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Nine games are on this evening’s card
Class AA First Round
Tuesday, March 5
Pennridge 10 Bensalem 2
Downingtown East 3 Central Bucks East 2
Downingtown West 9 Souderton 4
Haverford High 6 North Penn 2
Council Rock South 12 Spring Ford 0
.Cherokee 6 Lower Merion 3
Boyertown 7 Pennsbury 2
Central Bucks South 5 Avon Grove 2
Class AAA Quarterfinal
Holy Ghost Prep 5 Father Judge 1
La Salle left little doubt Monday night why it is favored to win the Class AAA Flyers Cup championship. The top-seeded and defending champion Explorers scored three goals in each of the first two periods and rolled to a 6-1 win over Perkiomen Valley at Hatfield Ice.
La Salle will face Holy Ghost Prep or Father Judge net Thursday in a semifinal
Dean Carvalho and Grant Lagreca each scored twice for the Explorers (21-3). Patrick Brace, and Ben Falicki also scored goals.
But while La Salle was clearly the dominant team on the ice, the title of Most Outstanding Player for the evening belonged to Perkiomen Valley goaltender Peter Neveil. The sophomore registered 50 saves in the course of an evening that saw the Explorers outshoot the Vikings 66-10.
“The kid was unbelievable,” said La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner. “we were all wondering, ‘Who is this guy?’
“He made some great saves and did a nice job controlling rebounds.
Lagreca got a look at Neveil from close range.
“He played really good,” the junior said. “We got frustrated at some points because we just wanted to score but he played a heck of a game and kept it close.”
Thanks in large part to Neveil’s efforts it was a 1-0 game in the closing minutes of the first period. Dean Carvalho’s goal at the 3:58 mark gave La Salle the lead but Neveil was impregnable after that until Carvalo and Patrick Brace scored goals 18 seconds apart to put the Explorers up 3-0 with 1:24 left in the opening session. By period’s end, La Salle outshot the eighth-seeded Vikings (11-8-1) 22-5.
Mason McCabe scored Perkiomen Valley’s only goal 3:01 into the second session but La Salle continued to dominate play; by period’s end the shot differential was 40-6.
Lagreca spoke of the importance of he and his teammates maintaining their focus.
“You don’t want to get into bad habits,” he said. “We just want to keep working hard and playing as a team and that will continue to get us success.”
Muehlbronner gave the evening mixed reviews.
“In the end, we got the job done,” he said. “I wasn’t thoroughly pleased with our performance. There are a lot of things we’ve been working on that we kind of got away from a little bit. We’ve got to get back to just playing a hard, simple game.”
• La Salle is seeking it 13th Flyers Cup championship, the most of any school in tournament history.
Perkiomen Valley 0 1 0—1
La Salle 3 3 0—6
First: Dean Carvalho (L) from Julian Tarsi and Alistair St. Hilaire, 3:58; Carvalho (L) from Logan Dicus, 15:36; Patrick Brace (L) from Charlie Kennedy and Ryan Wiley, 15:54
Second Mason McCabe (PV) from Travis Moscariello, 3:01; Grant Lagreca (L) from James Carpenter, 3:32; Ben Falicki (L) from Lagreca, 12:00; Lagreca (L) unassisted, 16:25
Shots: Perkiomen Valley 10, La Salle 56; Saves: Peter Neveil (PV) 50 Jake Rossi (L) 9
Brady Doyle scored two first-period goals in a span of two-and-a-half minutes and the Friars rolled to the 8-0 shutout win over the Tide Monday night at Ice Line in a Class AAA Flyers Cup first-round game.
Second-seeded Malvern Prep broke the game open with five goals in the second frame. Aidan Kelly, Jonathan Holt, Colin Inskeep, Jeremy Jacobs, and Recce Hanna all scored for the Friars (10-8,) who will face St. Joseph’s Prep next Thursday in the semifinals.
Devon Prep 0 0 0—0
Malvern Prep 3 5 0—8
First-period goals: Brady Doyle (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, 4:13; Doyle (MP) from Jacobs, 6:36 (pp); Aidan Kelly (MP) unassisted, 15:54
Second-period goals: Jonathan Holt (MP) from Andrew Starck and James Young, 1:14; Colin Inskeep (MP) from Caiden Canale and Kelly, 3:17; Canale (MP) from Teague Murray and Kelly, 6:08; Jacobs (MP) unassisted, 9:05 (pp); Reece Hanna (MP) unassisted, 11:31
Shots; Devon Prep 10, Malvern Prep 66; Saves: Aidan Wright (DP) and Grant Gale (DP) 54, Matt Crawford (MP) 10
Five different players scored goals and Jacob Aranda made 41 saves as the third-seeded Hawks scored the 5-3 win over the sixth-seeded Sallies Monday night in a Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinal at the Skatium.
