La Salle at Mount St. Charles Tournament

La Salle dropped a 4-2 decision to Austin Prep Friday afternoon in the Mount St. Charles Academy tournament. Grant LeGreca and Matt Giordano scored the Explorer goals.

“We played well,” Said La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner. “We struggled finishing opportunities.”

La Salle (5-6-2) will return to action January 9 against Portledge.

Evan Golato scored four goals and Dean Carvalho added two as La Salle defeated Mount St. Charles 6-1 Wednesday night in the second round of the Mount St. Charles holiday tournament. The Explorers (5-5-2) will face Austin (Massachusetts) Prep at noon on Thursday.

La Salle dropped its opening game in the Mount St. Charles holiday tournament Tuesday night. The Explorers dropped a 2-1 decision to Fairfield Prep. James Carpenter scored the La Salle goal.

The Explorers (4-5-2) were scheduled to face the host team, Mt. St. Charles Academy, at 4 pm Thursday.

En route to Rhode Island, La Salle fell to Bishop Hendricken on Monday. Michael Zarzycki scored the La Salle goal.

St. Joseph’s Prep Set For Return to Purple Puck Tournament

A holiday tradition will be renewed this week after a two-year pandemic-induced layoff.

St. Joseph’s Prep will be one of five private schools competing for the Prep Division title when the 28^th annual National Capital Hockey Tournament, popularly known as the Purple Puck Tournament, gets underway Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

The Hawks, who are 7-2-1 on the season, will face Gonzaga in their tournament opener at 1:00 Wednesday afternoon. The five-team field will also include Archbishop Spalding, O’ Connell, and Loyola. The round robin format will see each team play four games over two-and-a-half days before the championship game is played at 3:00 Friday afternoon.

St. Joseph’s Prep has been a regular participant in the tournament in years past. Senior goaltender Rocco Bruno was in uniform in 2019, the last time the tournament was played. He recalls it as a highly competitive event and is expecting more of the same this time around.

“It was really competitive bracket that we were in,” he said of his freshman-year experience. “Most of the games weren’t blowouts. They were one, two-goal games. I don’t know what a lot of those teams are about this year but I’m expecting tough competition.”

Bruno is looking forward to being on the road with his teammates, all but one of whom, other than himself, will be skating in the tournament for the first time.

“It’s just a lot of fun, being on the road with everybody at these tournaments,” he said. “We did one in Florida my freshman year too. It just is a whole bunch of fun.”

The time on the road and between games allows the players to do some strategizing.

“Everybody’s focused on the weekend,” Bruno said, “and we get to spend time together to go over some things, plan out our games together as team. Just have a greater overall awareness for our next opponent.”

The tournament schedule does allow time for players to play tourist however, and enhance the educational value of the trip. Bruno recalls doing some sightseeing on his last trip to the Purple Puck Tournament.

“Me and a couple of my buddies on the team, we went up to Capitol Hill and the White House and saw everything,” he said. It was pretty cool. “You don’t get to do sightseeing a lot when you’re on hockey trips because usually games take up most of your time, but it was definitely cool to see some of the monuments and landmarks.”

St. Joseph’s Prep Schedule

Wednesday, 12-28 Gonzaga 1:00

Thursday, 12-29 Loyola 9:00

Spalding 4:00

Friday 12-30 O’Connell 8:00

Championship Game 3:00 If Necessary

La Salle Headed North

The La Salle Explorers are getting a break from school this week, but will be as busy as ever on the ice. The Explorers will make their traditional trip to Woonsocket Rhode Island for the Mount St. Charles Academy Tournament. La Salle will play its first-round game on Tuesday against Fairfield Prep.

The Explorers customarily compete in the tournament on an annual basis, but the event has been cancelled the last two seasons because of the pandemic. Coach Wally Muehlbronner says the tournament provides his players with the opportunity to get closer as a group.

“I think the bonding is going to be the biggest thing,” he said. “The past two years, this event got cancelled so we’re really looking forward to getting back. We’ve only got a couple kids that have ever made the trip so I think it’s going to really help us. Hopefully, we play well.”

A lot of the guys know each other pretty well (but) we have never spent three or four days together and traveled on a bus. You learn a lot about your teammates in that amount of time together.”

Malvern Prep10 Haverford School 0

Malvern Prep scored four times in the first period and went on to a 10-0 shutout of The Haverford School Thursday night in a non-league game at Ice Line. that celebrated Senior Night.

