 2:51; Jeremy McCartney (T) unassisted, 3:00; Gary (W) unassisted, 3:38; Samuel Junker (W) from Gary, 8:01 (pp); Aidan Kinniry (T) from Robert DiCrosta and McCartney, 8:58; Gary (W) unassisted, 9:31; Gary (W) unassisted, 12:37; McCartney (T) unassisted, 13:49; N. Hussa (W) from Gary, 14:00 (sh).
Second-period goals: N. Hussa (W) unassisted, 7:47; Gary (W) from N. Hussa, 10:34; N. Hussa W) from Gary, 11:50 (sh); James Gallagher (T) unassisted, 13:54.
Third-period goals: N. Hussa (W) from Gary, 4:08; Gallagher (T) from McCartney, 5:47; Gary (W) unassisted, 6:07; N. Hussa (W) from Alex Carrozza, 4:48; Gary (W) from N. Hussa, 8:51.
Game Called at 8:51 of the third period.
Shots; Truman 28, Wissahickon 45; Saves: Connor Pilla (T) 31, Chris Shea (W) 24

The Hill School 4, La Salle 1

HATFIELD— Hill School had a substantial head start in its matchup against La Salle Wednesday afternoon. The Blue scored twice before the contest was three-and-a-half minutes old and went on to a 4-1 win over the Explorers at Hatfield Ice in a Mid-Atlantic Prep League encounter.

The Explorers (8-12) found themselves outgunned in the early going. Gabriel Shipper opened the scoring for the Blues (9-4-1) just 23 seconds after the opening faceoff when he beat La Salle netminder Aidan McCabe. Will Schiller made it a 2-0 game at the 3:26 mark.

“(The Hill School) is a tough team to play catch-up against,” said La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner. “We know what we’re up against. Most of these Mid-Atlantic Prep schools are older than us across the board. They’ll have guys repeat a grade. But that’s very good for us, I think.
‘We have to learn to move our feet, compete harder, for the things that ultimately in the end will make us a better team.”

Schaller scored his second goal of the game on a power play effort with 43 seconds left in the first frame. After that, the two teams skated on something closer to even terms. Thomas Beaudoin extended Hill School’s lead with a goal in the final minute of the second period,

Meantime, Sean Parker was impregnable in the Blues’ net. Colin Keiser finally got La Salle on the scoreboard 1:19 into the final period, But that was all the Explorers could manage.

Next up for La Salle is an APAC matchup against St. Joseph’s Prep on Friday.
“We’re hoping for a good practice tomorrow,” Muehlbronner said, “Get ready for Friday night, which will be our Senior Night. That’s our focus right now.”
Hill School 3 1 0—4
La Salle 0 0 1—1
First-period goals: Gabriel Shipper (HP) from Henry Gartner and Michael Rockovich, :23; Will Schaller (HS) from Otto McLaughlin and Brock Weimar, 3:26; Schaller (HS) from McLaughlin and Shipper, 16:17 (pp)
Second-period goals:Thomas Beauvoir (HS) from Nico McCurrach,14:49;
Third-period goals: Colin Keiser (L) from Keenan Schneider and Jake Harmon, 1;19.
Shots: Hill School 28, La Salle 16; Saves: Sean Parker (HS) 15; Aidan McCabe (L) 24

St. Joseph’s Prep Wins Title in Florida

St. Joseph’s Prep will return home from Clearwater, Florida with the championship of the Clearwater Beach Martin Luther King Day Tournament. The Hawks won four consecutive games against a field of scholastic and club teams.

The Hawks bested the Palm Beach Hawks 5-0 in Monday’s championship game after wins over the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes 5-3, the Nova Ice Dogs 3-0 and St. John Ravencourt 5-0 the previous two days.

The Hawks are now 10-9 in all competitions and 3-0-0-3 in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference. They will return to action on Friday when they face La Salle in an APAC matchup at Hatfield Ice (6:50 start).

