Your Source for High School Hockey
Ryan Levesque and scored two goals as the Raiders won on the road Thursday evening. Joachim Neverdal and Luke Rassler also scored goals as Hun School improved to 3-6 on the season.
Lavesque and Justin Laplante each had two assists while P.J. Angotti made 25 saves in goal.
SCHWENKSVILLE—LaSalle tightened its hold on the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference lead Wednesday night. The Explorers scored twice before the game was two-and-a-half minutes old and went on post a 5-2 in over Holy Ghost Prep in the APAC Winter Classic before an engaged but subdued audience at the Spring Mountain resort.
The win kept La Salle perfect in APAC play at 5-0 and improved its overall mark to 14-2; the Explorers have won seven of their last eight starts,
The Firebirds dropped to 5-10 overall an 1-3 in the APAC.
The Explorers took command early on. Ryan Wiley beat Firebird goaltender John Botthof just 81 seconds after the opening faceoff. Ben Fralicki made it a 2-0 game 59 seconds after that on what appeared to be a harmless flick from the right faceoff circle that Botthof appeared to lose sight of.
For the remainder of the first period and all of the second the Explorers never looked back. Grant LaGrecca and Julian Tarsi added second-period goals to send Bottoff to the bench while La Salle netminder Jake Rossi and his defense corps kept the Firebirds at bay, limiting then to just seven shots over two periods. One of them, from Patrick Slook, found the back of the net with 5:38 left in the second session.
Holy Ghost Prep started the final period with a 1minute, 28-second man advantage but couldn’t capitalize on it. the power-play chance did set the tone for the third period however Emotions boiled over, keeping the referees busy; they called nine penalties in the final 17 minutes six of them against La Salle.
Brian Kinniry drew the Firebirds closer when he scored with 7:40 remaining while his team was enjoying a two-man advantage. But Holy Ghost Prep couldn’t get any closer.
Liam Donahue finished the scoring for La Salle with an empty-net goal with eight seconds remaining.
“I think we did a pretty good job killing penalties,” said Explorer head coach Wally Muehllbronner. “I’ll leave it at that.”
The Explorers have played seven games since December 21 leaving virtually no time for practice. With just two games scheduled the rest of January, Muehlbronner is looking forward to doing some fine tuning with his players.
“We’re going to get into a good stretch where we’re going to have quite a few more practices,” he said. “Honestly, we haven’t had a practice on probably a month.”
Holy Ghost Prep finished with just 17 shots on goal.
Firebird coach John Ritchie was straightforward when accessing his team’s performance.
“I was very disappointed in the effort and the attitude of our team today,” he said.
Ice chips—The first game of the scheduled doubleheader between St. Joseph’s Prep and Malvern Prep was postponed. That game has been rescheduled for February 5 at Spring Mountain.
La Salle 2 2 1—5
Holy Ghost Prep 0 1 1—2
First-period goals: Ryan Wiley (L) from Patrick Brace and Charles Budd, 1:21; Ben Falicki (L) from Liam Donahue and Declan Kelly, 2:20
Second-period goals: Grant LaGreca (L) from Cameron Ross and Will Carpenter, 3:12; Julian Tarsi (L) from Carpenter, 9:37 (pp); Patrick Slook (HGP) from Ryan Lippy and Anthony Valeriote 11:22
Third-period goals: Brian Kinniry (HGP) from Patryk Oszer and Joseph Kaufmann, 9:20 (pp); Liam Donahue (L) unassisted, 16:52 (en)
Shots: La Salle 27, Holy Ghost Prep 17; Saves; Jake Rossi (L) 15, John Botthof (HGP) 20 and Jack Unger (HGP) 3
The Holy Ghost Prep hockey team returned home from its post-New Year’s trip to Pittsburgh with a sense of accomplishment that went far beyond the two victories they achieved on the ice.
The Firebirds spent time with the students at the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech, a school for speech and hearing impaired students in grades K-8. The institution focuses on teaching its students, among other things, how to use Cochlear implants.
