Seneca Valley 7 Holy Ghost Prep 2

The chasm proved too wide to navigate. Seneca Valley scored twice in the first period and went on to a 7-2 win over Holy Ghost Prep in the Pennsylvania Class AAA state championship game Saturday night at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center in suburban Pittsburgh.

The state title was Seneca Valley’s first.

The Firebirds, who closed the season at 21-5-1, were seeking their second state championship, and their first came in 2017.

Ethan Riffle got the Raiders started 7:30 into the opening period when he had an open look and beat Jack Unger from the edge of the left faceoff circle. Braden Morin made it a 2-0 game with 3:29 left in the first frame. Marshall Hewitt etended the Seneca Valley lead 3:32 into the second session, leaving the Flyers Cup champion with a steep hill to climb.

They gave it their best shot. John Gavaghan scored off a setup from Brady Logue 7:07 into the period and when Ryan Lippy put in a rebound during a power play with 2:56 left in the period the Firebirds appeared to have the momentum.

But Jimmy Murphy responded for the Raiders just 84 seconds later and when Murphy scored his second goal of the game 1:04 into third period the outcome was no longer in doubt. Holt Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie lifted Unger at that point.

“I’m disappointed, obviously,” Ritchie said, “but I don’t think the score did the game justice.

Seneca Valley is s really good team and they finished their chances off our mistakes.”

Ritchie wants his players to look back with pride on their season once they over the pain of Saturday’s loss.

“I am very proud of our players,” he said. It’s an incredible group of kids and a season to remember at some point when they get away from the emption of losing tonight.

“They should be very proud of what they accomplished.”

Holy Ghost Prep 0 2 0—2

Seneca Valley 2 2 3—7

First-period goals: Ethan Riffe (SV) from Tyler Maxwell, 7:30; Braden Morin (SV) from Carter Hoehn and John Sroka, 13:31 (pp)

Second-period goals: Marshall Hewitt (SV) from Sroka , 3:32; John Gavaghan (HGP) from Brady Logue, 7:07; Ryan Lippy (HGP) unassisted, 14:04; Jimmy Murphy (HGP) from Owen Martin. 15:38

Third-period goals: Murphy (SV) from Martin, 1:04; Morin from Hewitt, 4:30; Morin (SV) from Hewitt, 7:02 (en)

Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 26, Seneca Valley 30; Saves: Jack Unger (HGP) 15 and John Botthof 7, Chris Brown (SV) 24

North Penn 4 Erie Cathedral Prep 1

The game was up for grabs. North Penn stepped up and took it.

James Boyle and Daniel Carbrales scored third-period goals 19 apart Saturday afternoon to snap a 1-1 tie and propel the Knights to 4-1 win over Erie Cathedral Prep in the Pennsylvania Class AA hockey championship game at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center.

It was the first state hockey championship for North Penn (22-3) in the school’s history and the third state championship for the Suburban High School Hockey League in four years: Pennridge won Class AA titles in 2022 and ’24.

There was little to choose between the two teams for the first two periods. The Raiders’ Tucker Kinnear delivered the only goal in that span, 5:19 into the second frame.

With 4:52 left in the period the Knights briefly appeared to have scored the tying goal. Cathedral Prep goaltender Ian Brown denied Norton on a wraparound before Derek Lugera put in the rebound. The apparent goal was disallowed however when it ruled was the net had come off its moorings prior to the puck crossing the goal line.

During the post-second period ice cut, North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis reassured his players.

“I told them we’ve just got to keep moving the puck,” he said, “keep playing our game and our chances are going to come.”

At the start of the third period, Samuel Norton stepped up. With the Ramblers’ Charlie McBrier in the box serving an interference penalty, Norton, a sophomore made a dash down the right wing and beat Brown to tie the game 2:49 into the period.

As the clock wound down, momentum seemed to be shifting in North Penn’s direction. Boyle drove that point home with emphasis with 3:36 left in the game when he found the back of the net with a one-timer from the left point. It was a power-play goal; the Raiders were playing a man down after being caught with too many men on the ice.

Just 19 seconds later Cabrales scored a goal of his own to tighten the Knights’ hold on the game,

Nolan Shingle the evening with a goal into an empty net with 43 seconds remaining.

Vaitis said sened early on this could be a special season.