Flyers Cup Power Rankings for 1-20-20

The ratings below were computed by the Flyers Cup Committee and were determined by a combination of game results, strength of schedule, and committee observations through games on January 17. In the case of Class AAA only games against other Flyers Cup eligible teams are included. For more information go to the Flyers Cup Tournament site HERE

Check out the Flyers Cup podcast HERE.   New episodes posted each Friday.

 

 

Class AAA (Maximum # of teams in field: 8)

  1. St. Joseph’s Prep (6-0-0-3)
  2. La Salle (5-2-0-1)
  3. Holy Ghost Prep (6-3-0-0)
  4. Malvern Prep (6-3-0-0)
  5. Father Judge (10-5-0-0)

In a fairly quiet week across the AAA division, St. Joseph’s Prep (APAC) remains as the #1 team – still with an undefeated regulation record. Holy Ghost Prep (APAC) defeated Malvern Prep (APAC) (5-1) in this week’s only APAC game, sliding Malvern down in the rankings and pulling up HGP. La Salle (APAC) did not play and holds steady at second. Father Judge (ICSHL) remains at five after defeating DMA (ICSHL) in a non-division game.

 

 

Class AA (Maximum # of teams in field: 16)

  1. Central Bucks South (9-0-0-1)
  2. Haverford (13-1-0-0)
  3. Perkiomen Valley (9-2-0-1)
  4. North Penn (6-2-0-0)
  5. Downingtown West (7-5-0-1)
  6. Pennsbury (8-2-1-0)
  7. Neshaminy (8-3—0-1)
  8. Council Rock South (5-3-0-0)
  9. Boyertown (8-5-1-0)
  10. Central Bucks East (7-2-1-1)

Central Bucks South (SHSHL) took care of business against SHSHL rival Council Rock South to remain in the top sport and Haverford (ICSHL) remains as number two after having the week off. Perkiomen Valley (ICSHL) added two nice ICSHL wins (Downingtown West and Springford) to leapfrog North Penn (SHSHL) who did not play this week. Downingtown West (ICSHL) remains in fifth and both Pennsbury (SHSHL) and Neshaminy (SHSHL) jump CR South (SHSHL) after their respective wins and CRS’s loss. Boyertown’s (ICSHL) impressive 6-0 victory over Delaware power Salesianum brings Boyertown up one spot and number nine as Central Bucks East (SHSHL) rounds out the Top 10.

 

 

Class A (Maximum # of teams in field: 16)

  1. West Chester East (10-3-0-0)
  2. Springfield Delco (9-2-0-2)
  3. Unionville (8-5-0-0)
  4. Plymouth Whitemarsh (9-1-0-0)
  5. West Chester Rustin (7-4-0-2)
  6. Palmyra (13-1-0-1)
  7. Strath Haven (8-3-0-1)
  8. Hershey (10-2-1-2)
  9. Lower Dauphin (10-4-0-0)
  10. West Chester Henderson (5-6-1-0)

 

West Chester East (ICSHL), Springfield (ICSHL), Unionville (ICSHL) had impressive wins and are the new top three in the A level classification. Plymouth Whitemarsh (SHSHL) earned another league W as they round out the top four. West Chester Bayard Rustin’s (ICSHL) win over cross-town rival West Chester Henderson (ICSHL) causes a flip-flop between Rustin and Palmyra (CPIHL). Palmyra, although earning a win, drop one spot to number six for this week. Strath Haven (ICSHL) has hung around the same general spot in our rankings all year and continue to be there at number seven. Hershey (CPIHL) moves up to number eight and fellow league member Lower Dauphin (CPIHL) enter the polls for the first time at number nine. WC Henderson drops to number ten after of dropping two games to equally dominant opponents (WC East and WC Bayard Rustin).

 

 

N.J./Del (Maximum # of teams in field: 8)

  1. Eastern (11-2-2-0)
  2. Salesianum (7-4-1-1)
  3. Moorsetown (8-4-3-0)
  4. Cherokee (7-4-4-0)
  5. Appoquinimink (11-1-0-2)

 

 Eastern (SJHSHL) remains as the top seed after adding one victory to their belt. Salesianum (ICSHL) still sits in second, but their non-division loss to Boyertown (6-0) has everything tightening up for later rankings, especially with Moorestown (SJHSHL) having a solid 1-0-1 week. Cherokee (SJHSHL) jumps to fourth after battling to a tie with Moorestown and then beating Shawnee (SJHSHL) in an emotional dual-senior night battle. Appoquinimink (ICSHL) rounds out the top five.

