SHSHL Updated Playoff Schedule

Wednesday, February 23

Class AA Quarterfinals

1 CR South vs. 8 Souderton 7:50 at Rev. Ice Gardens

4 C.B. South vs. 5 C.R. North 8:30 at Hatfield Ice

2 Pennridge vs. 7 C.B. East 7:20 at Hatfield Ice

3 Pennsbury vs. 6 Neshaminy 7:20 at Grundy Arena

Thursday, February 24

Class A Semifinals

1 Abington vs 4 Quakertown 7:10 at Hatfield

2 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. 3 Wissahickon 8:50 at Hat. Ice

Wednesday 3-2

Class AA Semifinals at Hatfield

7:10 Top half of Bracket

7:50 Bottom half of Bracket

Thursday Match 3

Championship Night at Hatfield

7:10 Class AA Final

8:30 Class A Final

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C.R. North 5 C.B. West 2

HATFIELD—Council Rock North is one of the major success stories of 2021-22 hockey season. Unable to field a pure team last season, the Indians were forced to drop out of the Suburban High School Hockey League.

But they have returned this year are unquestionably making an impact.

Chapter One of the North Saga concluded Thursday night with a 5-2 win over Central Bucks West at Hatfield Ice in the regular-season finale for both sides.

Jackson Accardi, Will Pasch, and Karson Grainey all scored goals in a span of 2 minutes, 9 seconds midway through the second period to break the game open.

North concluded its regular season at 8-6 (5-5 in divisional play). The Indians will be seeded somewhere between fifth and seventh for next week’s SHSHL playoffs and are hoping to land a bid in the upcoming Class A Flyers Cup tournament.

“We talked about it,” said North coach Greg McDonald. “We only had like 11 skaters. The difference between when we have a full bench and when we don’t is tremendous.

“So that was exactly what we talked about; win the small game. Win the puck battles with shifts, win the puck races, win the open spot for your teammates.”

Ryan Keil gave the Indians a 1-0 lead 7:23 into the first period off a scramble in front of West goaltender Liam Rogers

Billy Loughnane tied the game for the Buck (5-9, 2-8) off the faceoff that commenced the second period.

Rogers kept the game tied when he turned aside a blast from Lucas Siomos with 11;35 left in the period.

But the Indians eventually broke through. Accardi put his team in front for good at the 7:16 mark, Pasch followed up at 8:23 and Grainey completed the trifecta at 9:25.

The Bucks got a bit closer when Loughnane scored his second goal of the game with 2:56 remaining in regulation but couldn’t get any closer.

Grainey scored his second goal of the game into an empty net just before the clock hit all zeroes.

The evening marked the conclusion of the career of five West seniors. Their coach, Dave Baun, is pleased with how his young team matured over the course of the season.

“I’m very optimistic about the team going forward,” he said. “Nine of our players are freshmen and sophomores and that’s pretty young, but they’re all good players. When they’re all good and they’re that young, that’s a good thing because they’re only going to get better.

“And we’re expecting to add a few more good players next year.”

Ice chips— Ian Goldberg made 33 saves in the North net. The Indians will learn on February 27 whether they made the Flyers Cup field.

Council Rock North 1 3 1—5

C.B. West 0 1 1—2

First-period goal: Ryan Keil (CRN) from Noah Epstein and Karson Grainey, 7:23

Second-period goals: Billy Loughnane (CBW) from Nick Bruno and Anthony Dowd, :11; Jackson Accardi (CRN) from Grainey, 7:16; Will Pasch (CRN) from Keil 8:23; Grainey (CRN) from Accardi and Epstein, 9:25

Third-period goals: Loughnane (CBW) from Dowd, 14:04; Grainey (CRN) from Accardi, 16:59 (en)

Shots: C.R. North 43, C.B. West 35; Saves: Ian Goldberg (CRN) 33, Liam Rogers (CBW) 38

Council Rock South 3 Pennridge 3

Kevin Pico scored with 5:26 remaining in the third period to give Pennridge a 3-3 tie with Council Rock South Wednesday night at Grundy Arena. The result left the teams deadlocked at the top of the SHSHL Class AA standings with identical 9-0-1 divisional records.