The Firebirds made the trip as part of the Spiritan Immersion Program a community service initiative that is at the core of Holy Ghost Prep’s educational and spiritual mission.
The Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds
The hockey players spent time in the classroom and on the ice with the DePaul students. Senior Pat Slook talked about the experience.
“We got to walk around the school and meet some of the kids,” he said. “It’s a very small school, I believe there are less than 100 students.
“We were able to take them across street to the Hunt Armory where we played both our games and take them ice skating, which was a really cool experience for all the players.”
Slook embraces using his passion for hockey to give back.
“There’s a bunch of Spiritan programs that we do at Ghost but I think this is really cool one,” he said. “From the hockey aspect, as hockey players, we get to take them ice skating and we get to use the game as a connection because if you had been there you’d see how much fun the kids had going ice skating. It’s cool for everybody, it’s really fun for everybody and I really loved it.”
Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie credited Ryan Abramson, the school’s director of admissions, for arranging the details of the trip.
“Our players really walked into a situation where they could kind of get the most out of it,” he said, “because all the other stuff has been taken care of for them.”
Ritchie marveled at how his student-athletes bonded with the DePaul students.
“Sometimes it can be uncomfortable, being around people that have disabilities,” he said, “and watching our guys interact with these young kids blew me away.
“These guys were skating with students at the school for 60 straight minutes and had smile on their faces. And the kids were getting to experience something that otherwise they might not get a chance to the fact that we kind of blend our sport while providing an opportunity for these students, and also a great learning opportunity for our guys. It was just overall a really, really great trip.”
For Ritchie, a special-education teacher himself, the trip hit close to home.”
“Absolutely,” he said. “I’ve been working in special education for the last 15 years.
“I’ve worked with special Olympics and the opportunity for Ghost to again blend these types of trips with the school mission is an opportunity that I’m glad these guys get a chance to do when their adolescents, where a lot of adults might not even have that opportunity. So, the fact they’re getting this experience now as high school students is super important for them as they continue to grow and develop as young men.”
National Division W L T OW OL Pts
Pennridge (12-0-1) 11 0 1 0 0 0 23
Council Rock South (12-1-0) 11 1 0 0 0 22
Cent. Bucks South (8-3-1) 8 2 1 0 1 18
Central Bucks East (6-4-1) 6 4 1 0 0 13
North Penn (6-4-0) 6 4 0 0 0 12
Souderton (4-6-0) 4 6 2 2 0 9
Pennsbury (3-8-0) 3 8 0 0 2 8
Neshaminy (2-6-2) 1 7 2 0 0 4
Cent. Bucks West (1-10-1) 1 10 1 0 1 4
Council Rock North (1-10-0) 1 10 0 0 0 2
American Division W L T OW OL Pts
Bensalem (8-1) 6 1 0 1 1 15
Plymouth White. (7-2) 6 1 0 1 1 13
Abington (3-4-1) 3 2 0 0 0 6
Wissahickon (2-9) 2 7 0 0 1 4
Springfield (1-9) 1 8 0 0 1 1
National Division Scoring G A Pts
Andrew Savona (Pr) 24 22 46
Kevin Pico (Pr) 15 30 45
Shane Dachowski (Pr) 18 20 38
Kevin Koles (CRS) 17 20 37
Jake Weiner (CRS) 21 16 37
Blaize Pepe (CRS) 14 17 31
Maxwell Ryon (Soud) 18 10 28
Illia Mukhin (CRS) 10 13 23
Corey Kosick (CBE) 16 6 22
Gavin Nisenon (CRS) 11 11 22
Seth Grossman (Soud) 13 9 22
American Division Scoring G A Pts
Alex Hood (Bens) 34 12 46
Tim Murphy (PW) 8 15 23
Dylan Novitski (PW) 15 8 23
David Branigan (PW) 12 10 22
Seamus Donofry (Ab) 5 17 22
Alex Bazylevich (Bens) 7 15 22
Daniel Guller (PW) 7 15 22
Owen Quinn (Sp) 13 8 21
Jason Segal (PW) 11 9 20
Michael Tomano (Ab) 9 8 17
Carter Short and Calum Hartnell each contributed two goals and an assist as St. Joseph’s Prep opened the post-holiday portion of its schedule with a 10-3 win over The Haverford School Friday night at the Skatium.
