La Salle 8, Roman Catholic 1

HATFIELD— Keenan Schneider is playing his first season of varsity hockey for La Salle. But the sophomore is making his presence felt, night in and night out. Schneider scored four goals and added two assists Thursday night as the Explorers rolled over Roman Catholic 8-1 in a Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinal game at Hatfield Ice.

Next up is the semifinal round; the Explorers will face third-seeded St. Joseph’s Prep in a game that is tentatively set for next Wednesday or Thursday. The site and time are expected to be finalized sometime Friday.

Schneider, who plays left wing, had plenty of help from his linemates. Center David Kimmel, a junior, scored a goal and assisted on five others, including all four of Schneider’s. Right wing Jake Hannon, also a junior, added a goal and an assist.
The trio joined forces in midseason. Coincidentally, it wasn’t long after that that La Salle’s fortunes took a great leap forward.

“We just have good chemistry together,” Schneider said. “We get along in school, we’re good friends. We just play. Once we get one, we want to get a lot more.”
La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner credited the line for giving La Salle some early momentum Thursday night. “That line has had really good chemistry,” he said. “We kind of stumbled into that line, by default almost, but they’ve really clicked.”

Second-seeded La Salle 13-11-2-2 overall) skated the scoring at the 5:43 mark of the first period when David Kimmel beat Cahillite goaltender Michael Smith with a forehander from midway between the two circle. The Explorers had much of the better of the play from there and finished the first frame with a 12-3 edge in shots.

La Salle broke the game open in the second period as Schneider completed a natural hat trick in a span of exactly four minutes to make it a 4-0 game with 6:04 left in the period.

The seventh seeded Cahillites (10-10) rallied briefly when Brandon Finnimore scored 23 seconds into the third period but Schneider answered with his fourth goal of the night just 66 seconds later before Hannon, Max Maddallo, and Dan Dolan added additional goals.

Tempers flared with 8:33 left in the game and four players were caught up in the ensuing altercation. Roman’s Brennan Whittaker drew a major penalty for fighting plus an automatic game misconduct. His teammate Andrew Hotolitz was booked for two minutes for head contact plus a 10-minute misconduct. Maddalo along with the Explorers’ Jake Armstrong were also received minor penalties plus misconducts for head contact.

La Salle finished with a 42-15 edge in shots.

In other Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinals
#1 Holy Ghost Prep 8 #8 Bishop Shanahan 0
#5 Father Judge 6 #4 Malvern Prep 2
#3 St. Joseph’s Prep 3, #6 Cardinal O’Hara 2

The semifinals will match La Salle against St. Joseph’s Prep and Holy Ghost Prep against Father Judge, Those games are tentatively set for next Wednesday or Thursday.

Roman Catholic 0 0 1—1
La Salle 1 3 4—8
First-period goals: David Kimmel (L) from Keenan Schneider and Andrew Budzynski, 5:43;
Second-period goals: Schneider (L) from Jake Hannon and David Kimmel, 5:56; Schneider from Kimmel, 6:45; Schneider (L) from Jake Hannon and Kimmel, 9:56.
Third-period goals: Brandon Finnimore (RC) unassisted, :23; Schneider (L) from Kimmel, 1:29; Hannon (L) from Kimmel and Schneider, 5:46; Max Maddalo (L) from Jake Armstrong and Collin Keiser, 7:14; Dan Dolan (L) from Francis Ford, 14:56.
Shots: Roman Catholic 15, LaSalle 42; Saves: Michael Smith (RC) 34, Aidan McCabe (L) 14

Thursday Flyers Cup Schedule

The Class AA quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday

Boyertown 5, Central Bucks South 4 OT

Downingtown West 3, North Penn 2

Perkiomen Valley 4, Council Rock South 3

Haverford 8, Pennridge 1

Winners to semifinals on March 11 or 12

The Class AAA quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday

Holy Ghost Prep 8, Bishop Shanahan 0

Father Judge 6, Malvern Prep 2

St. Joseph’s Prep 3, Cardinal O’Hara 2

La Salle 8, Roman Catholic 1

Winners to semifinals on March 11 or 12

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Flyers Cup Continues

The 41st Flyers Cup tournament continues Wednesday night with four Class A quarterfinal games. All four games will be played ar Ice Line in West Goshen Township

