Class AAA Flyers Cup Finals Preview

There will be no secrets when La Salle and Holy Ghost Prep collide for the Class AAA Flyers Cup championship Tuesday night (8:30 at Hatfield Ice). Perhaps no two area hockey teams are more familiar with each other than the top-seeded Explorers (14-9-2) and the second-seeded Firebirds (18-7).

Tuesday’s meeting will be their fourth of this season alone; Holy Ghost Prep won the first, La Salle has taken the last two including the APAC championship game on March 1^st.

The Explorers have won 12 Flyers Cup titles in their history, most recently in 2019 one of those titles came as a Class AA team. The most recent of the Firebirds’ three championships came in 2017. One of those three came in the Class AA classification

La Salle (14-9-2)

Coach: Wally Muehlbronner

Players to watch: Sr. Aries Carangi (G); Sr. Ryan Warner (D) Sr. Evan Golato (F); Jr; Sr. Ryan Desmond (F)

Holy Ghost Prep (18-7)

Coach: Gump Whiteside

Players to watch: Sr. Colin Mudrick (G); Jr. Michael Holt (D); Sr. Brady Baehser (F); Sr. Kieran Mulholland (F); St. Landon Stout (F)

Previous Meetings

11-9Holy Ghost Prep 6 La Salle 2

2-13 La Salle 6 Holy Ghost Prep 5

3-1 La Salle 7 Holy Ghost Prep 3

LaSalle 3 Malvern Prep 0

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—There wasn’t much that was flashy about La Salle’s performance Tuesday night. Just three periods of good solid, fundamental hockey. That was more than enough. Three different players scored goals and Aries Carangi pitched a shutout in goal as the Explorers downed Malvern Prep 3-0 in a Class AAA Flyers Cup semifinal at Hatfield Ice.

Top-seeded La Salle (14-9-2) will try for win its 12^th Flyers Cup net Tuesday against Holy Ghost Prep (8:00) at Hatfield Ice. Fourth-seeded and two-time defending champion Malvern Prep closed the season at 10-8.

The stars of Tuesday night’s show were the goaltenders. Carangi made 22 saves in the La Salle net but a case could be made that Brandon Novabilski at the other end of the ice was just as impressive. He stopped 40 shots in his final high-school game.

“I’m good buddies with ‘Nova,” Carangi said. ”He played lights out tonight. (La Salle) played really well and helped me get the shutout. I just kind of cleaned up a little bit in front, but they got it done in our own zone.

It was past the midpoint of the second period before the Explorers were able to solve Novalbilski. The goal came of the stick of Evan Golato on a play that originated behind the Friar net. Novabilski made a quality save on Ryan Desmond’s shot from between the circles before Golato put in the rebound.

James Carpenter made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at the 13:43 mark when he tipped in Thomas Doucet’s shot from the right point. The goal came while Malvern Prep’s Caiden Canale was in the box serving a holding penalty.

Meantime, the Friars were trying to find a way to solve the puzzle posed by Carangi. They never succeeded.

“We knew it was going to be a fight coming into this game,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “Both (regular-season games against La Salle this year were tough.

“La Salle is a great team, they’re deep, they’ve got four lines they can turn. For us, I thought this was one of the most hard fought games we’ve played all year. The bounces didn’t go our way. It’s tough to win a game with 22 shots.

Charlie Kennedy put the exclamation point on the win for La Salle when he scored a shorthand goal exactly seven minutes into the final period. The junior noted the Explorers have collectively picked up their game in recent weeks. Tuesday’s win was their ninth in their last 11 games.

“Our team chemistry has gotten really good,” he said. “The boys get along great, we’re a really tight group. We’ve really got our momentum going.”

Malvern Prep 0 0 0‑0

La Salle 0 2 1—3

Second-period goals: Evan Golato (L) from Ryan Desmond and Will Gregorio, 9:47; James Carpenter (L) from Dean Carvalho and Michael Zarzycki, 13:43 (pp)

Third-period goals: Charlie Kennedy (L) unassisted, 7:00

Shots: Malvern Prep 22, La Salle 43; Saves: Brandon Novabilski (MP) 40, Aries Carangi (L) 22

Holy Ghost Prep 3 St. Joseph’s Prep 2 OT

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP— Veterans step up when they’re needed most. John Seravalli did just that for Holy Ghost Prep Tuesday night. His goal 1:41 into sudden death overtime gave his team a 3-2 win over St. Joseph’s Prep in a Class AAA Flyers Cup semifinal at Hatfield Ice.

