C.B. South 8 Pennsbury 1

By Amanda Graham

The third-seeded Central Bucks South Titans faced the sixth-seeded Pennsbury Falcons in a SHSHL National Division first-round game Monday night at Hatfield Ice. The Titans came out on top with an 8-1 decision; recording their third consecutive victory over the Falcons.

Jeffrey Kvecher netted the game-winner for South just under two minutes into the second period.

Offense was slow moving to start with the Titans holding a 2-1 shot advantage through the first four minutes. The momentum continued to swing toward the Titans when Brennan Thierolf and AlexCannon found Logan Hood for the goal to take an early lead, 1-0.

A five-minute scoring drought ensued before Pennsbury’s Chris Sarver collected the puck mid-ice and brought it down the right for the shot into the far left of the net to tie the game

Penalty trouble to start the second period found Francis Delucia in the box for the Falcons giving CB South their first power play opportunity. Just three seconds into the advantage Joey Slobodrian and Ryan Frey got the puck to Kvecher for the game-winning power play goal

South found itself in the penalty box twice over a five-minute span in the second period, killing both penalties with ease. The Titans gave up just a single shot to the Falcons over the first two-minute spurt then went on to fire three shots of their own at goalkeeper Brendan Milliken during the second penalty kill.

“This time of year, five-on-five is huge, but special teams and defense is going to win and ultimately it comes down to goaltending,” said South coach Shaun McGinty. “Any team with a strong goaltender and special teams, if you’re getting power play opportunities you need to and want to capitalize, but when you’re on the kill is key. We did well tonight and kept them to the perimeter, so I give it up to the boys and they’re doing their job.”

The Titans put up two more unanswered goals through the final six minutes of the period to take a 4-1 lead. Theirolf found the net first thanks to the help of Kvecher to make it a 3-1 game with 5:52 on the clock. As time wound down in the period, Keith Waldron found Cutter from behind the net to cushion the Titans lead by three at 4-1.

South came into the final period hungry for more wasting nearly no time at all before netting their next goal. Frey collected the puck immediately off the face off and brought it down ice swiftly for the unassisted goal just five seconds into play. Nearly three minutes later the Titans struck again this time with Thierolf finding the stick of Jack Stepp to make it a five-goal game, 6-1.

Too many players on the ice for the Titans put the Falcons up a man for another two-minutes, but once again the special teams unit and goalkeeper shined preventing any attempt at a comeback. Dominic Gibson saw his time to shine with 8:07 on the clock. He collected the loose puck off the initial blocked shot for the unassisted rocket into the back of the net making it a 7-1 game.13 Cutter finished off the scoring for CB South collecting his second goal of the game thanks to the help of #46 Frey making the final score 8-1.

“{Pennsbury} is well coached, and they have some higher level players and their goalie is a good goaltender,” McGinty said. “They’re a scary team for sure. I always worry about ourselves and want to keep within our systems. We jumped up early and they tied it quickly. It’s playoffs and we call it second season.

“So, first game of the second season guys are going to be nervous so you definitely get those nerves out, but as we started to settle in we got our shots on net. Overall it was a good team win with a lot of scoring tonight. We got Nathan [Napolitano] in net, so it was good to get him some shots. Hats off to Pennsbury they’re a good team,” said head coach McGinty.

The Titans now look ahead to their next opponent in the playoffs facing nearby foe North Penn at Hatfield Ice this Wednesday.

“It will be our third game against them, we won the first one in overtime and lost the second 4-2. It’s a great rivalry,” McGinty said. “We do a Thanksgiving game with them. It couldn’t be better for the kids. This is both of our home rinks. We’re all looking forward to it and all these guys know each other, so it’s a good thing for high school hockey,” stated McGinty.

