Hun School, St. Joseph’s Prep Reach Purple Puck Finals

The Prep Division of the Purple Puck Tournament will feature an All-APAC final. The Hun School rallied from a 3-2 deficit following the first 25-minute period to score a 6-3 win over Paul VI in a Thursday morning semifinal.

The Raiders scored four goals in the second half in a span of 16:38 to pull away to the win.

Zachary Vallee scored twice for Hun School. Devin Espada, Conor Mulligan, Anders Van Raalte and Andrew Darst also scored goals.

The Raiders will face St. Joseph’s Prep in Monday afternoon’s final. Cole Gargon, Bradan Fisher, and Noah Stuhl all scored goals in the second half as the Hawks shut out Jesuit Dallas 3-0. Declan Geary recorded the shutout in goal.

The championship game will be a rematch of an APAC game 19 days ago that saw Hun School (8-3) defeat St. Joseph’s Prep (10-4) 2-1 in overtime.

Hun School 6 Paul VI 3

Paul VI 3 0—3

Hun School 2 4—6

First-half goals: Caden DeVellii (PVI) unassisted, 2:42; Zachary Vallee (HS) from Conor Mulligan and Ezra Broomer, 14:31; Braiden Galaida (PVI) from Nathan Cogbill, 15:45; Devin Espada (HS) from Lyca Jean and Jacob Kelly-LePage, 22:32 (pp); Tommy Ernst (PVI) from Morgan Shaw, 24:17

Second-half goals: Anders Van Raalte (HS) from Nathaniel Trawinski and Justin Bibeau, 6:15; Mullugan (HS) from LePage and Andrew Darst, 16:10; Darst (HS) from Bibeau, 18:50; Vallee (HS) from Broomer, 22:53 (pp)

Shots: Paul VI 28, Hun School 32; Saves: Matthew Cogbill (PVI) 26, Elliott Trottier (HS) 25

St. Joseph’s Prep 3 Jesuit Dallas 0

Jesuit Dallas 0 0—0

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 3—3

Second-half goals: Cole Gargon (SJP) frim Ben Kurson and Jake Ely, 3:10 Bradan Fisher (SJP) from Adan Charrafi, 7:01; Noah Stuhl (SJP) from James Fratantuono and Michael Castelli, 12:29;

Shots: JD 10, SJP 29 Saves: Bennett Ortegon (JD) 25, Declan Geary (SJP) 10

Landon School 2 La Salle 1

La Salle’s goal-scoring woes continued Wednesday afternoon. The Explorers found the back of the net just once in a 2-1 non-league loss to Landon School at Hatfield Ice.

Artin Tahmasebi ended matters 39 seconds into three-in-three overtime off a sprint down the left wing that finished when he beat La Salle goaltender Danny Trainer.

The loss dropped the Explorers to 2-8 on the season. But there were signs that the pieces are beginning to fit together as coach Wally Muehlbronner expected they would when the season began.

“We’re definitely starting to come together,” he said. “Guys are starting to play hard for one another.

“We had some really good zone times today. Unfortunately, it didn’t lead to any goals, but we had some good possession times in the {offensive} zone, and guys were hard on the puck. So, we’re getting there.”

Trainer, a sophomore, made his first varsity start in goal. He made some big saves at key moments; all told, he stopped 19 shots.

“He was solid, right from the beginning,” Muehlbronner said. He had really good focus. He’s a good-sized kid so he takes up a lot of the net. He was good. He was very square to the puck and made some key saves when we needed him to.”

The first two 15-minute periods were scoreless. The Bears (6-3), who hail from Bethesda, Md., took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Walker Kraemer 3:51 into the third period.

Patrick Lunsford responded for the Explorers three-and-a-half minutes later from midway between the two faceoff circles.

Tahmasebi’s game winner was an outstanding individual effort, Trainer could not be faulted on the play.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way we would have liked in the overtime,” Muehlbronner said, “But it wasn’t the result of {Trainor’s} play.”