The second-seeded Firebirds will face La Salle for the title Tuesday at 8:30 at this same venue.

Holy Ghost Prep trailed 1-0 and 2-1 before rallying to pick up their 17th win of the season against seven losses. Third-seeded St. Joseph’s Prep closed the season at 14-7-2.

Seravalli’s goal came when he found space between the two circles and beat Hawks’ goaltender Rocco Bruno.

“It was a little nerve-wracking at first,” Seravalli said of going into the extra period. “They’ve got some good players. But we competed, our goalie (Colin Mudrick) played a great game in overtime I was lucky I got the shot that went in”

Both goaltenders were stellar for a period and half. The first goal of the night didn’t come until the 8:54 mark of the second period. It came off the stick of the Hawks’ Joe Samango off a dump into the St. Joseph’s Prep left-wing corner.

The score stayed 1-0 until Landon Stout tied the game for the Firebirds 4:34 into the third period off a scramble in front of the Hawks’ net. The aftermath of the goal was a scrum near the net and the result of it all a roughing penalty to the Firebirds’ Cieran Chambers, who also drew a 10-minute misconduct.

It took St. Joseph’s Prep just 37 seconds to score a power-play goal. Mudrick denied Caiden Kelly on a backhander, but the Firebirds couldn’t clear the puck out of the crease and Shane O’Neill put the puck in the back of the net to give the Hawks the lead for the second time.

Just 62 seconds later, the game was tied once more thanks to Shaun Moore, who converted a feed from Ryan Lippy.

That set the stage for overtime and Seravalli’s game winner. The senior noted the Firebirds responded to the pressure of the moment.

“We got the little jitters out that first period,” he said. “But we caught on, and we (played through it).”

Holy Ghost Prep celebrates its victory. (Robert Bernes)

Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside praised his team’s tenacity.

“I thought we played a great game,” he said. “We told them (after the second period) to just keep doing what you’re doing, try to find another level, and they stayed with it. They just battled.”

It was an emotional loss for St. Joseph’s Prep coach David Giacomin, who will be saying goodbye to the 12 seniors on his Flyers Cup roster.

“Both teams played their butts off,” he said.”It comes down to a break here or there and unfortunately, they got it.”

The Firebirds finished with a 41-28 shot advantage.

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 1 1 0—2

Holy Ghost Prep 0 0 2 1—3

Second-period goal: Joe Samango (SJP) from Jake Schultz, 8:54

Third-period goals: Landon Stout (HGP) from Zach Pers, 4:34; Shane O’Neill (SJP) from Caiden Kelly, 5:11 (pp) Shaun Moore (HGP) from Ryan Lippy, 6:13

Overtime goal: John Seravalli (HGP) from Ciaran Chambers, 1:41

Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 28, Holy Ghost Prep 41; Saves: Rocco Bruno (SJP)) 38, Colin Mudrick, HGP 26

Flyers Cup Finals Schedule

Monday, March 20

Class A Championship

West Chester East 4 Hershey 0

NJ/Del Championship

Salesianum 9 Eastern 3

Penguins Cup Championship

Class AAA

Peters Township 8 Upper St. Clair 1

Class A Championship

Kiski 4 Fox Chapel 1

Tuesday, March 21

Class AA Championship

Pennsbury 5 Pennridge 3

Class AAA Championship

La Salle 2 Holy Ghost Prep 1 OT

Penguins Cup Class AA Championship

South Fayette 2 Arnstrong 0

Wednesday, March 22

Girls Championship

Downingtown West 8 vs. Avon Grove 7

Recent Results

Monday, March 13

Class AA Semifinals

Pennsbury 7, Council Rock South 5

Pennridge 7. Owen J Roberts 0

Tuesday, March 14

Class AAA Semifinals

Holy Ghost Prep 3 St. Joseph’s Prep 2 OT

La Salle 3 Malvern Prep 0

Class A Semifinals

West Chester East 6 Lower Dauphin 4

Hershey 5 West Chester Rustin 4 OT

Thursday. Match 16

NJ/Delaware Semifinals

Eastern 9 Cherokee 3

Salesianum 4 Washington Township 1

Girls Semifinals

Avon Grove 12 West Chester Rustin 1

Downingtown West 14 Unionville 4

Upcoming Flyers Cup Schedule

Thursday, March 8

Class A Quarterfinals

Springfield Delco vs. West Chester Rustin 6:30 at Ice Line

West Chester East 7 Penncrest 3

Hershey 4 Council Rock North 3 OT

Lower Dauphin 4 Marple Newtown 2

Class AA Quarterfinals

Council Rock South 4 Boyertown 0

Owen J. Roberts 3 Avon Grove 1

Pennsbury 4 Conestoga 3 OT—Andrew Falkenstein scored the winning goal 11:10 into overtime

