La Salle 3, St. Joseph’s Prep 2

HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP— When the time came to step up, La Salle met the challenge. Matt Maddalo and Dan Whitock scored goals 31 seconds apart early in the third period and the Explorers held off St. Joseph’s Prep 3-2 Friday night in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference matchup at the Skatium.
Maddalo found the back of the net at the 2:58 mark before Whitock beat Rocco Bruno with what proved to be the game winner at 3:29.

It was La Salle’s first win in four starts, all in conference play.

Michael Casey assisted on the winning goal. “We needed this one really badly,” he said. “We were all over them the first and second periods. In the third period, we had a lot of shots so we knew we could do it. We went out there and just kept pounding them.”

La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner was pleased with his team’s all-around effort. “I thought we played probably the best game we’ve played for three periods,” he said. “We’re not capitalizing on good opportunities. We did score a couple good goals by going to the net and hopefully that’s a sign of good things to come.”

St. Joseph’s Prep (2-2, 0-2 in the APAC) was quick to take advantage of two early La Salle penalties. Quinn Egan scored from the left circle 3:09 into the opening period while his team was enjoying a two-man advantage; it turned out to be the only goal of the period.

Jeffrey Hammond made it a 2-0 game with an even-strength goal 66 seconds into the second stanza.
La Salle had a power-play chance of its own minutes later one that included a brief two-man advantage when the Hawks’ Declan Pierce drew a boarding penalty that included an automatic 10-minute misconduct, but couldn’t capitalize. Casey eventually got the Explorers on the scoreboard with 2:30 left in the period.

The Hawks were missing five regulars because of injuries and club duty including three of their top defensemen. Their coach David Giacomin was more than satisfied with his team’s effort, despite the defeat.
“I’m extremely proud of them,” he said. “To be shorthanded as bad as we were and to come out and play as hard as we did for the whole game, it’s fun to watch. “And it’s great to be a coach.”

La Salle 0 1 2—3
St. Joseph’s Prep 1 1 0—2
First-period goal: Quinn Egan (SJP) from Jack Yerger and Matt Moresco, 3:09 (pp)
Second-period goals: Jeffrey Hammond (SJP) from Declain Pierce, 1:06; Michael Casey (L) from Andrew Budzynski, 13:30.
Third-period goals: Matt Maddalo (L) from Matt Giordano and Chris Wnek, 2:58; Dan Whitock(L) from Casey, 3:29.
Shots: La Salle 35, St. Joseph’s Prep 27; Saves: Aries Carangi (L) 25, Rocco Bruno (SJP) 32

For more about La Salle College High School Click Here

For more about St. Joseph’s Prep Click Here

Pennsbury 7, C.B. East 6 OT

Bristol—Considering two of the most potent offensive teams in the SHSHL’s National/Continental Division were sharing the ice Thursday night, the goings on were not unexpected. Brendan Macainsh’s goal with 1:13 remaining in overtime gave Pennsbury a 7-6 win over Central Bucks East to conclude an entertaining evening of hockey at Grundy Arena.

Macainsh forced a turnover at the Patriots’ blue line and walked in on Matt Mangiacapre to score the game-winning goal and give his team its fourth consecutive win, the last two of which have come in overtime. The Falcons now stand at 5-1 overall, 3-0 in divisional play.

“At practice on Monday I told them that ‘I think this will probably be our toughest game of the season,’” said Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley. “I think it proved to be our toughest game of the season.”

The biggest difference maker in the game was Pennsbury goaltender Marek Jorgenson who finished with 32 saves.

“Some of his saves were just robberies,” Daley said. “It was the only way you could describe it. He played great, I was really happy with his performance. I wish we could have done a little better job in front of him.”

Jorgenson was especially busy in the first two periods, stopping 22 shots. The first frame saw the two teams combine for seven goals. The Falcons built a 4-1 lead but Adam Schmidt, Chris Mangiacapre, and Tyler Godown scored for the Patriots (2-3, 0-2-0-1 in divisional play) in a span of just over eight minutes to tie the game 5:26 into the second period.

Shane Siegmund and Edward Bossler scored goals to give Pennsbury a two-goal lead with 8:51 left in regulation, but Adam Bostock and Godown responded for the Patriots to force overtime.

