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The Raiders dropped a one-goal decision to the visiting Tide on Thursday in their season opener at Ice Land. Anders Van Raalte, Lucas Jean, and Justin Bibeau scored the Hun School goals.
“Overall I’m happy with our first game as a group,” said Hun School coach Eric Szeker. “We got better as the game went along and ran into a very hot goaltender.”
BRISTOL—There wasn’t a lot of slash and sizzle to what Malvern Prep was doing on Tuesday afternoon. But hockey games are not decided on style points.
Two third-period power-play goals in a span of 71 seconds allowed the Friars to overcome a 1-0 deficit and they went on from there to defeat Holy Ghost Prep 4-2 in an APAC game at Grundy Arena.
Teague Murray scored two goals and assisted on a third as Malvern Prep (2-1 overall) opened conference play with a win.
The host Firebirds (2-1, 1-1 in the APAC) took a 1-0 lead on Logan Barnes’ goal 1:37 into the second period on a play that started off a scramble for a loose puck the neutral one. Murray set up House Young for the game-tying goal which came with 3:58 remaining in the period and erased the deficit.
“I think that’s kind of our identity this year,” Murray said. “We went down, we’ve been down early in every game we’ve played but we keep battling. That’s just kind of our identity.”
The Firebirds were undone by self-inflicted wounds. With 33 seconds left in the second frame Brady Logue was flagged for interference, giving Malvern Prep a split power play.
Murray gave his team the lead 52 seconds into the third period when he topped home Matt Barbacane’s shot from the left point.
Just 19 seconds later Malvern Prep was awarded another power play when Holy Ghost Prep’s Anthony Valeriote was whistled for interference. Pax Hoishik delivered a power play goal just 52 seconds after that to give the Friars a two-goal lead.
Brian Kinniry gave the Firebirds a last-gasp opportunity when he beat Matt Crawford in the Malvern Prep net with 53 seconds to go but it took just 15 additional seconds for Murray to respond.
Afterward, he spoke of the importance of shepherding his younger teammates through the rigors what for some was their first APAC game.
“It’s super important,” the senior said. “They’ve got to know there’s not going to be any flashy goals when you’re playing good teams like Ghost and La Salle. You’ve got to get gritty goals.
Murray notes that Malvern Prep’s power play has improved since the season kicked off.
“The first two games were a little rusty,” he said, “but now we’re starting to pick it up and we were really clicking this game.”
Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan cited his team’s blur-collar approach.
“We had a lot of grit that game,” he said. “The first period was completely back and forth, up and down the ice, got some shots on net, got some power plays late in the second and early in the third and we capitalized on them.
“Right now, we’re feeling good with where we’re at.”
• Crawford finished with 22 saves. Matt Salita made 17 saves for Holy Ghost. Salita is the third goaltender the Firebirds have started in three game. each has played one full game.
Malvern Prep 0 1 3—4
Holy Ghost Prep 0 1 1—2
Second-period goals: Logan Barnes (HGP) from Colin Bara, 1:37; House Young (MP) from Teague Murray, 13:02
Third-period goals: Murray (MP) from Matt Barbacane and Cole Scarbinsky, :52 (pp); Pax Hoishik (MP) unassisted, 2:03 (pp); Brian Kinniry (HGP)) from Bara, 16:07; Murray (MP) unassisted, 16:32
Shots: Malvern Prep 21, Holy Ghost Prep 23; saves: Matt Crawford (MP) 22, Matt Salita (HGP) 17
St. Joseph’s Prep overcame an early 1-0 deficit and went on to defeat The Haverford School 4-1 on Wednesday afternoon at the Class of 1923 Rink in a non-league game.
Henry Cagliuso gave the Fords the lead with 4:57 left in the first period bur Caden Kelly tied the game for the Hawks with one minute left in the second session. Jai Perry-Pereira put his team in front with 7:43 left in the game before Frank Ely and Tristan Winata added goals in the final minute.
The Hawks (1-1) outshot the Fords 47-12 but Ike Matoney kept Haverford in the game with his work in goal.
“We played pretty well,” said Hawks coach David Giacomin. “We dad great puck movement and pressure. Haverford packed it in defensively and their goalie was awesome.”
Thanksgiving is still over a week away but North Penn is already attracting a lot of attention.