• Following Christmas, the Explorers will spend the weekend in New England. They are scheduled to face Bishop Hendricken on Friday on Warwick, Rhode Island before spending Saturday competing in a tournament against St. John’s College (their Friday opponent), Christian Brothers Academy, and La Salle Academy. Those games will be played on Friday in Foxboro, Mass. and on Saturday in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Muehlbronner has traditionally utilized the trip as a team building experience

“It’s a very important trip for us this year,” he said, “just because of how many new guys we have.

“It’s the first time a lot of them are really going to get to know each other away from the rink and away from school, which is great. I know they’re all looking forward to it. So, hopefully we come out of it a better, stronger team.”

Landon School 0 0 1 1—2

La Salle 0 0 1 0—1

Third-period goals: Walker Kraemer (Lan) from Grant Kraemer, 3:51; Patrick Lunsford (La) from Quin Leonards and River Carnagi, 7:38

Overtime goal: Artin Tahmasebi (Lan) from Owen Moore, :39

Shots Landon 21, La Salle 19: Saves: Aden Perry (Lan) 9 and Greg Saffell (Lan) 9, Danny Trainer (L) 19,

St. Joseph’s Prep Set for Purple Puck Tournament

The National Capital Hockey Tournament, more familiarly known as the Purple Puck Tournament, is a longstanding holiday tradition.

Now in its 31^st year the tournament is hosted by Gonzaga Prep and brings some of the scholastic and prep school teams to the Washington, D.C. area each year. This year’s event begins on Saturday, December 27 and runs through Monday, December 29.

For St. Joseph’s Prep, the Purple Puck event is a regular fixture on the schedule. The Hawks have had considerable success there; they’ve won championships in two of the last three seasons. Senior Ben Kurson is the Hawks’ captain.

“The Purple Puck Tournament is very competitive. Teams come from all over the country and test our team every year. It is always a challenge, but I am very confident in our group this year. “

Kurson has fond memories from the Purple Puck Tournament; he played on championship-winning teams as a freshman and sophomore

“I remember really looking up to the upperclassmen,” he said, “seeing how they played for each other, and how they treated the younger players. I hope as a senior, in my last Purple Puck Tournament, I can similarly do this for our team.”
Kurson says the experience of being on the road as a group for a long weekend builds team cohesiveness.

“This tournament greatly helps to develop team chemistry. Eating meals together, traveling to the games together, and briefly living together all contribute to working well on the ice. Also, our team has a tradition of doing Secret Santa at this tournament. This has always been my favorite off ice activity, and is always very funny to see what people get for each other.

St. Joseph’s Prep coach Charlie Van Kula says the weekend offers his team a lot of benefits, including testing it in a tournament setting.

“The round robin is only three game, but you do have to perform well to make it to the championship rounds,” he said. “Regardless of what’s on the line, it’s a unique situation, learning how to play {in a tournament setting}.

“That’s one aspect, but I think equally as important is the time together as a group.”

In addition to the Hawks’ varsity, one of their junior varsity teams will also be part of the tournament and several sub-varsity players will be on the trip even though they may not dress for games.

“I think it’s important for all of us to be together as a group,” Van Kula said. “Especially with the nature of our sport, it’s so rare to have even one individual team all together at once but certainly to draw the whole program together is a valuable eperience.

Kurson says the Hawks find out a lot about themselves over the course of the weekend. ”I think as a team we learn a lot. When we play so many games in such a short period of time, it gives us the ability to tweak something and directly implement it in the same day. In comparison, we usually play one game a week, so we have to wait a whole week to change what we learned. “

• The Hawks will not be the only APAC team in this year’s field. The Hun School will also be part of the event. The other three conference teams will also be involved in tournaments this weekend. La Salle will travel to Providence for a four-team event involving Christian Brothers-affiliated institutions while host Malvern Prep and Holy Ghost Prep will take part in the Friars Faceoff

Malvern Prep to Host Friar Faceoff

Malvern Prep will be hosting a four-team holiday tournament at Ice Line the weekend after Christmas. The inaugural Friar Faceoff will involve host Calvert Hall from Towson, Md. Devon Prep, and Holy Ghost, which is stepping on place of DeMatha, which was scheduled to participate but had to step away.

The round-robin format will see each team play once on Saturday night. December 27 and twice the following day with the championship game set for Monday afternoon, December 29.

