Category: Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference

Holy Ghost Prep Wins National Scholastic Invitational

Holy Ghost Prep is headed home from the National Scholastic Invitational with a championship trophy; the Governor’s Cup

Brady Baehser scored two goals and Luke Panepresso, Colin Moore, and Landon Stout contributed one each as the Firebirds downed Culver (Indiana) Academy 5-1 in the championship game in Jamestown, N.Y.

The win lifted the Firebirds to 9-1 on the season. The loss was the first for Culver Academy (15-1-2).

Baehser was named the championship game’s Most Valuable Player.

Jason Soule made 20 saves on the afternoon. He was in goal for all five games during the weekend.

“I’m super excited to get such a prestigious win during my senior year,” he said. “I have a great team in front of me and that helps provide a ton of confidence no matter who we are playing.”

Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside said the tournament was an opportunity for his team to grow and mature on and off the ice.  

“I’m very happy for the team,” he said. “This retreat weekend is full of opportunities for the players to grow together and to play some talented teams from different parts of the county. We look forward to jumping back into our APAC conference schedule later this week.”

The Firebirds will face the Hun School in an APAC game Friday afternoon.

The victorious Firebirds

Jeff Mauro has written a book on the history of the Pennsylvania state high school hockey championship. To find out more and order a copy CLICK HERE

Hockey Happenings is looking for reliable individuals to provide video clips of APAC games. If you’re interested or would like more information, please contact us at rwoelfel2103@gmail.



National Scholastic Invitational-Final Round

Semifinals

Holy Ghost Prep 3, North Allegheny 2 OT—Brady Baehser scored in overtime to give the Firebirds the win in Jamestown, N.Y. Luke Panepresso and Landon Stout scored goals in regulation.

Culver Academy 5, Bethel Park 3

Culver Academy from Culver, Indiana, will face Holy Ghost Prep for the tournament title at 1:00

Jeff Mauro has written a book on the history of the Pennsylvania state high school hockey championship. To find out more and/or order a copy CLICK HERE

Hockey Happenings is looking for reliable individuals to provide video clips of APAC games. If you’re interested or would like more information, please contact us at rwoelfel2103@gmail.

Holy Ghost Prep Reaches NSI Semis

Holy Ghost Prep has reached the semifinal round of the National Scholastic Invitational in Jamestown, N.Y. The Firebirds started their Saturday by defeating Medina 5-1 before besting Erie Cathedral Prep 4-0.

Sunday Schedule

8:30 Culver Academy vs. Bethel Park

8:45 Holy Ghost Prep vs. North Allegheny

Finals: 1 PM

Holy Ghost Prep 3, DeMatha 1

The Firebirds recorded a 3-1 win over DeMatha Friday night in the open round of the National scholastic Invitational in Jamestown, N.Y. Brian Butler, Kieran Mulholland, and Dominic Lombardo all scored goals for the Firebirds, who improved to 5-1 overall.

Jason Soule made 25 saves in goal. The Firebirds will face Medina (10:15) Cathedral Prep (4:45) on Saturday.

Holy Ghost Prep Headed North

 It’s a trip that has become a tradition in the Holy Ghost Prep hockey program, one that offers a plethora of benefits, on and off the ice. The Firebirds are in Jamestown N.Y. this weekend for the National Scholastic Invitational.

The tournament brings together some of the finest scholastic hockey programs in America while at the same time allowing the players to spend quality time together off the ice.

Senior Brian Butler is making the trip for the second time.

“It’s really just having the house and all the guys hanging around together,” he said. “And then, just remembering that we’re there to win the tournament; that’s really the bottom line.”

Butler says the time spent together off the ice helps the players get to know each other as people, particularly their younger teammates.

“Definitely, we have the core group of guys that I play club with,” he said, “but, with the newer guys this year, especially the two freshmen, the trip just means everything. It’s really important just to get to know everybody, and just bond to the team, and I think that can only help us, especially going into the playoffs.”

Butler says the upperclassmen on the roster take on the responsibility of assisting the newcomers.

“It’s really our job to make sure the underclassmen feel comfortable,” he said, “and I just remember my first time in Jamestown (two years ago), the seniors did a great job. That’s what we’re going to try and do here.”

Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside is taking a team to Jamestown for the 13th time.