First Period: Logan Hood (CBS from Brennan Thierolf and Alexander Cannon, 12:12; Christopher Sarver (P) unassisted, 07:24

Second Period: Jeffrey Kvecher (CBS) from Joseph Slobodrian and Ryan Frey, 15:08 (pp); Brennan Thierolf (CBS) from Jeffrey Kvecher, 05:52; Sean Cutter (CBS) from Keith Waldron, 00:31

Third Period: Ryan Frey (CBS) unassisted, 16:55; Jake Stepp (CBS) from Brennan Thierolf, 13:25; Dominic Gibson (CBS) unassisted, 08:07; Sean Cutter (CBS) from Ryan Frey, 03:55

Shots: Pennsbury 20, CB South 33; Saves: Brendan Milliken (P) 25, Nate Napolitano (CBS) 19

Playoff Results 2-24

SHSHL

National Division/First Round

Pennridge 4 Central Bucks East 1

Central Bucks South 8 Pennsbury 1

ICSHL

Central

Haverford 3 Strath Haven 0

Marple Newtown 6 Conestoga 1

Penncrest 4 Springfield-Delco 3

Garnet Valley 4 Radnor 0

Ches Mont

Kennett 5 West Chester East 4

D-town East 7 Avon Grove 1

Pioneer

Boyertown 5 Perkiomen Valley 0

Spring-Ford 4 Owen J. Roberts 0

Catholic/Prep

Salesianum 10 Shanahan/Coatesville 0

Devon Prep 5 Father Judge 1

Girls National

Avon Grove 5 OJR/Spring-Ford 0

D-town West 10 Kingsway 4

Girls American

Conestoga 6 WC East 0

W C Henderson 9 Radnor 3

Pennridge 4 C.B. East 1

Monday night marked the first stage of what the participants hope will be a month-long journey. And Pennridge looked very much at home in the playoff environment.

Shane Dachowski scored three goals and assisted on a fourth as the Rams prevailed over Central Bucks East 4-1 in a SHSHL National Division first-round game at Hatfield Ice.

Fourth-seeded Pennridge (13-7) will advance to face top-seeded Council Rock South Wednesday night (7:00 at Grundy Arena) in the semifinals. The fifth-seeded Patriots (10-9-1) will be idle until Monday when they face Downingtown West to kick off the Class AA Flyers Cup.

Dachowski was the difference on this night, as he has been so often over the course of his career. He assisted on James Rush’s opening goal which came 5:32 into the first period as the result of a collaboration involving Ladan Bishop, the third member of Pennridge’s top line.

Dachowski extended Pennridge’s lead with a shot from the left point exactly eight minutes into the second period. David Brown scored for East not quite two-and-a-half minutes later when Pennridge turned the puck over in front of its own net.

But as clock counted down the closing seconds of the second period, Dachowski stepped up once more launching a blazer that scraped the underside of the crossbar inside the right post as at whistled past Patriot goaltender Cole Breen with 1.1 seconds showing on the clock.

“That was a really-needed goal,” Dachowski said. I don’t know what their defensemen were doing, but we took advantage of what they gave us.”

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna noted that Dachowski is now in postseason mode.

“I can’t even count how many hat tricks he has in playoff and Flyers Cup games,” he said. “It’s absurd.”

Dachowski completed yet another hat trick with an empty-net goal with 50 seconds remaining in the game.

The win Monday night was a response to the Rams’ 3-2 loss to East five days ago. That result doubtless strengthened the Patriots’ case with the Flyers Cup Committee, which seeded them 11^th in the 12-team Class AA field.

“They acted like they won the Stanley Cup,” Dachowski recalled.

The loss was the first for the Patriots in eight games. They had their chances, they were outshot just 32-31 but only solved Jacob Winton once.

“We got a of chances,” said East coach Jeff Mitchell. “We got a lot of pucks on net {but} we lacked the finish tonight.

“But, you get a team like Pennridge and the type of goaltender they have, they have a top-three goaltender in the league you’ve got to really, really make sure you’re giving your chances the best opportunity.”

The Rams will now try to unseat the two-time defending National Division champions. Montagna knows he’ll need another big night from Dachowski.