Council Rock South will be seeded first for next week’s SHSHL playoffs on the basis of fewer goals allowed in divisional play (15 to 16).

Aeryk Lehraupt and Shane Dachowki also scored for the Rams. Julian Sarne, Kevin Koles and Julian Wagenmann all scored for the Golden Hawks.
Wagenmann’s goal with 5:06 remaining in the second period gave South a 3-2 lead before Pico’s goal tied the game.

Neither team scored during overtime and the SHSHL does not utilize shootouts.

Pennridge 1 1 1 0—3

C.R. South 2 1 0 0—3

First-period goals: Julian Sarne (CRS) from Kevin Koles, 7:01; Aeryk Lehrhaupt (P) from Shane Dachowski and Jack Lowery, 9:33; Koles (CRS) from David Vergules and Julian Wagenmann, 12:49;

Second-period goals: Wagenmann (CRS) unassisted, 11:54; Shane Dachowski (P) from Andrew David, 13:43

Third-period goal: Kevin Pico (P) from Tyler Manto, 11:34

La Salle 4 St. Joseph’s Prep 1

WEST GOSHEN—A high-school hockey game features 51 minutes of playing time. Wednesday’s Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference semifinal between La Salle and St. Joseph’s Prep was decided in a window of roughly two of those minutes.

The Explorers scored three goals in a span of 1 minute 19 seconds at the start of the second period and went on to a 4-1 win over the Hawks at Ice Line.

Evan Golato scored two goals for second-seeded La Salle (8-7-1) which will face top-seeded Malvern Prep next Wednesday, February 23 at Ice Line (8 p.m. start) for the Founders Cup and the APAC championship. Third-seeded St. Joseph’s Prep (8-8-1) will be idle until the Flyers Cup tournament which begins March 7; seedings will be announced on February 27.

After a scoreless first frame, La Salle broke the game open in seemingly the blink of an eye. Golato found the back of the net 1:03 into the middle period. Ryan Desmond made it 2-0 just 18 seconds later before Golato added his second goal at 2:22.

“Our momentum shifted right when our shift got out there,” Golato said. “We saw rebounds laying around all game. We buried opportunities and we kept going.”

After La Salle’s third gal, the Hawks called timeout and made a goaltender change with Rocco Bruno taking over for Ajay White. Bruno pitched a shutout the rest of the way; La Salle’s final goal, off the stick of Max Monzo was scored into an empty net with eight seconds left in the game.

La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner expressed concern about his team’s inability to sustain its momentum after its second-period surge.

“I think we had a really great start to the second period,” he said, “The first eight minutes of the second, I thought we played our game. Other than that, I didn’t think we played a great team game.

St. Joseph Prep’s only goal came from Liam Mooney in the third period.

“They beat us in two-and-a-half minutes,” Giacomin said. “They scored three goals because we didn’t cover anybody, and after that it was up and down. Both teams had chances.”

Will Braun got the win in goal, making 33 saves.

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 1—1

La Salle 0 3 1—4

Second-period goals: Evan Golato (L) from Chase Hannon, 1:03; Ryan Desmond from Jackson Lindmar, 1:15; Golato from Keenan Schneider and Max Maddalo, 2:22

Third-period goals: Liam Mooney (SJP) unassisted, :39; Maddalo (L) from Hannon, 16:52

Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 34, La Salle 31

La Salle’s three second-period goals

Video courtesy of Erin Schneider

Malvern Prep 4 Holy Ghost Prep 1

WEST GOSHEN—There wasn’t much to choose between Malvern Prep and Holy Ghost Prep Wednesday night. The end result, a 4-1 victory for the Friars, was somewhat misleading.

With two minutes remaining in regulation the two teams were locked in a 1-1 standoff but Malvern Prep scored three times in a span of 1 minute, 25 seconds to emerge victorious in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference semifinal at Iceline.