“At the beginning of the season when we met with them for the first time, we knew with the team we were going to have and the talent we were going to have what we were capable of doing,” he said. “We believed in them and it was a matter of them understanding of they were able to put the work in, just how special the season could be for them.”

North Penn 0 0 4—4

Cathedral Prep 0 1 0—1

Second-period goal: Tucker Kinnear from Ethan Cunningham and Chris Bruschi, 5:19

Third-period goals: Samuel Norton (NP) unassisted, 2:49 (pp); James Boyle (NP) from Norton and Cole Pluck, 13:24 (pp); Daniel Cabrales (NP), 13:43 unassisted; Nolan Single (NP) 16:17 (en) unassisted

Shots: North Penn 35, Erie Cathedral Prep 27; Saves: Andy Norton (NP) 26, Ian Brown (CP) 31

North Penn Takes Flyers Cup AA Final

The game was hanging in the balance. With 4 minutes, 26 seconds gone in the third period of Wednesday’s Class AA Flyers Cup final, second-seed North Penn was holding a 3-2 lead over top-seeded Council Rock South.

But the Knights’ Sam Norton was sitting in the penalty box, having been assessed a minor penalty for high sticking and the Golden Hawks, who were preparing to embark on a two-minute power play, seemed to have momentum flowing their way.

But appearances were deceiving.

Instead of taking a conservative stance, the Knights stayed in an up-tempo mode and were rewarded with a shorthanded goal from Cole Pluck exactly 60 seconds into their supposed penalty kill.

Pluck’s effort led to four additional goals in the third period as North Penn pulled away to an 8-2 to claim the first Flyers Cup in school history. North Penn (20-3) will face Erie Cathedral Prep on Saturday in the Class AA State championship game in suburban Pittsburgh.

Pluck finished with two goals and two assists.

“This feel great he said. “The best moment of my life, so far.”

Pluck described his second goal, which altered the entire texture of the game.

“{C.R. South} needed a goal and were pressing up,” he said. “The {defenseman} just stepped up and I went around him.”

Pluck says the Knights are comfortable playing up-tempo hockey in shorthanded situations.

“We like to try to play offense on the kill sometimes,” he said.

The final period of Wednesday’s matchup was a distinctly separate entity than the first two, which saw Jake Weiner score twice for the Golden Hawks (22-3) and Pluck and Norton match him for North Penn. Daniel Cabrales gave North Penn a 3-2 lead 5:56 into the second frame and the Knights took the lead into the break for the post-second-period ice cut.

“We talked to them between the periods,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “We said we knew we had to come out and take it. They weren’t going to give it to us. {He told his team} we’ve got to come out and finish this game. And that’s exactly what we did, we dominated that third period.”

Pluck’s shorthanded goal gave North Penn a 4-2 lead. Norton followed with his second goal of the night with 7:40 remaining as South slowly unraveled; Nolan Shingle, Declan Leahy and Luke Haftel added goals for North Penn in the closing minutes, all of them coming on power plays; there were nine penalties called in the third period five of them against South. North Penn’s Thomas Sprague and South’s Luke Ralston were each drew simultaneous minors and misconducts as part of the emotional overload down the stretch.

South coach Joe Houk gave full credit to the Knights.

“They were the better team tonight,” he said. “We ran out of gas. We have it everything we had.

‘We’ve said three out of the last four years ‘We’ll be back here next year. But we can’t get over that hump.”

• The All-Tournament Team, selected by the Flyers Cup Committee included:

G Andy Norton North Penn

D Jake Maurer Council Rock South

D James Boyle North Penn

F Sam Norton North Penn

F Cole Pluck North Penn

F Jake Weiner Council Rock South

Norton, a sophomore, was named the winner of the Bobby Clarke Award as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“It’s a great feeling to know I was the MVP,” he said, “but without the whole team, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in.”

Norton said winning the Flyers Cup title marked the completion of a season-long journey.

“We had a big goal from the start,” he said, “but completing it and getting ahold of this trophy, it’s unreal.”

Of the 25 players on North Penn’s Flyers Cup roster, only three were seniors and 11 were underclassmen.