The loss was the third straight for the Patriots, who are dealing with the absence of forward Phil McIntyre who is out indefinitely with a concussion.

East coach Jeff Mitchell says his players need to improve their pregame preparation. “I think my boys need to do a better job preparing before games,” he said. “We’ve also had a couple injuries over the past two weeks. It’s a tough course to navigate right now but tonight, against the first-place team in the division right now, is probably a step in the right direction.”

For his part, Daley feels the Falcons have exceeded his expectations as the compressed regular season hits the halfway point.

“We’re in a better spot than I could have imagined,” he said. “I knew we had a good team this year but obviously until you start playing, you don’t know exactly what you have, and they’ve surprised me in the best way.”

• Macainsh had three assists to go with his game-winning goal.

C.B. East 3 1 2 0—6

Pennsbury 4 1 1 1—7

First-period goals: Adam Bostock (CBE) unassisted, 3:42; Reese Picker (P) from Erik Eisler and Brendan Macainsh, 6:05 (pp); Eisler (P) from Shane Siegmund, 10:35; Andrew Falkenstein (P) from Macainsh and Connor Coyle, 11:48; Picker (P) from Macainsh, 12:05; Aiden Schmidt (CBE) from Bogdan Boradenko, 12:17; Kyle Hausner (CBE) from Bostck and Carter Keiser, 13:57.

Second-period goals: Tyler Godown (CBE) from Chris Mangiacapre and Kyle McIntyre, 5:26; Siegmund (PB) from Justin Marlin, 8:21.

Third-period goals: Edward Bossler (Pb) from Marlin, 7:09; Godown (CBE) from Bostick and Mangiacapre, 12:20.

Overtime goal: Macainsh (Pb) unassisted, 3:47.
Shots: C.B. East 38, Pennsbury 33; Saves: Matt Mangiacapre (CBE)26, Marek Jorgenson (Pb) 32

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Abington 7, Wissahickon 6

HATFIELD— Joe Stelacio’s goal with 4:25 remaining in the third period capped a remarkable comeback and gave Abington a 7-6 win over Wissahickon Wednesday night in a Suburban High School Hockey League American Division matchup at Hatfield Ice.

The Galloping Ghosts rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the second period and trailed 6-3 going into the final session before scoring four unanswered goals to record their fifth victory in six starts.

The win moved Abington in to first place in the division ahead of the Trojans (4-1) who have a game in hand as the SHSHL regular season nears its halfway mark.

“This is certainly a big win for us,” said Abington coach Ken Brzozowski. “It’s something we’ve been working for a while, to be able to play at this level, play at this caliber. We thought coming into the game we had a chance, we got down, and the team just rebounded.”

The Galloping Ghosts had to climb a very steep hill. With just under five minutes gone in the middle period Wissahickon had a 5-0 lead on the strength of three goals from Nick Hussa and two more from Brian Garry. Abington didn’t get on the board until Matt Kramer found the back of the net with 6:58 remaining in the second session. Jordan Heydt and Ian Heydt added goals 55 seconds apart to make it a 5-3 game with 2:39 left in the period.

Garry completed a hat trick to give his team a three-goal advantage heading into the third period but the Trojans, who were playing their first game in two weeks because of Covid-19 issues and had only nine skaters dressed on Wednesday, did not score again. Griffin Carpenter, Stelacio, and Kramer all scored in a span of 4:49 draw their side even with 5:55 left and set the stage for Stelacio’s game winner.

Colin Bruton, Abington’s captain, said he and his teammates maintained their focus during their third-period comeback. “I just think we needed to stick to our game,” he said. “we knew we could score on them. We had three goals on them at that point. We just wanted to keep playing our game, just try and outwork them, and I think we did a good job of that.”

Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington was missing several regulars including his top defense pair.

“We could have played much better,” he said. “Maybe that’s fatigue too. But we still had the lead.”

Ice chips—the Trojans had a 39-21 advantage in shots. Sam Nemec made 33 saves in the Abington net … The two teams will have a rematch on Match 5 … The Galloping Ghosts captured the first three SHSHL titles in history, from 1974-76 They claimed a fourth championship in 1978 and added two more in 2003 and ’04.