Pennridge 4 Neshaminy 2

Girls Quarterfinals

West Chester East vs. Downingtown East 5:00 at PNY

West Chester Henderson vs. Unionville 6:45 at PNY

Monday, March 13

Class AA Semifinals

Council Rock South vs. Pennsbury

Pennridge vs. Owen J Roberts

Tuesday, March 14

Class AAA Semifinals

St. Joseph’s Prep vs. Holy Ghost 6:15 at Hatfield Ice

Malvern Prep vs. La Salle 8:45 at Hatfield Ice

Thursday. Match 16

NJ/Delaware Semifinals

6:00 Eastern vs. Cherokee at Flyers Training Center

8:00 Washington Township vs. Salesianum at FTC

Girls Semifinals

St. Joseph’s Prep 4 Perkiomen Valley 2

Joe Samango scored there goals as the Hawks downed the Vikings in a Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinal Tuesday night at the Skatium. Tristan Winata also scored for the third-seed Hawks, who will face Holy Ghost Prep in a semifinal next week (date, site, time TBA).

Mason McCabe and Jonathan Waters scored goals for the sixth-seeded Vikings.

Perkiomen Valley 2 0 0—2

St. Joseph’s Prep 2 0 2—4

Malvern Prep 6 Father Judge 2

WEST GOSHEN—After an up-and-down regular season and a loss in the APAC play-in game, Malvern Prep had an opportunity to make a fresh start Monday night in the quarterfinal round of the Class AAA Flyers Cup. The Friars made the most of the opportunity.

Jimmy and Jeremy Jacobs two goals each as Malvern Prep, the defending Cup champion, turned in a dominant performance in a 6-2 win over Father Judge at Ice Line.

The fourth-seeded Friars (10-7). will face top-seeded La Salle in the semifinals on a date to be announced. The fifth-seeded Crusaders closed the campaign at 15-4-0-1. Three of their losses were to APAC teams.

It’s best to be wary of an unfamiliar opponent at Flyers Cup time, and the Friars and the Crusaders did not meet during the regular season.

Jimmy Jacobs said the Friars focused on what they had to do as versus what the Crusaders might do.

“I think they only thing we could do is just play out game,” he said, “and see how we do from there. You can’t really have a game plan if you’ve never played against them before.”

Jeremy Jacobs said that lack of familiarity helped keep him and his teammates focused.

“It’s the Flyers Cup, it’s one and done,” he said. “It could be over if you lose. You’ve definitely got to treat the game like it’s a championship game, and just go out there and play as hard as you can.”

The Friars did just that, especially in the first period. It took Jimmy Jacobs just 2 minutes, 16 sends to get a puck past Crusader goaltender David Marcellino to give Malvern Prep a 1-0 lead. Jeremy Jacobs extended the Friars’ lead with a shorthand goal at the 8:09 mark. Devon Mallon got father Judge on the scoreboard exactly 12 minutes unto the opening session, but Jack Sharer answered for the Friars with 2:15 remaining in the period.

Jeremy Jacobs spoke to the importance of his team’s fast start.

“Just to get the tempo of the game going,” he said, and show them who we really are, and put pucks in the back of the net quick.

“Quick starts are really the key to games. Momentum off the start is huge.”

Jimmy Jacobs and Gavin Wilson scored goals 1 minute, 47 seconds apart to extend the Friars’ lead to 5-1 2:27 into the second period. The Friar offense was in high gear; by evening’s end they had been credited with 45 shots on goal.

Robert Cattalo scored for Judge 9:48 into the period to cut into the Malvern Prep lead but Jeremy Jacobs scored his second goal of the game 8:38 into the final period to put the exclamation point on the Friars’ win.

Jimmy Jacobs said he and his teammates are focused on the task at hand.
“The good thing with the Flyers Cup, and the bad thing, is it’s one and done.” he said.”

