WC Henderson 6 PW 3

They sent up camp in the offensive zone early on and never really left. West Chester Henderson applied pressure from the opening faceoff and kept it up for a full 51 minutes. The result was a 6-2 win over Plymouth Whitemarsh Monday night in the opening round of the Class A Flyers Cup at Hatfield Ice.

The ninth-seeded Warriors (6-12-1) will face top-seeded Hershey in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded Colonials closed the season at 14-4.

Henderson set the tone from the start. Harrison Eller got the Warriors in on the scoreboard 2:34 into the opening period when he beat Lucas Bennett from close range. That goal established a pattern for the balance of the period. Cooper Kanze tied the game for the Colonials with 2:55 left in the period on a shot that Warrior goaltender Ian Stefanovski probably wished he could have another look at, but Aller put his team back in front just eight seconds later.

By the time the period ended, the Warriors had launched 16 shots. It was Bennett’s work in goal that kept the Colonials close.

“Breakout is something we talk about a lot,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti. “Obviously, we struggled a little bit. Getting the puck out of the zones quick is a priority for the defense. You don’t want to give good teams extra zone time. It leads to extra chances and that’s how goals go in.”

Forti acknowledged that Henderson scoring first put his team in a hole they never could escape.

“There was some stat that said s scoring the first goal gives you a 70 percent chance of winning,” he said. “We usually want to get the first one. Unfortunately, they did. And we were just kind of chasing the game ever since then.”

Anthony Barthol extended Henderson’s lead 2:46 into the second period. Kanze scored his second goal of the night exactly 10 minutes later to send the teams into the post-second period ice cut just one goal apart on the scoreboard.

But Henderson separated itself once more when Declan Herr scored from the left wing that found space inside the near post, a shot Bennett appeared not to see. Miles Donnelly essentially shut the door with a power-play goal with 2:47 remaining.

Barthol added an empty net goal with 1:17 left.

The Warriors finished with a 49-20 advantage in shots.

It was a disappointing end to an impressive season.

“I think the guys played well all season,” Forti said. “It’s tough way to end a good season, so it doesn’t feel like it in the moment but overall, I think they did a lot of good things.”

West Chester Henderson 2 1 3

Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 1 0—6

First-period goals: Harrison Aller (WCH) from Miles Donnelly, 2:36; Cooper Kanze (PW) from Dan Moloney, 14:05; Aller (WCH) from Anthony Barthol and Decal Dowd, 14:13

Second-period goals: Barthol (WCH) from Dowd and Aller, 2:46; Kanze (PW) from Dan Guller and Brandon Wooldridge, 12:46 (sh)

Third-period goals: Declan Herr (WCH) from Donnelly and Dowd, :49; Donnelly (WCH) from Dowd, 13:13 (pp); Barthol (WCH) unassisted, 15:43 (en):

Shots: West Chester Henderson 49, Plymouth Whitemarsh 20 Saves: Ian Stefanovski (WCH) 18, Lucas Bennett (PW) 43

Flyers Cup Results

Tuesday, March 3

Class AAA Quarterfinals

La Salle 6 Father Judge 2 see story for details

Malvern Prep 6 Devon Prep 4—Ryan Jacobs scored two goals as the fourth-seeded Frairs bested the fifth-seeded Tide at Ice Line to earn a spot in the semifinals against top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep. James Young, Cole Scarbinsky, Pax Hoishik, and William McCullough all scored for Malvern Prep. Ryan Caterino made 25 saves in goal.

St. Joseph’s Prep 8 Salesianum 0—Cole Gargon scored twice and six other players added one goal each as the second-seeded Hawks shut out the seventh-seeded Sallies at the Skatium. Aiden Quinn, Connor Martin, Frankie Ely, Cole Sullivan, Bradan Fisher, and Vincent Burnett all scored for the Prep, which will face La Salle in next Thursday’s semifinals. Declan Geary earned the shutout in goal.