Michael Castelli, Tristan Winata, Gareth McDonald, Frankie Ely and Shane O’Neill all scored for St. Joseph’s Prep (16-6) which will meet Malvern Prep in next Thursday’s semifinals.
Monday’s game saw the two teams combine for five goals in the third period.
Ely and O’Neill scored goals for the Hawks in a four-minute span after Lleyton DeMasters scored a goal to bring Salesianum within a goal at 3-2 with 7:55 left in regulation. Ely’s goal came 23 seconds later and O’Neill followed with a goal with 3:40 remaining.
Salesianum 0 1 2—3
St. Joseph’s Prep 1 1 3—5
First-period goal: Michael Castelli (SJP) from Patrick Sweeney, 3:55,
Second-period goals: Tristan Winata (SJP) from Brayden Collins, 2:35; Connor Davis (S) unassisted, 14:09
Third-period goals: Gareth McDonald (SJP) from Caden Kelly and Sweeney, 2:07; Lleyton DeMasters (S) from Nate Bellopede, 9:05; Frankie Ely (SJP) from Collins, 9:28; Shane O’Neill (SJP) from Winata and Ely, 13:20; Bellopede (S) from Braeden Graham and Nick Labuono
Shots: Salesianum 44, St. Joseph’s Prep 41; Saves Luke Bordely (S) 36, Jacob Aranda (SJP) 41
The bigger the stakes, the more missed opportunities and mistakes hurt. Plymouth Whitemarsh learned that season the hard way in its Flyers Cup opener against Unionville Monday night.
The Longhorns turned in in a methodical workmanlike performance over the eighth-seeded Colonials en route to a 5-2 win in a Class A first-round game at Hatfield Ice.
The eighth-seeded Colonials closed their season at 13-5 The ninth-seeded Longhorns (9-11) advance to play top seed and three-time defending champion West Chester East Thursday night at Ice Line at a time to be determined.
Plymouth Whitemarsh found itself in a hole early on. Anthony Kulp beat Colonial netminder Julian Lucks from the left circle just 24 seconds after the opening faceoff.
The Colonials also hurt themselves with penalties. Jason Segal was called for boarding just 1:25 into the opening period, and picked up the 10-minute misconduct that went with it. Segal’s teammate Tim Murphy drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at 3:36 and this time Unionville struck; Alex Tomaszewicz made it a 2-0 game with a power-play goal at the 4:40 mark.
Michael Ta scored twice in the second frame to give the Longhorns a 4-0 lead but the Colonials kept battling; indeed they outshot the Longhorns 31-24. But they were unable to solve Unionville goaltender Zach Tomaszewicz until the third period. By that point, Cole Blackburn tallied the Longhorn’s fifth goal 3:21 into the final session.
Charlie Spause finally got Plymouth Whitemarsh on the scoreboard at the 5:27 mark. Issac Mishkin added a shorthanded effort with 1:20 left in the game.
Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Dave Cox noted that his team battled to the finish despite the steep uphill climb it faced.
“We dug ourselves a hole early,” he said. “We found some momentum and really could have capitalized on the chances that we got.”
After Spause’s goal. Cox wished for just a little more time.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said, “especially for our seniors. I couldn’t be more proud of our leadership group, our senior group.”
Cox said the heart his team displayed will leave him with warm memories of the 2023-24 season.
“Especially [The SHSHL American Division final],” he said. “We never stopped playing. When these guys get going and they band together, it’s truly the most honorable thing for a coach.”
Although they were the home team, the Colonials wore their alternate red jerseys, styled after those of the Montreal Canadians, instead of the customary white. The jerseys are early nominees for the Most Impressive Uniforms in the tournament,
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 0 2
Unionville 2 2 1—5
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 0 2
First period goals: Anthony Kulp (U) from Cole Blackburn, :24; Alex Tomaszewicz (U) from Riley Andrews,4:40 (pp)
Second-period goals: Michael Ta (U) from Tomaszewicz, 8:45; Ta (U) from Corrado Ditoro, 16:04
Third-period goals: Blackburn (U) from Tripp Young and Kulp, 3:21; Charlie Spause (PW) from Tim Murphy, 11:33 Issac Mishkin (PW) from Jason Segal, 15:40
Shots: Unionville 24, P-W 31; Saves: Zach Tomaszewicz 29, Julian Lucks (PW) 19
Seven first-round games will kick off the 45th Flyers Cup Tournament Monday night
Class AAA Quarterfinals
La Salle 6 Perkiomen Valley 1
Malvern Prep 8 Devon Prep 0
St. Joseph’s Prep 5 Salesianum 3
The fourth quarterfinal: .4 Holy Ghost Prep vs. 5. Father Judge i scheduled for Tuesday at 8:30 at Grundy Arena.
