Holy Ghost Prep 4 St. Joseph’s Prep 1

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Three different players scored goals as Holy Ghost Prep downed St. Joseph’s Prep 4-1 Wednesday evening at Hatfield Ice in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference semifinal at Hatfield Ice.

The second-seeded Firebirds (16-6) will face La Salle in the Founders Cup final next Wednesday at 4 p.m., also at Hatfield Ice. The Hawks fell to 14-6-2. Both teams will learn on Sunday where they will be seeded for the Class AAA Flyers Cup tournament, which begins the week of March 6.

Brady Baehser paced Holy Ghost Prep with with two goals, giving him 12 in APAC play this season. Kieran Mulholland and Zach Pers also scored for the winning side.

It was also a day that saw Jack Unger turn in a stellar performance in goal. Given the starting nod because veteran Colin Mudrick was unavailable, Unger a sophomore, recorded 18 saves and was the epitome of poise.

Mulholland gave Holy Ghost Prep a 1-0 lead when he beat St. Joseph’s Prep netminder Rocco Bruno on a deflection 8:41 into the opening period. Baehser made it a 2-0 game on a breakaway at the 10:59 mark of the second frame.

“I liked our start,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside. “We haven’t been starting off games very well of late but today I liked our jump. and we had four lines contributing, which is great.”

Playing with a lead allowed Unger to settle in.

“I think the biggest thing is being able to stay comfortable,” he said. “When we get off to a quick start like that, I’m really comfortable. I know I can trust the forwards, trust the defense. I know that they’ve got my back and I’ve got their backs.”

Unger’s effort earned effusive praise from his coach.

“It was nice to see that from Jack,” Whiteside said. “He’s worked all year and gotten some spots here and there throughout the season, but tonight was a total effort from Jack and our guys just fed off of him.”

Jeffrey Hammond got St. Joseph’s Prep on the scoreboard 6:44 into the third period but the Hawks were stymied much of the night; they managed just 19 shots.

“I think they wanted it more than us today for whatever reason,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach David Giacomin. “It’s hard to get in the minds of kids (but) they had a lot of jumps, especially in the beginning of the game,

“They wanted it a little bit more than us and they played a really good game.”

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 1—1

Holy Ghost Prep 1 2 1—4

First-period goal: Kieran Mulholland (HGP) unassisted, 8:41

Second-period goal: Brady Baehser (HGP) from Ryan Lippy and Landon Stout, 10:59; Zach Pers (HGP) from Kieran Mulholland and John Seravalli, 14:16 (pp)

Third-period goal: Jeffrey Hammond (HGP) unassisted, 6:44; Baehser (HGP) from Seravalli and Mulholland, 11:54;

Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 19, Holy Ghost Prep 33; Saves: Rocco Bruno (SJP) 29, Jack Unger (HGP) 18

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

SHSHL Playoff Preview

Wednesday, February 22

National Division at Grundy Arena

Central Bucks East vs. Pennsbury 7:20

Pennsbury

Coach Ryan Daley

Record: 12-5, 8-2 in divisional play seed 3

Key players:

Brendan Macainsh 31 goals, 17 assists 48 points

Andrew Falkenstein 6 goals, 22 assists, 28 points

Justin Marlin 14 goals, 13 assists, 27 points

Central Bucks East

Coach: Jeff Mitchell

Record: 8-8-1-0, 4-5-1-0 in the division seed 6

Key players

Corey Kosick 18 goals, 10 assists, 28 points

Stephen DiRugueris 7 goals, 6 assists, 13 points

Matt Mangiacapre .910 save percentage, 3.40 GAA

This season

12-1 Pennsbury 6 C.B. East 3

12-21 Pennsbury 6 C.B. East 1

Neshaminy vs. Central Bucks South 9:00

Neshaminy

Coach: Matt DeMatteo

Record: 11-5-1-0,6-3-1-0 in the division; seed 4

Key players:

Max Gallagher 23 goals, 11 assists, 34 points

Nolan Geria 9 goals, 15 assists, 24 points

J.J. Hathaway 4 goals, 1 assist, 5 points

Central Bucks South

Coach: Shaun McGinty

Record: 9-7-0-1, 6-4 in the division; seed 5

Key players:

Aydin Thierolf 15 goals, 14 assists, 29 points

D.J.Lindenmuth 9 goals, 11 assists, 20 points

Colin Mendham 8 goals, 10 assists, 18 points

This season

12-1 Neshaminy 6 C.B. South 4

12-21 Neshaminy 2 C.B. South 1

Winners advance to semifinals on February 1 vs. # 1 Council Rock South and #2 Pennridge