North Penn 2 1 5—8

C.R. South 1 1 0—2

First-period goals; Jake Weiner (CRS) from Wesley Mallon, :54; Cole Pluck (NP) from James Boyle, 1:56; Samuel Norton (NP) from Norton, 6:50

Second-period goals; Weiner (CRS) from Jonah Weston and Jagger Smith, 3:34; Daniel Cabrales (NP) from Declan Leahy, 5:56

Third-period goals: Pluck (NP) from Boyle, 5:36 (sh); Norton (NP) from Pluck, 9:40 Nolan Shingle (NP) from Pluck, 13:14 (pp) Leahy (NP), unassisted, 14:05 (pp); Luke Haftel (NP) from Derek Lugura, 14:40 (pp)

Shots and saves unavailable

Holy Ghost Prep Wins AAA Flyers Cup

The evening came down to capitalizing on opportunities while avoiding mistakes. Holy Ghost Prep found the right balance Wednesday night and left Hatfield Ice Arena as the Class AAA Flyers Cup champion.

Chase Logue scored two goals and Jack Unger was superb in goal as the Firebirds bested La Salle 3-1 in front of a full house to win its first Flyers Cup title since 2017 and the fifth in the school’s history.

“It’s amazing,” Logue, a sophomore, said. “To be with those guys in the locker room is a blessing. “

Offensive opportunities were scarce early on as two teams familiar with each other were reluctant to yield space to the opposition.

The second-seeded Explorers (17-8) outshot the top-seeded Firebirds (21-4-1) 7-1 in the early going but Unger stood tall between the pipes. His big save not quite seven minutes into the first period set the tone for the night.

Logue put his team on from 1:27 into the second period when he beat La Salle netminder Jake Rossi from close range.

“I was lucky,” he said. “I just came out and shot it. I put pucks on net and it went it.”

Some 200 feet away, Unger was doing his part to keep Holy Ghost Prep in front, denying Julian Tarsi on a breakaway with 2:25 left in the middle frame to send the Firebirds into the ice cut clinging to the 1-0 lead.

The Explorers however weren’t going away and a Holy Ghost Prep turnover two-and-a-half minutes into the third period gave them an opening. Michael Esmond converted the chance when the Firebirds lost the puck in front of their own net.

But Logue responded with his second goal of the game just 15 seconds later. With 14:15 left in regulation the Firebirds were back in front but the game was still up for grabs.

It was left to Unger to reach out and seized it by the throat, which he did when the Firebird found themselves killing two penalties in the last 7:14 of regulation. The shots seemingly never stopped coming but Unger turned them all away, en route to winning the Bob Clarke Award as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He finished the evening with 29 saves.

Unger, a senior felt that Wednesday’s game was the best of his career.

“I would say for sure,” he said. “Between the atmosphere, the intensity of the game, and what was at stake.

“I was able to lock in and then being able to get the tam to rally around me and especially during that third period.’

The closest he came faltering the stretch came when a shot from La Salle’s La Salle’s Alistair St. Hilaire from the right wing actually got behind him but slid across the crease before going wide of the far post.

“I’m not going to lie, that one really scared me,” Unger said. “But sometimes you need a little bit of luck on your side.”

Joseph Kauffman scored an empty-net goal for Holy Ghost Prep just before the final buzzer.

For La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner, whose team was trying to win its 14^th Flyers Cup the result was a disappointment but he appreciated the level of play on both sides.

“That was definitely a great high-school hockey game for sure,” he said.

Muehlbronner felt his team did a lot of good things right during its three power-play chances, except score.

“I thought we did well on the power play,” he said. “We moved the puck well. We didn’t bury many pucks, we didn’t get many bounces that we needed.

“But, I think we played a great game, I really do. We carried a large portion of it, but weren’t able to put any in.”

The Firebirds will face Penguins Cup champion Seneca Valley for the Class AAA state title Saturday in suburban Pittsburgh.
The All-Tournament Team included :

G Jack Unger Holy Ghost Prep

D Ryan Lippy Holy Ghost Prep

D Cam Ross LaSalle

F Alistair St. Hilaire

F Chase Lougue HGP

F Brady Logue HGP

La Salle 0 0 1—1

Holy Ghost Prep 0 1 2—3

Second-period goals: Chase Logue (HGP) from Joe Spadaccino, 1:27

Third-period goals: Michael Esmond (L) from Luke Baumann and Alex Gibson, 2:30; Chase Logue (HGP) from Brady Logue and John Gavaghan, 2:45; Joseph Kaufman (HGP) unassisted,16:59 (sh)

Shots: La Salle 30, Holy Ghost Prep 24; Saves: Jake Rossi (L) 21, Jack Unger (HGP) 29

La Salle 7 Father Judge 2

La Salle’s success this season has been based on the concept of getting contributions from a variety of sources.

