APAC Sets Playoff Dates

The Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference has set dates for the Founders Cup playoffs.

The postseason will commence the week of February 13 with a play-in game between fourth seed Hun School and fifth seed Malvern Prep on Tuesday, February 14 at 4:00. Hun School will ahve home-ice advantage. The winner swill advance to the semifinals and face the top seed, the winner of Monday’s game between Holy Ghost Prep and La Salle.

The semifinals will be played as a doubleheader on Wednesday, February 22 at Hatfield Ice, with game times set for 4:00 and 6:00. The Holy Ghost Prep-La Salle loser will be seeded second and face St. Joseph’s Prep, which will be seeded third

The Founders Cup championship game will be played Wednesday, March 1 and hosted by the highest seeded finalist.

That means the APAC champion will be determined after the Flyers Cup seedings are unveiled on February 26.

St. Joseph’s Prep 7 The Hun School 1

HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP —All the pieces fit together for St. Joseph’s Prep Friday night.

Joe Samango scored three goals and assisted on three others and Jeffrey Hammond added two goals and two assists as the Hawks, with the heart of their roster on hand, celebrated Senior Night with a 7-1 win over The Hun School 7-1 in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at the Skatium.

The win assured St. Joseph’s Prep (14-4-2 overall, 3-3-1-0 in the APAC) of a third-place finish in the conference regular-season standings; the Hawks will conclude conference play against Malvern Prep on Thursday.

The Raiders to 8-12 overall and 2-5 in the APAC.

It was a night when the Hawks had their big guns on hand. That hasn’t always happened this season; there have been multiple occasions on which they were shorthanded because of key players being away on club duty.

After witnessing his team’s effort Friday night, it was impossible for Coach David Giacomin not to speculate on what they might have achieved, and might accomplish going forward.

“I know we’re a really good team when we have everybody here and healthy,” he said.

The Hawks were shorthanded when they absorbed a 7-0 loss to the Raiders on December 7 and Giacomin said that result motivated his team Friday night.

“This was basically all the seniors having that will and desire,” he said. “They didn’t want to lose on Senior Night. That’s what it came down to.

Goals from Samango and Shane O’Neill, sandwiched around a goal from Hun School’s Brendan Marino, gave the hosts a 2-1 lead after one period before they broke the game open with four goals in the second frame, two from Hammond and one each from Samango and Tristan Winata, the Hawks’ number-one line.

Samango completed his hat trick in the third period. The trio accounted for 14 points.

“When we play together as one unit, we score a lot of goals,” Hammond said. “But when we don’t, we break apart.

“Games where we find each other and play s one unit we (do well).

The Raiders outshot the Hawks 31-29 but only Marino could solve Rocco Bruno in the Hawk net. The visitors’ frustrations boiled over on occasion; they were whistled for nine of the game’s 14 penalties.

“Obviously (St. Joseph’s Prep) they flipped the script here today,” said Hun School coach Ian McNally. “That’s kind of been the storyline for two weeks now. “It’s like, we’re trying really hard, we outshoot them, but we basically have very few actual scoring chances. And, every five minutes we let a team rush to the other end and score.”

Hun School 1 0 0—1

St. Joseph’s Prep 2 4 1—7

First-period goals: Joe Samango (SJP) from Patrick Sweeney and Shane O’Neill, 1;53; Brendan Marino (HS) from Justin LaPlante, 11:24; O’Neill (SJP) from Jeffrey Hammond and Samango, 14:04 (pp)

Second-period goals: Hammond (SJP) from Tristan Winata and Samango: 23; Samango (SJP) 5:33 (pp) Winata (SJP) from Hammond, 7:46; Hammond (SJP) from Samango, 14:21;

Third-period goal: Samango (SJP) from Winata and Hammond, 14:33

Shots: Hun School 31, St. Joseph’s Prep 29; Saves: Julian Arsenault (HS) 22; Rocco Bruno (SJP) 30

CLICK HERE for more about The Hun School

CLICK HERE for more about St. Joseph’s Prep

Holy Ghost Prep 7 Haverford School 0

Kieran Mulholland scored twice and five other players scored one goal each as Holy Ghost Prep scored a 7-0 shutout over Haverford School Friday night on Senior Night at Grundy Arena.

Jack Gavaghan, Patrick Slook, John Seravalli and Ciaran Chambers all scored goals for the Firebirds, who improved to 14-5 on the season.

Haverford School 0 0 0—0

Holy Ghost Prep 2 2 3—7

Council Rock South 5 Pennridge 3

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The Flyers Cup tournament is just over a month away, but Council Rock South and Pennridge offered a preview on Wednesday night.