Wissahickon 2 4 0—6

Abington 0 3 4—7

First-period goals: Brian Garry from Nick Hussa, 1:07; Hussa from Garry, 13:00 (sh).

Second-period goals: Hussa from Garry, :07; Garry from Hussa, :53; Hussa from David Glazier, 4:58 (pp); Matthew Kramer (A) from Colin Bruton, 9:08; Jordan Heydt (A) Kramer, 12:26; Ian Heydt (A ) from Kramer, 13:21; Garry unassisted, 15:42.

Third-period goals: Griffin Carpenter (A) unassisted, 5:16; Joe Stelacio (A) from Sam Paulik, 5:33; Kramer (A) from Paulik and Ryan Portner, 10:05; Stelacio (A), 11:35.

Shots: Wissahickon 39, Abington 21; Saves: Michael Bonnani 14, Sam Nemec (A) 33

Malvern Prep 4, La Salle 1

Malvern Prep scored four times in the first period and went on to a 4-1 win over La Salle Wednesday night in an APAC game at Ice Line.

Matt Harris, Jack Constabile, Jimmy Kirk, and Gavin Wilson all scored for the Friars, who recorded their second won over the Explorers (0-3 overall and in the APAC) in eight days.

Chase Hannon scored La Salle’s only goal.

La Salle 0 1 0

Malvern Prep 4 0 0—4

First-period goals: Matt Harris (MP) unassisted, 5:36; Jack Constabile (MP) from Jimmy Kirk, 8:56 (pp); Kirk (MP) from Constabile, 11:42; Gavin Wilson (MP) from Harris, 14:11.

Second-period goal: Chase Hannon (L) from Ryan Desmond and Gavin O’ Connell, 14:49.

Shots: La Salle 22, Malvern Prep 34; Saves: Liam Gross (L) 30, Anthony Perti (MP) 21

Chris Blango Embracing His Time at Malvern Prep

During his time at Malvern Prep, Chris Blango has become an accomplished hockey player. But the school has shaped him in an abundance of other ways as well.

So, despite having the option to continue his hockey career at a New England prep school, the senior defenseman chose to remain with the Friars.

With the end of his scholastic hockey career fast approaching, Blango reflects on what Malvern Prep has meant to him.

“I started at Malvern in sixth grade,” he said. “What kind of led me there was obviously athletics but also the academics. The academics are vigorous.

“It challenges you both in the classroom and in my case, on the ice. So, I think it was the perfect spot for me.”

Blango says the curriculum at Malvern Prep is designed to teach students to think independently and accept the consequences of their decisions.

“It’s really up to you,” he said. “If you miss school and have to make up an assignment, or something like that, the teacher is not going to beg you to make it up. You kind of have to reach out and ask; it’s very independent in that aspect.”

Blango notes that effective time management is important to a student’s academic success.

“(The faculty) don’t really hold your hand through it,” he said.” “It’s all based upon you and how you manage your time effectively for yourself to make sure you get all your schoolwork done and make sure you’re thriving in your sport.”

Blango was chosen the Friars’ captain by his teammates. His leadership style might best be described as a blend of actions and words.

“Mostly I lead by example,” he said. “I’m not really the most talkative guy. I’m pretty shy when you first get to know me.

‘But if I have to get the boys going or whatnot before a big game, I ‘ll do that; just kind of make sure everyone’s dialed in when they lose focus, or pick people up when they’re not having the best day.”

In a 2021 season unlike any other in memory, Blango is embracing the task of keeping his teammates concentrating on the task at hand.

“Getting everybody to kind of be friends with everybody, get along really well, and kind of keep their focus on the season,” he said, “and not letting their thoughts wander and whatnot.

“It’s huge because we don’t know if we’re going to be able to play another game, or anything about the future, until we actually are on the ice.”

After three non-league wins, the Friars opened APAC play with a 4-0 win over La Salle on Feb 3. Blango says this year’s team is shaping up as a close-knot group.

“I feel as though the seniors this year, not just me bust as a group, they’ve really helped everybody get dialed in,” he said, “and the young kids aren’t really afraid to make a mistake. Because they know that if they do make a mistake we won’t be yelling and screaming at them in their ear. We’ll be right there picking them up and encouraging them to keep going and try to keep playing the way they play, because we have some talented freshmen and talented sophomores so if we don’t hold them back by yelling and screaming at them, we’ll have a very successful year.”