American Division at Hatfield Ice

Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. Quakertown 8:45

Plymouth Whitemarsh

Coach : Dave Cox

Record: 11-6, 7-5 in divisional play seed 2

Key players:

Matt Flynn 26 goals, 20 assists 46 points

David Branigan 12 goals, 25 assists, 37 points

Chris Maslij 2.86 GAA

Quakertown

Coach: Keith Krem

Record: 10-4-1-1, 6-4-1-1 in divisional play seed 3

Key players:

Branden McNally 17 goals, 15 assists, 32 points

Will Shaw 12 goals, 12 assists, 24 points

Matt Krem 2.79 GAA

This season

12-7 PW 7 Quakertown 5

12-16 Quakertown 5 PW 2

1-25 PW 3 Quakertown 2

Winner advances to championship game on March 1 vs. #1 Abington

SHSHL Recap 2-20-23

Final Regular Season Standings

National Division W L T OTL Pts

C.R. South (15-1-0-1) 9 0 0 1 19

X Pennridge (13-4) 8 2 0 0 16

Pennsbury (12-5) 7 2 0 0 14

Neshaminy (11-5-1) 6 3 1 0 13

C.B. South (9-7-0-1) 6 4 0 0 12

C.B. East (8-8-1) 4 5 1 0 9

C.R. North (5-10-1-1) 3 5 1 1 8

C.B. West (5-11-0-1) 3 6 0 1 7

Souderton (5-11-0-1) 3 7 0 0 6

Bensalem (3-13) 2 7 0 1 5

North Penn (5-10-1-1) 1 7 1 1 4

X Pennridge finishes second on the basis of having defeated Pennsbury in their second meeting, which was the game that counted in their divisional records

American Division W L T OTL Pts

Abington (15-0-1-1) 10 0 1 1 22

X Plymouth Whitemarsh (11-6) 7 5 0 0 14

Quakertown (10-4-1-1) 6 4 1 1 14

Wissahickon (9-7) 6 6 0 0 12

Springfield (0-16) 0 12 0 0 0

Plymouth Whitemarsh finishes second on the basis of having won the season series with Quakertown

Scoring

National Division G A Pts

Kevin Pico (Pr) 24 25 49

Brendan Macainsh (Pb) 31 17 48

Andrew Savona (Pr) 16 22 38

Max Gallagher (Nesh) 23 11 34

Seth Grossman (Soud) 19 13 32

John Stinson (NP) 20 11 31

Shane Dachowski (Pr) 17 12 29

Aydin Thierolf (CBS) 15 14 29

Blaise Pepe (CRS) 12 16 28

Corey Kosick (CBE) 18 10 28

Andrew Falkenstein (Pb) 6 22 28

Jake Weiner (CRS) 19 8 27

Kevin Koles (CRS) 11 16 27

Alex Hood (Ben) 21 6 27

American Division G A Pts

Matthew Flynn (PW) 26 20 46

Matt Kramer (Ab) 26 19 45

David Branigan (PW) 12 25 37

Will Hussa (Wiss) 26 7 33

Ian Heydt (Ab) 13 20 33

Sam Abramson (Ab) 14 19 33

Sam Paulik (Ab) 18 14 32

Branden McNally (Q) 17 15 32

Danny Hussa (Wiss) 18 11 29

Pat Stelacio (Ab) 18 11 29

Dylan Novitski (PW) 15 12 27

SHSHL Playoff Pairings Announced

Pairings and game times have been finalized for the first leg of the Suburban High School Hockey League playoffs.

Two first-round National-round National Division games are set for Wednesday, February 22 along with the single American Division semifinal.

Wednesday 2-22

National Division

(3) Pennsbury vs (6) C.B. East 7:20 at Grundy

(4) Neshaminy vs. (5) C.B. South 9:00 at Grundy

(1) Council Rock South and (2) Pennridge have first-round byes
Semifinals March 1

Championship game March 2

American Division

(2) Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. (3) Quakertown 8:45 at Hatfield Ice

(1) Abington has a first-round bye

Championship game March 1

Pennridge 6 C.B. East 4

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—It was not a good night to be a goaltender. Pennridge and Central Bucks East played 51 minutes of up-and-down hockey Thursday night in a game that a saw saw 83 shots, 10 goals, and two hat tricks before the Rams prevailed 6-4 in at Hatfield Ice.

The win solidified the bulk of the SHSHL National Division playoff bracket. Pennridge (13-4, 8-2 in the division) clinched the second seed and earned a bye into the semifinals.

The Patriots (8-8-1, 4-5-1) will be seeded sixth and will face third seed Pennsbury in a first-round game next Wednesday. Neshaminy and Central Bucks South will face each other in next Wednesday’s other first round game.

