Category: Flyers Cup

Council Rock South 5 Central Bucks South 2

Council Rock South 5 Central Bucks South 2

BRISTOL— Starting a game with a four-goal advantage is a big edge for a hockey team. Council Rock South was essentially in that situation Thursday night.
The Golden Hawks scored four unanswered goals in the first period and went on to a 5-2 in over Central Bucks South at Grundy Arena.

The win lifted the Golden Hawks to 10-1-0-1 overall and their 5-0-0-1 mark in divisional play kept them in control of their own destiny in the SHSHL National Division chase.

Both teams came to the rink with lineups liberally sprinkled with junior varsity call ups necessitated by injuries and suspensions and it was Council Rock South which found its equilibrium first with its veterans leading the way.

Blaize Pepe scored the Golden Hawks’ first goal with 5:35 left in the opening period. Kevin Koles made it 2-0 just 61 seconds later and Jake Weiner extended his team’s lead 52 seconds after that with his team’s third goal in a span of 1 minute, 53 seconds.

Koles scored his second goal of the game with 47.3 seconds left in the period leaving the Titans (7-6-0-1, 4-3 in the division) in a very deep hole.

The second period was something of a fresh start for Central Bucks South, including a goaltender change; Jason Magaruh replaced Dom Varacallo in goal.

The Titans cut the deficit in half the middle period courtesy of Michael Nemec and Aydon Thierolf but could come no closer.

“(Council Rock South) is a good team,” said Central Bucks South coach Shaun McGinty. “They capitalized in the first period. We lost 4-0 in the first period, won 2-0 in the second period, and we lost 1-0 (on an empty net goal from Gavin Nisenzon) in the third period.

“We were giving chances (In the first period); a good team is going to capitalize and South is a good team.”

Council Rock South coach Joe Houk acknowledged how difficult it was for his team to stay focused after its strong start.

“It’s kind of hard when you get up to 4-0 he said. “You’ve got to find a way to sustain that level of play. When you get up 4-0 you can’t back off.

(Central Bucks South) is a good team. They’ve got some good players on that team and you can’t let them back in the game.”

Golden Hawks forward Bobby Gilbert praised his team’s effort 

“It was a very hard game,” he said. “Everybody was battling hard, the playoffs are coming up. We seemed to dig more deep though, and we got the job done.”

C.B. South 0 2 0—2

C.R. South 4 0 1—5

First-period goals: Blaize Pepe (CRS from Daniel Filippov, 11:25; Kevin Koles (CRS) from Jake Weiner and Jeremy Rayher, 12:26; Weiner (CRS) from Koles and Pepe, 13:18 (pp); Koles (CRS) from Jordan Sarne, 16:13

Second-period goals: Michael Nemec (CBS) from Aydin Thierolf and Justin Keilman, 3:52; Thierolf (CBS) from Colin Mendham, 11:05 (pp)

Third-period goal: Gavin Nisenzon (CRS) from Koles 16:13 (en)

Shots: C.B. South 31, C.R. South 30; Saves: Dom Varacallo (CBS) 7 and Jason Magaruh (CBS) 18, Carson Lopez (CRS) 29

Gump Whiteside Announces Retirement

Gump Whiteside has announced his retirement as the hockey coach at Holy Ghost Prep. Whiteside will step down at the end of the 2023 season, his 15th as the Firebirds’ head coach.

In that span, Whiteside’s teams have won two Flyers Cup Class AAA titles (in 2015 and ’17), the 2015 Pennsylvania Class AAA state championship, and five National Scholastic Invitational tournament titles.

In 2020, Whiteside was honored by USA Hockey with the 2020 Bob O’Connor Award for Excellence in Coaching Education. The award is given each year to a member of the volunteer coaching staff of USA Hockey’s coaching education program.

Whiteside previously coached at Germantown Academy. He will remain at Holy Ghost Prep as the assistant director of athletics and assistant director for the Holt Center and facilities.

Flyers Cup Rankings #1

The Flyers Cup Committee has released its firsts et of rankings for the 2022-23 season. The rankings are based on won-loss records, strength of schedule, and observations by members of the committee.

Non-league games scheduled by individual teams are not factored into the rankings, but are included here where applicable.

Records listed below are based on information available through December 29.

AAA

  1. Holy Ghost Prep (APAC) 9-2
  2. La Salle College High School (APAC) 5-6-2
  3. Malvern Prep (APAC) 6-2
  4. St. Joes Prep (APAC) 9-2-2
  5. Father Judge (ICSHL PCL) 6-4

AA

  1. Council Rock South (SHSHL National) 6-1
  2. Avon Grove (ICSHL Ches-Mont) 6-1
  3. Pennsbury (SHSHL National) 7-2
  4. Conestoga (ICSHL Central) 8-1-1
  5. Neshaminy (SHSHL National) 6-2

A

  1. West Chester Rustin (ICSHL Ches-Mont) 5-3
  2. West Chester East (ICSHL Ches-Mont) 5-3
  3. Marple (ICSHL Central) 7-4-0-1
  4. Garnet Valley (ICSHL Central) 5-4
  5. Lower Dauphin (CPIHL) 9-3

NJ/DE

  1. Salesianum (ICSHL PCL) 6-0
  2. Cherokee (SJHSHL) 9-0-1
  3. Washington TWP. (SJHSHL) 4-1-2
  4. Eastern (SJHSHL) 2-3-1
  5. Moorestown (SJHSHL) 1-5

Girls

  1. Downingtown West (ICSHL National) 5-5
  2. Avon Grove (ICSHL National)  6-4
  3. Unionville (ICSHL National) 3-6
  4. West Chester Rustin (ICSHL American) 7-2
  5. Kingsway (ICSHL American) 6-2-1

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

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

Our latest Hockey Happenings podcast is now LIVE

YouTube TV Package Another Step in the Growth of High School Hockey

Monday’s APAC game between Malvern Prep and La Salle will be streamed live from Hatfield Ice Arena on the Flyers Cup YouTube channel.