“I thought we played with incredible speed and that really opened up our offense,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach Charlie van Kula. We knew Salesianum was going to be a good test. In the past we may have let our foot off the gas a bit, but I am proud of how our guys stayed dialed in, stayed positive, and played for one another.”

Class AA First Round

Owen J, Roberts 7 Avon Grove 5

Central Bucks South 4 Downingtown East 3—Ryan Montagna’s goal with 11:03 left in regulation proved to be the game winner as the sixth-seeded Titans outlasted 11th seed Downingtown East at Hatfield Ice. It was Montagna’s third goal of the game. He also added three assists.

Pennsbury 8 Haverford 5—Jacob Sarver scored three goals an added an assist an Shane Gleisner provided two goals and three assists as the 10th-seeded Falcons bested seventh seed Haverford at the Skatium to advance to the quarterfinals.

Council Rock South 6 Spring-Ford 3—see story for details

Boyertown 12 Souderton 2—Maxwell Ryon and Matthew Ceoss scored for the 15th-seeded Indians in the loss to the second-seeded Bears at Ice Line.

North Penn 9 Shawnee 2—the top-seeded and defending champion Knights scored four goals in the first period and went on to the win over the 16th-seeded Renegades. Samuel Norton, Gabriel Dunn, Nolan Shingle, and Chris Silvotti each scored twice. Derek Lugara also scored for North Penn which will face Owen J. Roberts in the quarterfinals.

Wednesday March 4

Girls Quarterfinals

4. Conestoga vs 5. West Chester East 5:00 at PNY

2. Downingtown West vs. 7 Pennridge 8:45 at PNY

3. Lower Merion Maroon v. 6 Radnor 6:45 at PNY

Monday, March 2

Class AA First Round

Central Bucks East 6 Conestoga 3—Trailing 3-2 after two periods, the 13^th-seeded Patriots scored four goals in the third and stunned the fourth-seeded Pioneers Monday night at Ice Line. Evan Asimmakopoulos scored what proved to be the winning goal with 13:44 left in regulation. Ethan Cenci extended the lead with a power-play goal with 12:18 left and added an empty-net goal with 21 seconds remaining.

Cole Kleindienst, Morris Ostrobrod and Samuel Gottesman also scored for East whih will face North Penn or Shawnee in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Downingtown West 6 vs. Pennridge 2—Fifth-seed Downingtown West broke the game open Monday night with three second-period goals and built a 5-0 third-period lead before Ryan Burke and Lanndon Bishop scored for the 12^th-seeded Rams, who closed the season at 6-12-1.

Class A First Round

Garnet Valley 2 Palmyra 1

West Chester Henderson 6 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3 see story for details

Marple Newtown 5 West Chester Rustin 1

Hatboro-Horsham 10, Radnor 0 see story for details

Hatboro-Horsham 4 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3

When two teams play each other five times over the course of a season, there are no secrets. Familiarity breeds intensity. And Thursday’s SHSHL final played out that way.

Vince Graziani’s goal 28 seconds into Stanley Cup-style sudden-death overtime, gave Hatboro-Horsham a 4-3 win over Plymouth Whitemarsh at Hatfield Ice. His game winner, his second goal of the game, came on a shot from the deep right wing.

“It feels amazing,” Graziani said. “We’ve come so far to get to this point.

“P-W has a great team, they have a great program, and it was just a great battle.”

The teams split four regular-season meetings and Thursday’s result superseded them all. It gave the Hatters (17-3) their second consecutive division championship in a championship-caliber game.

“This was a fantastic game,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Shane Smith, “with two evenly matched teams that played well and hard against each other. This was the kind of game we expected. If you looked up championship in the dictionary this game would have {defined it}.”

William Moffa got the scoring started for the Hatters 3:01 into the opening frame. Brandon Wooldridge tied the game for the Colonials (14-3) 77 seconds later. Graziani’s first goal of the night put the Hatters up 2-1 with 5:27 left in the period.

Cooper Kanzee, who assisted on the Colonials’ first goal, tied the game once more when he beat Patrick Murphy in the Hatter net with exactly three minutes left in the second period.

