Geoffrey Hammond scored three goals and assisted on another as St. Joseph’s Prep down Father Judge 7-4 Wednesday night in a non-league game at Flyers Skate Zone Northeast. Joey Samango added two goals and two assists as the Hawks improved to 7-2-1 on the season.
John Lynch and Matt Guiliani also scored goals.
Category: Founders Cup
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
APAC Standings (11 p.m.) 12-7-22)
Won Lost OTW OTL Points GF GA
Holy Ghost Prep (6-2) 1 0 0 1 4 8 5
Hun School (4-3) 1 0 0 0 3 7 0
Malvern Prep (4-1) 1 1 0 0 3 7 5
La Salle (2-3-1) 1 1 0 0 3 6 9
St. Joseph’s Prep (6-2-1) 0 2 1 0 2 4 13
Hockey Happenings joins with the rest of the APAC community in extending our sympathies to Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside whose father, William A. Whiteside Jr. passed away on December 4 at age 93.
Me. Whiteside’s obituary can be found HERE
Holy Ghost Prep 5, St Ignatius 1
:Lanndon Stout scored a goal and assisted on two others as Holy Ghost Prep bested St. Ignatius (Ohio) 5-1 Sunday morning in the semifinal round of the National Scholastic Invitational. Colin Mudrick got the win in goal with 29 saves.
The Firebirds will face Glenbrook South (Illinois) in Sunday afternoon’s championship game.
Holy Ghost Prep is the defending tournament champion.
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
Rocco Bruno’s Time at St. Joseph’s Prep Has Seen Him Evolve On and Off the Ice
It could be argued that a hockey goaltender occupies the most demanding position in any team sport More so than a quarterback in football, or a baseball pitcher, a goaltender puts his team his shoulders every time out.
Rocco Bruno has embraced that challenge. The St. Joseph’s Prep senior and Springfield Township, Delaware County resident has achieved success on the ice and in the classroom.
Bruno prides himself on his ability to maintain his concentration in the heat of battle. He considers that attribute that one of his strengths.
“It’s definitely (about) staying focused,” he said. “Not letting anything distract you. I’ve got to make sure I’m paying attention to my D-men and I’m talking to them.
I have to keep control of a lot of things at once, but I can’t get distracted by anybody other than who’s on the ice.”
Bruno has enhanced his ability to concentrate in the classroom as well, although admittedly that ability didn’t come easily. He learned about St. Joseph’s Prep though his coach, David Giacomin.
“I did a couple of open houses and I fell in love with the school,” Bruno recalls.
Adapting to academic rigors of St. Josephs Prep proved challenging at first.
“I definitely had to learn it the hard way,” Bruno said. “Freshman year was a struggle for me, just because I really didn’t know how to manage my time the correct way, but as the year went on, I started to figure stuff out. I took a lot of bad grades on tests but I definitely got in shape the last three years.”
Over time, Bruno learned that meeting his academic responsibilities while also playing high-school and club hockey demanded that he reorder his priorities.
Rocco Bruno (photo by. R. Woelfel)
“(Make) sacrifices honestly,” said. “A lot of late nights studying, a lot of early getting to school and finishing up things that I didn’t get done the night before. At school, in my free periods, getting work done, trying to stay ahead of the game so I don’t fall behind and just time management. Managing my time was the biggest part in making sure everything was done.”
Bruno has enjoyed his time at St. Joseph’s Prep and bonding with his teammates and classmates.
“I’ve met a lot of great people there,” he said. “It’s something you have to be a part of to understand, honestly.”
Bruno sees the college application process as a reward for all the hours he’s spent pursuing better grades.
“The most satisfying thing has been just getting into the colleges,” he said. “It’s really weird right now for me because I’m going through the who college application process. Getting into colleges, and then acknowledging my hard word that I put into high school. It’s really, really refreshing.”
To learn more about St. Joseph’s Prep CLICK HERE
Flyers Cup Committee Lists Eligible Teams
A total of 66 teams, competing in five divisions, have been declared eligible for the 2023 Flyers Cup. The 44rd edition of the tournament will conclude the 2022-23 season.
The 66 eligible teams designated by the Flyers Cup Committee represent an increase of six teams over last year.