West Chester East 5 Lower Dauphin 3

Hershey 4, Strath Haven 0

West Chester Bayard Rustin 4 Unionville 1

Palmyra 4 Springfield Delco 1

Semifinals on Monday at Ice Line

1 West Chester East vs 5 Hershey 6:15

2 Pamyra vs 3 Bayard Rustin 8:15

The Class AA quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday

1 Central Bucks South vs 8 Boyertown 6:20 at Hatfield Ice

4 North Penn vs 5 Downingtown West 8:30 at Hatfield Ice

3 Perkionen Valley vs 6 Council Rock South 6:15 at ice Line

10 Pennridge vs 2 Haverford 6:30 at Skatium

Winners to semifinals on March 11 or 12

The Class AAA quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday

1 Holy Ghost Prep vs 8 Bishop Shanahan 6:30 at Grundy Arena

4 Malvern Prep vs 5 Father Judge 8:15 at Ice Line

3 St. Joseph’s Prep vs 6 Cardinal O’Hara 8:45 at Skatium

2 La Salle vs 7 Roman Catholic 7:30 at Hatfield Ice

Winners to semifinals on March 11 or 12

Council Rock South 7, Parkland 5

BRISTOL— Six minutes into Tuesday’s second period, Council Rock South’s path to the second round of the Flyers Cup tournament seemed wide open. The Golden Hawks, who were coming off a SHSHL championship game win, held a 6-1 win over Parkland and seemed to be in command.

Instead, sixth-seeded South had to battle to the final buzzer to hold off the 11th-seeded Trojans 7-5 in a Class AA first-round game at Grundy Arena. The Golden Hawks indeed advanced, to Thursday’s quarterfinals against third seed Perkiomen Valley (6:15 at Ice Line) but there were some anxious moments along the way.

The evening got off to an explosive start with three goals in less than five minutes. Bill Harrelson and Jeremy Purcell scored for South before and after a tally from Parkland’s Eric Dennis to give their side a 2-1 lead after just 4 minutes, 47 seconds. Harrelson and Michael Roby added additional goals to give the Golden Hawks a 4-1 lead after one period.

David Mueller extended the Hawks’ lead 4:53 into the second period before Harrelson completed a hat trick at 10:07. Even after Joshua Bower scored for the Trojans with 3:11 left in the middle period, the Hawks were seemingly in control.

But then came the third period and the Trojans, who reached the Flyers Cup finals in 2013, didn’t roll over over. First, Alexander Doe scored a goal with 8:18 remaining in regulation. Then Dennis, the Trojans’ leading scorer, pocketed his second goal of the night during a power play with 6:30 left and then completed his own hat trick with 1:45 remaining.

After having a comfortable lead, the Golden Hawks found themselves hanging on.

“We made a lot of bad turnovers in the neutral zone,” Harrelson said, “and it ended up costing us, I think. We need to control the puck, get in deep, play our game really because (Parkland) knocked us off it a lot. We started losing our heads and taking bad penalties (four in the third period and five of the six in the game) and it was killing us. But we pulled out the win.”

The issue was settled with Michael Roby scored an empty net goal for South with 27 seconds remaining. But South coach Joe Houk remarked that his team will have to play better to have hopes of claiming a fourth Flyers Cup title.

“What we did last week (in the SHSHL final) we did not do this week,” he said. “We’ll have to regroup a little bit. It’s just the little things that make a difference and we didn’t do them tonight.”

Parkland coach Chad Loomis lamented his team’s slow start. “That was definitely our downfall,” he said. “I think we had a hard time just marching their intensity and adjusting to their game.
“We had an opportunity to take a little break (after the second period) and talk about it and make the necessary adjustments. We just kind of ran out of time.”

Parkland 1 1 3—5
Council Rick South 4 2 1—7
First-period goals: Billy Harrelson (CRS) from Brennen Wright and Antii Autere, 2:45 (pp); Eric Dennis (P) from Joshua Bower, 4:12; Jeremy Purcell (CRS) from David Mueller, 4:47; Harrelson (CRS) from Andrew Darling and Purcell, 9:40; Michael Roby (CRS) from Autere and Douglas Lopez, 12:01.
Second-period goals: Mueller (CRS) unassisted, 4:53; Harrelson (CRS) from Roby and Purcell, 10:07; Bower (P) from Alexander Doe and Dennis, 12:49 (pp)
Third-period goals: Doe (P) from Zachary Averill and Hunter Dolan, 7:42; Dennis (P) unassisted, 9:30 (pp); Dennis (P) from Luke Yocum, 14:15; Roby (CRS) from Autere, 15:33 (en).
Shots: Parkland 29, CRS 25; Saves: Vincent Bylick (P) 18, JImmy Sweeny (CRS) 24

Pennridge 4, Neshaminy 3

BRISTOL—Since the calendar turned to 2020 Pennridge has been a hockey team in the rise. On Tuesday night the Rams took another step forward, a big one, by coming from behind in the third period for a 4-3 win over Neshaminy in a Class AA Flyers Cup first-round game at Grundy Arena.