Jeremy Jacobs and Jack Sharer each scored twice for the Friars. Steven Getsie, Aidan Kelly, Gavin Wilson, Emmy Jacobs, Pax Hoishik, and Ryan Clark also scored goals.

Haverford School 0 0 0—0

Malvern Prep 4 2 4—10

Holy Ghost Prep 7, Pennridge 3

Kieran Mulholland and Zach Pers each scored twice as Holy Ghost Prep built a 5-0 lead en route to a 7-3 win over Pennridge Wednesday night in a non-league game at Grundy Arena. Shaun Moore Brady Baehser and John Seravalli also scored for Holy Ghost Prep, which advanced to 9-2 on the season.

Kevin Pico, Andrew Savona, and Shane Dachowski scored for Pennridge (4-3).

Two goals from Pers and goals from Mulholland, Baehser, and Moore put the Firebirds up 5-0 seven minutes into the second period.

Pico and Savona scored for the Rams before the period ended and Dachowski’s goal made it a 5-3 game with 10:51 left in regulation, before Mulholland gave the Firebirds some insurance with 1:42 remaining. Seravalli added an empty-net goal with one minute left in regulation.

Six of the game’s 10 goals came on power plays. The game featured 16 penalties for 72 penalty minutes.

Pennridge 0 2 1—3

Holy Ghost Prep 4 1 2—7

3 APAC Alums to Skate for U.S. at World Juniors

Three players with ties to Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference institutions will be part of the Team USA roster for the 47^th IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championships which will kick off the day after Christmas.

Forward Tyler Boucher, a native of Haddonfield, New Jersey, played at St. Joseph’s Prep. Kenny Connors, from Glen Mills, PA skated for Malvern Prep while Sam Lipkin, from Philadelphia, competed for La Salle.

All are forwards.

Boucher is currently playing for the Ottawa 67’s after playing one season at Boston University. He also spent two seasons in USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program His NHL draft rights are held by the Ottawa Senators, who made him their number-one draft pick (10^th overall in 2021).

Connors is in his first season at Massachusetts after playing two years of junior hockey with Dubuque in the NAHL. His NHL rights are held by the Los Angeles Kings, who selected him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft.

Lipkin is in his first season with Quinnipiac after spending two seasons with the Chicago Steel in the USHL. The Arizona Coyotes made him their seventh-round draft choice in the 2021 NHL draft.

The Junior World tournament is set for its customary holiday window, from December 26 through January 5 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick. Games will be televised on the NHL Network.

Holy Ghost Prep 6 Hun School 4

BRISTOL—Experience paid off for Holy Ghost Prep Friday afternoon. Midway through the third period, the Firebirds found itself backed into a corner, down by a goal and facing a two-man disadvantage for a full two minutes.

But they weathered the storm, killing off the twin penalties before goals from Kieran Mulholland and Shaun Moore propelled them to a 6-4 win over The Hun School at Grundy Arena.

The win lifted the Firebirds into first place in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference with a 3-0-0-1 conference mark (8-2 overall). The Raiders dropped to 4-6 overall (1-3 in conference).

The Firebirds controlled play for most of the afternoon but after two periods had little to show for it; they held a 26-8 advantage in shots but thanks to Stephen Chen’s work in the Hun School net the teams were deadlocked at 2-2.

“The mindset was just overcoming adversity,” Moore said. “It was a tie game (but we thought we should have been up early in the game. We thought we needed to pick it up big time going into the third period.”

Brandon Barger gave the hosts the lead with a power-play goal 1:51 into the final session but Ryan Levesque answered for Hun School just 57 seconds later.

The key point in the period and the game came with 8:56 remaining in regulation and Hun School holding a 4-3 lead. In an instant, the Firebirds found themselves two men short. Barger was called for roughing while at the same time Patrick Slook was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving the Raiders an extended five-on-three power play.

But that disappeared when Scott Richmond was called for tripping with 7:27 left in regulation and the Firebirds were able to weather the remainder of the sequence. Twenty-two seconds after the twin penalties expired, Mulholland scored the tying goal. Moore delivered the game winner with 3:24 remaining. Afterward, he credited his teammates for how they dealt with adversity.

“That’s huge,” Moore said. That’s getting our guys ready for that big moment.”

Hun School coach Ian McNally viewed the sequence as the key to the game.

“We had a five-on-three for a minute and a half,” he said, “and all of a sudden, when we take a penalty and we’re shorthanded, all the guys you want out there are tired. It was pretty tough to make it through the last 10 minutes.”