Special teams played into a third period that included four minor penalties. Joseph Mangin’s goal that put the Hatters up 3-2 came while Ryan Jagher was serving an interference penalty. Kanzee tied the game for the last time with 7:57 left in regulation came while the Hatters’ Luca Staffieri was in the box serving an interference penalty of his own.

It was as evenly matched an affair as could be imagined. But, a winner had to be determined,

“I think it just came down to one play at the end,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti. They’re a very good team and they capitalized.

“It was back and forth. I’m proud of our guys from battling until the end.”

Graziani spoke to the challenges that arose from playing the Colonials for a fifth time this season.

“It’s hard,” he said. You’ve just got to find your chances and find when to do things and put the puck in the net.”

Both teams open play in the Class A Flyers Cup on Monday. The sixth-seeded Hatters will face Number-11 Radnor while the eighth-seeded Colonials will take on ninth-seeded West Chester Henderson. Both games will be played at Hatfield Ice,

Hatboro-Horsham 2 0 1 1—4

P-W 1 1 1 0—3

First-period goals: Willlim Moffa (HH) from Nathan Nemchinov and Aiden North, 3:01; Brandon Wooldridge (PW) from Cooper Kanzee and Dan Guller, 4:18; Vincent Graziani (HH) from Luca Staffieri, 11:33

Second-period goals: Kanzee (PW) unassisted, 14:00

Third-period goals:[1] Joseph Mangin (HH) from Nemchinov and Graziani, 3:31; Kanzee (PW) from Guller and Ryan Jagher, 9:03

Overtime goal: Graziani (HH) from Nemchinov, :28

Shots: Hatboro-Horsham 43, Plymouth Whitemarsh 26; Saves: Patrick Murphy (HH) 23, Max Yoder (PW) 39

[1]

Flyers Cup Seedings 2026

Forty-two teams have been selected for the 47^th edition of the Flyers Cup tournament. Action will begin on Monday, March 2.

The Class AAA and girls’ brackets will be comprised of seven teams each. There will be 16 teams in Class AA and 12 in Class A.

Here are the matchups and seedings. Game sites and times will be added when available.

Class AAA 7 teams

1 Holy Ghost Prep bye

4 Malvern Prep vs 5 Devon Prep

3 La Salle vs 6 Father Judge

2 St. Joseph’s Prep vs 7 Salesianum

Class AA 16 teams

1 North Penn vs 16 Shawnee

8 Owen J. Roberts vs 9 Avon Grove

4 Conestoga vs 13 Central Bucks East

5 Downingtown West vs 12 Pennridge

2 Boyertown vs 15 Souderton

7 Haverford vs 10 Pennsbury

3 Council Rock South vs 14 Spring-Ford

6 Central Bucks South vs 11 Downingtown East

Class A 12 teams

1 Hershey bye

8 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs 9 West Chester Henderson

4 West Chester East bye

5 Marple Newtown vs 12 West Chester Rustin

2 Penncrest bye

7 Garnett Valley vs. 10 Palmyra

3 Kennett bye

6 Hatboro-Horsham vs 11 Radnor

Girls 7 Teams

1 Avon Grove bye

4 Conestoga vs 5 West Chester East

2 Downingtown West vs 7 Pennridge

3 Lower Merion Maroon vs 6 Radnor

SHSHL Playoff Update 2-22-26

Game times/dates are subject to change due to the weather

Monday, February 23

National Division First Round

C.B. South 2 6. C.B. East 1

Pennsbury 8 Pennridge 4

3. Central Bucks South

Coach: Josh Sklar

Record: 13-5, 12-4 in the SHSHL

Key players: Ryan Frey 18 goals, 27 assists, 45 points; Ryan Montagna 18-16-34; Joey Slobodrian 14-19-33; Nathan Napolitano .887 save %, 3.37 GAA

6. Central Bucks East

Coach: Tom Mitchell

Record: 6-10-1, 6-9-1 in SHSHL

Key Players: Ben Dempsey 12 goals, 19 assists, 21 points; Ale Wilson 6-11-17; Cameron Young .902 save %, 4.62 GAA