“We use it as a team builder,” he said. “A chance to get away from school. Just be by ourselves, eat together, play games together, just get to know one another away from the rink a little bit.”

Whiteside emphasizes the importance of the seniors’ role on the trip. “The seniors that are going way with us have obviously experienced this tournament,” he said, “and played a major part in the tournament, and they play a major part in the success of our team.

“The underclassmen really look up to them for guidance and support, I’ve always said our leadership group is an extension of our coaching staff and I think this year with Luke (Pappareso)  Brian, and Sean (Marshall), I think it’s quite evident that they’re truly the leaders of the team and kind of set the tone.”

The Firebirds were scheduled to open tournament play Friday evening at 6:15 against DeMatha (Md.) before playing two more games on Saturday against Medina and Cathedral Prep. Sunday’s schedule if any will depend on the results of those games.

Jeff Mauro has written a book on the history of the Pennsylvania state high school hockey championship. To find out more and order a copy CLICK HERE

Hockey Happenings is looking for reliable individuals to provide video clips of APAC games. If you’re interested or would like more information, please contact us at rwoelfel2103@gmail.com

Hun School 1 St Joseph’s Prep 0 (sh)

Hamilton Township, N.J.—High-school hockey doesn’t any better than this, from a goaltending point of view. Stephen Chen (Hun School) and Ajay White (St. Joseph’s Prep) were letter perfect in their Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference matchup Thursday afternoon at Ice Land. For 51 minutes of regulation and five minutes of overtime the two were impregnable. Chen, a junior, stopped 34 shots while White, a sophomore, turned aside 32.

The Raiders’ Riley Frost was able to put a puck over White’s left shoulder in the bottom of the third round of a shootout to give his team a 1-0 in its first APAC game in school history.

For his part, Chen tried to focus on the task at hand. “It was an awesome experience for sure,” he said, “but I think the focus was just to win the game, focus on the next shot, and enjoy the moment.”

White was the losing goaltender on the scoresheet, simply because there had to be a winner. But their were no flaws to be found in his performance. “That was fun to watch,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for (Chen). He stole the game for them. He made a lot of big saves. It’s a fun atmosphere to play in.”

Despite the scoreline, it was not an easy afternoon for either netminder. Both were challenged often but came up big repeatedly.

As the game wore on, Chen focused on maintaining his concentration. “There are moments when thoughts pop into your mind,” he said, “but as a goaltender, the most important thing is to have a free mind and just stay in the zone and concentrate on the next shot.”

White embraced the challenge of matching his opponent’s performance at the other end of the ice. “I like competition,” he said. “It’s always fun. I think it definitely helps.”

St. Joseph’s Prep coach David Giacomin noted his team had quality chances but Chen took them away. “We were preaching to the kids just to keep putting pressure on him,” he said, “and keep getting shots to the net. We had some wide open shots where his leg came out of nowhere or a glove came out of nowhere.

‘I think it was probably about eight of them that we counted that the puck should have been in the net, but he found a way to get to that spot and stole it from us. He played a phenomenal hockey game and so did our guy.”

Hun School’s Ryan Croddick battles opponents for the puck in Thursday’s game (Robert Barnes)

For Hun School coach Ian McNally, Thursday’s encounter was a new experience. “I’ve never been part of a 0-0 game at this level,” he said. “That was stressful. And frustrating, because you go through a period without scoring, and then you try to talk about what you can do to score and then you go through another period with scoring.

“You try a different strategy, different lines and nothing’s working. It was exciting and stressful all at the same time.”

Ice Chips—With the win, Hun School improves to 4-2 overall. The Hawks now stand at 2-3-1 (0-2 in the APAC). The game featured six minor penalties, three against each team.

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 0 0 (0)

Hun School 0 0 0 0 (1)—1

Shootout goal: Riley Frost (HS)

Shots: SJP 34, Hun School 32; Saves: A.J. White (SJP) 32, Stephen Chen (HS) 34

A New Era is Unfolding at The Hun School

A new day is dawning at The Hun School. Come Thursday afternoon at the stroke of 4, at the Ice Land Skating Center in Hamilton Township, N.J, the Raiders will embark on their first season of conference play in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference. St. Joseph’s Prep will provide the opposition.