 

Girls (Maximum # of teams in field: 5)

  1. Bux-Mont Catholic (10-1-0-0)
  2. Unionville (8-2-0-2)
  3. Avon Grove (8-3-0-1)
  4. West Chester East (3-7-0-0)

Bux-Mont (ICSHL) sits at the top of the Girls division power Rranking for a second week in a row. It was a very quiet week of games, but previous #4 WC Henderson (ICSHL) suffered a large loss, moving WC East (ICSHL) back in to the polls as the new #4. Unionville (ICSHL) and Avon Grove (ICSHL) remain at #2 and #3.

SHSHL Update

Class AA                                         W     L     T      OTL     Pts

C.B. South 9-0-0-1)                          7     0     0        0         14

Neshaminy (8-3-0-0)                        6     2     0     0           12

North Penn (6-2-0-0)                       5    0     0     0            10

C.R. South (5-4-0-0)                          5     1     0     0           10

C.B. East (7-2-1-1)                              4     2     1     1           10

Pennsbury (8-2-1-0)                         4     2     1     0            9

C.B. West (6-2-2-1))                          3     2     2     0            8

Souderton (3-8-1-1)                        3     4     1     1            8

William Tennent (4-6-0-1)           2        5     1     0        5

Pennridge (5-5-0-0)                       2     4     0     0            4

Abington (2-8-0-0)                         1     5     0     0            2

 

Quakertown (1-8-1-0)                    0     5     1     0          1

Council Rock North (1-10-0-0)    0     7     0     0          0

 

 

 

 

Class A                                                     W    L      T     OTL  Pts

Plymouth Whitemarsh (10-1-0-0)        7     0     0       0     14

Wissahickon (7-6-0-0)                            5     4     0     0        10

Hatboro-Horsham (9-2-0-1)                 4     1     0     1         9

Lower Moreland (1-9-0-0)                   1     4     0     0          2

Truman (0-11-0-0)                                0     6     0     0         0

 

 

Standings are calculated as follows

2 points for a win whether in regulation or OT

1 point for a tie or overtime loss

 

If a game is tied at the end of regulation there will be five minutes of three-on-three overtime. If the game is still tied it will be recorded as a tie game. The shootout will not be used

Check out the latest edition of the Hockey Happenings podcast. Rick Woelfel and Eric Tye count down to the 2020 Flyer Cup.

 

The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services.  We do a full range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook pageor stop in and check us out!

 

Scoring

Class AA                                      G      A     Pts

Jake Lang (CBW)                       23     17    40

Robert Seewagon(Nesh)         20      13    33

Chris Trefz (CBW)                   10       21   31

Michael Roby (CRS)                18       8      26

Tyler Greenstein (NP)             8     17       25

Antii Autere (CRS)                   7     18       25

Beau Brusius-Yedman (Pb)  11    13        24

Dominic Patrone (CBS)         11    13       24

Reece Millman (Pb)               14     9        23

Josh Kaufhold (NP)                11    11      22

Sean Gorman (CBE)              20     1        21

Erik Eisler (Pb)                      8      13       21

Justin Carrelli (WT)            14       7         21

Colin Abbonizio (CBS)      13        8         21

 

Class A                                    G     A    Pts

Aidan Keogh (PW)               15    24   39

Jake Weikel (PW)                  21   14   35

Alex Howieson (HH)           19     14   33

Dean Keller (PW)                  17   13   30

Luke Weikel (PW)                   14  14   28

Seth Lerner (HH)                   15    11   26

Aidan Esack (HH)                    10   13   23

Nichols Hussa (W)                  17     5    22

Tarek Elsabbagh (HH)            10   10   20

 

Goals Against

Class AA                         MP        GA     GAA

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS)36112   1.60

Mason Moyer (CBS)   48016   1.60

Brian Nelson (Nesh)   42820   2.24

Chris McIntyre (CBE)  53425   2.25

Ryan Pico (Pr)      43231   3.44

 

Class A                     MP    GA    GAA

Ben Yuter (PW     41024   2.81

Joe Gambimo (HH)388      32   3.96

 

 

Save Percentage

 

Class AA                            MP       Shots    Saves     Sv Pct.