The top-seeded Friars (13-3) will host Founders Cup final next week on a date and at a time to be announced. The fifth-seeded Firebirds fell to 10-11. Both teams will be part of the Class AAA Flyers Cup field next month; the Friars are the defending champions.

Jeremy Jacobs scored what proved to be the winning goal with 1:29 left in regulation in the midst of a scramble in front of the Firebirds’ net off a setup from Matt Harris and Larocque.

Harris added a goal from long range with 1:02 remaining before scoring into an empty net with four seconds left. He noted the game was up for grabs entering the final stanza.

“We knew (Holly Ghost Prep) was going to come out strong,” he said. “We knew they had beaten Hun School 9-4 (in Monday’s play-in game) so we knew we had to keep the pressure on the whole game.”

The Firebirds controlled the first minutes of the opening period but, in a prelude of things to come, couldn’t solve Anthony Perti in the Friars’ net and eventually momentum shifted Malvern Prep’s way.

Pierre Larocque gave the Friars a 1-0 just past the midway point of the opening period on a goal off an offensive-right-wing faceoff.

That was all the scoring there was until Kieran Mulholland tied the game for Holy Ghost Prep 2:54 into the final period.

It was a testament to both goaltenders that there wasn’t more scoring; both came up big. Perti stopped 31 of the 32 shots he saw. His counterpart, Jason Soule made 36 saves including a stop on a backhander from Harris that kept the score 1-0 at the time.

Harris lauded Perti’s work. “It meant a lot,” he said. “Our goalie has ben playing phenomenal. During this last stretch it’s pretty much win or go home. The goalies have to be hot.”

Firebird coach Gump Whiteside felt his team deserved better. “A credit to Malvern Prep,” he said. They had our number tonight, they’ve had our number all year. (But) we have the Flyers Cup to look forward to.”

Holy Ghost Prep 0 0 1

Malvern Prep 1 0 3—4

First-period goal: Pierre Larocque (MP) from Brayden Baum and Hayden Campbell, 8:27

Third-period goals: Kieran Mulholland (HGP) from Dominic Lombardo and Brandon Barger, 2:54; Jeremy Jacobs (MP) from Matt Harris and Larocque, 15:31 Harris (MP) unassisted, 15:58; Harris (MP) unassisted 16:56

Shots: Malvern Prep 40, Holy Ghost Prep 32; Saves: Jason Soule (HGP) 36, Anthony Perti (MP) 31

SHSHL Update for 2-15-22

National/Continental-Class AA W L T OTL Pts

Pennridge (14-0-1) 9 0 1 0 19

Council Rock South (11-1-2) 9 0 1 0 19

Pennsbury (9-3-1) 7 2 0 0 14

Central Bucks South (5-6-1) 5 3 0 1 11

Neshaminy (8-4-1) 5 4 0 0 10

Council Rock North (8-6) 5 5 0 0 10

Central Bucks East (6-8) 5 5 0 0 10

Souderton (6-7) 4 6 0 0 8

Bensalem (3-11) 1 8 0 0 2

Central Bucks West (5-9) 1 8 0 0 2

North Penn (1-13) 0 10 0 0 0

American Division-Class A W L T OTL Pts

Abington (13-1) 12 0 0 0 24

Plymouth Whitemarsh (11-3) 9 3 0 0 18

Wissahickon (8-7) 8 4 0 0 14

Quakertown (7-8) 7 5 0 0 14

William Tennent (3-12) 3 9 0 0 6

Upper Dublin (3-10-0-1) 2 8 0 1 5

Hatboro-Horsham (1-13) 0 11 0 0 0

teams in bold will be the teams competing in the SHSHL playoffs. A berth in the SHSHL playoffs does not assure a team of a place in the Flyers Cup tournament.