The 10th-seeded Rams trailed 2-0 and 3-2 before Aeryk Lehrhaupt scored on a shot from the right faceoff circle with 55 seconds left in regulation to send he and his mates into the quarterfinals on Thursday against second seed Haverford (7:00 at the Skatium).

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna praised his team’s effort after being eliminated in the opening round of the SHSHL playoffs by Council Rick South. “It says so much about them,” he said. “I don’t have words of how proud I am of them. That young, they shouldn’t be making all the plays they did.”

The seventh-seeded ‘Skins used a methodical approach to build a 2-0 first-period lead. David McColgan got his team on the scoreboard 4:46 into the opening period, beating Pennridge goaltender Ryan Pico from close range. Thomas Gallagher gave his team a two-goal lead at 10:07.

The Rams responded in the second frame. Andrew Lizak beat Brian Nelson from the deep right circle off a right corner dump to get the Rams on the board 3:18 mark before Richie Shanks tied the game at 9:51.

Neshaminy retook the lead when Joey DeMatteo scored with 6:10 left in the middle session and stayed in front when Nelson denied Lehrhaupt on a two-on-one with 14 seconds left in the period.

The Rams got their second power play chance of the third period at the 8:31 mark when Neshaminy drew a bench minor for having too many men on the ice. Blake Stewart, the Rams’ captain, scored the tying goal with 5:40 left in regulation as the prelude to the finish.

Stewart noted that Pennridge opened its season back in October with a loss to Neshaminy but had natured since then. “We came to this game a much stronger team,” he said. “We just wanted it more, we came out hungry, and we just wanted to move on. No one really wanted us here and no one thought we would be here.”

It was a frustrating evening for Neshaminy coach Matt DeMattteo. “They were the hungrier team today,” he said of the Rams. “They skated harder. They did the things you need to do to win the game and we just did not play a good game as a team.”

Pennridge 0 2 2—4
Neshaminy 2 1—3
First-period goals: David McColgan (N) from Rob Seewagen and J.J. Hathaway, 4:46; Thomas Gallagher (N) from Matt Buchinski and Joey DeMatteo, 10:07;
Second-period goals: Andrew Lizak (P) unassisted, 3:18; Richie Shanks (P) from Blake Stewart and Andrew David; DeMatteo (N) from Nolan Geria and Seewagen, 11:50.
Third-period goals: Stewart (P) from Shanks, 10:20 (pp); Aeryk Lehrhaupt from Jack Lowery and Conrad Frisch, 15:05.
Shots: Pennridge 32, Neshaminy 30; Saves: Ryan Pico (P) 27, Brian Nelson (N) 28

Class AA Flyers Cup Bracket Opens Up on Tuesday

Tuesday, March 3 Class AA

Central Bucks South 4, Conestoga 1

Boyertown 4 Central Bucks East 1

North Penn 4, Ridley 1

Downingtown West 7, Pennsbury 3

Perkiomen Valley 8, Dowingtown East 5

Council Rock South 7, Parkland 5

Pennridge 4, Neshaminy 3

Haverford 8 Central Bucks West 0

We’ll have recaps of the two games at Grundy Arena later this evening at www.hockeyhappenings.wordpress.com

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Lower Dauphin 6, Plymouth Whitemarsh 4

Noah Leach and Cole McCully scored three goals each as Lower Dauphin edged Plymouth Whitemarsh 6-4 Monday night in a Class A Flyers Cup first-round game at Ice Line.

The result sends the ninth-seeded Falcons into Wednesday’s quarterfinals; they’ll face top-seed West Chester East at Ice Line in a scheduled 6:15 start. Eighth-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh closes its season at 18-2. Monday marked its only loss of the season to a Class A team.

McCurley scored a shorthanded goal with 2:19 left in regulation to give ninth-seeded Lower Dauphin a 5-4 lead. Leach scored into an empty net 16 seconds later.