This season:

12-4 C.B. South 5 C.B. East 1

1-21 C.B. South 3 C.B. East 2

At stake: the winner faces second seed Council Rock South in Wednesday’s semifinals

4. Pennsbury

Coach: Ryan Daley

Record: 12-5-1, 10-5-1 in SHSHL

Key Players: Shane Gleisner 44 goals 21 assists, 65 points; Shane Hicks 18-23—41; Jacob Sarver 17-18-36; Brendan Milliken .886 save %, 3.62 GAA

5. Pennridge

Coach: Jeff Montagna

Record: 6-10-1. 6-10 in SHSHL

Key Players: Landon Bishop 22-14-36; James Rush 21-15-36; Andrew Slutsky .875 save %, 3.92 GAA

This season:

11-20 Pennsbury 9 Pennridge 4

1-26 Pennsbury 4 Pennridge 3

At stake: The winner faces top seed North Penn in Wednesday’s semifinals.

The Flyers Cup Selection Show will air on the Flyers Cup YouTube channel at 8 pm, Eastern Time on Sunday 2-22

Flyers Cup Rankings 12-29-25

The Flyers Cup Committee has released its first set of rankings for the 2025-26 season. Rankings are based on game results and observations by committee members.

The Flyers tournament is an invitational event. There are no automatic bids.

Class AAA

Holy Ghost Prep
St. Joseph’s Prep
Malvern Prep
La Salle
Father Judge

Class AA

North Penn
Council Rock South
Conestoga
Owen J. Roberts
Central Bucks South

Class A

Kennett
Penncrest
Hershey
Hatoro-Horsham
Palmyra

Girls

Avon Grove
Conestoga
Downingtown West
West Chester East
Radnor

Flyers Cup Eligibles Announced

The Flyers Cup Committee has released a lost of 50 teams from Pennsylvania , New Jersey, and Delaware, that are eligible for invitations to the 2026 Flyers Cup tournament. The Flyers Cup is an invitational tournament; they are no automatic bids.

Class AAA (8)

Devon Prep

Father Judge

Haverford School

Holy Ghost Prep

La Salle

Malvern Prep

Salesianum

St. Joseph’s Prep

Class AA (21)

Abington

Avon Grove

Boyertown

Central Bucks East

Central Bucks South

Central Bucks West

Conestoga

Council Rock South

Downingtown East

Downingtown West

Haverford High

Kingsway

Lower Merion

Neshaminy

North Penn

Owen J. Roberts

Pennridge

Pennsbury

Shawnee

Souderton

Spring-Ford

Class A (15)

Garnet Valley

Hatboro-Horsham

Hershey

Kennett

Marple Newtown

Palmyra

Pernncrest

Plymouth Whitemarsh

Radnor

Springfield-Delco

Springfield-Montco

West Chester East

West Chester Henderon

West Chester Rustin

Wissahickon

Girls (6)

Avon Grove

Conestoga

Downingtown West

Pennridge

Radnor

West Chester East

Holy Ghost Prep 4 La Salle 1

BRISTOL—There wasn’t a lot of finesse on display at Grundy Arena Wednesday afternoon. Just a lot of blue-collar, grind-it-out hockey.

Holy Ghost Prep thrived in that environment. Lucas Gonzalez delivered two goals and an assist as the Firebirds bested La Salle 4-1 as the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference launched its eighth season.

For a team whose players are still working to find their roles, it was a step forward.

“There was obviously a big conversation between last week’s game (a season-opening loss to Devon Prep) and tonight,” said Holy Ghost Prep John Ritchie. “Last week, I thought we did a much better job possessing and creating but sometimes we just have to manufacture goals by working hard to get to the net.”