Mason Moyer (CBS)          480       230          214       .930

Chris McIntyre (CBE)        534       339          314       .926

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS)       361        151       139         .921

Ryan Pico (Pr)                      432         271       240        .886

Brian Nelson (Nesh)           428         168        148        .881

 

 

Class A                                      MP             Shots      Saves    Save Pct

Joe Gambino (HH)                 388                 291       259      .890

Ben Yuter (PW)                    410             182         158        .868

 

 

 

 

Flyers Cup Schedule Finalized

The schedule for the 2020 Flyers Cup tournament has been set. The 41stedition of the tournament will commence on Monday, March 2 and continue through Friday, March 20.

Up to 53 teams will compete in the event in five separate divisions. The field will be announced on the evening of Sunday, February 23 with the tournament to begin eight days later.

 

The schedule is as follows

Monday. March 2: Class A first round games

Tuesday, March 3: Class AA first round games

Wednesday, March 4: Quarterfinal games in Class A and the South Jersey/Delaware divisions

Thursday, March 5: Quarterfinal games in Class AA and Class AAA divisions

Monday, March 9: Class A semifinals and Girls Division Play in

Wednesday, March 11: Class AA and Class AAA semifinals

Thursday, March 12: Class AA and Class AAA semifinals

Monday, March 16: Girls and SJ/Del semifinals

Tuesday, March 17: Class A final and possible Class AA final

Wednesday, March 18: Class AAA final and possible Class AA Final

Thursday, March 19: SJ/Del final

Friday, March 20: Girls final

The three Pennsylvania boys’ champions will advance to the Pennsylvania state championship games on Saturday, January 21 at Ice Line. The game schedule will be as follows:

11:00: Class A

2:00: Class AA

5:00: Class AAA

According to Flyers Cup Committee President Eric Tye, the game schedule will be arranged to accommodate doubleheaders at tournament venues and to keep teams close to their home areas as possible with higher seeded teams receiving priority. There is longer break between the semifinal and final rounds in years past to account for the possibility of inclement weather.

More tournament information and history can be found HERE

To hear the latest edition of the Flyers Cup podcast Click HERE

The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services.  We do a full range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook page or stop in and check us out!

 

If you or a family member, or friend are looking for a dentist, we’re proud to recommend All Smiles Family Dentistry. They’re located at 1620 South Broad Street in Lansdale.

Dr. Caroline Hsu, Dr. Azure Pelberg and their staff provide high-quality dental care in a caring, nurturing environment.  They’ve been taking care of my teeth for 25 years and I would recommend them to anyone. Going to the dentist can be an unsettling experience but everyone at All Smiles Family Dentistry will work to put you at ease.

Call for an appointment at 215-616-0609 or e-mail them at allsmilesfamilydentistry@verizon.net. You can also find them on line at www.allsmileslansdale.com. 

If you would like to promote your products service, or event on our site, contact us HERE

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Ghost Prep 5, Malvern Prep 1

Five different players scored goals as Holy Ghost Prep scored a 5-1  win over Malvern prep on Wednesday in an APAC game at Ice Line. With the win, the Firebirds improved to 9-4-1 overall and 3-3-1-0 in the APAC. The Friars slipped to 6-5 and 2-4-2-0 in the APAC.

Luke Panepresso’s goal with 3:24 left in the opening period gave the Firebirds a 1-0 led. Evan Mudrick, Byron Hartley, and Braedon Baesher added goals in the second period before Holy Ghost Prep’s John Connelly and Malvern Prep’s Matt Harris traded goals in the third.

Sean Joyce made 24 saves in goal for the win.