“We’ve been trying to get a tournament off the ground for a couple years now,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “We were able to get four team this year, hopefully we’ll build on to to it, but it’s an opportunity for us to keep the boys on the ice.

“Devon, Holy Ghost, and Calvert Hall are quality schools, so it’s going to be good competition and we’re looking forward to seeing what it’s like.”

Saturday, December 27

Rink 1 – Back-to-Back Games

4:00 PM – 5:45 PM: Malvern Prep vs. Devon Prep
6:00 PM – 7:45 PM: Calvert Hall vs. Holy Ghost Prep

Sunday, December 28

10:00 AM – 11:45 AM (Rink 1): Malvern Prep vs. Holy Ghost Prep
10:15 AM – 12:00 PM (Rink 3): Devon Prep vs. Calvert Hall

Rink 1 – Back-to-Back Games

4:00 PM – 5:45 PM: Malvern Prep vs. Calvert Hall
6:00 PM – 7:45 PM: Devon Prep vs. Holy Ghost Prep

Monday, December 29

Holy Ghost Prep 2 St. Joseph’s Prep 1

Anthony Valeriote and Mason Thomas scored goals as the Firebirds bested the Hawks Wednesday evening at the Class of 1923 Rink at the University of Pennsylvania.

The win lifted Holy Ghost Prep to 7-2 overall and a perfect 5-0 in the APAC.

Valeriote opened the scoring for the Firebirds with 1:33 remaining in the opening period. Thomas extended his team’s lead 2:49 into the second frame.

Jake Ely scored for the Hawks (5-4, 1-2 in the APAC) with 2:49 left in regulation.

“I don’t think today was either team’s best game,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie. “I would expect the next game to be much higher energy with probably gigher stakes.

“We’ll take the win but I though overall our game was pretty flat today.”

The Hawks have lost four straight after a 5-0 start.

“Another tough one for us today,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach Charlie Van Kula. “I’m sounding like a broken record but putting together a full 51 minutes continues to plague us.

“However, I hope the third period showed our guys we can compete with anyone.”

Holy Ghost Prep 1 1—2

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 01—1

First-period goal: Anthony Valeriote (HGP) from Chase Logue, 15:27

Second-period goal: Mason Thomas (HGP) from Chris Marshall, 2:49

Third-period goal: Jake Ely (HGP) from Michael Washlick and Bradan Fisher, 14:53

Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 20, St. Joseph’s Prep 20

Saves: Matt Salita (HGP) 19, Bruno Mainardi and Declan Geary (SJP) 18

Hun School 8 Haverford School 3

Zachary Vallee scored four goals as the Raiders bested Haverford School 8-3 Thursday afternoon at Ice Land in a non-league game. Andrew Darst, Anders van Baalte, James Dolanm and Jacob Kelly LePage also scored for Hun School (3-1), which won its third straight.

A New Chapter is Unfolding at The Hun School

With the arrival of the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference season, a new era of Hun School hockey has begun.

Nathaniel Welsh is now the man behind the Raiders’ bench, having taken over for Eric Szeker last week. His team hadn’t played a game since until it defeated St. Joseph’s Prep 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday at the University of Pennsylvania’s historic Class of 1923 Rink.

Welsh, who played midget hockey for former Hun School coach Ian McNally and was later an assistant coach there, says the transition has been a smooth one.

“Eric Szeker was a phenomenal coach,” he said, “and had, very, very close personal ties with a lot of them. He recruited a lot of those player and coached a lot of those players as the JV assistant and the varsity head coach (Szeker was beginning his third season as head coach when he resigned).

“It’s a tough thing to change a coach at any point and it’s a very tough thing to change a coach a week or two into a season but there hasn’t been a missed beat, there hasn’t been a missed practice, there hasn’t been a slowdown. I give all of the athletes credit for continuing to show up and continuing work just as hard for each other, and for the common goal of winning some games.

In terms of Xs and Os, Welsh is making only minor tweaks.

“Eric and I have a very similar philosophy on how the game of hockey is played and on how we approach coaching it,” he said. “We’ll make a minor tweak or two to our forecheck, but as to the philosophy of how we run practice and how we run the team, it’s pretty much the same and that was one of the great things about coaching with him.

