Category: Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference

Malvern Prep—Helping Boys Become Men

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Malvern Preparatory School was founded in 1842 when it was established by the Order of St. Augustine as a preparatory school for boys. It was attached to what was then called the Augustinian College of Villanova, which was founded at the same time and on the same site, the Belle Air Estate in Radnor Township.

Malvern Prep moved to its present location in 1922 where it remains committed to developing its approximately 625 students (in grades 6-12) intellectually and spiritually.

Today, approximately 70 percent of the student body is of the Catholic faith.

Kurt Ruch has been at Malvern Prep for 25 years and the school’s athletic director for 16. He oversees an athletic program that includes 18 varsity sports, and has coached several of them himself during his career including soccer, cross country, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, and water polo.

The school is a member of the InterAc League in sports other than hockey.

Ruch says the school’s philosophy is centered on the teachings of St. Augustine. “We try to teach the whole student,” he said. “And in there, we’re going to being in truth, unity, and love, which are three words we kind of center everything around.

“We’re going to try to have boy become a man. And how we do that is, we tie the parents, the school and the teachers who are part of the school, and the student, into that triangle and try to raise that young boy into a man as we do that.”

The vast majority of the student body resides within 20 miles of the campus. Ruch offered an overview of what the school is looking for from perspective students.

“The first thing is a willingness to want to be in this environment,” he said. “Let’s face it in 2019, single-sex schools, there are only a few of us left You go back 30 years ago, there were a lot more on the Philadelphia landscape. A lot of them have become co-ed, you look at everyone in the (InterAc League) Penn Charter, Chestnut Hill and GA were all single-sex schools at one point and now they are all now co-ed. Haverford School and Malvern are the only two left in our league, and if you look in the area, single-sex schools are kind of a small little niche.

“And in that, we’re looking for young men that want to come in and be a part of our history, our tradition. They’re going to want to come in and make themselves a better person. And in that, it’s the academics, it’s sports, it’s the arts.”

Ruch says the school strongly encourages its students to involved themselves in a variety of activities as opposed to specializing.

“The one thing I definitely think that makes us different than other schools is we want students to come in here and do multiple things,” he said. “We don’t just look at a student coming in in sixth grade, or eighth grade, or ninth grade, whatever the grade is and say ‘You’re just going to be this, you’re just going to be an athlete.’

“Look at our play last year; one of our top lacrosse players was the lead in the play.  You look at our music department; we have football linemen that are in there playing the piano, the violin, and doing things, and if you came to our homecoming, we had a soccer player and football player sing our national anthem as part pf our choir and then they go out and play in those games after they get done singing.

“We’re looking for those kinds of kids that want to do multiple things, that want to try to explore and find themselves in this crazy world that we all live in.”

The school is committed to the concept of community service.

“Each year our students have to meet a certain set of numbers in terms of community service,” Ruch said, “but then, as they go into their senior year they go on a Christian service trip. “Some of the groups go as far away as Peru, South Africa, over to Europe. New Orleans is probably the closest.

“We’re all about giving back and what we can do for our community and how we can help them. Currently, we have a group of kids 20 kids that are down in Houston, in Corpus Christi, working with people that have lost to floods, rebuilding homes and stuff. We have teachers that took off from their personal lives just to go down there because of our faith and what we believe. This is our way of helping, our way of our kids making that connection back to the communities.”

Ruch derives his greatest satisfaction as an educator when one of his former students returns to the Malvern Prep campus.

“It’s when I see an alum come back,” he said, “a kid that graduated come back and he’s talking about the memories he has and the memories that I was a part of and what this school has done for them and how they’ve developed. Those to me are the moments that you really can’t capture or those moments you wish you could.

“That’s why a family comes to a Malvern or a St. Joseph’s Prep or a LaSalle or a Holy Ghost. For we take that young boy, turn him into a man, and now that man is coming back and saying ‘Here’s my moment, here ‘s what I remember about this place. I want to give back. I want to help.’

That to me right now is what I cherish the most When I hire a coach, I’m looking for an alum.”

 

CLICK HERE to find out more about Malvern Preparatory School

 

 

 

 

Gloucester Catholic 2, Holy Ghost Prep 1

BENSALEM—The pattern is becoming all too familiar for Holy Ghost Prep. Matthew Frett scored 35 seconds into overtime to give Gloucester Catholic a 2-1 win over the Firebirds Thursday afternoon at Grundy Arena.

It marked the third time in three games Holy Ghost Prep has gone down to defeat following regulation. The Firebirds (4-8) fell to LaSalle in overtime on December 21 and St. Joseph’s Prep in a shootout on December 14.

