Category: Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference

La Salle 5 Holy Ghost Prep 2

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

Firebirds Using Hockey to Serve

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.”

St. Joseph’s Prep 10 Haverford School 3

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

Holy Ghost Prep 7 Kiski School 1

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

Hawks Defend Purple Puck Title

St. Joseph’s Prep successfully defended its championship at the Purple Puck Tournament in Springfield Virginia Friday night.

The Hawks bested Gonzaga’s second team 7-1 in the semifinal round before defeating the host’s number-one team 2-1 in the championship game.

St. Joseph’s Prep, now 10-4 on the season, went a perfect 5-0 during the tournament.

Preliminary Round

Wednesday, 12-27 def. Gonzaga 2 4-1

Thursday, 12-28     def. Archbishop Spalding 5-2

                                  Def. Gonzaga 1 5-2

Friday, 12-29

Semifinal               def. Gonzaga 2 7-1

Final                       def. Gonzaga 1 2-1

The Hawks stand at 9-4 on the season. Their next outing will come next Friday against Haverford School at the Skatium. 

La Salle 4 St. John’s College 2

Ryan Wiley scored two goals and assisted on a third as the Explorers claimed the non-league victory on Wednesday at the Wissahickon Skating Club. Ben Falicki and Charlie Kennedy also scored for La Salle (11-1).

St. John’s 0 1 1—2

La Salle 2 2 0—4

First-period goals: Ryan Wiley (L) from Charlie Kennedy and Patrick Brace, 10:13; Wiley (L) from Brace and Kennedy, 10:54

Second-period goals: Colin Doherty (StJ) from Thomas Lynott, 5:10; Ben Falicki (L) from Michael Esmond and Will Gregorio, 12:49; Kennedy (L) from Wiley, 13:18

Third-period goal: Carter Johnson (StJ) from Adam Urbancic, 1:17

Shots: St. John’s 31, La Salle 41; Saves: Chase Blackburn (StJ) 37, Jake Rossi (L) 29

St. Joseph’s Prep 4 Gonzaga (2) 1

Four different players scored goals as St. Joseph’s Prep opened defense of its Purple Puck tournament title with a 4-1 win over Gonzaga College High’s second team Wednesday afternoon in Washington, D.C.

Brayden Collins and Michael Castelli scored for the Hawks in the first of two 25-minute periods before Jackson Marlais answered for the hosts.

John Lynch and Tristan Winata added second-period goals.

Declan Geary and Jacob Aranda split time in goal.

The Hawks (6-2) will complete round-robin play on Thursday with games against Archbishop Spalding and Gonzaga’s number-one team.

St. Joseph’s Prep 2 2 —4

Gonzaga 1 0 —1

First-period goals: Brayden Collins (SJP) from Shane O’Neill, 2:27; Michael Castelli (SJP) from Collins, 20:13; Jackson Marlais (G) from Brendan Beane and Brendan Rosello, 23:42

Second-period goals: John Lynch (SJP) from Castelli, 2:07 (pp); Tristan Winata (SP) from Lynch, 6:34 (pp)

Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 42, Gonzaga 19; Saves: Declan Geary (SJP) 9 and Jacob Aranda 10, Claude Engle-Kis, (G) 38