“If we want to go down and beat South Wednesday, he’s got to be great” Montagna said. Every game going forward he has to be great. He can’t have an off night. It’s a lot of pressure on him {but} he’s had that pressure for three years.”

C.B. East 0 1 0—1

Pennridge 1 2 1—4

First-period goal: James Rush (P) from Shane Dachowski and Ladan Bishop, 11:28;

Second-period goals: Dachowski (P) unassisted, 8:00; David Brown (CBE) unassisted, 10:23; Dachowski (P) from Josh Kelly and Rush, 16:59

Third-period goal: Dachowski (P) from Rush, 16:10

Shots: C.B. East 31, Pennridge 32; Saves: Cole Breen (CBE) 28, Jacob Winston (P) 30

Place your link on this site to promote your product or service starting today and running right the Flyers Cup. To get things started, use the Contact link above or e-mail is at rwoelfel2013@rwoelfel

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The team here epitomizes customer service. They’ll fill your prescriptions and also take time to answer your questions and help you with your non-prescription needs. Including offering shots to protect you from the flu, Covid, etc.

For more information, including pharmacy hours, give them a call at 215-784-1964.

Flyers Cup Field Revealed

Forty-one teams in four divisions will comprise the field for the 2025 Flyers Cup tournament. The field was announced during the Flyers Cup Selection Show Sunday night.

First-round games will get underway on Monday, March 3 and action will continue through the middle of the following week.

The Class A field, with 14 teams, will be the largest in the tournament. The Class AA field will include 12 teams, the Class AAA bracket 8, and the girls’ bracket 7.

In years past, the Class A and AA fields have consisted of as many as 16 teams each but with just 37 Cup-eligible teams between the two divisions this season, the committee took a different approach.

Eric Tye is the President of the Flyers Cup Committee.

“We’re not putting everyone in just so everyone can be in,” he said. “There needs to be a cutoff. We came up with 12 (for Class AA). Do we feel bad for teams 13 and 14? I gues so. We feel bad for teams 15 and 16 in {Class A} and 9 and 10 in {Class AAA}.

“People aren’t going to agree with what we did, we know that, but we did what we think’s best.”

Brackets are listed below.

Class AAA (8 teams)

Quarterfinals, March 4 and 6

1 Holy Ghost Prep vs 8 Owen J. Roberts. 3-4; 6:15 at Hatfield Blue

4 Malvern Prep vs 5 Salesianum. 3-6; 6:30 at Ice Line 1

2 La Salle vs 7 Devon Prep. 3-4 6:00; at Hatfield Gray

3 St. Joseph’s Prep vs 6 Father Judge. 3-6; 8:30 at Skatium

Semifinals, Thursday March 13

Monday, March 17 or Wednesday, March 19

Class AA (12 teams)

First Round, March 3 and 4

8 Conestoga vs 9 Boyertown 3-4; 8:30 at Ice Line 1

4 Central Bucks South vs 12 Spring Ford 3-4; 8:30 at Hatfield Blue

7 Pennridge vs 10 Avon Grove 3-4; 8:10 at Hatfield Gray

6 Downingtown West vs 11 Central Bucks East 3-4; 6:15 at Ice Line AAA

Quarterfinals, Thursday, March 6

1 Council Rock South vs Conestoga or Boyertown 6:15 at Hatfield Gray

4 Haverford vs Central Bucks South or Spring Ford 6:30 at Skatium

2 North Penn vs Pennridge or Avon Grove 8:10 at Hatfield Gray

3 Downingtown East vs Downingtown West or C.B. East TBD

Semifinals

March 17 or 19

Finals TBD

Class A (14 teams)

Play In

Monday, Match 3

Play In

12 Moorsetown vs 13 Strath Haven 8:10 at Hatfield Blue

11 Radnor vs 14 Hatboro-Horsham 6:30 at Ice Line 1

First Round

Monday, Match 3

8 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs 9 Springield-Delco 6:00 at Hatfield Blue