Shane O’Neill, Michael Castelli, Patrick Sweeney, Robert McGinn, and Jake Schultz also scored goals for the Hawks (11-4) who broke the game open with five goals in the second period. Brayden Collins provided four assists.
Declan Geary got the win in goal.
Jack Torr scored twice for the Fords. Reece Childs also scored.
“After a sluggish start we played well in the second a third periods,” said Hawk coach David Giacomin. We moved the puck and created many chances. Noah Stuhl and Calum Hartnell both played very well.”
St. Joseph’s Prep returns to action Wednesday evening against Malvern Prep (5:00) at the Spring Mountain resort as part of the APAC’s outdoor doubleheader.
The other half of the twin bill will match La Salle and Holy Ghost Prep at 7:15.
Haverford School 1 0 2—3
St. Joseph’s Prep 1 5 4—10
First-period goals: Jack Torr (SJP) unassisted, :26; Robert McGinn (SJP) from Jake Schultz and Brayden Collins, 12:35 (pp)
Second-period goals: Michael Castelli (SP) from Caden Kelly and Calum Hartnell, 2:26; Patrick Sweeney (SJP) from Collins and Noah Stuhl, 3:57; Shane O’Neill (SJP) unassisted, 10:29; Schultz (SJP) from Carter Short and John Lynch, 12:49; Hartnell (SJP) from Thomas Ely, 14:05
Third-period goals: Jack Torr (HS) from Esref Erkmen, 3:19 (pp); Hartnell (SJP) from O’Neill and Declan Geary, 7:15; Short (SJP) from Collins and McGinn, 10:10; Stuhl (SJP) from Tyler DeGirolamo and Lynch, (pp); Short (SJP) from Collins and Geary, 13:12; Reese Childs (HS) from Connor Gillespie, 13:46
Shots: Haverford School 30, St. Joseph’s Prep 47; Saves: Andrew Bradley (HS) 37, Declan Geary (SJP) 27
The bubble of invincibility that has surrounded the Pennridge Rams all season long burst Thursday night.
Ethan Cenci’s goal with 1.3 seconds remaining in regulation gave Central Bucks East a 3-3 draw with the Rams at Hatfield Ice. It was the first blemish of the season for Pennridge, which now stands 11-0-1 in the SHSHL National Division and 12-0-1 overall.
Pennridge took a 2-1 lead into the third period but Jaden Young tied the game for East with 4:19 left in regulation off a Pennridge breakdown.
The Rams seemingly dodged a bullet when Tyler Manto beat Cole Breen with a rocket from the left circle with 2:11 remaining to put his team back in front. It was Manto’s second goal of the game.
But just 30 seconds later, he was sent to the box for roughing, giving the Patriots a power play. With 5.8 seconds showing on the clock, Manto’s teammate Shane Dachowski was whistled for cross checking, giving East a two-man advantage and, more importantly, the offensive zone faceoff it needed to set up the game-tying goal which came off a scramble in front of Pennridge netminder Jacob Winton.
Dachowski’s penalty also allowed the Patriots to start the overtime with a four-skater-to-three advantage.
Pennridge had seemingly more opportunities during the extra five minutes but the clock struck zero with the two teams and seemingly headed in opposite directions.
For the Patriots (6-3-1 overall and in the division) it was a result that felt like a win.
“I can’t explain how proud I am of the boys,” said East coach Jeff Mitchell, “for just sticking there at the end.
“We pretty much had a good momentum on the bench the entire game. It started to get a little chippy at the end of the second, getting into the third. We started to lose our way a little bit but the boys banded together.
We had pretty much production from all three lines. Not so much points, but getting the puck out and maintaining great possession. And Cole kept everything out he should have.”
Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna minced no words while accessing the performance of his own team.
“We were terrible tonight,” he said. “We took penalties that cost us, but when you play the way we did and let them hang around the way we did, it was only a matter of time.