Such was the case Thursday night. Grant LaGreca and Noel Donohue each scored two goals and three other players scored on goal each as the Explorers downed Father Judge 7-2 in a Class AAA Flyers Cup semifinal at Hatfield Ice Arena.

Second-seeded La Salle (17-7) will face Holy Ghost Prep next Wednesday at this same venue in a bid to win its third consecutive Flyers Cup, a feat the Explorers last accomplished in 2014 when they claimed the Cup for a fourth consecutive year. Sixth-seeded Father Judge closed the season at 16-6.

The game was closer than the final score seemingly indicted. Judge trailed 2-1 after one period was close enough to be a threat, trailing 4-2 early in the third before the Explorers put the game away.

Michael Zarzycki got thing started for La Salle when he beat Crusader goaltender Christian McDonald 3:32 into the first period. But Chris Ferrero responded for Judge with a power-play goal at the 8:49 before Donohue’s effort with 1:14 remaining put La Salle in front for good.

The Explorers extended their lead in the second period on goal from Declan Kelly and Alex Gibson.

Jake Pound made thing more interesting when he scored for Judge just 14 seconds into the final period but LaGreca answered at the 2:21 mark.

Donohue and LaGreca once more added additional goals.

“We started slow,” LaGreca said, “but we stuck to our system, listened to what our coaches had for the game plan, but we played the right way in the end.”

LaGreca said the Explorers stayed patient when it counted.

“We know we can’t look past anyone.” he said. “We’ve got to stay patient and keep shooting pucks on net.”

• The Explorers had a 30-19 edge in shots.

Father Judge 1 0 1—2

La Salle 2 2 3—7

P-W 9 Springfield-Delco 6

The goals came in bunches Monday night. Plymouth Whitemarsh stuck with the up-tempo approach that serve them so well during the season and continued to do so in its Flyers Cup debut.

Don Guller and Don Moloney each scored three goals as the Colonials overpowered Springfield Delco 9-6 in a Class A first-round game at Hatfield Ice Arena. Eighth-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh (17-2) moves on to face top seed Garnet Valley Thursday night in the quarterfinals.

After falling to Hatboro-Horsham in the SHSHL American Division final last Thursday, Guller said his team came into the Flyers Cup with something to prove.

“Unfortunately we lost the championship to Hatboro-Horsham,” he said, “so I think that gave the urge to this team that ‘We need to go out here and win the game.'”

Springfield (5-15) goy things started with a goal from Gavin Ruppert 5:03 into the first period but tallies from Moloney, Blake Ambler, and John Zawislak have the Colonials a 3-1 advantage before the first period ended.

In the second frame, it was more of the same. Rocco Trivarelli scored for the Cougars 42 seconds into the period, but Guller, Ambler, and John Zawislak scored for Plymouth Whitemarsh in an eight-and-a-half minute span to make it a 6-3 game with 7:04 still left in the period.

In short, the game was evolving at pace the Cougars wanted to avoid.

“Offensively I thought we did a lot of things right,” said Springfield coach Dan Dilbeck. “The problem was, we broke down defensively too many times. We did not want to get into a run-and-gun match with these guys (the Cougars outshot the Colonials 39-31). We wanted to play a much more solid game on defense. That’s where we struggled this year and that’s where we struggled tonight.”

Springfield’s Mason Stallings made it a 6-3 game before Guller and Alexander Losaco traded goals to give the Colonials a three-goal cushion headed into a third period that saw Guller and Moloney complete their respective hat tricks with empty-net goal.

Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti was pleased with the way his team recovered from their SHSHL finals loss.

“I think we really bounced back and responded,” he said. “and got back to playing the game the way we know we can.”

Forti said it was important for his team to see to their other responsibilities as well as score goals.

“That was the biggest thing we talked about going into this game,” he said. “Just keeping things simple, winning in the dirty areas, and doing the little things.

“At this point, when every game is must-win, you can’t take shifts off, you can’t take things lightly, and I think whatever team makes the least amount of mistakes ends up winning most of the time.”