The winning goal came on a two-one one situation. Frett carried the puck down the right wing, took his time, and beat Firebird netminder Sean Joyce.
“It’s just really frustrating,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside. “We’ve just got to start winning some hockey games. We’ve got to care a little bit more, we’ve got to work harder, and just get better.”

For most of the afternoon the teams skated on even terms. The game got off to a fast pace. Six minutes of the opening period passed without a whistle. Joyce came up big when he denied Gloucester Catholic’s Carter Jones with six-and-a-half minutes left in the period.

Frett got his team on the scoreboard with just 61 seconds left in the opening session. Tyler Carter took the initial shot from the left wing. Joyce made the save but Frett put in the rebound.

Holy Ghost Prep was forced to come up by big on the penalty kill in the second period when defenseman Jack Kelly drew a five-minute major penalty plus a game misconduct, at the 6:48 mark for head contact. The Firebirds stood tall at the start of the subsequent power play before things even up when the Rams’ Connor Millikan drew a boarding call at 8:06.

The third period saw the Firebirds fail to take advantage of one power-play chance but they got a second when Frett was sent off for hooking with 4:31 left in the game. This time the hosts were able to capitalize. Stefen Melekos took the initial shot from the right wing, Ram goaltender Christopher Liscio made a quality save but Byron Hartley put in the rebound with a forehander.

The sudden-death overtime period was over seemingly in the blink of an eye.
“There were parts of the game where I thought our effort was really good,” Whiteside said. “Puck possession time, I thought we did some really good things. But again, we lost 2-1 and that’s the bottom line.”

Notes—Gloucester Catholic was a semi finalist a year ago in the New Jersey High School Athletic Association’s private school tournament. It is one of four schools that is playing a round robin with Atlantic Prep athletic Conference teams. The others are The Hun School, Princeton Day, and St. Augustine.

Gloucester Catholic 1 0 0 1—2
Holy Ghost Prep 0 0 1 0—1
First-period goal: Matthew Frett (GC) from Tyler Carter, 14:59
Third-period goal: Byron Hartley (HGP) from Stefen Melekos and Thomas McNulty, 12:16 (pp)
Overtime goal: Frett (GC) from Jake Grace, :35
Shots: Gloucester Catholic 27, Holy Ghost Prep 25; Saves: Christopher Liscio (GC) 24, Tristan Devine (HGP) 25

Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference Standings as of 9:30 a.m. 1-3-19

Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference     W      L   OTW      OTL      Pts

LaSalle (12-3)                                            5       0       1        0          17

Malvern Prep (6-3)                                2       2       0        0           6

St. Joseph’s Prep (5-6)                            1       2       1       0            5

Holy Ghost Prep (4-7)                            0     4        0       2           2

 

Teams receive three points for a regulation win, two points for a win in an overtime or shootout, one point for a loss in overtime or shootout

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Gloucester Catholic at Holy Ghost Prep

St. Joseph’s Prep at St. Augustine

 

 

Hawks Go 1-2 on DC Trip

St. Joseph’s Prep has split its first two games at the National Capital Hockey Tournament; the Purple Pucks Tournament in Washington, D.C.

The Hawks best Archbishop Spalding from suburban Baltimore, 5-0 on Friday and lost a Saturday morning game to St. Ignatius from Chicago, 2-0.

They lost to Bishop O’ Connell of Arlington, Va. 6-2 in their second game Saturday to finish the tournament with a 1-2 record.

 

LaSalle Hitting The Road

 

The LaSalle hockey team is heading to Rhode Island after Christmas. The Explorers will be making their annual post-Christmas trek to Woonsocket, Rhode Island to compete in the annual Mount St. Charles Academy tournament.

The eight-team tournament gets underway on Thursday, December 27 and runs through Saturday the 29th. The single-elimination tournament features a consolation bracket

I think it comes at a great time every year for guys to get closer together as teammates,” said LaSalle coach Wally Muehlbronner. It’s our only time when we travel and spend time as a team throughout the season.

“The way the tournament is set up, we play three games, one game a day which is great. there is a lot of downtime where the guys can really get together and grow as a team.”

The tournament features an elite field. “The same eight teams have been going there a long time, Meuhlbronner said.

LaSalle’s first-round opponent will be Bishop Hendricken of Rhode Island Thursday night.

 

LaSalle Edges Holy Ghost Prep 3-2 in OT

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—It was a hockey game that featured a bit of everything, including a dramatic finish and an outstanding effort in goal; from the losing goaltender.

Jan Olenginski scored off a faceoff 2:23 into overtime to give LaSalle a 3-2 win over Holy Ghost Prep Friday night at Hatfield Ice in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference matchup between the two longtime rivals.

The goal came off a draw in the circle to the left of Holy Ghost Prep goaltender Sean Joyce. Sam Lipkin drew the puck back to the top of the circle where Olenginski was waiting to launch a shot that beat Firebird netminder Sean Joyce.