The boys’ teams were slotted based on enrollment, with line of demarcation between Class A and Class AA teams being 625 male students.
The biggest change will be in Class AAA where three co-op teams will be under consideration. Perkiomen Valley will combine with Coventry Christian, Archbishop Carroll will align with Pope John Paul while Bishop Shanahan has entered a co-op arrangement with Coatesville.
The co-op agreement those that the PIAA authorizes in other sports. Flyers Cup Committee President Eric Tye explains that the idea of the co-ops is to help new hockey programs get off the ground.
“It’s the Flyers Cup Committee trying to help new teams get started,” he said. “The co-op is only good for two years. So, in two years they need to do something.”
In recent years, the Class AAA bracket has been the exclusive domain of private schools. The last public school team to win a Class AAA Flyers Cup was Council Rock in 1991.
The list below is up to date through November 18 and is subject to change. The number of teams that will actually be invited will be determined by the Flyers Cup Committee.
The tournament field will be named on February 26; the tournament kicks off on March 6.
Class AAA (10)
Archbishop Carroll/Pope John Paul II
Bishop Shanahan/Coatesville
Cardinal O’Hara
Father Judge
Holy Ghost Prep
La Salle
Malvern Prep
Perkiomen Valley
Roman Catholic
St. Joseph’s Prep
Class AA
Abington
Avon Grove
Bensalem
Boyertown
Central Bucks East
Central Bucks South
Central Bucks West
Conestoga
Council Rock South
Cumberland Valley
Downingtown East
Downingtown West
Haverford
Lower Merion
Neshaminy
North Penn
Owen J. Roberts
Pennridge
Pennsbury
Quakertown
Ridley
Souderton
Spring Ford
Class A (17)
Council Rock North
Garnet Valley
Hershey
Lower Dauphin
Marple Newtown
Palmyra
Penncrest
Plymouth Whitemarsh
Radnor
Springfield-Delco
Springfield-Montco
Strath Haven
Unionville
West Chester East
West Chester Henderson
West Chester Rustin
Wissahickon
New Jersey/Delaware (6)
Cherokee
Eastern
Kingsway
Moorsetown
Salesianum
Washington Township
Girls (10)
Avon Grove
Conestoga
Downingtown West
Kingsway
Pennridge
Radnor
Unionville
West Chester East
West Chester Henderson
West Chester Rustin
Thanksgiving Eve Celebrates High School Hockey
The night before Thanksgiving is a highlight of the high-school hockey season. The schedule features a number of traditional rivalries. Here’s a look at the schedule.
SHSHL
Central Bucks South vs. North Penn 5:00 at Hatfield
Souderton vs. Pennridge 7:00 at Hatfield
Council Rock North vs. Council Rock South 7:00 at RIG
Neshaminy vs. Pennsbury 7:20 at Grundy
Upper Moreland vs. William Tennent/HH 8:45 at RIG
C.B. East vs. C.B. West 9:00 at Hatfield
APAC
Father Judge vs. Holy Ghost Prep (non-league) 8:10 at FSZ
La Salle vs. Malvern Prep 8:30 at Ice Line
ICSHL
Downingtown West vs. Downingtown East 5:10 at Ice Line
Marple Newtown vs Garnet Valley 5:30 at Ice Works
Archbishop Carroll/PJP vs. Great Valley/P-vIlle 6:00 at PNY
Unionville vs. WC Henderson 6:10 at Ice Line
WC Rustin vs WC East 6:50 at Ice Line
Haverford vs. Springfield Delco 7:00 at Skatium
Oxford vs. Sun Valley/Chichester 7:00 at IceWorks
Spring Ford vs. Perk Valley 7:00 at Center Ice
Kingsway Girls vs WC Rustin Girls 7:45 at PNY
Conestoga vs. Radnor 7:50 at Ice Line
D-town Wet Girls vs. Avon Grove Girls 8:30 at Ice Line
Strath Haven vs. Penncrest 8:30 at Ice Works
OJR vs. Boyertown 9:00 at Center Ice
Conestoga Girls vs Radnor Girls 9:30 at Ice Line
Hockey Happenings 