The Raiders started their season this past weekend in Western Pennsylvania at the Shady Side Academy tournament where they won three of four games.

Hun School is no stranger to the schools in the APAC, it has competed regularly against conference members in non-league games in seasons past. They are also members, along with La Salle, in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League.

Ian McNally, Hun School’s veteran coach, is familiar with the APAC’s history. “When they started this league, I kind of knew what it was,” he said, “but I caught up last year with (La Salle coach Wally Muhelbronner) more about it.”

McNally, who played college hockey at Princeton, says that membership in the APAC makes the regular season more meaningful.

“Previous to the Mid-Atlantic League, we were just playing a selection of games,” he said. “Just schedule 20 games and you play them. It’s great, but it’s hard to get up for everything for the kids. Sometimes there wasn’t the same amount of emphasis put on playing well and getting the win each time.

“I think that was the goal, to try to have our schedule be all meaningful games. We’d go play Malvern on a Wednesday afternoon but for either team, it wasn’t necessarily the biggest game of the year. So, we’ll have those same games and they’ll all be more meaningful and impactful.  I think for the kids, it’s a big benefit to feel like there’s (three) points on the line each game.”

The Hun School is unique among the APAC membership. It is the first coeducational school in the conference and has boarding students. Also, the school starts its hockey season later than the other conference members to avoid having it overlap with fall sports. But it is committed to putting a quality hockey team on the ice while remaining committed to academic excellence.

“We’re not looking to be a hockey factory,” McNally said, “but we do have strong hockey kids and have a competitive hockey team, so having likeminded schools to play against, it means something. It was a pretty easy ‘Yes’ for us (to joining the APAC) and I hope it was an easy ‘Yes’ for them to want us in the league as well.”

A number of Hun School players are presently playing club hockey but some played other sports for their school this fall.

“Half our team has been here but not been playing hockey,” McNally said. Some of them played football or soccer for Hun or ran cross country.

So, not only are we catching up that way but there’s kids that haven’t played since whenever they last played at their home. Maybe when they left in August or whatever so we’ll see.

“I think we’ll be fine and the difference I think for us is once we start, we skate every day so we’ll probably catch up, in terms of hours on the ice, pretty quick.”

Learn more about The Hun School

Hockey Happenings is looking for reliable individuals to provide video clips of APAC games. If you’re interested or would like more information, please contact us at rwoelfel2103@gmail.com

Hun School 4, Hoosac 1

The Hun School scored three times in the first period and went on to a 4-1 win over Hoosac (NY) on Sunday in the Shady Side Academy tournament.  Seth Kaplan, Josh Sosner, Riley Frost, and Josh Ouellete all scored goals. Stephen Chen made 30 saves in goal.

The win was the Raiders’ third in four tournament games and assured them of a third-place finish. Hun School will open APAC play on Thursday against St. Joseph’s Prep.

The Hun School 3 1 0—4

Hoosac 0 1 0—1

First-period goals: Seth Kaplan (H) from Elian Estulin and Riley Frost 2:39; Josh Sosner (H) from V. Gregoire, 3:40; Riley Frost (H) from Kaplan, 10:40 (pp)

Second-period goals: Josh Ouellete (H) from Josh Sosner, 11:01

The Hun School Scores Two Saturday Wins

The Hun School defeated Blyth Academy 7-2 on Saturday in the second round of the Shady Side (Pa.) Academy tournament.

Elian Estulin led the way with two goals and two assists. Seth Kaplan contributed a goal and four assists while Riley Frost also had a multi-point game, a goal and two assists.

Estulin, Kaplan, and Frost skated on the same line.

Stephen Chen made 15 saves in goal.

Later on Saturday The Hun School defeated St. Francis 2-1 to record its second victory in three tournament games. Seth Kaplan scored in the first period and Elian Estulin in the second. Jack Borek made 41 saves in goal

St. Francis 1 0 0—1

Hun School 1 1 0—2

First-period goals: Gavan Schwenkbeck (SF) from Neil Downey, 3:01; Seth Kaplan (H) from Nick Dimatos and Riley Frost, 6:34 (pp)

Second-period goal: Elian Estulin (H) from Frost and Kaplan, 12:24

The tournament concludes on Sunday.

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