Scoring

Class AA G A Pts

Karson Grainey (CRN) 25 13 38

Shane Siegmund (PB) 14 22 36

Brendan Macainsh (Pb) 19 12 31

Kevin Pico (Pr) 15 13 28

Nick Hahn (CRN) 10 18 28

Kevin Koles (CRS) 12 14 26

Max Gallagher (Nesh) 13 10 23

Jackson Accardi 15 7 22

Reece Millman (Pb) 10 11 21

Aydin Thierolf (CBS) 13 7 20

Holy Ghost Prep 9 The Hun School 4

Hamilton Township, N.J.— It is often said that the postseason marks a new beginning. So it was for Holy Ghost Prep Monday afternoon. The Firebirds produced their best offensive output of the season over the course of a 9-4 win over The Hun School in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference play-in game at Iceland in front of an audience that included as substantial number of Holy Ghost Prep supporters.

Brady Baehser scored three goals and assisted on two others for fifth-seeded Holy Ghost Prep (10-10).

The Firebirds move on to face top-seeded Malvern Prep in a Founders Cup semifinal game Wednesday night at Ice Line (6:45 start). Seth Kaplan scored three goals for fourth-seeded Hun School, which finished its season at 8-9.

Wednesday’s result comes less than 72 hours after the Raiders handed the Firebirds a 2-1 loss in Friday’s regular-season finale.

But Baehser said he and his teammates have refocused of late. “Over the past two weeks, after the losing streak, we kind of regrouped,” he said. “Our coaches gave us a new plan for practice. I think Friday we came out and played well, we just couldn’t score. Today, we just found the back of the net a lot more.”

Six different Firebirds scored goals on Wednesday, a total of 12 were listed on the scoresheet.

“It was nice to see Point Night for the Firebirds finally,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside. “It was a great effort. We never gave up on our guys. It’s attribute to them, the way they played three solid periods.”

Baesher scored one goal and assisted Dominic Lombardo’s effort as Holy Ghost Prep took a 2-1 first-period lead.

Perhaps the biggest surprised of the afternoon came after Sean Marshall scored the first of his two goals 7:41 into the second frame. At that point, Hun School coach Ian McNally made a goaltender change, inserting Stephen Chen in place of starter Jack Borek who surrendered three goals on 10 shots

Riley Frost scored for the Raiders at the 10:04 mark to make it a one-goal game but the Firebirds responded with three unanswered goals to take a 6-2 lead 2:24 into the third period and were more or less in control thereafter.

Borek returned to the net for the start of the third period after Chen allowed two goals on 11 shots.

“Once we’d score, we were never able to build on it,” McNally said. “They’d score seconds later and you could never keep any momentum going.”

While Monday brought the Hun School season to an end, it was a season that saw the Raider hockey program get back on track; the 2020-21 season was limited to three games because of Covid issues. This season, Hun School participated in the APAC for the first time, which assured the Raiders of a postseason to point toward.

“I think it’s been great,” McNally said. “We don’t have a state tournament because there aren’t enough teams of like size or teams that want to participate.

“This kind of gives us a taste of what it can be like to finish our season with games that mean something and the potential to host games, so we’re very happy.”

Holy Ghost Prep 2 3 4—9

Hun School 1 1 2—4

First-period goals: Seth Kaplan (SH) from Elian Estolin and Christian Clover, 11:13; Brady Baehser (HGP) from Landon Stout, 11:40; Dominic Lombardo (HGP) from Baehser 13:27 (pp)

Second-period goals: Sean Marshall (HGP) from Brian Butler, 7:41; Riley Frost (HS) from Josh Oullette, 10:04; Baehser (HGP) from Shaun Moore, 12:31; Kieran Mulholland (HGP) from Baehser 14:59 (pp)

Third-period goals: Baehser (HGP) from Landon Stout, 2:24; Kaplan (HS) unassisted, 6:59; Marshall (HGP) from John Seravalli and Colin Moore, (pp); Shaun Moore (HGP) from Mulholland, 9:46; Kaplan (HS) from Estulin and Frost, 11:55 (pp) Logan Barnes (HGP) from Brandon Barger and Michael Holt , 15:37

Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 33, Hun School 32; Saves: Jason Soule (HGP) 28, Jack Borek (HS) 15 and Stephen Chen (HS) 9

For more information about The Hun School CLICK HERE

For more about Holy Ghost Prep CLICK HERE

Flyers Cup Rankings for 2-14

The latest set of Flyers Cup rankings have been released. The rankings are determined based on won-loss records, strength of schedule, and observations by members of the Flyers Cup Competition Committee.

