APAC Previews 2023-24

The Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference is embarking on its sixth season. Here’s a look at what to expect.

Holy Ghost Prep

Coach: John Richie (first season)

Last year: 18-8, 4-2-1-1 in APAC

Key players: Jr. Jack Unger (G); Sr. Mike Holt (D); Jr. Ryan Lippy (D); Sr. A.J. Prete (F); St. Matt Cholaj (Sr.); Sr. Jake McCaw (F)

Outlook: Richie, who once played for the Firebirds, takes over for the retired Gump Whiteside.

This year’s team will be a young group that will be lacking much of last season’s offensive firepower.

“The strength of this year’s team will be the returning defensive corps,” Richie said, “who have all played varsity before. We have great depth within the program and expect a lot of players to get opportunities at the varsity level this upcoming season as players look to establish their role and solidify their spots come playoff time.”

Unger’s experience in goal will help.

Hun School

Coach: Eric Szeker (first season)

Last year: 11-13, 3-5 in APAC

Key Players: Sr. Julien Arseneault (G); Sr. Charles-Étienne Jetté (D); Sr. Ryan Levesque (F); Sr. Justin Laplante (F); Sr. Brendan Marino (F); Sr. Jack Neckritz (F)

Outlook: Szeker, a Hun School alum, takes over for Ian McNally after serving as his assistant. Ten seniors are gone from last year’s team but some impressive talent returns and Szeker is enthused about the newcomers who will be stepping into the varsity lineup.

“We will be looking to our sophomore class to make a big jump this season,” he said, “with plenty of holes to fill.”

Arsenault heads up the goaltending corps, while Levesque, Laplante and Marino will be counted on to provide the majority of the scoring punch.

La Salle

Coach: Wally Muehlbronner (26^th season)

Last year: 16-9-2, 6-2 in APAC; defending Founders Cup, and Class AAA Flyers Cup and state champions

Key players: Jr. Jake Rossi (G); Sr. Thomas Doucet (D); Sr. Charlie Budd (D); Jr. Cam Ross (D); Jr. Will Gregorio (D); Dean Carvalho (F); Sr. James Carpenter (F), Sr. Patrick Brace (F); Sr. Ryan Wiley (F); Sr. Charlie Kennedy (F); Sr. Liam Donahue (F)

Outlook: The Explorers come into the season off their 11^th Flyers Cup title and seventh state championship. They’ve also claimed three of the previous five Founders Cup titles and shared another.

This year’s roster features what Muehlbronner calls “A nice group of players,” one that is deep and offers scoring balance.

Rossi is being counted on in goal.

Malvern Prep

Coach: Bill Keenan (fifth season)
Last year: 10-8, 2-5-0-1 in APAC

Key players: Jr. Matt Crawford (G); Sr. Brady Doyle (D); Jr. Matt Barbacane (D); So. Cole Scrabinsky (D); Sr. Jeremy Jacobs (F); Sr. Caiden Canale (F); Sr. Aidan Kelly (F); Sr. Brayden Baum (F); Jr. Gabe Bedwell (F); Jr. Teague Murray (F); So. Pax Hoishik F

Outlook: The Friars struggled in the APAC last season but they return a core group of experienced upperclassmen, including Jacobs, who is the APAC’s top returning scorer.

The mix will also include a group of promising newcomers.

“We are excited to see what this younger incoming class can do,” Keenan said. “The seniors in this group are probably one of the best groups of seniors that has come through our program since we won back in 2021. The boys are just having fun and are ready to compete day in and day out. The energy and work this group is putting in is great to see.”

St. Joseph’s Prep

Coach: David Giacomin (11^th season)

Last year: 16-7-2, 3-4-1-0 in APAC

Key players: Jr. Jacob Aranda (G); Sr. John Lynch (D); Sr. Gareth McDonald (D); Sr. Shane O’Neil (D); Sr. Tyler Degirolamo (D); Sr. Brayden Collins (F); Jr. Tristan Winata (F); Jr. Jake Schultz (F); Jr. Caden Kelly (F)

Outlook: The Hawks lost 10 seniors off last year’s team, one that was a formidable group when all the pieces were in place, and claimed a title at the prestigious Purple Puck tournament.