And that formula paid off for Holy Ghost Prep Wednesday afternoon. Gonzalez opened the scoring, beating Anthony Foster in the La Salle net 4:19 into the opening period off a feed from freshman Mason Thomas. Chase Logue made it a 2-0 game via a Chris Marshall setup into the second frame but the Explorers (1-2 overall) answered with a goal from River Carangi with 51 seconds left in the period when her put the puck past Firebird netminder Matt Salita to make it a 2-1 game.

Following the post-second period ice cut however, it was Thomas the freshman who stepped up. His goal 2:28 into the third frame restored his side’s two-goal advantage.

Gonzalez added his second goal of the game with 4:03 remaining.

Ritchie celebrated Thomas’s effort; he was one of four underclassmen in the Firebirds’ lineup.

“He’s a really smart player away from the puck,” Ritchie said. “He can put the puck in the net. He kind of brings a lot of little intangibles to the game so we have full confidence in him.

“I don’t put a lot of freshmen in our lineup. But he has a good complete game and tonight we were obviously thrilled that he got his first goal.”

Marshall, a senior and the Firebirds’ captain, spoke to the importance of the veterans on the roster making younger teammates feel comfortable.

“It’s everything” he said. “The seniors and the juniors, the upperclassmen, need to be there for the underclassmen. If you have a bad shift or a bad play, shake it off, go get the next one.”

For a young Explorer squad that had just two seniors in the lineup, the APAC opener was trial by fire.

“I think it was definitely an eye-opener for a lot of the guys,” he said. “We had our moments where I thought we were making progress at getting better, but then we made some young mistakes, turning pucks over in our own zone and not having men in our coverages. And that directly led to opportunities and goals for them.”

Muehlbronner said his players got a crash course in what APAC hockey is about.”

“A lot of these guys were playing in their first APAC game,” he said. “We’re going to get better.”

•Muehlbronner is the last remaining head coach remaining from 2018-19, the APAC’s first season.

La Salle 0 1 0—1

Holy Ghost Prep 1 1 2—4

First-period goal: Lucas Gonzalez (HGP) from Mason Thomas, 4:19

Second-period goal: Chase Logue (HGP) from Chris Marshall, 2:21; River Carangi (L) from Darrian Brown and Patrick Lunsford, 16:09

Third-period goals: Thomas (HGP) from Gonzalez, 2:28; Gonzalez (HGP) from Anthony Valeriote and Lucas Helms, 12:57

Shots: La Salle 18, Holy Ghost Prep 24; Saves: Anthony Foster (L) 20, Matt Salita (HGP) 17

Central Bucks South 4 Pennridge 3

Two teams in transaction crossed paths at Hatfield Ice Thursday night. Pennridge is in the midst of defining the roles of characters in this season’s narrative while Central Bucks South took the ice with holes in its lineup.

In the end, it was the Titans who prevailed 4-3 over a Ram team that refused to go away, C.B. South improved to 3-1 on the season, 3-0 in SHSHL National; its only loss has been to La Salle.

Thursday’s win did not come easy. The Titans were without veterans Jamison Crouch and Damien Hauck who were serving suspensions in the wake of an altercation in Wednesday’s win over Neshaminy. Coach Josh Sklar shuffled his deck as a result.

{The player’ absence} definitely affected us,” he said. “We had a short bench. Everybody’s got to pick up the leash and everybody’s got to do their jobs.”

And so they did. Senior Joey Slobodrian led by example, assisting on the first goal of the night and scoring the second.

“It definitely affected our defense,” he said. “We were out a defenseman and out a forward. But, we got through it. We had two {defensive pairs) so we were kind of tired in the back end.”

Joshua Iyahen-Lucchesi have South a 1-0 lead with 1:55 left in the opening period after Ryan Montagna and Slobodrian sent him down the middle of the ice.

Slobodrian made it 2-0 9;18 into the second frame off a scramble in front during a power play that came about when the Rams’ Justin Dinsmore was flagged for roughing.

Down two goals, the Rams (1-1) did not buckle. Landon Bishop went end to end and solved Titan goaltender Nate Neapolitan to make it a 2-1 game with 6:42 left in the period but Owen Fry answered for the Titans 57 seconds later.