The Raiders were without forwards Elain Estulin and Brendan Marino, forcing several players to play out of position.

“Unfortunately guys were in positions that they don’t normally find themselves,” McNally said. “(Holy Ghost Prep) moved the puck around very well, they find the open guy, and that definitely hurt us. We could have used a coupled more legs.”

Holy Ghost Prep’s John Seravalli assisted on three of his team’s goals, including the game winner. He noted his teammates’ efforts to solve Chen eventually paid off with the four third-period goals.

“We had to get pucks low,” he said. “Try to test him, go side to side. And luckily, we got a quick goal from (Barger). It was difficult, a little bit, but we got to him.”

Ice Chips—Chen still made 32 saves; the Firebirds enjoyed a 38-13 shot advantage. Seravalli’s father John filled in for Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside who missed the game due to illness.

Hun School 1 1 2—4

Holy Ghost Prep 1 1 4—6

First-period goals: Logan Stoudt (HGP) from Brady Baehser, 9:19 (sh); Scott Richmond (HS) from Vincent Gregoire and Ryan Levesque, 14:07 (pp)

Second-period goals: Shaun Moore (HGP) from John Seravalli and Stout, :47 (pp); Josh Sosner (HS) from Levesque, 2:04

Third-period goals: Brandon Barger (HGP) from Patrick Slook, 1:51 (pp); Levesque (HS) from Justin Laplante and Mark Gall, 2:48; Levesque (HS) from Laplante and Richmond, 5:32 (pp); Kieran Mulholland (HGP) from Stout and Seravalli, 10:26 (pp); Moore (HGP) from Seravalli and Baehser, 13:36 (pp); Slook (HGP) unassisted, 16:02 (en)

Shots: Hun School 13, Holy Ghost Prep 38; Saves: Stephen Chen (HS) 32, Colin Mudrick (HGP) 9

For more about The Hun School CLICK HERE

For More about Holy Ghost Prep CLICK HERE

St. Joseph’s Prep 7 Father Judge 4

Geoffrey Hammond scored three goals and assisted on another as St. Joseph’s Prep down Father Judge 7-4 Wednesday night in a non-league game at Flyers Skate Zone Northeast. Joey Samango added two goals and two assists as the Hawks improved to 7-2-1 on the season.
John Lynch and Matt Guiliani also scored goals.

La Salle 3 Hun School 1

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—There wasn’t a lot of artistry on display when Hun School and La Salle took the ice Wednesday afternoon. Instead, the Raiders and the Explorers engaged, in a gritty, grind-it-out encounter before La Salle emerged with a 3-1 win at Hatfield Ice Arena.

The win extended the Explorers’ unbeaten streak to four games and lifted them to 4-3-1 overall (3-1 in the APAC).

The Raiders, who were missing several players due to illness, dropped to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in conference.

“It wasn’t a pretty game for either side,” said La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner. “We were just happy to get through it on top.”

Three of the game’s four goals came in the first period. Justin Laplante gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead at the 2:51 mark; Ryan Desmond answered for the Explorers at 10:19. Dean Carvalho put his team in front for good when he deposited a rebound of Cam Ross’s shot behind Raider goaltender Julian Arsenault just before the period-ending buzzer.

For most of the rest of the last two periods the teams battled failed to find the net. Muelbronner juggled his lineup in a bid to generate more offense.

“We were mixing things around quite a bit,” he said, “trying different guys in different spots. Nothing seemed to really click.”

Hun School coach Ian McNally had to do some juggling of his own, albeit for different reasons.

“Unfortunately we had four guys out,” he said. “That’s not an excuse for why we lost but it just created enough of a disturbance in lines and power plays and everything.

“We did have to come up with a different game plan. The goal was to be within five minutes with a chance to win because some of the guys who weren’t able to play were the guys who score goals for us. We knew we wouldn’t be scoring five goals, but we knew if there was five minutes left and we were within one or up one or tied, that was the goal.”

Hun School received a power-play chance with 5:45 left in regulation when La Salle’s Chase Hannon was booked for a hooking in fraction but Explorer goaltender Aries Caranagi stood tall, he went on to finish the game with 20 saves. His best effort with just under eight minutes left in regulation when he turn aside a blast from the Raiders’ Scott Richmond.

“When we make mistakes, we know he has our backs,: Desmond said. “To build us back up. And save us when we need him.”

It was wasn’t a stylish performance, but the Explorers got the result they wanted.

“We pulled it together toward the end and came out with the victory,” Desmond said. “That’s all that matters.”