In a few months’ time Blango will leave Malvern Prep and continue his journey into adulthood. He’s like to play junior hockey, and college hockey after that. He will take with him the life lessons he has learned at Malvern Prep.

I think Malvern has taught me countless lessons and has really shaped me as the person that I am today, being independent, responsible.”

Before, I was a little hesitant on reaching out to teachers and stuff for extra help if I wasn’t in class or if I didn’t understand the topic and the Upper School at Malvern has really forced me to do that, and its helped me out tremendously. I have the utmost confidence going into my adulthood.”

For more information about Malvern Prep CLICK HERE

SHSHL Update as of 2-8-21

SHSHL Standings as of 2-8-21

National/Continental W L T OTL Pts.

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

Neshaminy (3-1) 2 0 0 0 4

Pennridge (2-1) 2 1 0 0 4

Central Bucks South (1-3-1) 1 0 1 0 3

North Penn (2-2-1) 1 1 1 0 3

Council Rock South (2-1-0-1) 0 0 0 1 1

Central Bucks East (2-1) 0 1 0 0 0

Central Bucks West (0-4) 0 2 0 0 0

Souderton (0-4) 0 2 0 0 0

American Division W L T OTL Pts.

Wissahickon (4-0) 4 0 0 0 8

Abington (4-1) 4 1 0 0 8

Plymouth-Whitemarsh (4-2-0-1) 3 2 0 1 7

Truman (3-2) 3 2 0 0 0

Hatboro-Horsham (2-2-1-1) 2 2 1 1 6

William Tennent (1-3-1) 1 3 1 0 3

Quakertown (0-4-0-1) 0 4 0 1 0

How the standings work: In the National/Continental Division each team plays four if its opponents twice and the other four once. When teams meet twice, the second meeting only counts in the divisional standings. While the first meeting is not included in the division standings it is factored into the Flyers Cup rankings.

In the American Division, each team plays its opponents twice and both games count in the division standings.

National/Continental Scoring GP G A Pts

Adam Bostock (CBE) 3 7 5 12

Brendan Macainsh (Pb) 5 6 6 12

Thomas Gallagher (Nesh) 3 7 4 11

Robert Seewagen (Nesh) 4 5 4 9

Blake Srewart (Pr) 5 4 5 9

J.J. Hathaway (Nesh) 4 1 7 8

Shane Siegmund (Pb) 5 3 5 8

Aeryk Lehrhaupt (Pr) 5 6 2 8

Colin Michalak (Pb) 5 3 4 7

Connor Keiser (CBE) 3 2 4 6

Andrew David (Pr) 5 3 3 6

Nolan Geria (Nesh) 4 5 1 6

American Division Scoring GP G A Pts

Bryan Garry (Wss) 4 18 6 24

Joe Stelacio (Ab) 5 4 10 14

Luke Weikel (PW) 6 6 7 13

Jeremy McCartney (Tr) 5 4 9 13

Alex Howieson (HH) 6 8 4 12

Aidan Keough (PW) 6 5 7 12

Jason Carrelli (WT 5 6 5 11

Nick Hussa (Wiss) 3 4 7 11

Antony Pagliei (Q) 5 7 3 10

Matthew Kramer (Ab) 4 6 4 10

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Goals Against

National/Continetal MP GA GAA
Mason Moyer (CBS) 96 4 1.90

Matt Mangicapre (CBE) 144 6 2.00

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS) 130 6 2.21

Ryan Pico (Pr) 242 13 2.57

Brian Nelson (Nesh) 163 10 2.94

American MP GA. GAA

Michael Bonnani (Wiss) 192 11 2.75

Ben Panella (Ab) 144 9 3.00

Sam Nemec (Ab) 96 7 3.50

Save Pct Nat/Cont MP Shots Saves Save Pct

Mason Moyer (CBS ) 96 56 52 .929

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS) 130 83 77 .928

Ryan Pico (PR) 242 153 140 .915

Matt Mangicapre (CBE) 144 69 63 .913

Brian Nelson (Nesh) 163 85 75 .882

American MP Shots Saves Save Pct.