Lower Dauphin built a 3-0 lead in the second period on a goal from Leach and two from McCulley in a span of just 1:23 but Jake Weikel, Dean Keller, and Thomas Corcoran scored for the Colonials in a span of 2:40 to tie the game before Leach scored his second goal of the game to put Lower Dauphin up 4-3 with 2:29 left in the period.

Logan Westerfer tied the game for the Colonials 3:34 into the third period.

The game included 17 penalties, including four against the Colonials following the final buzzer. Westerfer received a major penalty and a game misconduct for his tole in that altercation while Colin Franzoni received a major and a match penalty.

The Colonials’ Dean Keller and Lower Dauphin’s Ezra Oyler had received game misconducts earlier in the game, Keller for boarding just past the midway point of the second period and Oyler for a check from behind late in the third.

A complete box score is available HERE

First Round Results (Monday)

Unionville 11, Wissahickon 2—Steve Cicchino scored three times in the second period as sixth-seeded Unionville pulled away to a win over the 11th-seeded Trojans at Hatfield Ice. The game was tied 1-1 after the first period before the Indians broke the game open.

Springfield Delco 10, Hatboro-Horsham 0—Zach Crain scored two goals and eight other players scored on goal each as the seventh-seeded Cougars eliminated the 10th-seeded Hatters at Ice Line. Ryan Krtyos had a goal and assists, while Aidan Zappo added three assists. The contest was halted early in the third period via the 10-goal rule. The Hatters closed their season 11-7-0-1.

West Chester East 8, Lower Merion 5

Strath Haven 4, Sun Valley 0

Hershey 10 West Chester Henderson 0

West Chester Bayard Rustin 12, Garnet Valley 2

Palmyra 6, Radnor 1

Here are the Class A quarterfinal pairings for Wednesday, March 4

All four games at Ice Line

1 West Chester East vs 9 Lower Dauphin 6:15

4 Strath Haven vs 5 Hershey

3 Bayard Rustin vs 6 Unionville 6:30

7 Springfield Delco vs 2 Palmyra 8:30

PWHPA Showcase Makes Big Impression

They brought with them not only their hockey skills but also their passion for the sport. And in the intimate setting of the Coliseum in Voorhees, N.J that passion resonated through every nook and cranny.

Some of the finest hockey players in the world, skating under the banner of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association are visiting the Philadelphia area this weekend. A total of 68 women, divided into four teams, showed off their skills in front of a full house, Saturday night as they continued their quest to build a sustainable model for women’s professional hockey in North America. The showcase will conclude with two games on Sunday.

Some of the names were familiar; Olympians and U.S. National Team standouts like Kendall Coyne Schofield, Hilary Knight, and twin sisters Jocelyne Lamoureux- Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando.

Other names weren’t quite as recognizable but every player on hand has left an imprint on the sport, and on the fans in the building watching them, many of them young girls who watched their idols while dreaming of emulating them one day. And the players on the ice understood they were being watched and who was watching them.

Kelsey Koelzer played high-school hockey on the boys’ team at Hatboro-Horsham High before going on to a stellar career at Princeton before playing for a U.S. Select team and later in the National Women’s Hockey League while also holding down a full-time job. She’s now the head women’s hockey coach at Arcadia University, which will take the ice at the NCAA Division III level in 2021-22. Koelzer got a warm reception when she took the ice Saturday night.

“This is the first time I’ve gotten to play really (professionally) in my home area,” she said. “I think most of the people that were responding were probably my family, obviously. But it definitely means a lot.”

Lamoureux- Davidson has made appearances in the Philadelphia area in the past, along with her sister, on behalf of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, introducing young girls to the sport who otherwise may not have had the chance to experience the game of hockey first hand.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” she said. “Literally, every time I see some of these players they’re three inches taller and now they’re taller than me. To see them grow up in the program is special for me and my sister. The Snider Hockey Foundation does amazing things for the kids in Philadelphia.

“They’re playing hockey, but it’s so much more than playing a sport. It gives them an opportunity to be active after school; homework is a big part of the program. So just to be a part of the program, to be able to give back to it over the years, is special for us.”

Hatboro-Horsham coach Gianni Lafratta was taking in the action Saturday night. His Hatters will start play in the Flyers Cup tournament on Monday, but on this occasion, he was enjoying an evening with his 7-year old daughter and enjoying watching world-class hockey.

“It’s great,” he said. “The speed, the passing, it’s all there. I never thought you had to see it to believe it as a kid, but my daughter definitely got sucked in this week and she’s definitely grown very fond of Kendall Coyne this weekend.”