7 Marple Newtown vs 10 Palmyra 6:30 at Skatium

Tuesday, March 4

First Round

Moorsetown or Strath Haven vs 5 Kennett

Radnor or Hatboro-Horsham vs 6 Hershey 8:30 at Skatium

Quarterfinals

Thursday, March 6

Plymouth Whitemrsh or Springfield-Delco vs 1 Garnet Valley 6:30 at Ice Works

Moorsetown, Strath-Haven, or Kennet vs 4 WC East at Ice Line

Marple Newtown or Palmyra vs 2 WC Henderson at Ice Line

Radnor, H-H or Hershey at Penncrest 8:30 at Ice Works

Semifinals March 11

Finals March 17

Girls (7 teams)

Monday March 3

Play in

6 West Chester East vs 7 Pennridge 8:30 at Ice Line

Wednesday, Match 5

Quarterfinals

4 West Chester Henderson vs 5 Radnor 7:45 at PNY

West Chester East or Pennridge vs 3 Conestoga 6:00 at PNY

Wednesday March 12

Semifinals

WC Henderson or Radnor vs 1 Avon Grove 6:00 at PNY

WC East, Pennridge, or Conestoga vs 2 Downingtown West 7:45 at PNY

Tuesday, March 18

Finals

6:00 ay PNY

Eric Tye and Rick Woelfel will discuss the tournament on the Hockey Happenings podcast which will drop on Monday, February 24

ICSHL Sets Playoff Brackets

The Inter County Scholastic Hockey League has released its playoff brackets.

Links to each division’s bracket are listed below. Playoff results have no bearing on the selections and seedings for the Flyers Cup tournament.

Central Division

Ches-Mont Division

Pioneer Division

Catholic-Prep Division

Division 2 Bracket

Girls National

Girls American

Post your link or your company’s link here tarting today and right through the Flyers Cup and state tournament. Use the Contact link to reach us or e-mail is at rwoelfel2013@gmail.com

SHSHL Playoffs Kick Off Monday

The SHSHL playoffs kick off Monday night with two national Division first-round games. Council Rock South, which has a bye into the semifinals, is the two-time defending National Division champion.

Pennridge enters the postseason as the defending Class AA Flyers Cup champion and state champion, having claimed those distinctions twice in the last three seasons. The Rams last won the SHSHL title in 2022. C.B. East’s last title cane in 2011

Central Bucks South’s last SHSHL National title came in 2018 when the Titans completed a run of four consecutive league titles, six in seven seasons, and seven in nine seasons. Pennsbury, which won the Class AA Flyers Cup title in 2023 won the SHSHL National title in 2021.

North Penn last won an SHSHL title in 2014.

Pennridge (12-7, 11-7 in National Division)

Coach: Jeff Montagna

Players to watch Shane Dachowski 32 goals, 25 assists, 57 points; James Rush 24-24-48; Jacob Winton 2.58 GAA, .918 sae percentage

Central Bucks East (10-8-1, 10-7-1 in National Division)

Coach: Jeff Mitchell

Players to watch: Alex Wilson 14 goals, 6 assists, 20 points; Jaden Young 10-6-16; Cole Breen 4.06 GAA, .875 save percentage

The winner will play top-seeded Council Rock South on Wednesday in the semifinals

Central Bucks South (15-5, 15-3 in National Division)

Coach: Shaun McGinty

Players to watch: Sean Cutter 16 goals, 19 assists, 35 points; Jeff Kvecher 12-21-33; Jake Matkowski 3.75 GAA, .838 save percentage; Nate Napolitano 3.81, .859

Pennsbury (7-12, 6-12 in National Division)

Coach: Ryan Daley

Players to watch: Chris Sarver 11 goals, 23 assists, 34 points; Shane Hicks 14-17-31; Brendan Milliken 5.71 GAA, .810 save percentage.

