It’s Almost Time to Play Hockey

After weeks of waiting, the Suburban High School Hockey League will officially kick off its 48^thseason on Wednesday, January 13. A total of 16 teams will skate under the SHSHL umbrella this season, nine in Class AA and seven in Class A.

The alignments are as follows:

Class AA

Central Bucks East

Central Bucks South

Central Bucs West

Council Rock South

Neshaminy

North Penn

Pennsbury

Souderton

Pennridge

Class A
Abington

Hatboro-Horsham

Plymouth Whitemarsh

Quakertown

Truman

Wissahickon

William Tennent

Council Rock South and Plymouth Whitemarsh are the defending champions in their respective divisions.

The regular season schedule will conclude on Friday, March 19.

The opening night schedule includes the following matchups:

Wissahickon vs. William Tennent 7:20 @

Bucks County Ice Sports Center

Hatboro-Horsham vs. Abington 9:00 at Bucks County Ice Sports Center

Council Rock South vs. Central Bucks South 8:30 at Hatfield Blue

Pennridge at Pennsbury 7:20 at Grundy

Quakertown vs. Truman 7:20 at Hatfield Gray

APAC Eyeing Mid-January Start

The Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference has formulated plans to begin its 2021 season the week of January 11.

According to APAC Commissioner Jim Britt, the schedule now under consideration would see the four conference schools, La Salle, Malvern Prep, St. Joseph’s Prep and Holy Ghost Prep play a 10-game regular season schedule that would see each team face each of the others three times while also playing one additional game against a Class AAA team from the Intercounty Scholastic Hockey League (Cardinal O’Hara, Father Judge, and Roman Catholic would be among the possibilities).

That 10^thgame is important because as of now, teams are required to play 10 league games to be eligible to compete in the Flyers Cup tournament this coming spring.

The four APAC schools have been off the ice in the wake of Governor Tom Wolf’s executive order that closed indoor recreational facilities around the state, including ice rinks, effective December 12. They will remain closed until January 4.

Prior to the shutdown, Malvern Prep played and won two non-league games but the other three league schools have yet to play a game this season.

Britt is hoping that APAC teams will be able to get back on the ice for practice on or shortly after January 4. He acknowledged that that may not happen.

“At this time, there is no guarantee that the pause will be lifted at that time,” he said, “potentially causing delays to the planned restart of practices and the regular season. Player safety, with a reasonable amount of practices before starting the regular season, is an important consideration.”

Britt said the goal is to conclude the APAC regular season by mid-March with the league playoffs, prior to the start of the Flyers Cup tournament on April 5. The tournament is scheduled to conclude on April 20.

Hun School to Join APAC

Britt also announced that The Hun School will become the fifth member of the APAC beginning with the 2021-22 season. The school’s membership application was unanimously approved by the four current conference members but due to Covid restrictions in place in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the school has suspended its winter sports programs for the current school year. Hun School has competed against APAC schools in non-league games in the past.

North Penn Toy Drive

Every year North Penn Ice Hockey Association has an annual toy drive for the North Penn Valley Boys and Girls Club in Lansdale, PA

Things are obviously different in 2020 so we are going to do things a little different as well.

We are asking for any of the families interested in participating to Venmo NP Ice Hockey at @NPHockey with a donation.

NP Ice Hockey is going to match up to $500 of the donations. Horizontal Scroll: For more information, please contact Kevin Vaitis at (215) 470-8427 or kevinvaitis@comcast.net. The club will then look to purchase toys and gift cards to local grocery stores for those in need and deliver them to the Boys and Girls Club on December 16th

For more information, contact Kevin Vaitis at 215-470-8427 or at kvaitis@comcast.net

Any area hockey organizations conducting similar drives are encouraged to contact us here at Hockey Happenings at rwoelfel2013@gmail.com

Malvern Prep 7, Cardinal O’Hara 2

Matt Harris and Jack Constabile each scored two goals as Malvern Prep downed Cardinal O’Hara 7-2 Thursday night at Ice Line. Hayden Campbell, Jimmy Kirk, and Jonathan Holt also scored for the Friars, who recorded their second straight win to open the 2020-21 season.

The Lions got goals from Nathan Fox and Steve Graney to take a 2-1 lead after the first period but Malvern Prep took control from there.

“The boys got off to a slow start,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “It was our first game in a few weeks and first time on the ice as a full team since Thanksgiving.
“We were missing some key players to our team tonight but we found a way to grind it out and come out with a win.’
Anthony Perti got the win in goal, making 27 saves.

Cardinal O’Hara 2 0 0—2

Malvern Prep 1 3 3—7

First-period goals: Nathan Fox (CO) unassisted, 9:26; Jack Constabile (MP) from Matt Harris, 12:18; Steve Graney (CO) from Fox, 16:12 (pp).

Second-period goals: Harris (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, 1:27; Harris (MP) from Chris Blango, 9:16; Hayden Campbell (MP) from Matt Donatucci, 15:39.

Third-period goals: Jimmy Kirk (MP) from Blango, :16 (pp); Jonathan Holt (MP) from Jimmy Jacobs and Will Traynor, 5:44. Constabile (MP) from Harris and Jeremy Jacobs, 16:58.

Shots: Cardinal O’Hara 29, Malvern Prep 43; Saves: Ronan Marley (CO) 36, Anthony Perti (MP) 27.