Monday’s game is the first of a 10-game Game of the Week package that will air between now and mid-February and feature games from each scholastic league in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

The YouTube package provides a vehicle for exposing high-school hockey to a wider audience, potentially including those who have not witnessed hockey at the high-school level before.
It’s not the first time that TV has been used as a medium to draw new fans to the sport.

In 1967, the National Hockey League expanded from six teams to 12. That’s when the Philadelphia Flyers came into existence, along with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the St. Louis Blues, the Minnesota North Stars (now the Dallas Stars), the Los Angeles Kings, and the California Seals (now defunct).

That same year, CBS launched a Game of the Week telecast which gave many American sports fans their first exposure to the National Hockey League.

The upcoming series of high-school games on YouTube will serve the same function.

The games will be streamed HERE

The schedule is as follows

Monday 12-12 5:15 La Salle vs. Malvern Prep

Friday 12-16. 8:45 Lower Dauphin vs. Hershey

Thursday 12-22 7:00 Conestoga vs. Penncrest

Thursday, January 5 7:10 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. Abington

Friday, January 13 6:30 Radnor vs. Owen J. Roberts

Friday, January 20 9:00 Eastern vs. Washington Township

Friday, January 27 6:30 Father Judge vs. Salesianum

Wednesday, February 1 7:20 Pennridge vs. Council Rock South

Friday, February 10 6:30 West Chester East vs. Avon Grove

Monday, February 13 9:00 West Chester Rustin vs. Conestoga Girls

Hockey Happenings is looking for interested individuals to shoot video of Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference games. We’re seeking students, parents, and hockey enthusiasts who have experience shooting/editing video.

For more information contact us at rwoelfel2013@gmail.com

Game of the Week YouTube Schedule

The Flyers Cup Committee has announced its Game of the Week streaming package. All 10 games will be televised live on the Flyers Cup YouTube Channel

Monday 12-12 5:15 La Salle vs. Malvern Prep

Friday 12-16. 8:45 Lower Dauphin vs. Hershey

Thursday 12-22 7:00 Conestoga vs. Penncrest

Thursday, January 5 7:10 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. Abington

Friday, January 13 6:30 Radnor vs. Owen J. Roberts

Friday, January 20 9:00 Eastern vs. Washington Township

Friday, January 27 6:30 Father Judge vs. Salesianum

Wednesday, February 1 7:20 Pennridge vs. Council Rock South

Friday, February 10 6:30 West Chester East vs. Avon Grove

2-13 9:00 West Chester Rustin vs. Conestoga Girls

La Salle 4 Malvern Prep 3

La Salle built a 4-1 lead and held on for a 4-3 win over Malvern Prep Wednesday night in an APAC game at Ice Line.

Charlie Kennedy scored two goals for the Explorers, who picked up their first win after two season-opening losses. James Carpenter and Declan Kelly also scored for La Salle.

Jack Sharer scored twice for Malvern Prep, which lost for the first time in five starts. Both teams are 1-1 in the APAC.

Kennedy’s opening goal came with 9:01 left in the first period while his teammate Grant LaGreca was serving a roughing minor. The Friars lost the puck at the La Salle blue line and Kennedy took it the distance before beating Malvern Prep netminder Brandon Novabilsky with a backhander.

The goal proved a jump start to the Explorers in the game and perhaps for their season.

“It 100 percent did,” Kennedy said. “Definitely, I would have to say that. It definitely got us going, 100 percent, got us hyped.”

James Carpenter made it a 2-0 game just over two minutes later. Sharer scored for Malvern Prep with 3:24 remaining before Kelly answered for La Salle.

When Kennedy scored his second goal with 7:42 left in the second frame, it gave his team a three-goal advantage.

But the defending APAC and Class AAA Flyers Cup champions didn’t go away and outshot La Salle 15-6 in the third period.

Sharer scored his second goal of the night on a blast from the left point with 8:22 remaining and Caiden Canale followed with 4:12 remaining.

La Salle netminder Aries Carangi had to make some big saves down the stretch but the Explorers hung on.

Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan “We knew La Salle was coming off a loss against (Holy Ghost Prep),” he said, “And we knew they were going to come out firing. “They outskated us, they outworked us. They were the better team tonight.”

Kennedy said he and his teammate were confident they would get things turned around after starting the season with two losses.
“We’ve had some good practices thanks to (Coach Wally Muehlbronner,” he said. “He definitely worked us hard and got us to do what we needed to do in order for us to get that work ethic that we needed, and it showed up.”

La Salle 3 1 0—4

Malvern Prep 1 0 2—3

First-period goals: Cgarlie Kennedy (L) unassisted, 7:59; (sh); James Carpenter (L) from Tim Whittck, 10:12; Jack Sharer (MP) from Jimmy Jacobs and Matt Barbacane, 13:36; Declan Kelly (L) unassisted, 15:12

Second-period goal: Kennedy (L) from Liam Donahue and Thomas Doucet, 9:18

Third-period goals: Sharer (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, 8:38; Caiden Canale (MP) from Jacobs, 13:48

Shots: La Salle 30, Malvern Prep 31; Saves, Aries Carangi (L) 28, Brandon Novabilski (MP) 26

More details on this game to follow.

Elsewhere:

Central Bucks East 6, Central Bucks West 2

Pennridge 6, Souderton 5

Bux-Mont Catholic 8, HH/William Tennent 3

Council Rock North vs. Council Rock South

North Penn vs.  Central Buck South

Neshaminy vs. Pennsbury

Holy Ghost Prep 8 Father Judge 1