“I didn’t really have to do too much,” Olenginski said. “He went right to me and I just shot it.”

LaSalle (10-2, 6-0 in the APAC) dominated the bulk of the last two periods. That the Firebirds were able to take the game to overtime was a testament to Joyce’s efforts in goal. He made 39 saves, two of them on penalty shots.

“He’s a competitor,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside. “He comes to play every game, that’s all you can ask for. And that just gets our guys going.”

The Firebirds (4-7, 0-6) essentially started the evening with a one-goal advantage. LaSalle’s Eric Ford drew a cross-checking penalty just 59 seconds after the opening faceoff. Colin Costello put his team in front just 11 seconds after that.

Max Levenberg responded for the Explorers with a shot from the right side off a scramble in front with 17 seconds remaining in the period.

In the second period the game turned from physical to chippy. Ten penalties were called in the period but the most significant of them came with 2:21 remaining when the Explorers were awarded a penalty shot when the Firebirds’ Jake Marek was whistled for closing his hand over the puck in the crease.
Lipkin took the penalty shot but Joyce turned his forehander aside.

Andrew Budzynski gave LaSalle it’s first lead with 8:15 left in the third period on a play that Michael Casey started with a move down the right wing. Casey went cross ice to Lipkin who in turn found Casey who deposited the puck in the lower right-hand corner of the net.

All three players involved in the play, along with Olenginski, are sophomores.

“A lot of those guys that are sophomores now had a year to play together here , to know the way we want them to play when they’re playing for LaSalle,” said Explorer coach Wally Meuhlbronner. “I think the best quality about them is that they’re unselfish and they work hard and play together well.”

Alex D’Angelo tied the game for Holy Ghost Prep with 6:31 remaining off a feed from Jack Kelly.

Before overtime however, the Firebirds to weather another storm. With les than two minutes left in regulation, Lipkin found himself on a breakaway for the Explorers when Kelly threw his stick along the ice at him. This time it was Olenginski who took the penalty shot but again, Joyce proved impenetrable.

LaSalle finished with a 42-22 edge in shots.
Holy Ghost Prep 1 0 1 0—2
LaSalle 1 0 1 1—3
First-period goals: Colin Costello (HGP) from Eric Pohl and Evan Mudrick, 1:10 (pp); Max Levenberg (L), 15:43.
Third-period goals: Andrew Budzynski (L) from Sam Lipkin and Michael Casey, 7:49; Alex D’Angelo (HGP) from Jack Kelly, 9:29.
Overtime goal: Jan Olenginski (L) from Lipkin, 2:23.
Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 22, LaSalle 42; Saves: Sean Joyce (HGP) 39, Aidan McCabe (L) 20

To learn more about LaSalle College High School CLICK HERE

To learn more about Holy Ghost Prep CLICK HERE

St. Joseph’s Prep Preparing For Annual Holiday Trip

The St. Joseph’s Prep Hawks will be spending part of the week between Christmas and New Year’s on the ice, and having an educational experience along with it.

The occasion is the 26th annual Purple Pucks Tournament sponsored by Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC. The tournament features eight Jesuit schools, including St. John’s from the District of Columbia, St. Ignatius from Chicago,

Loyola Academy from suburban Chicago, the Hun School from New Jersey, Archbishop Spalding from suburban Baltimore and Bishop O’ Connell from Arlington, Virginia in addition to the Hawks and the host Eagles.

The eight teams are divided into two pools of four. Each team will play three games over two days on Friday, December 28 and Saturday the 29th. The semifinals and finals will be played on Sunday, December 30.

St. Joseph’s coach David Giacomin says the tournament is annual fixture for the Haws. “we take two teams down there,” he said, “so our other team gets to play too.

“It’s about them bonding, staying in the hotel together, being able to go eat together, and hopefully this momentum will build throughout the rest of the season.”

There is also an educational/cultural element to the trp. There will be time for sightseeing in our nation’s capital and Giacomin and his players plan to take advantage.

“It’s about education as well as the hockey,” Giacomin said. “So, every year we try to find something to take the boys to do, whether it’s go to Congress, whether it’s go to any of the monuments, or go see the museums. We try to figure out what’s the best thing for them to do and hopefully come up with something creative for them to have a good time and learn something.”

Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference Standings

Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference     W      L   OTW      OTL      Pts

LaSalle (9-2)                                              5       0       0        0          15

&Malvern Prep (5-2)                                2       2       0        0           6

St. Joseph’s Prep (4-4)                              1       2       1       0            5

Holy Ghost Prep (4-6)                            0     4        0       1               1

& overall record incomplete

 

Includes games through 12-16-18

 

3 points for regulation win, 2 points for overtime/shootout win, 1 point for overtime/shootout loss