Springfield 1 3 2—6

PW 3 4 2—9

First-period goals: Gavin Rupert (S) unassisted, 5:03; Don Moloney (PW) from Dan Guller, 6:19; Blake Ambler (PW) unassisted, 12:44 (sh); John Zawislak (PW) from Ryan Jagher 14:46

Second-period goals: Rocco Trivarelli (S) from James Happas and Jake Heston, :42; Ambler (PW) From Guller, 3:41 (pp); Guller (PW) from Luke Smith, 7:47; Moloney (PW) from Morgan Hulitt, 9:56; Mason Stallings (S) from Joe Clifford, 11:51; Guller (PW) from Smith, 14:05; Alexander Losacco (S) from Brendan Becker, 15:57

Third-period goals: Losacco (S) from Clifford, 6:19: Guller (PW) unassisted, 15:21 (en); Rupert (S) from Brandon Truax and Brett Rosser, 16:12; Moloney (PW) from Jagher, 16:46 (en)

Shots: Springfield 39, Plymouth Whitemarsh 31; Saves: Aidan Fitti (S) 22, Julian Lucks (PW) 33

Council Rock South 4 Central Bucks South 3

There wasn’t a lot of sizzle and finesse on display during Thursday night’s SHSHL National Division final. Instead, Central Bucks South and Council Rock South offered the near-capacity crowd at Grundy Arena a display of grind-it-out, blue-collar hockey.

It was the Golden Hawks who prevailed.

Jake Weiner’s goal with 4:31 left in regulation gave Council Rock South a 4-3 win. It marks the third consecutive SHSHL title for the top-seeded Hawks (20-2) and the fifth in school history.

“I don’t really think back about that kind of stuff,” said longtime South coach Joe Houk. “Because you always have a different group of kids.

“I was happy for these guys. We fought all year didn’t play our best hockey all year. We played our best hockey {in the semifinals against Pennridge}. We didn’t play our best tonight but we hung in there.”

The Hawks had to come from behind two to claim their championship laurels. The third-seeded Titans (17-6) took a 1-0 lead when Sean Cutter scored off an offensive right-circle faceoff 6:27 into the first period.

But when C.B. South was accessed three consecutive penalties, Jordan Sarne stepped up for the Hawks, first by redirecting Dan Fillipov’s shot from the left point to tie the game with 4:40 left in the period and then connecting on a shot from between the circles a little over three minutes later.

Sarne cited the strength of his team’s power-play unit.

“In practice we really work on it,” he said. “All the boys have come together, we work on our passing, shooting, we just work on everything. So, it works out.”

Keith Waldron tied the game for the Titans with 3:46 left in the middle period and Joey Slobodian who put Central Bucks South in front for the second time when he took advantage of a Central Bucks South turnover near the Hawks’ net.

But momentum shifted dramatically in the Hawks’ favor when, with exactly six minutes remaining in regulation during a protracted tussle along the wall behind his own net, the Titans’ Jeff Kvecher was flagged for delay of game.

Forty-nine seconds later, Jeremy Rayer’s goal tied the game and 40 seconds after that, Weiner delivered the game winner. He said he and his teammates felt they had something to prove.

“We’re not the {number one seed} for no reason,” he said. “They outworked us a little bit in the beginning and we came out stronger and we showed why we’re the better team.”

Weiner said he found the physical tone of the game appealing.

“That’s fun,” he said. “I love the blue-collar game. It makes it more fun, Big hits, working in the corners, I like that part of the game.

Central Bucks South coach Shaun McGinty came up short in bid for his team’s eighth SHSHL title.

“The right two teams were here,” he said. “Shots 28-25 (in the Hawks’ favor, 4-3 back and forth. It’s great for high-school hockey … I give my kids a ton of credit for losing with respect. Nothing at the end to interfere with our moving forward or their moving forward.”

Council Rock South is the top seed in the Class AA Flyers Cup and will face either Conestoga or Boyertown in a quarterfinal game on Thursday, The Titan, the fifth seed, will face Spring-Ford on Tuesday.