Pennridge’s Kevin Pico and C.B. East’s Corey Cosick led the way for their respective sides. Pico delivered three goals himself and assisted on a fourth, while Cosick tallied three goals of his own. Both players had plenty of open ice to work in, albeit at a moderate tempo; there was little physicality on display in part because many of the Rams and Patriots are club teammates.

“I think we’re better when teams don’t play physical,” Pico said. “(The Patriots) are our friends, so we’re not going to play as physical as usual and they’re not going to play as physical.”

Charlie Keiser and Pico traded goals in the first period. Cosick gave East a 2-1 lead 67 seconds into the second frame and shortly thereafter Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna used his timeout to deliver a motivational address.

“I didn’t like the way they were playing,” he said. “I thought we looked like a team that played the night before (a 9-1 win over Council Rock North) and like they have for a lot of games this year. They were just going through the motions in the first period.”

Then Rams responded. Pico and Andrew Savona scored goals two-and-a-half minutes apart to give the Rams a 3-2 lead. Cosick tied the game for the Patriots with 7:19 left in the period but James Embert and Pico scored goals 44 seconds apart to give the Rams a two-goal lead.

Cosick completed his hat trick with 1:37 left in the period but Pennridge’s Dane Fitchett scored the only goal of the third period. East’s chances were diminished when D.J. Brown was whistled for a check from behind with 7:20 left in the game.

East goaltender Matt Mangiacapre kept his team in the game, he was credited with 52 saves

“We came out strong and matched their tempo,” said East coach Jeff Mitchell., but we took a couple bad penalties in the third period. (Brown) is our top defenseman that was here tonight. It wasn’t intentional, it was just an ill-timed call and an ill-timed play.

“All in all I thought we played a great game. Our goaltender played on his head again.”

Pennridge 1 4 1—6

C.B. East 1 3 0—4

First-period goals: Charlie Keiser (CBE) from Drew Trask, 1:50; Kevin Pico (P) unassisted, 10:43

Second-period goals: Corey Cosick (CBE) from Keiser, 1:17; Pico (P) unassisted, 4:16; Andrew Savona (P) from Pico and Colin Dachowki, 6:51; Cosick (CBE) from Stephen DiRugeris, 9:41; James Embert (P)) from Colin Dachowski, 11:25; Pico (P) from Savona and Shane Dachowski, 12:19; Cosick (CBE) unassisted, 15:23

Third-period goals: Dane Fitchett (P) from Savona and Colin Dachowski, 1:59

Shots: Pennridge 58, C.B. East 25; Saves: Jacob Winston (P) 21 Matt Mangiacapre (CBE) 52

Quakertown 7 Wissahickon 2

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Officially, Wednesday’s matchup between Quakertown was the regular-season finale for both teams. In reality, it might as well have been a playoff game.

It was the Panthers who prevailed 7-2 in a SHSHL American Division encounter at Hatfield Ice.

The win assures Quakertown (10-4-1-1, 6-4-1-1 in the division) of a playoff spot. Wissahickon (10-6, 6-6 in the division) comes up short if, as expected, Plymouth Whitemarsh defeats Springfield on Thursday night. Both teams remain eligible for the Flyers Cup tournament.

Kiera Shaw played a huge role in Quakertown’s success. The junior scored two goals, including the game winner.

The first period belonged to Quakertown goaltender Matt Krem, who turned aside 17 of the 18 shots he saw in the opening session. Largely as the result of Krem’s efforts, the teams ended the first frame tied at 1-1. The Trojans’ Danny Hussa and the Panthers’ William Shaw were the goal scorers.

“We’re just so thankful that Matt is great in net,” Kiera Shaw said. “They were beating up on us in the first period so we took it to them in the second and third and got it back.”

The Panthers did just that, albeit with some from the Trojans
Defensive zone breakdowns led to three Quakertown goals in a span of 1 minute, 25 seconds. Cole Slemmer (on a shorthanded effort), Kiera Shaw, and Jack Diliberto were the goal scorers.

“In the second period they got more aggressive,” said Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington. “They would chip it down below the goal line. That’s bread and butter for them.”

Trailing 4-2 at the 4:01 mark of the third period, the Trojans got a huge opportunity when Slemmer and his teammate Corbin Cassel drew minor penalties simultaneously, giving the Trojans a two-man advantage for two minutes. Slemmer went on to draw a game misconduct penalty for a verbal outburst; as he left the ice he hurled his stick over the glass behind the Quakertown net.

Instead of capitalizing on the advantage however, the Trojans floundered. Kiera Shaw scored a shorthanded goal at the 5:43 mark and the Panthers maintained control to the wire.

Quakertown’s Lucas Cunnane scored the final two goals of the evening; his second goal came with 3:23 remaining and was scored into an empty net.