AAA

Malvern Prep (APAC)
La Salle College High School (APAC)
St. Joes Prep (APAC)
Holy Ghost Prep (APAC)
Cardinal O’Hara (ICSHL PCL)

Pennridge (SHSHL Continental)
Haverford High (ICSHL Central)
Council Rock South (SHSHL National)
Avon Grove (ICSHL Ches-Mont)
Pennsbury (SHSHL National)

West Chester East (ICSHL Ches-Mont)
Springfield (ICSHL Central)
West Chester Rustin (ICSHL Ches-Mont)
Hershey (CPIHL)
Palmyra (CPIHL)

NJ/DE

Salesianum (ICSHL PCL)
Eastern (SJHSHL)
Shawnee (SJHSHL)
Moorestown (SJHSHL)
Kingsway (SJHSHL)
Cherokee (SJHSHL)

Girls

West Chester Henderson (ICSHL National)
Avon Grove (ICSHL National)
Downingtown West (ICSHL National)
Unionville (ICSHL American)
Kingsway (ICSHL American)

The tournament field will be announced on Sunday, February 27. There are no automatic bids.

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Hun School 2 Holy Ghost Prep 1

BRISTOL—Holy Ghost Prep and The Hun School left everything they had on the ice Friday night. There was little to separate the two teams, save for Josh Ouelette’s goal 21 seconds into the third period that gave the Raiders a 2-1 win in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference’s regular-season finale at Grundy Arena.

The two teams will do it all over again Monday afternoon at 4:00 at Ice Land in the play-in game that will kick off the postseason. The Raiders (8-8, 3-4-1-0 in conference) tied St. Joseph’s Prep for third place in the regular-season standings but lost a tiebreaker for the third slot on goal differential and are seeded fourth for the APAC playoffs. The Firebirds (9-10, 1-5-1-1 in the APAC) are seeded fifth.

The winning goal came off a faceoff in the Raiders’ offensive right wing circle.

“I was surprised that I even scored right off the faceoff,” Ouelette said. “I just put it in.”

Ouelette embraced the atmosphere in the building in what was the Firebirds’ Senior Night. “The whole crowd was electric,” he said.

Prior to Hun School joining the APAC this season, Head Coach Ian McDonald regularly brought the Raiders to Grundy Arena for non-league games.

“We’ve been coming here for eight or nine years, playing Holy Ghost in this rink,” he said. “The game is always awesome, close, up and down the ice, scoring chances each way.”

Holy Ghost Prep, which was trying to end an eight-game losing streak, had much the better of a scoreless first period, but was unable to solve Stephen Chen in the Raider net; the junior made 14 saves in the opening 17 minutes.

Kieran Mulholland gave the Firebirds a 1-0 lead 2:53 into the second session when scored a shorthanded goal on a scramble in front of the Raider net.

Hun School drew even at 7:10 when Brendan Marino hit Ryan Croddick in full stride, allowing the latter to move in on Firebird goaltender Jason Soule. Soule made a quality save but Crodddick put in the rebound.

Four-and-a-half minutes later Croddick was excused for the evening after a disagreement with Holy Ghost Prep’s Brendan Schultz. Schultz drew a roughing minor but Croddick was accessed a five-minute major for head butting plus an automatic game misconduct, meaning he’ll be suspended for Monday’s playoff game.

That was the end of the fireworks until the winning goal.

Holy Ghost Prep captain Sean Marshall praised the efforts of his teammates, despite the loss. “Just from the way we’ve been playing the last couple months, we knew we had to have a great game here,” he said. “I thought we played great. I thought we won pretty much every 50-50 battle in the corners. “We had tons of chances, we just, I don’t know, ran into a hot goalie.”

Firebird coach Gump Whiteside thought his team deserved a better fate. “I thought the boys deserved better,” he said, “But that’s why you play three periods. I thought we played really well today.”