C.B. South 1 1 1—3

C.R. South 2 0 2—4

First-period goals: Sean Cutter (CBS) from Jake Stepp and Joey Slobodrian, 6:27; Jordan Sarne (CBS) from Dan Filippov and Jackson Mosley, 12:20 (pp); Sarne (CRS) from Jeremy Rayher and Mosley, 15:39 (pp)

Second-period goal: Keith Waldron (CBS) from Jeff Kvecher, 13:14

Third-period goals: Slobodian (CBS) from Ryan Frey and Cutter, 10:01; Jeremy Rayher (CRS) from Sarne, 11:49; Jake Weiner (CRS) from Jagger Smth, 12:29

Shots: C.B. South 25, C.R. South 28; Saves: Nate Neapolitano (CBS) 24, Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 22

C.B. South 4 North Penn 3

Central Bucks South scored three times in the third period Wednesday night to earn a place in the SHSHL National Division final with a 4-3 decision over North Penn at Hatfield Ice.

The third-seeded Titans (17-5) will face two-time defending champion Council Rock South Thursday night at Grundy Arena. Second-seeded North Penn will be idle until the quarterfinal round of the Class AA Flyers Cup tournament next Thursday.

“This was a true team win,” said South coach Shaun McGinty. “With three period ahead of us, the boys must continue to play hard in all three zones.

“Our focus remains on team structure and having a team-first mentality.

South’s Sean Cutter and North Penn’s James Boyle traded goals to send the game into the third period all even.

Dom Gibson scored for South to his team up 2-1 2:23 into the final period, but Boyle followed with his second goal of the game with 9:51 left in regulation.

Logan Hood’s goal with 6:21 remaining put the Titans ahead for good. Ryan Frey added an insurance goal 37 seconds later and the policy was needed and Boyle completed a hat trick with 21 seconds left in regulation.

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis credited the Titans for their effort.

“They had multiple lines coming at us in waves,” he said. “Hats off to them for how they played. I told our boys to keep our heads up as we have to refocus now and get ready for the Flyers Cup.”

C.B. South 1 0 3—4

North Penn 0 1 2—3

First-period goal: Sean Cutter (CBS) from Ryan Frey, 12:44

Second-period goal: James Boyle (NP) from Daniel Cabrales and Sam Norton, 5:45 (pp)

Third-period goals: Dom Gibson (CBS) from Peter Herring, 2:23; Boyle (NP) from Nolan Shingles, 7:09; Logan Hood (CBS) unassisted, 10:39; Frey (CBS) unassisted, 11:16; Boyle (NP) from Chris Silvotto, 16:39

Shots: C.B. South 29, North Penn 23; Saves: Nate Napolitano (CBS) 20, Aidan Quigley (NP) 25

Holy Ghost Prep and La Salle Set to Meet for APAC Title

APAC Founders Cup Championship Game

Wednesday, February 26 at Grundy Arena, 5:00 PM

(1) Holy Ghost Prep vs (2) La Salle

Holy Ghost Prep (17-4-1)

Coach: John Ritchie

Players to watch: Brady Logue 17 goals, 16 assists, 33 points; Joe Spadaccino 10-14-24; Anthony Valeriote 10-10-20; Brian Kinniry 15-4-19; Jack Unger 1.63 GAA, .926 save percentage; John Botthof 2.52 GAA, .891 save percentage

La Salle (15-6)

Coach: Wally Muehlbronner

Players to watch: Nole Donohue 12-15-27; Grant LaGreca 17-5-22; Julian Tarsi 10-10-20; Michael Zarzycki 10-10-20; Jake Rossi 1.78 GAA, .932 save percentage

This year: Holy Ghost Prep won both regular-season meetings, 3-1 on November 11 and 6-4 on December 11.

La Salle is the two-time defending APAC champion and comes into this game with a seven-game winning streak and having won nine of its last 10 starts. Holy Ghost Prep has won five straight and is unbeaten in its last seven starts and 14 of its last 15.

Ice chips: The teams have played in two previous Founders Cup finals. La Salle won both, 4-1 in 2020 and 7-3 in 2023. The Explorers have played in all five previous Founders Cup finals and are 4-1 in those games.

Holy Ghost Prep is 0-2 in Founders Cup finals. There was no title game in 2021 due to the pandemic; La Salle and Malvern Prep were declared co-champions.

Holy Ghost Prep is seeded first for the upcoming Class AAA Flyers Cup. La Salle is seeded second.

Organizers of the Pennsylvania state championship games announced Tuesday evening that the all-star game/showcase that was scheduled for Friday, March 21 in Pittsburgh has been postponed.

C.B. South 8 Pennsbury 1

By Amanda Graham

The third-seeded Central Bucks South Titans faced the sixth-seeded Pennsbury Falcons in a SHSHL National Division first-round game Monday night at Hatfield Ice. The Titans came out on top with an 8-1 decision; recording their third consecutive victory over the Falcons.