Sam Nemec (Ab) 96 71 64 .901

Ben Panella (Ab) 144 88 79 .898

Michael Bonnani (Wiss) 192 77 66 .857

Holy Ghost Prep 5, St. Joseph’s Prep 1

HAVERFORD TOWNSHP— The 2021 Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds are becoming renowned for their fast starts. For the third consecutive game, a big first period propelled the Firebirds to a win, a 5-1 decision over St. Joseph’s Prep Friday night in an Atlantic Prep Conference game at the historic Skatium.

Michael Connelly Anthony Sparo scored first-period goals to give their team a 2-0 advantage at the 9:17 mark of the first period and the Firebirds (3-0 overall, 2-0 in the APAC) continued to step on the gas the rest of the way, outshooting the Hawks (2-1, 0-1) 40-14.

In its three games, the Firebirds have scored seven first-period goals.

“There’s a lot of really good chemistry here,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside, “and guys really like playing with each other. That’s nice to see.”

On this occasion, the chemistry was evident up and down the lineup. Patrick McAneny, centering the fourth line, scored on goal and assisted on another. The senior spoke to his team’s fast start.

“It’s just hard work,” he said, “getting on pucks quick, putting the puck behind (the opponent) and going to work, getting the puck to the net.”

Due to the pandemic, the 2021 scholastic hockey season in Eastern Pennsylvania will last less than three months, even for championship-level teams. But McAneny noted that he and his teammates are pouring a full season’s helping of emotional energy into the abbreviated schedule.

“It’s more of a sprint,” he said, “rather than a marathon, and we just know that every game matters. We’ve only got what, eight to 10 games. Every game is important. Every game has to be a win.”

Kieran Mulholand and Brian Butler also scored for Holy Ghost Prep.

“It was just a good team effort,” Whiteside said. “I thought our (defense) got better as the game went on. Bit hats off to St. Joe’s Prep. They play you tough every time.”

Dom Fantozzi delivered the Hawks’ only goal during a power play with 2:17 left in the third period.

Despite the loss, St. Joseph’ Prep coach David Giacomin was pleased with the way his team competed. “I was proud of the way we played,” he said. “Obviously, it was not the right outcome and we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us but that’s a good team we faced. They’re fast, they look like they’ve been playing together for a little while. They did a great job.”

Andrew Custer made 35 saves in the Hawks’ net in the losing effort.

Holy Ghost Prep 2 2 1—5

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 1—1

First-period goals: Michael Connelly (HGP) unassisted, 3:05; Anthony Sparo (HGP) from E.J. Pohl, 9:17.

Second-period goals: Kieran Mulholland (HGP) from Evan Mudrick and Anthony Sparo, 1:45; Brian Butler (HGP) from Patrick McAnAneny, 12:47.

Third-period goals: Dom Fantozzi (HGP) from Christian Short and Matt Moresco, 13:43 (pp); McAneny (HGP) from Sparo and Colin Moore, 15:09.

Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 40, St. Joseph’s Prep 14; Saves: Bobby Baehser (HGP) 13 Andrew Custer SJP) 35

To learn more about St. Joseph’s Prep CLICK HERE

To learn more about Holy Ghost Prep Click Here

P-W’s John Cubbin Savoring Being Back on the Ice

HATFIELD—Plymouth Whitemarsh’s game against Upper Dublin Thursday night was something of an afterthought. The Colonials were scheduled to face Wissahickon in a SHSHL American Division matchup but that contest was postponed because of Covid-19 issues within the Wissahickon program.

So, Upper Dublin stepped into the breach and faced off against the Colonials in a non-league tussle that saw Plymouth Whitemarsh prevail 3-2 when Conlan Carpenter scored with 2:02 remaining in regulation time. The win was the Colonials’ fourth straight.

For John Cubbin however no evening on the ice can be considered mundane. Cubbin, a senior defenseman and the Colonials’ captain, is back playing hockey this year after missing his entire junior season while recovering from a concussion he sustained playing baseball the previous summer.

“It feels amazing,” Cubbin said, “I felt very restricted last year, not being able to play the sport I love. I didn’t feel like me, so I felt like I had to play.

“I’m hoping it makes a difference to the team, that’s why I decided to play. It seems like it is, so hopefully we can continue to grow and grind and continue to add on to our wins.