The Knights are unbeaten in four starts after a 6-2 win over Downingtown West last Friday night in a game that was part of the SHSHL-ICSHL crossover series. They’re 3-0 in SHSHL National Division play with a trip to Council Rock South awaiting on Wednesday night (7:20 at Grundy Arena).
The Knights are scoring a lot of goals; they’re averaging 8.5 goals per game while allowing just 1.5 goals per contest. The lineup features some of the division’s early season scoring leaders.
Sophomore Samuel Norton has scored five goals and added seven assists for 12 points. Senior Cole Pluck has accumulated 12 points by scoring three goals and adding nine assists. Junior Nolan Shingle has scored seven goals and added three assists for 10 points while junior James Boyle has accumulated 10 points of his own by scoring six goals and adding four assists.
“We’ve played well,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “With the team we have now we know we’re going to be able to put up a number of goals but we keep preaching strong defense and we’ve got great goaltending.”
Boyle, who epitomizes the offensive-oriented defenseman, says he and his teammates are taking good practice habits into games.
“I think it’s our preparation,” he said. “Good practices twice a week. Making sure we’re prepared before games helps us to get off to get off to good starts in games.”
Two years ago, North Penn won just five games and missed out on the postseason. Boyle was part of that 2023 team and says the memories of that disappointing campaign are a motivating force this season.
“Going through that, a season where we weren’t winning too much, made everyone want to be able to play and battle back,” he said. “We wanted the chance to and try to win it all this year.”
Last year, the Knights won 13 games and returned to both the SHSHL playoffs and the Class AA Flyers Cup tournament. Vaitis has bigger goals in mind this year and wants his players to understand what it takes to attain those goals.
“Thinking toward end of February and March, what does it take to be playing at [a high level]?” he said. “It’s strong defense, good goaltending, and getting scoring from all three lines. And that’s where we’re going; we’re getting scoring from multiple guys, it’s not just our top three.
“Last year was a great step for us, getting back into the Suburban League playoffs getting back into the Flyers Cup tournament but we want to do more than that this year, right? We obviously want to continue to play our best hockey at the end of the year; the goal has always been the Suburban League championship and the Flyers Cup that’s what the goal has been for the 15 years I’ve been here. we’re going to keep working and try to get better.”
National Division W L T PTS OTW OTL
North Penn (4-0) 3 0 0 12 0 0
C.R. South (3-0) 3 0 0 11 1 0
Souderton (2-1) 2 1 0 8 0 0
Cent. Bucks South (2-1) 2 1 0 7 1 0
Pennridge (2-1) 1 1 0 5 0 1
Pennsbury (1-3) 1 2 0 5 0 1
C.R. North (1-2) 1 2 0 4 0 0
C.B. East (1-3) 1 2 0 4 0 0
Neshaminy (!-2) 0 2 0 0 0 0
C.B. West (0-3) 0 3 0 0 0 0
American Division W L T PTS OTW OTL
Plymouth Whitemarsh (2-0) 2 0 0 8 0 0
Springfield (1-1) 1 1 0 5 0 1
Wissahickon (1-2) 1 1 0 4 0 0
Hatboro-Horsham (1-2) 1 1 0 3 1 0
Abington (0-2 ) 0 2 0 0 0 0
Teams receive 4 points for a regulation win
3 points for an overtime win
2 points for a tie
1 point for an overtime loss
0 points for a regulation loss
National Division Scoring G A Pts
Shane Dachwski Pr 9 5 14
Jackson Accardi CRN 7 5 12
Samuel Norton NP 5 7 12
Cole Pluck NP 3 9 12
James Boyle NP 6 4 10
Nolan Shingle(NP) 7 3 10
Jacob Sarver Pb 4 5 9
James Rush Pr 4 5 9
Shane Hicks Pb 3 6 9
Jake Weiner CRS
American Division Scoring G A Pts
Cooper Kanze PW 7 1 8
Blake Ambler PW 4 3 7
Dan Guller PW 1 6 7
Vincent Graziani HH 3 2 5
Nathan Nemchinov HH 3 2 5
West Chester Henderson scored five unanswered goals in the third period on the way to an 8-3 win over Downingtown East Monday night in a battle of ICSHL Ches-Mont League unbeatens at Ice Line.