“We had the same values and the same core ethos we were trying to impart to the players so that doesn’t change.”

Due to a combination of school policy and NJSIAA regulations, the Raiders take to the ice later than the four other APAC schools. But they are making up for lost time. They’ll be on the ice five days a week between now and the holiday break and will be participating in the 31st Purple Puck Tournament in Springfield, Virginia between Christmas and New Year’s.

“I think the first couple of games is always a tough thing because we’re playing schools that have practiced and played for a month or two ahead of us,” Welsh said, “so I think it’s a disadvantage for the first game or two, having three weeks of practice vs. two months and five games. But, once we get going, it’s an easier thing to do because it’s a routine that all the players get into. We play three times a week, we practice twice a week. We’re on the ice five times a week and it’s easier to keep the momentum once you get going.

“So we’ve got to find our footing but then I think it’s easier to continue with it in that rapid-shot fashion we do for three months.”

Holy Ghost Prep 4 La Salle 0

Holy Ghost Prep kept up its winning ways Wednesday afternoon. Four different players scored goals as the Firebirds bested La Salle 4-0 in an APAC encounter at Hatfield Ice.

Holy Ghost Prep (6-1 overall) has now won six straight decisions and stands a perfect 4-0 in the APAC.

Senior Jake Smaron scored one goal and assisted on another.

“It’s been a big change this year,” he said. “A lot of guys graduated but I think we’ve come together as a group really well. Especially in these early months, which you usually don’t see a lot.

“We’ve been pretty efficient with the way we scored. A lot of gritty goals I would say.”

The scoreless first period saw the Firebirds and La Salle (1-6, 0-4) battle on even terms. But the Explorers’ goal-scoring drought continued.

“We’re definitely making progress,” said La Salle coach Wally. Muehlbronner. “We’ve just got to find a way to score some goals.

“We had some really good opportunities in the first period. The goalie (Matt Salina) made some nice saves. We just had to find a way to get one past him.”

Chase Logue gave Holy Ghost Prep the lead 4:17 on a solo effort 4:17 into the second frame.

Smaron made it 2-0 with 3:51 left in the period when a loose puck eluded La Salle netminder Anthony Foster in the goal mouth and Smaron tucked it in the net.

“I’m a bit of a grinder they say?” Smaron said. “But sometimes, to get the puck in the net, it’s not going to be the most flashy. You’ve just got to get it in sometimes. That’s what we did today.”

Smaron, a defenseman, is in his second season as a full-time varsity player; he was a swing player as a sophomore. He commented on how his role has evolved over the course of his career.

“I kind of played as a little more of a goal scorer on JV,” he said. “But I’ve really accepted my role on varsity as kind of a leader and helping the younger guys.

“I’m not much of a flashy player but getting the puck in the net is kind of my thing.”

Lucas’s Gonzalez and Billy Harmar scored goals 88 seconds apart early in the third period to allow the Firebirds to build on their lead. Foster was lifted for Danny Trainor midway through the period.

Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie is pleased to see his team getting production from a variety of sources. “We’re getting production from our top three lines,” he said. “Any time you can get scoring from any line, it’s always a positive.”

Ritchie notes the advantages of having a deep roster.

“It’s harder to match against when you have depth,” he said. “Last year we had a really elite player that I think most teams tried to zero in on and he was still able to produce. But, this year, we’ve got those top guys but {scoring] could come from anyone up front.”

Holy Ghost Prep. 0 2 2—4

La Salle 0 0 0—0

Second-period goals: Chase Logue (HGP) unassisted, 4:17; Jake Smaron (HGP) from Sean Devine, 13:09

Third-period goals: Lucas Helms (HGP) from Lucas Gonzalez and Anthony Valeriote, 1:44; Billy Harmae (HGP)) from Lucas Helms and Smaron, 3:12

Shotas: Holy Ghost Prep 25, La Salle 30Holy Ghost Prep kept up its winning ways Wednesday afternoon. Four different players scored goals as the Firebirds bested La Salle 4-0 in an APAC encounter at Hatfield Ice.