“We did not deserve to win that game. Period. It was as bad as we’ve been all year. And it’s as angry as I’ve been all year.”
Pennridge 2 0 1—3
C.B. East 1 0 2—3
First-period goals: Corey Kosick (CBE) unassisted, 5:24; Andrew Savona (P) from Colin Dachowki and Kevin Pico, 5:49; Tyler Manto (P) from Colin Dachowki, 16:56
Third-period goals: Jaden Young (CBE) from Drew Trask and Ryan Gergen, 12:41; Tyler Manto (P) from James Embert, 14:49; Ethan Cenci (CBE) unassisted, 15:59
Shots: Pennridge 36, C.B. East 25; Saves: Jacob Winton (P) 22, Cole Breen (CBE) 33
Jake McCaw and Patryk Oszer scored two goals each as the Firebirds rolled to the win in Pittsburgh Thursday night.
John Gavaghan, Brian Kinniry, Mike Holt, and Matt Cholaj also scored goals for Holy Ghost Prep. Cholaj added two assists, while Colin Bara assisted on three of his team’s goals.
HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Two precious points. That’s what was at stake when Pennsbury and Souderton laced up their skates at Hatfield Ice Wednesday night.
The two points at stake would enhance the winner’s status in the fight for a SHSHL National Division playoff spot and hopefully attract the notice of the Flyers Cup Committee.
It took overtime to settle the issue. Seth Grossman’s goal 2 minutes, 40 seconds into the extra session gave the Big Red a 2-1 win. It was Souderton’s second-one goal win over the Falcons this season; the first was a 9-8 decision on November 15.
Both sides took something away from the evening. Since the game went to overtime each team got a point in the standings with the Big Red (4-6) getting an extra point for the win.
Souderton coach Ryan Uchniat left no doubt as to the significance of those two precious points.
“Huge,” he said. Pennsbury is playing great hockey. We’re locked in with them in the standings [Off Wednesday’s result, Souderton is one point ahead of the Falcons with a game in hand]. We’re taking it one game time but [the playoffs] are the end goal. That’s where we’re hoping to be at the end of the year.”
Max Ryon scored two goals and added an assist for the Big Red and four of Ryon’s teammates also scored goals, but the most important player on the ice in Souderton colors was goaltender Connor Paulus. A junior who only started playing hockey as a freshman, and a first-year goaltender to boot, Paulus came up big on a night when his team needed him, he finished with 26 saves.
“He excelled,” Uchniat said. “He win this game for us.”
Paulus said he put the pads on because his team needed a goaltender.
“I think I’m getting a feel for it,” he said.
Grossman saluted his goaltender’s effort.
“[Paulus] been making extreme strides in his play throughout the season,” he said. “He’s been getting better each game. I think you could see this game, he stood on his head. He really bailed us out a couple times.”
Paulus’s effort also drew raves from Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley. [Paulus] was playing out of his mind,” he said. “It was a very special game for him.”
The Falcons (3-8) appeared to have the momentum late in the second frame when Souderton, which was leading 4-3 at the time, drew two penalties 39 seconds apart, giving Pennsbury a two-man advantage.
The Falcons made the most of the opportunity; Logan Doyle and Jason Fowler scored power-play goals 33 seconds apart to give Pennsbury a 5-4 lead with 2:20 left in the period.
But the Falcons could not solve Paulus again. Ryon tied the game with 4:30 left in regulation to set up the finish.
Fittingly enough, he made of his best saves when he denied Chris Sarver 59 seconds into overtime.
For the Falcons, the defending Class AA Flyers Cup champions, it was another case of ‘Almost.’ Four of their eight losses have come by one goal.
“Truly the record doesn’t reflect the talent of our team,” Daley said. “We’ve definitely improved since the beginning of the season. We’re a couple plays away from having six wins.”