Blake Platz scored four goals for the Warriors, who improved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the Ches-Mont. Nick Denadai, Cole Navazio, Anthony Barthol, and Andrew Denny all scored single goals for Henderson, which broke the game open after taking a 3-2 lead into the third period. Hunter Haas added four assists.
Brody Matthews scored a goal for Downingtown East (4-1, 1-1) and added two assists.
“Tonight game was a great win for the Henderson program,” said Warrior coach Tom Aughey. The group played hard and stuck to the game plan.”
Denny gave the Warriors a quick lead just 21 seconds into the opening period. Anderson Frain tied the game for the Cougars at the 7:04 mark.
Platz scored a pair of goals 22 seconds apart early in the second frame to give the Warriors a 3-1 lead. Christian McCuch scored for the Cougars to make it a one-goal game with 3:14 left in the period but Platz completed a hat trick 3:01 into the final period to spark a barrage of five goals in a span pf 11 minutes, 5 seconds. That spurt included Platz’s fourth goal of the night which came with 2:54 remaining.
Aughey said the key to the win was the play of goaltender Matthew Cieslukowski in the second period when the senior made seven of his 17 saves.
“The score was not indicative of the play within the game” Aughey said. “It was a big game from Matt. “He came up with plenty of big saves in the second to hold the lead for us.
“Platz and Haas took control in the third and we buried the opportunities we had.”
West Chester Henderson 1 2 5—8
Downingtown East 1 1 1—3
First-period goals: Andrew Denny (H) from Hunter Haas, :21; Anderson Frain (DE) from Christian McCuch and Brody Matthews, 7:04
Second-period goals: Blake Platz (H) from Declan Herr and Nicholas Denadai, 1:02; Platz (H) from Haas and Andrew Denny, 1:24; McCutch (DE) from Matthew Latch and Matthews, 13:46 (pp)
Third-period goal: Platz (H) from Haas and Denny, 3:01; Anthony Barthol (H) from Harrison Aller and Herr, 5:53; Colin Navazio (H) from Declan Dowd, 7:55; Denaldi (H) from Platz and Denny, 11:35 (pp); Platz (H) from Haas, 14:06; Matthews (DE) from Latch, 15:40
Shots: West Chester Henderson 28, Downingtown East 20; Saves: Matthew Cieslukowski (H) 17, Lucas Fleuty (DE) 20
EAST GOSHEN TOWNSHIP—It was the sort of game one would expect to see during the second week of March as opposed to the third week of November. North Penn and Downingtown West demonstrated why they expect to be taken seriously in the weeks and months to come.
For the record, the Knights prevailed 6-2 in the SHSHL-ICSHL crossover matchup Friday night at Ice Line but the affair was much more closely contested than the score would indicate; it was a one-goal game until the closing minutes of the third period.
It was an evening the Knights celebrated their fourth consecutive victory of the young season, but North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis was quick to point out it was most of all an occasion to celebrate high-school hockey.
“I’m so glad we started doing the crossover games this year,” he said. “Downingtown East and C.B. South played last week, Boyertown-Pennridge and us and Downingtown West tonight.
“Heretofore, you don’t see these teams until March. It gives you an opportunity to play them and build high-school hockey in this area.”
Downingtown West coach Brett Mackel, who saw his team drop to 2-2 on the season, echoed those sentiments.
“I like that they added the crossover games this year,” he said. “Especially teams that we usually wouldn’t see until the Flyers Cup. It’s great having different teams come in, especially teams we’re not used to seeing.”
Sam Norton scored two goals for North Penn. Nolan Shingle was also credited with two goals while James Boyle produced a goal and an assist.
Goals from Bryce Schuler and Ryder Jones gave the Whippets a 2-1 lead 7:54 into the second period. Norton tied the game for North Penn with 2:18 left in the period and Boyle’s power-play goal 77 seconds later gave his team the lead for good at 3-2.
“I thought we came out a little flat,” Boyle said, “but then we picked it right back up. Then we got back on them.”
Shingle extended North Penn’s lead on a shot from the deep right wing with 6:29 left in regulation. His second goal was a power-play effort with 4:46 left after the Whippets were accessed a bench minor.
Norton added his second goal of the evening with two minutes to play when he lofted the puck from his own blue line into an empty net.