The returning corps of veterans will be bolstered by some promising newcomers, including Aranda in goal.

“We hope to be a speed driven team that will play hard in all three zones,” Giacomin said. “Depth will play a big role this year. With offensive returnees and the defense leading the way we hope to get off to a fast start and build from there.”

Hockey Happenings is looking for interested individuals to provide video clips of APAC conferences games. If you’re interested or would like further information contact us at rwoelfel2013@gmail.com

La Salle 4 Wyoming Seminary 3

La Salle and Wyoming Seminary got their respective seasons off to a slam-bam start on Wednesday afternoon.

It took a late goal from the Explorers’ Dean Carvalho to settle things. Carvallo beat Jonah Boles with 3:47 left in the third period to give the hosts a 4-3 win at Hatfield Ice.

Prior to that, the non-league encounter had a bit of everything; an impressive number of goals, an abundance of penalties (19) and no lack of intensity.

For the Explorers, it was their first opportunity to put the pieces together at game speed.

“We have a pretty good corps back,” said La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner. “The new guys we have, there’s only one, he’s a freshman he fit in pretty well. The other guys are guys that have been jayvee and have been knocking on the door for a number of years.

“They’re here to play hard. I think they know their roles. It’s just a matter of getting everybody in synch and understanding the type of game we need to play to be successful.”

Alex Fusaro gave La Salle a 1-0 8:03 into the first period off a but the Blues’ Yoan Gagnon drew his team even with a power-play goal just 63 seconds after that.

Gagnon would be heard from later, but not before Bill Gregorio put the Explorers back in front with a power-play goal of his own with 2:40 left in the period on a wrist shot along the ice from the top of the slot.

Gagnon, a senior from Sherbrooke, Quebec, scored twice in the second period, once on a power play, to put Wyoming Seminary up 3-2 with 6:52 left in the session.

Alistair St. Hilaire tied the game for La Salle 58 seconds later.
Carvalho’s game-winner came as he was being knocked to the ice in the slot. Bill Carpenter collected the primary assist, his third of the game. The Explorers controlled the third period, outshooting the Blues 9-2 and 29-21 for the game.

Jacob Rossi got the win in goal.

“The third period was out best period,” Muehlbronner said. “I definitely think we got better as we went along. Early on I think we made a lot of not-smart plays, turnover that you can’t be doing, but I think we got it together in the third period. That was our best period. We played I think the way we want to play.”

Wyoming Seminary 1 2 0—3

La Salle 2 1 1—4

First-period goals: Alex Fusaro (L) from Patrick Brace and Julian Tarsi, 8:03; Yoan Gagnon (WS) from Ben Moccia, 9:06 (pp); Bill Gregorio (L) from William Carpenter, 14:20 (pp)

Second-period goals: Gagnon(WS) from Jonah Boles, 1:56; Gagnon (WS) from Heli William DeSeve Elliott. 10:08 (pp) Alistair St. Hilaire (L) from Carpenter, 11:06

Third-period goal: Dean Carvalho (L) from Carpenter and Jacob Rossi. 13:13

Shots: Wyoming Seminary 21, La Salle 29; Saves: Jonah Boles(WS) 25, Jacob Rossi (L) 18

APAC Recap for 10-25-23

Malvern Prep 6 St. John’s College High 3

Jeremy Jacobs scored three goals and assisted on a fourth as Malvern Prep defeated St. John’s College High 6-3 Wednesday afternoon in a non-league game in Rockville, Md.

Caiden Canale, House Young and Henry Tesoriero scored one goal each as the Friars won their second straight.