Class A First Round
Unionville 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh 2
Lower Dauphin 9 Radnor 7
7. Penncrest 5 Palmyra 4
6. Springfield-Delco 3 West Chester Henderson 2 OT
All Flyers Cup games will be streamed LIVE on the Flyers Cup YouTube Channel
Once they got their arms around the APAC championship, La Salle never let go. The Explorers scored four times the first period and went on to a 10-0 win over St. Joseph’s Prep Wednesday afternoon in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference championship game at Hatfield Ice.
The win gave La Salle (20-3) its fourth outright Founders Cup title in the APAC’s six-year history; they’ve also shared a fifth.
It was the second APAC title for La Salle defenseman Doucet who noted the second championship felt just as good as the first.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Probably a little bit better. It gets a little bit better every year, I love this.”
The Hawks, who were appearing in an APAC final for the first time, dropped to 15-6.
Next up for both teams is the Class AAA Flyers Cup.
It was Patrick Brace got things started for La Salle on Monday when he beat Jacob Aranda from close range 7:11 into the opening period. Alex Fusaro made it a 2-0 game just 72 seconds later, and Michael Zarzycki and Will Capenter added additional goals before the first frame ended.
La Salle senior Dean Carvalho said the seeds for the fast start were planted earlier this week.
“I think it was the practices we had this past weekend, Sunday and Monday,” he said. “We knew it was going to be tough going into the game. Our last game (the semifinal win over Holy Ghost Prep) we didn’t start out the way we wanted to, so we did what we needed to do going into this game. I think we got that done”
For the Hawks (15-6) the first-period blitz proved overwhelming.
“We know what the makeup of that team is,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach David Giacomin. “They’re big, strong, fast kids. “We tried to warn the kids that the first five or six minutes were going to be important; protect our zone, move the puck quickly Not letting them [penetrate] the zone. Unfortunately they scored three goals from right in front of the net. You can’t give that stuff up.”
Carvalho scored the only goal of the second period at the 7:19 mark. Prior to the final period, Giacomin made a goaltender change, inserting Declan Geary in Aranda’s place.
The Explorers didn’t miss a beat, as Julian Tarsi and Charlie Kennedy found the back of the net.
Carvalho felt the Explorers’s edge in experience had a significant impact on what happened on the ice.
“It was huge,” he said. Almost half our team went through it last year and just the experience of being in. That environment with a lot of people here, and a lot of pressure. I think it really helps out.”
Ice chips¸—La Salle will face Perkiomen Valley Monday night in the Flyers Cup quarterfinals while the Hawks will go against Salesianum.
St.Joseph’s Prep 0 0 0—0
La Salle 4 1 2—7
First-period goals: Patrick Brace (L) from Ryan Wiley and Charlie Kennedy, 7:11; Alex Fusaro (L) Fromm Michael Zarzycki, 8:23; Zarzycki (L) from Fusaro and Cameron Ross, 11:50; Will Carpenter (L) from Grant LaGreca, 15:50
Second-period goal: Dean Carvalo (L) from Julian Tarsi, 7:19
Third-period goals: Tarsi (L) from Brace, 8:48; Kennedy (L) from Will Gregorio, 9:29
Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 21, La Salle 40 Saves: Jacob Aranda (SJP) 25 and Declan Geary (SJP) 7. Jake Rossi (L) 21
Wednesday, February 28 4:00 at Hatfield Ice
Founders Cup Championship Game
How they got here:
St. Joseph’s Prep defeated Malvern Prep 3-2 in the semifinals. La Salle defeated Holy Ghost Prep 3-1
Against each other:
La Salle won the first of two meetings this season, 3-1 on November 15, then overcame a 3-0 third-period deficit to post a 5-3 win on February 14.
La Salle
The Explorers have been part of every Founders Cup final in history. They claimed the APAC title in 2019, ’20, and ’23. They were declared co-champions along with Malvern Prep in 2021 when the final came was cancelled due to Covid. They lost the title game to the Friars in 2022.
Dean Carvalho leads the team in scoring with 16 goals and 21 assists for 37 points in all competitions He also led the APAC in regular-season scoring with six goals and six assists for 12 points. Patrick Brace has eight goals and 12 assists for 20 point in all competitions; 4-4-8 in APAC games including the playoff semifinals. Goaltender Jake Rossi come into the final with a .938 save percentage and a 1.60 GAA.