Aidan Quigley earned the win in goal with 26 saves, many of them achieved with heavy traffic in his field of view.
Mackel felt his team performed well in some areas but was lacking in others.
“We had a lot of penalty kills that we ended up killing off,” he said. We gave up two power-play goals, but other than that our kill was good.
Our goaltender [Justin Adams] gave up two power-play goals but he played pretty well.
“Negatives. We didn’t shoot the puck as much as we needed to tonight. Our defensive zone was pretty sloppy.”
North Penn 1 2 3—6
D-Town West 0 2 0—2
First-period goal: Gabriel Dunn (NP) from Aidan Quigley, 2:48
Second-period goals: Bryce Schuler (DW) from Ryder Jones, :44; Jones (DW) from Reed Surak, 7:54; Sam Norton (NP) from Chase Kelly Del Ricci, 14:42; James Boyle (NP) from Norton and Luke Haftel. 15:59
Third-period goals: Nolan Shingle (MP) from Cole Pluck, 10:31; Shingle (NP) from Boyle and Pluck, 12:16 (pp); Norton (NP) unassisted, 15:00 (en)
Shots: North Penn 35, Downingtown West 28; Saves: Aidan Quigley (NP) 26, Justin Adams (DW) 29
BRISTOL—Shutouts are rare events in high-school hockey. But Neshaminy’s Colin Thurnau took center stage Thursday night, stopping all 36 shots he saw as the ‘Skins bested Conestoga 2-0 at Grundy Arena in the latest installment of the SHSHL-ICSHL interleague series.
It was the first win for Neshaminy in three starts this season. Conestoga, which was without several regulars, dropped to 1-3.
Anthony DiCrosta and Ryan DeMatteo scored the two goals but it was Colin Thurnau who shouldered the biggest share of the load.
“You’ve just got to stay focused the whole time,” the senior said. “I was tracking the puck very well.
“But, I also want to give a quick shout out to the D-line for shutting it down tonight, and to [assistant coach Aric Miller] for stepping in all alone, he coached a great game tonight.”
Miller was behind the Neshaminy bench Wednesday night, filling in for the absent Bill Mooney. He noted that the win was a total team effort.
“Everybody in the lineup did what they needed to do to get this win tonight,” he said.
Miller celebrated Thurnau’s performance.
“Colin had a solid fame tonight,” he said. He’s our backbone back there. We knew we could count on him, putting him in there, and he really stood up to the task tonight. It wasn’t easy, he faced 36 shots. But, he got the job done, and our boys stepped up for him in the end.”
DiCrosta gave the ‘Skins the lead 3:44 into the second period off a setup from Eli Kirsh. For most of the night that was all the hosts could do against Max Haimson, who turned in a solid performance himself in the Conestoga net.
DeMatteo extended the Neshaminy lead 5:59 into the third period when he concluded a sprint up the right wing by scoring the evening’s second and last goal.
Conestoga coach Mike Graves left the building looking for goals.
“It was good back and forth game,’ he said. “I think we’ve got to find a way to bury some rebounds and get to the hard areas.
“We had a lot of perimeter stuff tonight, but nothing real dangerous.”
Graves credited both goaltenders. “We have a luxury with {Haimson] in the back for us,” he said, “and they had a solid goaltender tonight too. He did a great on smothering all the rebounds and making the first save look real easy.”
Conestoga 0 0 0—0
Neshaminy 0 1 1—2
Second-period goal: Anthony DiCrosta (N) from Eli Kirsh, 3:44
Third-period goal: Ryan DeMatteo (N) from Liam Mooney, 5:59
Shots: Conestoga 36, Neshaminy 24; Saves: Max Haimson (C) 22, Colin Thurnau (N) 36
HATFIELD—A fast start paid big dividends for Pennridge Wednesday night. The Rams jumped in front with two early goals and went on to a 6-3 win over Boyertown at Hatfield Ice Arena as a part of the SHSHL-ICSHL series.
James Rush scored twice for the defending Class AA Flyers Cup and state champions. Shane Dachowski added two goals and two assists as Pennridge improved to 2-1 on the season.
The Rams got off to a fast start. Rush scored off a turnover at center ice, beating Boyertown netminder Tyler Griffith to give his team a 1-0 lead 3:01 into the first frame. He made it a 2-0 game just 18 seconds later.
