HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP—With just eight days remaining in the APAC regular season, teams are striving to climb over each other and gain a foothold that strengthens their position not only in the conference standings but also in the minds of the members of the committee that will seed the Class AAA portion of the upcoming Flyers Cup tournament.
St. Joseph’s Prep took a step up on Friday night, climbing over The Hun School 3-1 on Senior Night at the Skatium.
Cathal Dowd, Liam Mooney, and Joey Samango all scored goals for the Hawks (7-6 overall) who moved into second place in the APAC standings with a 3-2-0-2 conference mark, one point ahead of La Salle. The Hawks and Explorers will meet on Wednesday to conclude their respective league schedules.
Hun School (7-7 overall) stands at 2-3-1-0 in the conference with games remaining against Malvern Prep on Wednesday and Holy Ghost Prep next Friday.
The first meeting between the two teams (a 1-0 Hun School win) was decided on the last shot of a shootout and Friday’s game was closely contested as well, despite the Hawks’ margin of victory.
“They played hard,” Mooney said of the Raiders. “They’re hard to play against. They had a couple good lines; they were a couple guys short (due to suspensions) but I thought we played them pretty tough, played them pretty well.”
Hun School Coach Ian McNally noted that Friday’s game featured a rematch between the goaltenders who hooked up in the teams’ first meeting; the Hawks Ajay White and the Raiders Stephen Chen. He was impressed with White’s winning performance.
“We scored one (regulation) goal; in two games against this kid. He was in our kitchen.”
Mooney noted Friday’s game had a different flow than the first meeting and the Hawks generated more opportunities.
“(Chen) played really good last time,” he said. “Today, we just got more shots on him. That was the key to winning today.”
Cathal Dowd gave St. Joseph’s Prep a 1-0 lead 10:34 into the first period when he scored off a turnover just to the right of Chen in front of the Raider’s net. The fast-paced first sessions saw the teams generate 30 shots between them.
Play slowed a bit in the second frame and it was still a 1-0 game early in the third period before Mooney’s goal extended his team’s lead.
Elian Estulin cut that lead in half when he scored off a Hawk turnover but Nick Storti cemented the victory for the hosts when he scored a power-play goal with 1:52 remaining in regulation.
”In our league, every team battles to the end,” said Hawk coach David Giacomin. “It was basically a one-goal game up until the power play.”
In two meetings against each other, Chen and White combined to stop 131 of 135 shots in regulation and overtime. Chen made 66 saves and White 65
Hun School 0 0 1—1
St. Joseph’s Prep 1 0 2—3
First-period goal: Cathal Dowd (HGO) from Dante Passio, 10:34
Third-period goals: Liam Mooney (SJP) from Charles Maratea, 3:52; Elian Estulin (HS) from Seth Kaplan, 7:54; Nick Storti (SJP) from Jeffrey Hammond, 15:08 (pp)
Shots: Hun School 34, St. Joseph’s Prep 35; Saves; Stephen Chen (HS) 32, Ajay White (SJP) 32
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Foe more about The Hun School CLICK HERE
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