Council Rock South 6, St. Joseph’s Prep 3

Council Rock South came out on top in Wednesday’s non-league game at the Class of 1923 Rink on the University of Pennsylvania campus.

Malvern Prep 7 West Chester East 2

Malvern Prep jumped to a 4-0 second-period lead and went on to a season-opening 7-2 win over West Chester East Wednesday afternoon in a non-league game at Ice Line.

Jeremy Jacobs led the way for the Friars with three goals and a pair of assists. Caiden Canale, House Young, Brady Doyle, and Finn Gatta scored one goal each.

Teagan Stutzman and Jimmy Haynes scored for the Vikings.

West Chester East 0 2 0—2

Malvern Prep 3 3 1—7

First-period goals: Caiden Canale (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, 16:25; House Young (MP) from Alex March, 15:42; Jacobs (MP) unassisted, 5:43.

Second-period goals: Jacobs (MP) from Brayden Baum, 15:51; Teagan Sturzman (WCE) from Colin Mastronardo, 15:14; Jacobs (MP) from Logan Love, 11:46; Jimmy Haynes (WCE) from Cam Greenawalt, 1:48; Brady Doyle (MP) from Caiden Canale and Jacobs, 1:12 (pp).

Third-period goal: Finn Gatta (MP) from Cole Soarbinsky, 8:52.

Shots: West Chester East 43, Malvern Prep 43; Saves: Cameron Chandler (WCE) 36, Matt Crawford (MP) 12 and Ryan Caterino (MP) 29

St. Joseph’s Prep 5 Avon Grove 1

Jake Schultz scored two goals and three other players scored one goal each as St. Joseph’s Prep opened the scholastic hockey season with 5-1 win over Avon Grove on Wednesday at the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 rink.

Carter Short, Brayden Collins, and Tristan Winata all scored goals for the Hawks.

Declan Geary and Jacob Aranda split time in goal.

Brendan Chandler scored for Avon Grove.

The hosts had a 56-19 shot advantage.

Avon Grove 0 0—1

St. Joseph’s Prep 1 1 3—5

La Salle 7 Holy Ghost Prep 3

By Rick Woelfel

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP— La Salle’s big guns came up big when it mattered most. The line of Chase Hannon, Evan Golato ands Ryan Desmond combined for four goals and five assists as the Explorers bested Holy Ghost Prep 7-3 Wednesday afternoon in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference’s Founders Cup Championship Game in front of a full house at Hatfield Ice.

The win gives the Explorers (13-9-2) their third outright championship in the APAC’s five-year history; they shared a fourth.

La Salle will be the top seed in the Class AAA bracket of the Flyers Cup tournament, which begins next week. The Explorers have a bye into the semifinals and will face either Malvern Prep or Father Judge the week of March 13.

Hannon spearheaded his team’s effort on Wednesday by scoring three goals. Golato added a goal and an assist while Desmond contributed four assists.

Hannon said the key to the win was taking care for the basics.

“Our game plan was to get pucks deep and get on them,” he said. “I think we did that, and it clearly worked for us.”

La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner considered Wednesday’s game his team’s best start-to finish effort of the season.

“I think we had really good focus,” he said. “The guys really played hard, they came to play tonight.”

La Salle capitalized on a Firebird turnover to score the game’s first goal. Chase Hannon corralled the lose puck in the neutral zone, found space and weaved his way trough three opponents to beat Jack Unger with a forehander from the leading edge of the left circle 4:12 into the opening session.

The Firebirds drew even when the Explorers’ Evan Golato (roughing) and Ryan Desmond (tripping) drew back-to back penalties, giving Holy Ghost Prep a two-man advantage for 46 seconds. It took Landon Stout just 14 seconds to score the tying goal off a rebound of Brady Baehser’s original shot at the 9:20 mark.

The second period produced an abundance of offensive fireworks and a total of seven goals, five of them from the Explorers.

Evan Golato put La Salle in from just five seconds into the period with a shot from the left point. Hannon scored his second goal of the game during a power play at 3:57.