Logan Brown answered for the Bears (3-2) 8:59 into the period but Dachowski made it a 3-1 game with 1:53 remaining.
“It’s always great to get those early goals,” Rush said. “It gives your team the momentum for the rest of the game and you just try to maintain the lead from that point on.”
The Rams had just 12 skaters a available because of injuries and their coach Jeff Montagna was pleased with how his team stepped up in one of the most anticipated matchups of the interconference challenge series, against an opponent that reached the Flyers Cup semifinals last spring. The Bears were limited to just six shots in the opening period
“I thought we played a tremendous game,” Montagna said. I thought we did a great job in the slot area.
“I told [his team] Thais is a a blueprint for us. The starters scored, everyone else keep the puck out of our net and do the dirty work, the dirty things that not every team wants to do.”
Dachowski and Rush scored goals not quite six minutes apart to increase the Pennridge lead to 5-1 with 7:45 left in the middle period. Joseph Bilotta scored for Boyertown with 5:24 left in the second session and added his second goal of the night with exactly two minutes remaining in the game, Ladan Bishop brought down the curtain when he added a goal with 56 seconds remaining,
Boyertown coach Joe Slowik praised the way his team competed.
“I thought our team competed very well,” he said. “They’re the defending state champs so you’ve got to give them some credit.
“But I thought we competed really well and I thought we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds. We turned a lot of pucks over, we didn’t get exits when we should have and definitely weren’t very good in front of either net.”
Rush said the win against a top-tier opponent told the Rams a lot about themselves.
“You get to see what our team is going to look like this year,” he said, “what kind of opponents you can really handle. I think we got a good understanding of how good we will be this year.”
• The win was the first for the SHSHL in the three games that were played through Wednesday night; ICSHL teams won the first two.
Slowik commented on what the crossover games do to promote high-school hockey.
“I love it,” he said. “I think it’s great. When they put this on our schedule, the crossover game, I thought it was great because the only time we play each other is in the Flyers Cup and that’s in March.
“I would like to see maybe even a little more of these crossover games. I think it’s great for high-school hockey here in Pennsylvania.”
Boyertown 1 1 1—3
Pennridge 3 3 1—6
First-period goals: James Rush (P) unassisted, 3:01; Rush (P) Shane Dachowski and Ladan Bishop, 3:19; Logan Brown (B) from Lucas Remick, 8:01; Dachowski (P) from Jared Garber, 15:07
Second-period goals: Dachowski (P) unassisted, 3:28; Ruah (P) from Garber and Dachowski, 9:15; Joseph Bilotta (B) from Evan Kurtas and Riley Berger, 11:36
Third-period goals: Bilotta (B) from Weston Bieber and Jax Drost,15:00 Logan Biahop (P) from Dachowski, 16:06 (pp)
Shots: Boyertown 29, Pennridge 32; Saves: Tyler Griffith (B) 26, Jacob Winston (P) 26
National Division W L T PTS OTW OTL
North Penn (2-0) 2 0 0 8 0 0
Cent. Bucks South (2-1) 2 0 0 7 1 0
C.R. South (2-0) 2 0 0 7 1 0
Pennridge (1-1) 1 1 0 5 0 1
Pennsbury (1-2) 1 2 0 5 0 1
Souderton (1-1) 1 1 0 4 0 1
C.R. South (1-1) 1 1 0 4 0 0
C.B. East (1-2) 1 2 0 4 0 0
Neshaminy (0-2) 0 2 0 0 0 0
C.B. West (0-2) 0 2 0 0 0 0
American Division W L T PTS OTW ORL
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 0 0 4 0 0
Wissahickon (1-1) 1 0 0 4 0 0
Hatboro-Horsham (1-1) 1 1 0 3 1 0
Springfield 0 0 1 0 0 1
Abington (0-1) 0 1 0 0 0 0
Scoring G A Pts
Jackson Accardi CRN 5 4 9
Shane Dachwski Pr 7 2 9
Shane Hicks Pb 3 6 9
Dan McGlathin CRN 5 2 7
Jeff Kvecher CBS 2 4 6
Peter Perberow CRS 1 5 6
James Rush Pr 1 5 6
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