Jeffrey Kvecher netted the game-winner for South just under two minutes into the second period.

Offense was slow moving to start with the Titans holding a 2-1 shot advantage through the first four minutes. The momentum continued to swing toward the Titans when Brennan Thierolf and AlexCannon found Logan Hood for the goal to take an early lead, 1-0.

A five-minute scoring drought ensued before Pennsbury’s Chris Sarver collected the puck mid-ice and brought it down the right for the shot into the far left of the net to tie the game

Penalty trouble to start the second period found Francis Delucia in the box for the Falcons giving CB South their first power play opportunity. Just three seconds into the advantage Joey Slobodrian and Ryan Frey got the puck to Kvecher for the game-winning power play goal

South found itself in the penalty box twice over a five-minute span in the second period, killing both penalties with ease. The Titans gave up just a single shot to the Falcons over the first two-minute spurt then went on to fire three shots of their own at goalkeeper Brendan Milliken during the second penalty kill.

“This time of year, five-on-five is huge, but special teams and defense is going to win and ultimately it comes down to goaltending,” said South coach Shaun McGinty. “Any team with a strong goaltender and special teams, if you’re getting power play opportunities you need to and want to capitalize, but when you’re on the kill is key. We did well tonight and kept them to the perimeter, so I give it up to the boys and they’re doing their job.”

The Titans put up two more unanswered goals through the final six minutes of the period to take a 4-1 lead. Theirolf found the net first thanks to the help of Kvecher to make it a 3-1 game with 5:52 on the clock. As time wound down in the period, Keith Waldron found Cutter from behind the net to cushion the Titans lead by three at 4-1.

South came into the final period hungry for more wasting nearly no time at all before netting their next goal. Frey collected the puck immediately off the face off and brought it down ice swiftly for the unassisted goal just five seconds into play. Nearly three minutes later the Titans struck again this time with Thierolf finding the stick of Jack Stepp to make it a five-goal game, 6-1.

Too many players on the ice for the Titans put the Falcons up a man for another two-minutes, but once again the special teams unit and goalkeeper shined preventing any attempt at a comeback. Dominic Gibson saw his time to shine with 8:07 on the clock. He collected the loose puck off the initial blocked shot for the unassisted rocket into the back of the net making it a 7-1 game.13 Cutter finished off the scoring for CB South collecting his second goal of the game thanks to the help of #46 Frey making the final score 8-1.

“{Pennsbury} is well coached, and they have some higher level players and their goalie is a good goaltender,” McGinty said. “They’re a scary team for sure. I always worry about ourselves and want to keep within our systems. We jumped up early and they tied it quickly. It’s playoffs and we call it second season.

“So, first game of the second season guys are going to be nervous so you definitely get those nerves out, but as we started to settle in we got our shots on net. Overall it was a good team win with a lot of scoring tonight. We got Nathan [Napolitano] in net, so it was good to get him some shots. Hats off to Pennsbury they’re a good team,” said head coach McGinty.

The Titans now look ahead to their next opponent in the playoffs facing nearby foe North Penn at Hatfield Ice this Wednesday.

“It will be our third game against them, we won the first one in overtime and lost the second 4-2. It’s a great rivalry,” McGinty said. “We do a Thanksgiving game with them. It couldn’t be better for the kids. This is both of our home rinks. We’re all looking forward to it and all these guys know each other, so it’s a good thing for high school hockey,” stated McGinty.

First Period: Logan Hood (CBS from Brennan Thierolf and Alexander Cannon, 12:12; Christopher Sarver (P) unassisted, 07:24

Second Period: Jeffrey Kvecher (CBS) from Joseph Slobodrian and Ryan Frey, 15:08 (pp); Brennan Thierolf (CBS) from Jeffrey Kvecher, 05:52; Sean Cutter (CBS) from Keith Waldron, 00:31

Third Period: Ryan Frey (CBS) unassisted, 16:55; Jake Stepp (CBS) from Brennan Thierolf, 13:25; Dominic Gibson (CBS) unassisted, 08:07; Sean Cutter (CBS) from Ryan Frey, 03:55

Shots: Pennsbury 20, CB South 33; Saves: Brendan Milliken (P) 25, Nate Napolitano (CBS) 19