Baehser answered for the Firebirds with a power-play goal of his own at 5:37 but Hannon completed his hat trick just 17 seconds later. John Seravalli’s goal cut the Explorer lead to 4-3 with 3:27 left in the period but Will Gregorio and Charlie Kennedy scored for La Salle before the period ended.

Evan Mudrick replaced Unger in the Firebird net following Kennedy’s goal.

Tim Whitock scored the only goal of the third period at the 8:10 mark. He cited his team’s veteran experience as a factor in the win.

“Senior leadership I guess,’ he said. “Got to get the younger guys going. Do whatever you can.”

For Holy Ghost Prep (16-7) which has yet to win an APAC title, the loss was a disappointing end to the conference season.

“It was not one of our best efforts,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside. “I thought we didn’t execute very well. Our structure wasn’t there the whole game. There were some things we did really well but it wasn’t a total team effort.

Ice chips—The Firebirds are seeded second for the Class AAA Flyers Cup and will face seventh-seeded Cardinal O’Hara in a quarterfinal game at Grundy Arena Monday night.

La Salle’s previous Founders Cup titles came in 2019 and ‘20, the APAC’s first two seasons. They shared the title with Malvern Prep two years ago when the Founders Cup final wasn’t played because of the pandemic.

Holy Ghost Prep 1 2—3

La Salle 1 5 1—7

First-period goals: Chase Hannon (L) unassited, 4:12; Landon Stout (HGP) from Brady Baehser and John Seravalli, 9:20 (pp)

Second-period goals: Evan Golato (L) from Ryan Desmond, :05 Hannon (L) from Desmond and Golato, 3:57 (pp); Baehser (HGP) from Landon Stout and X, 11:23; Hannon (L) from Desmond, 11:40; Seravalli (HGP) unassisted, 13:33; Will Gregorio (L) from Desmond, 14:29 (pp); Charlie Kennedy (L) rom Max Monzo and Tim Whitock, 16:42

Third-period goals: Whitock (L) from Thomas Doucet, 8:10

Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 40, La Salle 45 Saves: Jack Unger (HGP) 26 and Colin Mudrick (HGP) 14; Aries Carangi (L) 37

APAC Championship Preview

Founders Cup Championship Game

Wednesday, March 1

La Salle vs. Holy Ghost Prep

4:00 at Hatfield Ice

La Salle (12-9-2) Seed 1

Coach: Wally Muehlbronner

How the Explorers got here: Defeated The Hun School 5-1 in the semifinals. Dean Carvalho scored two goals and assisted on two others. James Carpenter scored a goal and added two assists. Matt Giordano and Michael Zarzycki, also scored goals.

Carpenter has scored seven goals for the Explorers in conference play, including the semifinal, and added six assists for 13 points. Carvalho has scored six goals and added six assists for 12 points. Evan Golato has contributed 7 goals and two assists for nine points.

Holy Ghost Prep (16-6) Seed 2

Coach: Gump Whiteside

How the Firebirds got here: Defeated St. Joseph’s Prep 4-1 in the semifinals. Brady Baehser scored two goals in the win. Kieran Mulholland and Zach Pers also scored goals.

Baehser, the APAC scoring champion, has 12 goals and nine assists for 21 points in conference games, including the semifinal. Mulholland has 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points in conference play. John Servalli has four goals and 10 assists for 14 points.

This season

11-9 Holy Ghost Prep 6 La Salle 2

2-13 La Salle 6 Holy Ghost Prep 5

Past History

La Salle won the first two APAC titles in 2019 and ’20 and was declared a co-champion along with Malvern Prep in 2021 when the championship game was cancelled because of the pandemic. Holy Ghost Prep is seeking its first APAC title.

What Comes Next

The seedings for the Class AAA Flyers Cup tournament will be announced Sunday evening, February on the Flyers Cup YouTube channel. The result of the Founders Cup final will not affect those seedings.