St. Joseph’s Prep
This marks the first time the Hawks have appeared in the APAC championship game in the conference’s six-year history. Brayden Collins leads the team in scoring with eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points. He has three goals and three assists for six points in conference play. John Lynch, who scored a game-tying goal in the third period of the semifinal win over Malvern Prep, now has five goals and 11 assists for 16 points in all competitions. Jake Shultz was the Hawks’ top scorer against APAC foes, contributing four goals and three assists for seven points; 7-5-12 overall. Jacob Aranda is the likely starter in goal. He comes into the final with an .891 save percentage and a 2.78 GAA.
What comes next:
Both teams will move on to the Class AAA Flyers Cup.
La Salle is the defending champion and number-one seed and will face Perkiomen Valley on March 4. St. Joseph’s Prep is seeded third in the tournament and will face Salesianum the same evening.
La Salle senior Dean Carvalho knows all about the rivalry between the Explorers and St. Joseph’s Prep. The two schools have been competing against each other since the Philadelphia Catholic League was founded in 1920.
“I think just the level of [competition] between both schools and just the will to win, has just grown over the many years we’ve been competing against them in hockey and many other sports,” he said. “The will to win is there.”
The rivalry between the Explorers and the Hawks will be renewed on Wednesday afternoon when the two schools meet for the Founders Cup and the championship of the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference (4:00 at Hatfield Ice). La Salle is the defending champion and has won three conference titles in five seasons while sharing another.
Carvalho sees the rivalry as mutually respectful, albeit intense.
“I think the respect is there, definitely,” he said.” We look forward to those games. In some ways, they’re a lot more fun than playing other schools because it’s a rivalry. It just makes the game that much more intense and the speed that much higher so I think it’s fun for everybody.”
Dean Carvalho
The Explorers own two wins over the Hawks this season, most recently a 5-3 win on February 14 that saw La Salle enter the third period trailing 3-0. Carvalho says the team regrouped during the post-second period ice cut.
“I think we just came together as a team and just realized how we needed to play,” he said. “Things we were doing wrong and what we needed to improve on. I think that period we came out really focused as a team, ready to play. We scored one and kept it rolling and things worked out at the end.”
Carvalho led the APAC in scoring, with six goals and six assists for 12 points (1.5 ppg) during the conference season. He enters Wednesday’s final with 16 goals and 11 assists in all competitions (22 games). He notes the Explorers are team that can and must rely on scoring balance to be successful.
“I think it’s huge,” he said. “One of our strengths as a team is the amount of depth that we have. We have four lines, probably more than four lines that can play, and more than six defenseman that can play. So, there’s never a weak link on the ice and that that reflects the success we’ve had this season so far. I think it’s really important because there’s never that weak link.”
Wednesday’s APAC championship game for the Founders Cup (4:00 at Hatfield Ice) will be a moment in history for St. Joseph’s Prep. It will mark the Hawks’ first appearance in the final in the APAC’s six –year history.
That’s something Gareth McDonald, a senior defenseman with the Hawks, was well aware of when he spoke of what a victory would mean.
“It would mean a lot,” he said. “I know the APAC is a young league but there’s not a lot of teams in the league so we certainly should be in the championship game more often.”
The Hawks dropped two decisions to the Explorers this season. The second, on February 14 was particularly difficult to digest. St. Joseph’s Prep led 3-0 after two periods before surrendering five goals in the third, one of them into an empty net.
“I think we got a little too comfortable,” McDonald said. “We’ve just got to prove this year that we can beat them. And even after the championship game, because we’re going to have to play them in the Flyers Cup too (St. Joseph’s Prep and La Salle could meet in the Class AAA Flyers Cup finals). We’ve got to prove to them that we can beat them, and to ourselves.”
Gareth McDonald/photo by Joe Mancini
The rivalry between the Hawks and the Explorers does not lack for intensity, but McDonald is quick to point is quick to point out it is also characterized by mutual respect.
“We play against La Salle more on a personal level than if we play against other schools,” he said. “Not because of how we don’t like each other but because we’re friends with kids on the other team. It feels more on a personal level, to prove that we’re better than them.
“We respect La Salle a lot and I’m sure they give us that same kind of respect.”
As high-energy as Wednesday’s matchup promises to be, McDonald says it’s essential for he and his teammates to keep their emotions in check.
“We’re going to have to be very stale emotionally,” he said. “We can’t get down, even if they go up a goal or two. Or, if we go up a goal or two, we’ve got to stay comfortable, keep playing our game. There’s no reason to [lose focus], regardless of anything that happens.”
McDonald admits that a loss in Wednesday’s final would leave a sour taste, even with the Flyers Cup still to come.
“It’s almost worthless getting to the game and not winning it,” he said. we want to finish the job.”
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