Hun School 0 1 1—2

Holy Ghost Prep 0 1 0—1

Second-period goals: Kieran Mulholland (HGP) unassisted, 2:53 (sh); Ryan Croddick (HS) from Brendan Marino, 7:10

Third-period goal: Josh Ouellette (HS) from Simon Gregoire, :21

Shots: Hun School 26, Holy Ghost Prep 33; Saves: Stephen Chen (HS) 32, Jason Soule (HGP) 24

Playoff Ponderings

The Founders Cup playoff schedule is as follows

Monday, February 14 Play In

(5) Holy Ghost Prep at (4) Hun School 4 p.m. at Ice Land

Wednesday, February 16

Monday’s winner vs (1) Malvern Prep 6:45 ay Ice Line

(3) St. Joseph’s Prep vs (2) La Salle 8:45 at Ice Line

Founders Cup final will be played February 23 or 24 and hosted by the highest-seeded finalist.

Wissahickon 7 Plymouth Whitemarsh 2

Thursday proved to be an eventful evening at Hatfield Ice. Both Wissahickon and Plymouth Whitemarsh had reason to feel good about what they accomplished, albeit using different criteria.

The Trojans dominated on the ice, scoring three first-period goals on the way to a 7-2 SHSHL American Division win. A.J. Pounds, Nolan Pounds, and Nick Hussa all scored two goals as the Trojans improved to 7-6 overall and 7-3 in divisional play with two games remaining.

Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington called it his team’s best effort of the year. “Our team played together,” he said. “Against a good opponent. We always have good matchups with P-W.”

Harrington said there have been signs team has been coming together. The Trojans have won five of their last seven starts, although they had lost two straight coming into Thursday.

“We’ve been jelling,” he said, “but we weren’t really getting results as much. We kept to it. it was almost you could see them thinking ‘Yeah, this works.’”

For the Colonials (10-3, 8-2) it was a disappointing result at best. They are no longer on control of their destiny in the American Division title chase and Thursday’s setback may leave a negative impression in the minds of those who seed the Class A Flyers Cup field.

Luke Weikel and Aidan Keogh scored goals but there were few other bright spots for Colonial coach Josh Aiello to point to.

“Tonight was not our best game,” he said.

But the Colonials came up big with their efforts in support of Hockey Fights Cancer, an organization that was founded in 1998 by the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players Association to support cancer patients and their families. Proceeds from Thursday’s game, including tee shirt sales, will be donated to Hockey Fights Cancer.

It’s the sixth straight year the Plymouth Whitemarsh hockey program has held a charitable event in conjunction with a game. The event is organized by the players.

“This particular year we did Hockey Fights Cancer,” Aiello said. “In the past we’ve done Team Cancer America and the Susan G. Komen Foundation (breast cancer awareness).

“I’m just proud of our guys,” Aiello said. “We’re dedicated to performing well on the ice but it’s equally as important to do good outside of the rink and our players have been focused on that year after year. I’m really proud of our guys.”

• The Trojans lost forward Nick Bonnani in the third period after he drew a major penalty for fighting. It was his fourth penalty of the game. Bonnani will likely serve a suspension.

Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 0 1—2

Wissahickon 3 3 1—7

First-period goals: Nick Hussa from Ty Schiff, 4:15; A.J. Pounds from Nick Hussa, 11:31; Luke Weikel (PW) from Dylan Novitski and Aidan Keogh 12:13; Nick Hussa from Schiff and Nick Pounds, 13:42 (pp)

Second-period goals: Will Hussa from Schiff, 2:39; Nolan Pounds from Nick Pounds, 12:48; Nolan Pounds from A.J. Pounds and John Kufner, 16:55

Third-period goals: Keogh (PW) from Conlan Carpenter, 10:34 (pp); A.J. Pounds from Griffin Lynch, 11:44 (sh)

Shots: Plymouth Whitemarsh 25, Wissahickon 33; Saves: Kolton Galike (PW) 26, Michael Bonnani 23

Jeff Mauro has written a book on the history of the Pennsylvania state high school hockey championship. To find out more and order a copy CLICK HERE