Father Judge. 1 1 0—2

Malvern Prep 3 2 1—6

First-period goals: Jimmy Jacobs (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs and Gabe Bedwell, 2:36; Jeremy Jacobs (MP) from Jimmy Jacobs, 8:09 (sh); Devon Mallon (FJ) from Robert Cattalo, 12:00; Jack Sharer (MP) unassisted, 14:45

Second-period goals: Jimmy Jacobs (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, :40; Gavin Wilson (MP) unassisted, 2:27 Carratlo (FJ) from Gavin Moore, 9:48

Third-period goal: Jeremy Jacobs (MP) unassisted, 8:22 (sh)

Shots: Father Judge 29, Malvern Prep 45; Saves: David Marcellino 39, Brandon Novabilski 27

Flyers Cup Results Monday, March 6

Class A First Round

Penncrest 4 Plymouth Whitemarsh 0

Lower Dauphin 5 vs Unionville 1 6:30

Marple Newtown 7 vs. WC Henderson 2

Hershey 4 Strath Haven 2

Council Rock North 7 Radnor 2

7. Garnet Valley vs. 10. Springfield-Delco 9:00 at Skatium

WC Rustin 10 Wissahickon 0

Class AA First Round

Conestoga 6 Downingtown West 3

Class AAA First Round

Holy Ghost Prep 10 Cardinal O’Hara 1

Malvern Prep 6 Father Judge 2

All Tickets for Flyers Cup games must be purchased online via the Box Office link on the Flyers Cup web site. Make sure you select the correct game. Flyers Cup Programs will also be sold only online. The link for that is at the top of the Box Office. You can pick your program up by showing your Program purchase ticket at any Flyers Cup venue.

La Salle 7 Holy Ghost Prep 3

By Rick Woelfel

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP— La Salle’s big guns came up big when it mattered most. The line of Chase Hannon, Evan Golato ands Ryan Desmond combined for four goals and five assists as the Explorers bested Holy Ghost Prep 7-3 Wednesday afternoon in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference’s Founders Cup Championship Game in front of a full house at Hatfield Ice.

The win gives the Explorers (13-9-2) their third outright championship in the APAC’s five-year history; they shared a fourth.

La Salle will be the top seed in the Class AAA bracket of the Flyers Cup tournament, which begins next week. The Explorers have a bye into the semifinals and will face either Malvern Prep or Father Judge the week of March 13.

Hannon spearheaded his team’s effort on Wednesday by scoring three goals. Golato added a goal and an assist while Desmond contributed four assists.

Hannon said the key to the win was taking care for the basics.

“Our game plan was to get pucks deep and get on them,” he said. “I think we did that, and it clearly worked for us.”

La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner considered Wednesday’s game his team’s best start-to finish effort of the season.

“I think we had really good focus,” he said. “The guys really played hard, they came to play tonight.”

La Salle capitalized on a Firebird turnover to score the game’s first goal. Chase Hannon corralled the lose puck in the neutral zone, found space and weaved his way trough three opponents to beat Jack Unger with a forehander from the leading edge of the left circle 4:12 into the opening session.

The Firebirds drew even when the Explorers’ Evan Golato (roughing) and Ryan Desmond (tripping) drew back-to back penalties, giving Holy Ghost Prep a two-man advantage for 46 seconds. It took Landon Stout just 14 seconds to score the tying goal off a rebound of Brady Baehser’s original shot at the 9:20 mark.

The second period produced an abundance of offensive fireworks and a total of seven goals, five of them from the Explorers.

Evan Golato put La Salle in from just five seconds into the period with a shot from the left point. Hannon scored his second goal of the game during a power play at 3:57.

Baehser answered for the Firebirds with a power-play goal of his own at 5:37 but Hannon completed his hat trick just 17 seconds later. John Seravalli’s goal cut the Explorer lead to 4-3 with 3:27 left in the period but Will Gregorio and Charlie Kennedy scored for La Salle before the period ended.

Evan Mudrick replaced Unger in the Firebird net following Kennedy’s goal.

Tim Whitock scored the only goal of the third period at the 8:10 mark. He cited his team’s veteran experience as a factor in the win.

“Senior leadership I guess,’ he said. “Got to get the younger guys going. Do whatever you can.”

For Holy Ghost Prep (16-7) which has yet to win an APAC title, the loss was a disappointing end to the conference season.

“It was not one of our best efforts,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside. “I thought we didn’t execute very well. Our structure wasn’t there the whole game. There were some things we did really well but it wasn’t a total team effort.

Ice chips—The Firebirds are seeded second for the Class AAA Flyers Cup and will face seventh-seeded Cardinal O’Hara in a quarterfinal game at Grundy Arena Monday night.

La Salle’s previous Founders Cup titles came in 2019 and ‘20, the APAC’s first two seasons. They shared the title with Malvern Prep two years ago when the Founders Cup final wasn’t played because of the pandemic.