While Cubbin did not see game action last season, he was on the ice for every practice. That impressed his coach, Josh Aiello.

“I’m really proud of what John Cubbin has accomplished,” Aiello said. “He has spent a year not playing in games, but growing his education of the game, understanding the system, and conditioning, and really starting to fine-tune his craft.

“So, I’m really proud of what he’s accomplished. He’s a team-first kind of guy. He’ll help everyone from a freshman to a senior and its one of the reasons he’s the captain of our team.”
Cubbin admits it’s taken him some time to get his skates under him again. “I definitely feel a little bit rusty, a little bit sloppy in parts of my game,” he said. “A lot of this is like riding a bike, so you get it back pretty quick.”

Cubbin says he isn’t overly concerned about contact in the aftermath of his concussion. “I think I’m a big kid, I can fend for myself,” he said. “As a freshman, I was going out and trying to hit the biggest kid out there and now I’m a senior and I am one of the biggest out there, so I do believe that I can protect myself.”

Holy Ghost Prep-St. Joseph’s Prep Matchup a Nod to Hockey History

Friday’s Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference matchup between Holy Ghost Prep and St. Joseph’s Prep at the Skatium will have considerable significance. It will be the first APAC conference game to be played at the celebrated venue.

When the puck is dropped shortly after 7 p.m., the lengthy history of the rink and the brief but impressive record of the APAC will be officially linked.

Located on Darby Road in Haverford Township, and built at a cost of $1.5 million, the Skatium opened its doors on September 20, 1974. The timing could not have been better. The Flyers had won their first Stanley Cup just four months and a day earlier and enthusiasm for hockey in the Philadelphia area was at an all-time high.

The name of the venue was determined via a contest that was open to all residents of Haverford Township. Twelve-year old Michael Steinberg submitted the winning entry. At first, use of the township-owned facility was restricted to Haverford Township residents, but that stipulation was eventually dropped and the rink soon became arguably an epicenter for the growth of amateur hockey in the Philadelphia area in general and Delaware County in particular. And while newer, larger facilities have been built in the years since, none have replicated the Skatium’s intimacy.

Today it is the home rink for a half dozen Inter County League teams, as well as teams from the Independence League, the St. Joseph’s University club team, and the Haverford Hawks youth program.

Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside has made numerous trips to the Skatium as a player and coach. He enjoys the venue’s atmosphere.

“I remember when it was first opened up and going there for youth games as a player and then later as a coach,” he said. “It was always clean. I liked the stands on that one side. The benches were really tight but then they did some renovations and made the benches a lot bigger and nicer, but it was a really good atmosphere to play in.”

Whiteside recalls the atmosphere in the building as being difficult for visiting teams to deal with. “It was a tough barn to play in,” he said. It’s a great atmosphere. I can remember coaching both (Germantown Academy) and Holy Ghost and having some tough games against O’Hara over the years. It’s been a great atmosphere.”

David Giacomin is in his eighth season as the head coach at St. Joseph’s Prep. When he started his career with the Hawks the team played its home games at the Skatium before moving to the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 rink. The Hawks returned to the Skatium this season.

Giacomin was asked what makes the building unique. “I think it’s the atmosphere,” he said. “In a typical year where you can have fans.

“it is an old barn. The student body and everything is all on one side. It’s built up over the glasses. You feel like everybody’s right on top of you. The ceiling has got a decent height to it but it feels like everything is on top of you. So, it’s very quaint.”

Giacomin considers the Skatium an ideal setting for high-school hockey. “It’s just a very exciting place to play,” he said. “It’s usually loud and raucous and when two teams meet, they bring their fans there. It’s just a super, great place.

“There’s the visual, the lighting in there, the ice surface is awesome. Teams seem to enjoy playing at that place, but what makes it special is the 800 to a thousand people that can be in there. It’s kind of suited for a high school hockey game.’’

In 2014, Giacomin’s first year at St. Joseph’s Prep, the Hawks were the top seed in the Class AAA Flyers Cup and faced La Salle in the one-game final at the Skatium a game eventually won by the Explorers 5-4 in overtime

Giacomin recalls that building was packed.