The winner will play second-seeded North Penn on Wednesday in the semifinals

Post your link on Hockey Happenings starting today through the duration and the Flyers Cup and state tournament. Use the contact link above or e-mail us at rwoelfel2013@gmail.com

All-Star Game to Kick Off State Championship Weekend

A state championship tripleheader traditionally concludes the scholastic hockey season in Pennsylvania. This year’s state title games are set for the Alpha Ice Complex in Pittsburgh on Saturday, March 22.

This year’s festivities will kick off the night before with am All-Star game matching All-Star teams from each side of the state; Team Flyers Cup vs. Team Penguins Cup.

Thirty players have been named each team. The rosters are subject to revision; players whose teams have reached the state finals will not play in the All-Star Game.

The tentative roster for Team Flyers Cup (East)

1	Peter Pereborow	Council Rock South	D	12
2	Ryan Lippy	Holy Ghost Prep	D	12
3	Cam Ross	LaSalle	D	12
4	Ethan McKay	Marple Newtown	D	12
5	James Boyle	North Penn	D	10
6	Nash Grant	Penncrest	D	11
7	Chris Sarver	Pennsbury	D	12
8	Henri Gravel	Avon Grove	F	10
9	Noah Cutillo	Boyertown	F	11
10	Joey Slobodrian	Central Bucks South	F	11
11	Jeremy Rayer	Council Rock South	F	12
12	Jake Weiner	Council Rock South	F	11
13	Kieran Crossan	Devon Prep	F	12
14	Brody Matthews	Downingtown East	F	12
15	Nolan Stott	Garnet Valley	F	12
16	Kevin Walton	Garnet Valley	F	12
17	Blake Platz	Henderson	F	12
18	Blake Umberger	Hershey	F	12
19	Brady Logue	Holy Ghost Prep	F	11
20	Lucas Mott	Kennett	F	11
21	Grant Lagreca	LaSalle	F	12
22	Sam Norton	North Penn	F	10
23	Shane Dachowski	Pennridge	F	12
24	Dylan Cyr	Spring-Ford	F	11
25	Cole Gargon	St. Joes Prep	F	10
26	Dylan Vieira	Haverford High	G	11
27	Alexander Placeres	Hershey	G	10
28	Aiden Mott	Kennett	G	11
29	Jacob Rossi	LaSalle	G	12

30 James Winston Pennridge G 12

The tentative roster for Team Penguins Cup

1 Derek Schliebner Thomas Jefferson D 11

2 Noah Logan N. Allegheny D 11

3 Mathius Sprickman Cathedral Prep D 12

4 Cam Kiste Penn Trafford D 12

5 Tyler Held Chartiers Valley D 11

6 Roger Williams Pine Richland D 12

7 Eli Porter S. Fayette D 12\

8 Preston Miller Latrobe D 10

9 Brian Spencer Thomas Jefferson D 12

10 Max Modrovich Quaker Valley F 12

11 Tucker Cullen Fox Chapel F 10

12 Robert Chiappetta S. Fayette F 11

13 Darius Malecki Shaler F 12

14 Trevor Dallesandro S. Fayette F 12

15 Conner Ralston Avonworth F 12

16 Andrew Malecky Seneca Valley F 12

17 Liam Shinn Mt. Lebanon F 11

18 Eli Rankin Upper St. Clair F 12

19 Dominic Casile Fox Chapel F 12

20 Joey Crimboli Latrobe F 10

21 Josh Lanyard Pine Richland F 12

22 Brock Bienemann Penn Trafford F 10

23 Jake Graff Armstrong F 11

24 Xavier Bias Mt. Lebanon F 10

25 Lucas Blose Thomas Jefferson F 10

26 Aiden Moskovitz Montour F 12

27 Miles Carey Fox Chapel G 11

28 Christopher Nichols Seneca Valley G 11

29 Ben Balla Central Catholic G 12

30 Landon Butterbaugh Quaker Valley G 12

30 Cam Junker N. Allegheny G 12

Salesianum 7 Haverford School 1

LaBuono, Braeden Graham, and Sean Melican each scored two goals as Salesianum concluded its regular season with a 7-1 win over The Haverford School Friday afternoon at Ice Line.