La Salle 5 Hun School 1

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The La Salle Explorers were in postseason mode Wednesday afternoon. Dean Carvalho scored two goals and assisted on two others as the Explorers downed Hun School 5-1 in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference semifinal at Hatfield Ice.

The top-seeded Explorers (12-9-2) will host the Founders Cup championship game next Wednesday. They will learn Sunday if they earned the top seed for the Class AAA Flyers Cup. Fifth-seeded Hun School closed its season at 11-13.

For the Explorers, it was an occasion when all the pieces fit.

“It was just the simple things,” Carvalho said. “Like getting pucks in deep, forecheck, get the pucks on net. Those are the things that Coach Wally (Muehlbronner) has been preaching all year. It definitely paid off today.”

Matt Giordano opened the scoring for the Explorers 2:12 into the first frame with a shot from the right point that took an odd bounce and caromed past Raider goaltender Josh Arsenault, Michael Zarzycki made it a 2-0 game with 49.5 seconds left in the opening session.

James Carpenter contributed a goal and two assists to the win. He spoke to the importance of the fast start.

“Obviously, it’s very good to start with a quick 2-0 lead,” he said. “We just worked the puck deep in little areas and outworked them overall.”

Carvalho extended the La Salle lead 5:08 into the second period.

Hun School had a chance to get back in the game with 9:13 left in the middle period when it found itself with a 93-second two-man advantage after the Explorers’ Ryan Warner and Chase Hannon were sent to the box.

But Aries Carangi came up with two quality saves in the La Sale net and a penalty to Josh Sooner eliminated the Raiders’ advantage.

Hun School coach Ian McNally considered calling his timeout prior to the power play but decided against the move. “I said ‘Let’s just leave it, I think they’ll figure it out and score,” he said. “Not only did we not score, we took a penalty. That was a big turning point.”

Carpenter, La Salle’s leading scorer in APAC play, scored his seventh conference goal 1:16 into the final period.

Simon Gregoire got the Raiders on the scoreboard at the 2:43 mark.

A pileup in front of the La Salle net with 4:09 remaking precipitated a tag-team bout that saw all 10 skaters on the ice receive roughing penalties. Carvalho scored into an empty net with 2:30 remaining.

Hun School 0 0 1—1

La Salle 2 1 2—5

Firsts-period goals: Matt Giordano (L) from Grant LaGreca, 2:12; Michael Zarzycki (L) from Giordano and Dean Carvalho, 16:11

Second-period goals: Carvalho (L) from James Carpenter, 5:08

Third-portion goals: Carpenter (L) from Carvalho and Cam Ross, 1:16; Simon Gregoire (HS) from Ryan Levesque, 2:43 Carvalho (L) from Carpenter, 14:30

Shots: Hun School 35, La Salle 35; Saves: Julian Arsenault (HS) 30, Aries Carangi (L) 34

Hun School 5 Malvern Prep 2

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, N.J.—The playoff environment gave The Hun School Raiders a spring in their step. Brendan Marino scored goals as the Raiders kicked off the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference Tuesday afternoon with a 5-2 win over Malvern Prep in a play-in game at Ice Land.

The win advances the fourth-seeded Raiders (10-12 overall) to the APAC semifinals; They’ll oppose La Salle on February 22 at 4:00 at Hatfield Ice. Fifth-seeded Malvern Prep (8-7) will be idle until the Class AAA Flyers Cup tournament next month.

The Raiders’ aggressive style worked to their advantage as they physically dominated the Friars from the outset.

“I think we’ve got an older team” Marino said, “a big, strong team and I think it helped us early in the game, because we’re able to get physical, get pucks in, get pucks out, and play together as a team.”

Hun School coach Ian McNally noted the referees were tolerant of physical play early on. There were no penalties called in the first period. There were seven whistled in the second period and 10 in the third.

“The first two periods there weren’t many penalties being called,” McNally said. “That let us kind of set the tone.”