“It was one of those games where we didn’t know going into it how many people would show up,” he said. “Delaware County’s got a lot of hockey folks, and it wasn’t just people from St. Joe’s or La Salle there, it was people who liked hockey who wanted to come over and watch a good game.

“It was just so many people, five deep behind the benches and people wrapped three, four deep around the glasses, in that area and then on the way to the locker room it was almost 11 deep. Both teams took time to get the locker room in between periods.

“It was just a great atmosphere to be a part of and probably something that those kids will never forget.”

Giacomin is enthusiastic about the Hawks returning to the Skatium this season and bringing the APAC along with them.

“Don’t get me wrong, plying at Penn is a great experience, as well,” he said. “That’s another one of those old buildings. But if you brought in 800 people you wouldn’t know 800 people were there. With the Skatium, and all the people who love high school hockey around the area, if you brought in 800 people, you’re going to know they’re all there because it’s going to be loud. It’s just a great place to play we’re looking forward to it.

“Hopefully, we can continue that for years to come because I think presenting the APAC in that area, geographically would enhance our league.”

Malvern Prep 4, La Salle 0

HATFIELD— Malvern Prep made a statement Wednesday afternoon. And the rest of the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference is sure to notice.

Jack Constabile delivered a hat trick and Anthony Perti pitched a shutout in goal as the Friars prevailed over La Salle 4-0 at Hatfield Ice. It was Malvern Prep’s fourth win of the season without a blemish but Wednesday’s game was its first in conference play and the win over the two-time defending APAC champion Explorers served notice the Friars will be a team to be reckoned with.

Perti made 31 saves in goal, with a half dozen falling into the ‘Extremely Difficult’ category. “I wanted to come out out and prove that we are a good team,” he said,

Prior to Wednesday, Malvern Prep played three non-league games against teams from the InterCounty League, albeit teams classified below the AAA level. Perti spoke to the importance of the Friars stepping up in their conference opener.

“It can’t be (overstated),” he said. “The game we played today, I don’t think it was even the best we’ve played. So, we still have more to prove, and honestly, out goal is to win the Flyers Cup, so this is one step in the right direction.”

Malvern Prep’s Chris Blango (l) and La Salle’s Jake Armstrong battle in Monday’s game.

Jeremy Jacobs gave his team a 1-0 lead 3:51 into the opening period when he made a solo run down the left wing and beat La Salle netminder Aries Carangi. Constabile made it a 2-0 game when he tipped in Chris Blango’s blast from the high slot with 38 seconds left in the period during a Malvern Prep power play.

Constabile added two additional goals not quite four minutes apart late in the second period.
Blango, a defenseman and his team’s captain, has been experiencing the satisfaction of merely being on the ice in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It feels awesome,” he said. “My senior year and all the other seniors (on the Malvern Prep roster) and all the other schools. It feels great just to play, to be able to compete. And to try to win a Flyers Cup.”

In addition to being the two-time defending APAC champion, La Salle is the reigning Class AAA Flyers Cup and state champion. But the Explorers have dropped their first two starts, both in APAC play and in 96 minutes of hockey have scored just three goals.

Veteran coach Wally Muehlbronner is looking for answers. “Not as much progress as I was hoping for since last week’s game (a Friday loss to Holy Ghost Prep,” he said. “We’ve got to get better playing together. I don’t think we’re playing that well together.”

Muehlbronner said his team us still trying to define itself. “Right now it’s kind of about forming an identity,” he said, “getting the guys to figure out who the leaders are going to be and then filling in the roles so the guys can follow along and follow their lead.”

• Between them, the Friars (eight) and La Salle (11) have won Flyers Cups. The Friars won five straight from 2001-‘05, a record for Class AAA.

Malvern Prep 2 2 0—4
La Salle 0 0 0—0
First-period goals: Jeremy Jacobs (MP) from Pierre Larocque, 3:51; Jack Constabile (MP) rom Matt Harris and Chris Blango, 15:22 (pp).
Second-period goals: Contabile (MP) from Quinn Dougherty and Ryan Sambuco, 10:48; Constabile (MP) from Dougherty and Harris, 14:43.
Shots: Malvern Prep 28, La Salle 31; Saves: Anthony Perti (MP) 31, Aries Carangi (L) 24