The Sallies closed the regular season 15-3 against ICSHL competition closed the regular season with three consecutive conference win.

Liam Bell also scored for the Sallies. Melican added two assists.

After a scoreless first period, LaBuono started the scoring four minutes into the second period. Harry Neilly tied the game for the Fords (2-6 in the division) just 19 seconds later but Salesianum broke the game open when Bell, Melican Graham, and LaBuono scored goals in a four-and-a-half minute span.

Melican and Graham added goals in the third period.

Salesianum 0 5 2—7

Haverford School 0 1 0—1

Second-period goals: Nick LaBuono (S) unassisted, 4:00; Harry Neilly (HS) from Michael DiPalma and Henry Cagliuso, 4:19; Liam Bell (S) from Sean Melican 5:08; Melican (S) from Michael Flaherty and Jerry Distefano, 6:46; Braeden Graham (S) from LaBuono (S) and Grayson Betterly, 7:53; LaBuono (S) from Melican and Jerry Distefano, 9:48

Third-period goals: Melican (S) from Blake D’Italia and Sean Albert 5:29; Graham (S) from Park Stipa, 9:12

Shots: Salesianum 38, Haverford School 6 Saves: Gavin Needs (S) 6, Ike Matoney (HS) 31

SHSHL Sets Playoff Schedule

Monday February 24

National Division First Round at Hatfield

6:10 Pennridge vs Central Bucks East

8:00 Central Bucks South vs. Pennsbury

Wednesday, February 26

American Division Semifinal

6:10 Hatboro-Horsham vs. Springfield at Hatfield

National Division Semifinals

8:00 North Penn vs. C.B. South or Pennsbury at Hatfield

7:00 Council Rock South vs. Pennridge or C.B. East at Grundy

Thursday, February 27

American Division Final

6:00 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs TBD at Hatfield

National Division Final hosted by highest seeded finalist

7:00 if at Grundy 8:10 if at Hatfield

Note: Playoff results will. not impact Flyers Cup seedings or pairings

SHSHL Playoff Puzzle Solved

The last pieces of the puzzle have been filled in and the field is set for the SHSHL postseason.

Six National Division and three American Division teams will begin playoff action on Monday.

Three games Wednesday night solidified the final field.

Council Rock South 5 Neshaminy 2—Jordan Sarne and Jake Weiner each scored two goals as the Golden Hawks clinched the National Division regular-season title Wednesday night at Grundy Arena. Jeremy Rayher also scored for South (18-2, 17-1 in the division) who built a 5-0 lead before Ryan DeMatteo scored two third-period goals for the ‘Skins (6-12-1, 5-12-1).

The result means Pennsbury will be the sixth and final seed for the National Division playoffs.

See below for the complete list.

Central Bucks East 3 Pennridge 2—Dave Brown scored a shorthanded goal with 12:23 left in regulation to give the Patriots the win over the Rams at Hatfield Ice. The result locks the Rams (12-7, 11-7 in the division) into the fourth position for the National Division playoffs. The Patriots (10-8-1, 10-7-1) were already assured of the fifth seed. Gavin Widmer and Tyson Cowan also scored for East. James Embert and Kaden Gunning scored for Pennridge.

Springfield 4 Plymouth Whitemarsh 2—Kellen Warman broke a 2-2 tie when he scored with 2:42 left in the second period to put the Spartans in front for good Wednesday night at Grundy Arena. Gabriel Wells added an insurance goal in the third period as Springfield (8-8) closed its regular season with six consecutive wins to claim the third and final playoff spot from the American Division. The loss was the first for Plymouth Whitemarsh (15-1) which will enter the postseason as the division’s top seed. Hatboro-Horsham, which closes its regular season Thursday night, will be the second seed.

National Division Seedings

Council Rock South
North Penn
Central Bucks South
Pennridge
Central Bucks East
Pennsbury

American Division Seedings

Plymouth Whitemarsh
Hatboro-Horsham
Springfield