Pennsbury 2 3 0 0—5
Souderton 2 2 1 1—6
First-period goals: Chris Sarver (P) unassisted, 7:12; Jackson Kelly (S) from Nick Smith, 8:52; Max Ryon (S) from Matt Malagna, 10:50; Stephen Grosscup (P) from Shane Gleisner and Kevin Derosa, 16:20
Second-period goals: Marcus Roberts (P) from Evan Eisler and Derosa, 5:10; Matthew Cross (S) from Ryon and Pierceson Egan, 6:07 (pp) Smith (S) unassisted, 12:03; Logan Doyle (P) from Sarver and Jason Fowler, 14:07 (pp): Fowler (P) from Doyle, 14:40 (pp)
Third-period goal: Ryon (S) unassisted, 12:30
Overtime goal: Seth Grossman (S) from Smith, 2:40
Shots: Pennsbury 31, Souderton 25; Saves: Aaron McDaniel (P) 19, Connor Paulus (S) 26
The Firebirds scored three first-period goals and went on to the win Wednesday night on the first leg of their trip to Pittsburgh.
Brian Kinniry scored two goals for the winners and assisted on two others. Patryk Oszer had a three-point night with a goal and two assists while Anthony Valerote collected three assists.
Dillon Gallagher made 17 saves in goal.
Holy Ghost Prep 3 3 1—7
Kiski School 0 1 0—1
First-period goals: Colin Bara (HGP) from Brian Kinniry, 2:17; Kinniry (HGP) from Patrick Oszer, 6:33; Santino Tiberio (HGP) from Oszer, 12:33
Second-period goals: Oszer (HGP) from Kinniry, 1:48 (pp); KInniry (HGP) from Anthony Valerote and Joseph Kauffman, 4:38; Chris Marshall (HGP) from Michael Holt and Valerote, 8:13; Jack Williams (K) unassisted, 14:26 (pp)
Third-period goal: Patrick Slook (HGP) from Matt Cholaj and Valerote, 14:26 (pp)
Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 30, Kiski 18; Saves: Dillon Gallagher (HGP) 17, Maxim Ingerman (K) 23
National Division W L T OW OL Pts
Pennridge (12-0) 11 1 0 0 0 22
Council Rock South (10-1-0) 9 1 0 0 0 18
Cent. Bucks South (7-3-1) 7 2 1 0 1 16
North Penn (6-3) 6 3 0 0 0 12
Central Bucks East (6-3) 6 3 1 0 0 8
Pennsbury (3-8) 3 7 0 0 1 7
Souderton (3-6) 3 6 2 1 0 7
Neshaminy (2-6-2) 1 6 2 0 0 4
Cent. Bucks West (1-9-1) 1 9 1 0 0 4
Council Rock North (0-10) 0 10 0 0 0 0
American Division W L T OW OL Pts
Plymouth White. (6-2) 6 1 0 0 1 13
Bensalem (6-1) 6 1 0 1 1 13
Abington (3-4-1) 2 4 1 0 0 5
Wissahickon (2-2) 2 7 0 0 1 4
Springfield (0-9) 0 5 0 0 1 1
National Division Scoring G A Pts
Andrew Savona (Pr) 23 22 45
Kevin Pico (Pr) 15 29 44
Shane Dachowski (Pr) 18 20 38
Kevin Koles (CRS) 16 18 34
Jake Weiner (CRS) 16 14 30
Blaize Pepe (CRS) 11 15 26
Maxwell Ryon (Soud) 16 9 25
Corey Kosick (CBE) 15 6 21
Gavin Nisenon (CRS) 11 9 20
Seth Grossman (Soud) 8 12 20
American Division Scoring G A Pts
Alex Hood (Bens) 29 11 40
Dylan Novitski (PW) 13 8 21
Daniel Guller (PW) 7 14 21
David Branigan (PW) 10 10 20
Jason Segal (PW) 11 9 20
Tim Murphy (PW) 6 12 18
Alex Bazylevich (Bens) 5 13 18
Seamus Donofry (Ab) 4 14 18
Michael Tomano (Ab) 9 8 17
Daniel Hussa (Wiss) 14 2 16
Lucas Gonzaalez (Bens) 4 12 16
Hockey Happenings 