“We’ve talked all year about zone time,” said Quakertown coach Keith Krem. “We didn’t win that battle at all in the first period. We got some big saves on the back side and kind of got through the storm.

“They were only running two lines on the other side … we thought they were going to gas out and if we stopped turning pucks over on our exits and started getting pucks in our zone, we’d get our opportunities.”

Shaw credited the Quakertown rooting section for the energy in the building.

“They just really made the atmosphere great tonight,” she said. “Everyone was ready for the game. Everyone really loves the team and wants to keep playing.”

Quakertown 1 3 3—7

Wissahickon 1 10—2

First-period goals: Danny Hussa from Aiden Brooks, 11:04; William Shaw (Q) unassisted, 14:01

Second-period goals: Danny Hussa unassisted, 4:23 (pp); Cole Slemmer (Q) from Jack Diliberto, 11:48 (sh); Kiera Shaw (Q) from Lucas Cunnane 12;52; Diliberto (Q) unassisted, 13:13

Third-period goals: Kiera Shaw (Q) unassisted 5:43 (sh); Cunnane (Q) from William Shaw, 10:42; Cunnane (Q) unassisted, 13:37

Shots: Quakertown 25, Wissahickon 38

Saves: Matt Krem (Q) 23, Fletcher Lynch 31

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.

La Salle 6 Holy Ghost Prep 5

BRSTOL—After an up-and-down season, the La Salle Explorers are ripening like a field full of crops, just as harvest time is drawing near. Evan Golato and James Carpenter scored two goals each as the Explorers held off Holy Ghost Prep 6-5 Monday afternoon at Grundy Arena.

After starting the season by winning just one of its first five games, La Salle stands at 11-8-2 with one regular-season game remaining. The Explorers, who have won their last four starts and six of their last seven, finished Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference play as the regular-season champion with a 6-2 league.

They’ll be seeded first in the conference semifinals, and will face the winner of Thursday’s play-in between Malvern Prep and Hun School on February 22 at Hatfield Ice. Ghost Prep (15-6, 4-2-1-1 in conference) will be the second seed in the playoffs and will take on third-seeded St. Joseph’s Prep in the other semifinal on the same day at the same venue.

Golato scored both his goals in the first period as La Salle took a 2-1 lead. The goals were sandwiched a goal from the Firebirds’ Prep’s Colin Bara.

“We expected a dogfight coming into today,” Golato said. “We’re glad we got away with a win. We just want to keep going game by game, winning and winning. That’s all we want as a team.”

Traffic in front of the La Salle net includes the Explorers’ Will Giordano (#3), and Thomas Doucet (#6) along with Holy Ghost Prep’s Kieran Mulholland (#13) and Zach Pers (#72) Photos by Robert Barnes

Carpenter and Holy Ghost Prep’s Brady Baehser traded goals in the second session before John Seravalli tied the game with 6:53 left in the period. But Matt Giordano answered 43 seconds later with a shot from the high slot to give La Salle the lead for good.

Will Gregorio and Carpenter extended the La Salle lead with third-period goals before Ciaran Chambers scored for the Firebirds with 11:11 left in the game. Kieran Mulholland made it a one-goal game with 29 seconds remaining.

Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside praised the effort of both teams.

“A great APSC game,” he said. “Two great opponents competed to the bitter end.

“I was really happy with how we kept battling back. Nobody wants to chase the game of course, but I was really proud of the effort there.”

Both teams shuffled goaltenders. Jake Rossi started for La Salle, before giving way to Aries Carangi, but later returned before yielding to Carangi once more. Colin Mudrick started in goal for the Firebirds before Jack Unger came on in relief. Mudrick later returned but Unger relieved him again in the third period.”

Golato noted the victory was a true team effort.

“It wasn’t just a performance by one person,” he said. “Every single kid stepped up and had a great game for us to plug away and get the win.”

La Salle 2 2 2—6

Holy Ghost Prep 1 2 2—5

First-period goals: Evan Golato (L) from Ryan Desmond and Declan Kelly, 3:00; Colin Bara (HGP) from Brandon Barger, 12:26; Golato (L) from Will Gregorio, 15:45 (pp)

Second-period goals: James Carpenter (L) from Matt Giordano, 5:07; Brady Baehser (HGP) from Barger, 5:15; John Seravalli (HGP) from Baehser, 13:02; Giordano (L) from Julian Tarsi, 13:45

Third-period goals: Giordano (L) from Michael Zaraycki, 1:49 (pp); Carpenter (L) unassisted, 4:19; Ciaran Chambers (HGP) from Ryan Lippy, 5:49; Kieran Mulholland (HGP) from Mike Holt and Chambers

Shots: La Salle 32, Holy Ghost Prep 18