Ice Chips—Julian Arsenault made 34 saves in the Hun School net. The Raiders will face Holy Ghost Prep on Friday before pausing for the holidays while La Salle will travel to the Mount St. Charles tournament in Rhode Island after Christmas. It marks the first time the tournament will be held in three years because of Covid.

Hun School 1 0 0—1

La Salle 2 0 1—3

First period goals: Justin Laplante (HS) unassisted, 2:51; Ryan Desmomd (L) from Chase Hannon, 10:19; Dean Carvalho (L) from Cam Ross and James Carpenter 17:00

Third-period goal: Hannon (L) from Desmond and Evan Golato, 15:29

Shots: Hun School 21, La Salle 37; Saves: Julian Arsenault (HS) 34, Aries Carangi (L) 20

La Salle 7 Malvern Prep 2

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—A hockey game encompasses three periods. But Monday’s APAC game between host La Salle and Malvern Prep was settled seemingly in the blink of an eye.

The Explorers built a three-goal lead in just over five minutes and rolled on to a 7-2 win over the Friars at Hatfield Ice. The win squared La Salle’s overall record at 3-3-1 and (2-1 in the APAC)).

It didn’t take long for the offensive surge to get started. Ryan Warner found the back of the net just 49 seconds after the opening faceoff and the Explorers were off and running.

Chase Hannon and Dean Carvalho followed with goals in quick succession and just 5:03 into the game La Salle had a 3-0 lead.

Warner spoke to the significance of his team’s fast start. “That was really important for us,” the senior said. “We kind of built our momentum off that. The team was really buzzing. We were getting pucks in deep, working hard, and we really built off that.”

Following Carvalho’s goal, Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan made a goaltender switch, lifting starter Brandon Novabilsky for Matt Crawford.

Caiden Canale got the Friars on the scoreboard with seven minutes left in the opening session but Hannon answered back for La Salle with 3:31 left and for most of the rest of the game the Friars (5-2, 1-2 in conference) seemingly were skating uphill.

“The last time we played La Salle (a 4-3 Explorer win on Thanksgiving Eve) they jumped on us early,” Friar coach Bill Kenan pointed out. “Today, they jumped on us early. It’s hard to battle back when you’re down 3-0 in the first five minutes.

“We had a good second period, we outshot them, but it’s really hard to get those guys’ mentality back once you go down.”

Malvern Prep’s Jeremy Jacobs and La Salle’s Charlie Kennedy traded goals in the second frame before Carvalho and James Carpenter added goals for La Salle in the third.

Jake Rossi got the win in goal. The sophomore made 34 saves despite leaving the game for a four-minute stretch in the second period because of an equipment issue.

The Explorers are playing their best hockey of the season of late; over the course of their last three starts they’ve compiled a 2-0-1 record while scoring 15 goals.

“We’ve been playing hard,” Warner said. “The team’s been finding our way, and how to work together. I think we’ve really been doing good.”

La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner spoke to his team’s depth and balance. “If we keep the shifts short, we’re a tough team to play against,” he said. “There’s four lines that can move.

“We did I think a really good job of that in the first period.”

For Keenan, Monday’s game was another step his team’s maturation. “The past two years we’ve graduated a lot of seniors,” he said. “We have six freshmen on this team. They’re still finding their way with high-school hockey in a tough division like the APAC. So, for the guys that are experienced, they’ve got to step up, they’ve got to fill in the gaps that graduated and for the younger guys, they’ve just got to find their footing.

“I have faith in this team, I think they’ll bounce back.

Malvern Prep 1 1 0—2

La Salle 4 1 2—7

First-period goals: Ryan Warner (L) from Dean Carvalho. :49; Chase Hannon (L) from Will Gregorio, 3:38; Carvalho (L) from James Carpenter, 5:03; Caiden Canale (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, 10:00; Hannon (L) unassisted, 13:29 (pp)

Second-period goals: Jacobs (MP) from Teague Murray, 9:57; Charlie Kennedy (L) from Liam Donahue, 11:36

Third-period goals: Carvalho (L) from Carpenter and Gregorio, 12:59; Carpenter (L) from Carvalho and Patrick Brace, 16:11

Shots: Malvern Prep 40, La Salle 36; Saves: Brandon Novabilsky (MP) 4 and Matt Crawford (MP) 25; Jake Rossi (L) 34 and Aries Carangi (L) 4

CLICK HERE to learn more about La Salle College High School

CLICK HERE to learn more about Malvern Prep

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