When Grant Boyne made it a 4-1 game 75 seconds into the final period the Tirana’s appeared to have things well in hand. But Bishop scored his second goal of the game 2:46 into the period and James Rush made 4-3 with 8:06 still left forcing the titans to battle hard to the finish.

“We kind of let up at the end of the game,” Slobodrian said. Hopefully we’ll do better next game.”

Sklar praised his troops for stepping up and filling holes when needed.

“Playing short, the guys and the girls on the team did good,” he said. “Everyone picked up the slack.”

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna left the rink feeling satisfied as well.

“I told them I’m really proud of them,” he said. “I have a lot of guys new to varsity hockey. When they got down 4-1 they could have rolled over {but} they just kept coming. They played a very smart, disciplined game.

“They’re going to get better and better.”

C.B. South 1 2 1—4

Pennridge 0 1 2—3

First-period goal: Joshua Iyahen-Lucchesi (CBS) from Ryan Montagna and Joey Slobodrian, 15:05

Second-period goals: Slobodrian (CBS) from Dominic Gibson and Ryan Frey, 9:18 (pp); Landon Bishop (P) from Justin Dinsmore and James Rush, 10:18; Owen Frey (CBS) from Gibson, 11:15

Third-period goals: Grant Boyne (CBS) unassisted, 1:15; Bishop (P) from Andrew Engle and Ryan Burke, 2:26; Rush (P) from Colby Booth, 8:54

Shots: C.B. South 36, Pennridge 26; Saves: Nate Neapolitan (CBS) 23, Andrew Slutsky (P) 32

North Penn Looks Back on 50 Years

The high-school hockey landscape has changed considerably over the past half century. When North Penn founded its ice hockey club for the 1975-76 season the sport was in the midst of a growth spurt, thanks in no small measure to the Philadelphia Flyers, who had just won their second consecutive Stanley Cup. In 1976 they reached the finals once more but were swept by the Montreal Canadians.

In that era, a lot of high-school players were less concerned about playing for a championship than they were happy to be playing on an enclosed rink with lies painted on the ice.

Pete Hendricks was North Penn’ first coach. For six seasons, he dealt with the challenges that are part and parcel to getting a program off the ground.

Dave Culp played for North Penn as a senior before graduating 1980. He went on to coach the Knights from 1986-94, a time when the team was at first unable to field a pure roster (consisting entirely of players from North Penn).

“When we first started, we had Lansdale Catholic and North Penn working together,” he said. “When {He started coaching}, North Penn was going downhill we couldn’t get anybody.

I was grabbing guys from North Penn Lansdale Catholic Souderton and one from a (private) Christian school.”

Culp recalls an early North Penn team being barred from the SHSHL playoffs over the purity issue.

“It took us about two years but we became pure,” he said. “We had all North Penn guys.”

Culp recalls North Penn teams playing games outdoors.

“There was a skating rink at Whites Road Park,” he said. “I remember having practices and games there when I was playing. We were playing a game there outside and snow was coming through your cage. It was the most incredible thing we’d ever done.”

Dan Vaitis has never coached North Penn, but he has been involved in the program for some 25 years and is today the club’s president, a role he has filled for a decade. His son Kevin is the longest-tenured head coach in the club’s history.

Dan Vaitis commented on the growth of amateur/scholastic hockey during his involvement with the sport.

“Ice hockey overall has become much more popular,” he said, “Not only club hockey but high school hockey and middle school hockey. I think that North Penn has set the standard over the years for being a first-class organization.

“It’s great to see all these kids participate in ice hockey. We’re extremely proud that many of our coaches are alumni of North Penn Ice Hockey in terms of love of the game, we have a lot of coaches that really love the game.”

The Knights have won three SHSHL titles in their history and claimed their first Class AA Flyers Cup and state championships last season.

Senior Chase Kelly Del Ricci carries the program’s legacy forward as this year’s captain.

“It feels pretty hood,” he said. “I’ve been here since I was a freshman and it feels pretty good to be part of something that’s lasted this long.”