Malvern Prep was laboring under the additional burden of being shorthanded; offensive catalysts Jimmy and Jeremy Jacobs were away on club duty.

By the time the first period ended, the Friars were in a 2-0 hole.

Hun School’s Justin LaPlante and Malvern Prep’s Pax Hoshik barrel in front of the Malvern Prep net. (photo: Robert Barnes)

Josh Sosner got things started for the Raiders 10:30 into the opening period off an offensive zone faceoff. Marino made it 2-0 with 32 seconds left in the period when he topped in Aidan Shine’s shot from the right point.

Gavin Wilson got Malvern Prep on the board 3:08 into the second frame when he beat Stephen Chen in the Hun School net.

The Raiders answered back almost six minutes later with one of the most picturesque goals of the APAC season. Charles Etienne-Jeffe played the puck the puck up the center of the ice from the midway point on his own defensive zone and caught Ryan Levesque in full stride. Levesque beat the Friar defense and goaltender Brandon Novabilski to make it a 3-1 game at the 9:04 mark.

Just 31seconds later, Elian Estulin gave the hosts a 4-1 lead.

Aidan Kelly cut onto that lead when he scored for the Friars with 4:09 left in the period.

Going into the third frame, Jared Ingersol, who filled in for Bill Keenan behind the Malvern Prep bench (Keenan was absent due to a family issue) thought his team still had a shot as it started the third period with a 72-second power play; Marino was serving a high-sticking sentence.

“We thought we were right there coming out of the second period,” Ingersol said. “Hopefully we could get a power-play goal and get us back in the game.”

Alas for the Malvern Prep faithful, it wasn’t to be. The Raiders killed the remaining penalty time and Marino scored his second goal of the game and what turned out to be the only goal of the third period, just nine seconds after his penalty expired.

McNally saw the win as a season’s worth of effort paying off.

“We’ve had a lot of games where we work hard,” he said. “We shoot the puck, I think we’re playing physical, but we don’t score the clutch goals when we need them.

“And today was back-to-back breakaways and a guy coming out of the box for a breakaway goal. Those goals are clutch goals at the right time.”

Ice Chips—Hun School and La Salle will open the semifinal doubleheader next Wednesday at 4:00. The second semifinal matching second seed Holy Ghost Prep and third seed St. Joseph’s Prep will follow at 6:15. The Founders Cup title game is set for March 1. It will be hosted by the highest seeded finalist.

Malvern Prep 0 2 0—2

Hun School 2 2 1—5

First-period goals: Josh Sosner (HS) from Aidan Shine and Justin LaPlante, 10:30; Brendan Marino (HS) from Shine and Ryan Levesque 16:28

Second-period goals: Gavin Wilson (MP) from Matt Barbacane and Teague Murray, 3:08; Ryan Levesque (HS) from Charles Etienne-Jeffe, 9:04; Elian Estulin (HS) from Levesque and Charles Guida,9:35; Aidan Kelly (MP) from Murray and Jack Sharer, 11:51 (pp)

Third-period goals: Brendan Marino (HS) from Vincent Gregoire, 1:23

Shots: Malvern Prep 24, Hun School 52; Saves: Brandon Novabilski (MP) 47, Stephen Chen (HS) 22

Flyers Cup Rankings 2-13-23

Class AAA

Holy Ghost Pre[
La Salle
St. oseph’s Prep
Malvern Prep
Father udge

Class AA

Council Rock South
Conestoga
Pennridge
Avon Grove
Pennsbury

Class A

West Chester East
West Chester Rustin
Marple Newtown
Radnor
Hershey

Girls

Avon Grobe
Downingtown West
Unionville
West Chester East
Kingsway

NJ/Delaware

Salesianum
Cherokee
Eastern
Washington Township
Moorsetown

This is the final set of rankings before the field for the Flyers Cup tournament will be finalized on February 26. The tournament is an invitational event; teams are selected and seeded by the Flyers Cup Committee. There are no automatic bids.