Holy Ghost Prep 1 2—3

La Salle 1 5 1—7

First-period goals: Chase Hannon (L) unassited, 4:12; Landon Stout (HGP) from Brady Baehser and John Seravalli, 9:20 (pp)

Second-period goals: Evan Golato (L) from Ryan Desmond, :05 Hannon (L) from Desmond and Golato, 3:57 (pp); Baehser (HGP) from Landon Stout and X, 11:23; Hannon (L) from Desmond, 11:40; Seravalli (HGP) unassisted, 13:33; Will Gregorio (L) from Desmond, 14:29 (pp); Charlie Kennedy (L) rom Max Monzo and Tim Whitock, 16:42

Third-period goals: Whitock (L) from Thomas Doucet, 8:10

Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 40, La Salle 45 Saves: Jack Unger (HGP) 26 and Colin Mudrick (HGP) 14; Aries Carangi (L) 37

Flyers Cup Matchups Unveiled

A total of 50 teams have been selected to compete in the 44^th annual Flyers Cup tournament. Competition is scheduled to get underway on Monday and Tuesday, March 6 and 7. Over the course of 16 days champions will be crowned in five different brackets.

The teams in each bracket, 16 in Class AA. 15 in Class A, 7 in Class AAA, 4 in the South Jersey/Delaware bracket and 8 in the Girls division were selected and seeded by the Flyers Cup Competition Committee based on regular-season results and observations by members of the committee.

Flyers Cup Committee President Eric Tye emphasized that the seeding were based exclusively on regular-season performances.

“No playoff games were taken into account,” he said. “ At any level, any league, anything. Once your regular season is done, that’s what the competition committee looks at.

“The playoff games happened between the end of the regular season and the selection show. That’s not fair for teams that maybe didn’t make their league playoffs and didn’t get another chance to play another game.

Tye noted the final score of a game was irrelevant to the seeding process. “If a team wins 7-1 or a team wins 2-1 it doesn’t matter in the competition committee’s eyes,” he said.”

Here are the first-round matchups

Class A Monday, March 6

West Chester East has a bye

8 Penncrest vs. 9 Plymouth Whitemarsh 7:00 at Skatium

5 Lower Dauphin vs. 12 Unionville 6:30 at Klick Lewis

4 Marple Newtown vs. 13 Henderson 6:30 at PNY

3 Hershey vs. 14 Strath Haven 8:30 at Klick Lewis

6 Radnor vs. 11 Council Rock North 6:30 at Ice Line

10 Garnet Valley vs. 10 Springfield-Delco 9:00 at Skatium

2 WC Rustin vs. 15 Wissahickon 8:30 at Ice Line

Quarterfinals Thursday, March 9

Semifinals Monday, Match 13

Championship Monday, March 20

Class AA Monday-Tuesday March 6-7

Council Rock South vs. 16 Spring Ford 8:15 at Grundy

8 Boyertown vs. 9 Downingttown East 6:15 at Hatfield

Pennsbury vs. 12 Abington 6:15 Grundy at Ice Line

4 Connestoga vs. 13 Downingtown West 6:45 at Ice Line on 3-6

Avon Grove vs. 14 Central Bucks East 6:30 at Ice Line
O.J. Roberts vs. 11 Central Bucks South 8:30 at Ice Line

7 Haverford vs. 10 Neshaminy 7:00 at Skatium

Pennridge vs. 15 Lower Merion 8:15 at Hatfield

Quarterfinals Thursday, March 9

Semifinals Tuesday, Match 14

Championship Tuesday, March 21

Class AAA Monday-Tuesday Match 6 and 7

La Salle has a bye
Malvern Prep vs. 5 Father Judge 8:30 at Ice Line on 3-6

3 St. Joseph’s Prep vs. 6 Perk. Valley 9:00 at Skatium on 3-7

Holy Ghost Prep vs 7 Cardinal O’Hara 8:30 at Grundy on 3-6

Semifinals Tuesday, March 14

Championship Tuesday March 21

South Jersey/Delaware Thursday, March 16

1 Salesianum vs. 4 Washington Township 8:00 at Vorhees

2 Cherokee vs. 3 Eastern 6:00 at Vorhees

Championship Game Monday, March 20

Girls Tuesday and Thursday March 7 and 9

Avon Grove vs. 8 Pennridge 7:45 at PNY on 3-7

4 Rustin vs. 5 Kingsway 9:30 at PNY on 3-7

Unionville vs 6 Henderson 6:45 at PNY on 3-9
Downibgtown West vs. West Chester East 5:00 at PNY on 3-9

Championship Game Wednesday 3-22

Game dates, times, and sites are subject to change

Class A, AA, and AAA champions advance to state championship games on 3-26