WEST GOSHEN—The rest of the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference is looking up at Malvern Prep. The Friars are a perfect 4-0 in conference play after a 7-2 win over The Hun School Wednesday evening at Ice Line and have defeated each of their conference opponents once.
Wednesday’s win wasn’t an easy one, at least not at first. The teams traded goals twice in an opening period that ended in a 2-2 deadlock. The hosts went on to score five goals over the last two periods.
Jimmy Jacobs and Matt Harris contributed two goals each Jacobs added three assists and Harris two.
Pierre Larocque, Quinn Dougherty, and Jeremy Jacobs also scored goals as Malvern Prep advanced to 7-2 overall.
“We came out a little slow,” Jimmy Jacobs said, “but once we got the first one, we started clicking. I think overall our speed was able to beat their physicality.
Jimmy Jacobs scores a second-period goal
“I think we just used our speed to win some of the puck battles and also had to step up and be more physical.”
Pierre Larocque and Quinn Dougherty scored first-period goals for Malvern Prep while Josh Ovelette and Mark Gall countered for the Raiders,
Jimmy Jacobs put his team in front for good 2:17 into the middle period. Harris extended his team’s lead with 33 seconds left in the session.
The outcome was still in doubt entering the third frame but when Jacobs scored his second goal just 53 seconds in, the Raiders (5-5 overall, 1-2-1-0 in the APAC) seemingly had depleted their energy reserves.
Matt Harris scores on a tip-in
It was Malvern Prep’s second game in 24 hours; the Friars dropped a Mid-Atlantic Prep League game to Lawrenceville 5-4 on Tuesday after holding a 4-1 lead.
Raider head coach Ian McNally said his team had an off day all around. “We just didn’t have it,” he said. “We never had it for a second. We had a pretty devastating loss yesterday and you could tell it took its toll.
“As soon as we got down one or two it was pretty hard to motivate to try to claw back a little bit.”
The Raiders are now off until after the holidays. McNally it was important for his players to prove themselves to each other over the first half of the season.
‘We’re in a good spot,” he said. “I wish we had won more than we have but I think the important part of the first half is kind of prove to each other and give yourself confidence like ‘Hey, if we can do this, we can actually win a bunch of games here.’”
Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenen is pleased to be at the top of the standings at the holiday break but knows his team his still evolving.
“You can’t expect anything better from our team,” he said, “going 4-0 in the APAC early. But hey, it’s a long season and we know that going into the second half it’s a completely different game. Teams get refocused and over the break and they get ready for playoffs and the Flyers Cup.
“So, our message is we’ve got to stay dialed in, we’ve still got the task at hand, and we’ve got to execute.”
Hun School 2 0 0—2
Malvern Prep 2 2 3—7
First-period goals: Pierre Larocque (MP) unassisted, 4:34; Josh Ovelette (HS) from Seth Kaplan, 8:15; Quinn Dougherty (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs and Jimmy Jacobs, 10:06 (pp); Mark Gall (HS) unassisted, 14:39
Second-period goals: Jimmy Jacobs (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, 2:17; Matt Harris (MP) from Aidan Kelly, 16:27
Third-period goals: Jimmy Jacobs (MP) from Harris, :53; Harris (MP) from Jimmy Jacobs, 5:36 (pp); Jeremy Jacobs (MP) from Harris, 12:03 (sh)
Shots: Hun School 33, Malvern Prep 42; Saves: Stephen Cheng (MP) 26 and Jack Borek (MP) 9, Anthony Perti (MP) 21
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For More about The Hun School. CLICK HERE
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