The Golden Hawks and the Rams demonstrated why they are serious Class AA Flyers Cup contenders before the Hawks emerged with a 5-3 win in front a of a full house in the Blue Rink at Hatfield ice.

The win lifted South to 12-1-0-1 on the season and 6-0-0-1 in SHSHSL National Division play. The Hawks are listed third in the current Class AA Flyers Cup rankings.

The loss dropped Pennridge 10-4 overall and 5-2 in the division. The Rams stand fourth in the Flyers Cup rankings.

The opening period saw the teams combine for five goals in a span of 8 minutes, 48 seconds.
Evan Mostoller started it off for the Golden Hawks just 1:52 with a shot along the ice from the right point that eluded Pennridge netminder Jacob Gilbert. Jake Weiner made it a 2-0 game at the 3:34 mark.

Dane Fitchett got the Rams on the scoreboard at 4:47 and Shane Dachowski tied the game at 10:13 but Illia Mukhin answered for South 27 seconds later via bad bounce and the Hawks never trailed again.

At period’s end Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna made a goaltender change, inserting Jacob Winton between the pipes.

“He allowed us to regain our equilibrium,” Montagna said. “He did exactly what you need him to do when you come into that situation. It is not an easy spot for a sophomore playing his fourth varsity game.”

Winton and South’s Carson Lopez were virtually impregnable most of the rest of the way. Lopez did not yield another goal while Winton was steadfast until Mukhin and Chase Tovsky scored goals 42 seconds apart to give South a 5-2 lead with 6:42 left in the third period.

With 48.2 seconds remaining in the game emotions boiled over and a scrum erupted along the boards near the Council Rock South bench. Four players were penalized.

South’s Blaize Pepe received a roughing minor plus a major penalty for fighting. Lopez, the only goaltender the Hawks had dressed, was penalized for leaving his crease and banished for being the third man in a fight.

The Rams lost Dachowski via a fighting major and a game misconduct and Andrew Savona for being a third man in.

What followed was the unique circumstance of the Golden Hawks playing with a three-goal lead and defending an empty net, since they had no one available to replace Lopez in goal. It took just nine seconds for Kevin Pico to score into the empty net to make it a two-goal game.

That turned out to be the last goal of the evening but the fireworks weren’t over; with 10 seconds left in the game Weiner and Gavin Nisenzon drew misconduct penalties for the Golden Hawks.

The late-game histrionics overshadowed Lopez’s work in the South net; he finished with 41 saves.

“He gives confidence to the team,” said South’s Ilya Kudzinau. “It gives us the confidence to push back. It’s really nice to have a goalie like that.”

Montagna noted his team was in the game up to the last.

“We outplayed that team for long stretches,” he said. “We had odd-man rush after odd-man rush but we couldn’t finish.”

In the end, the Rams were unable to get the better of Lopez.

“We know what Carson is,” Montagna said. “We got to him early and he settled in and made big save after big save for them.”

South coach Joe Houk noted his team picked up the pace in the third period.

“I thought we outplayed them in the third period,” he said. “We loved the puck better. We had more opportunities. They had a lot of power plays but they couldn’t (convert).

“Like I told the guys, a good team finds way to win and we found a way to win tonight.”

Council Rock South 3 0 2—5

Pennridge 2 0 1—3

First-period goals: Evan Mostoller (CRS) from Bobby Gilbert and Illia Mukhin, 1:52; Jake Weiner (CRS) from Kevin Koles, 3:34; Dane Fitchett (P) from Nate McKean and Andrew Lizak, 4:47; Shane Dachowski (P) from Kevin Pico, 10:13; Mukhin (P) unassisted, 10:40

Third-period goals: Mukhin (CRS) from Weiner and Ilya Kudzinau, 9:36; Chase Tovsky (CRS) from Koles, 10:18 (sh); Kevin Pico (P) unassisted, 16:21

Shots: Council Rock South 40, Pennridge 44; Saves: Carson Lopez (CRS) 41, Jacob Gilbert (P) 8 and Jacob Winton (P) 27

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The Flyers Cup tournament is just over a month away, but Council Rock South and Pennridge offered a preview on Wednesday night.

The Golden Hawks and the Rams demonstrated why they are serious Class AA Flyers Cup contenders before the Hawks emerged with a 5-3 win in front a of a full house in the Blue Rink at Hatfield ice.

The win lifted South to 12-1-0-1 on the season and 6-0-0-1 in SHSHSL National Division play. The Hawks are listed third in the current Class AA Flyers Cup rankings.

The loss dropped Pennridge 10-4 overall and 5-2 in the division. The Rams stand fourth in the Flyers Cup rankings.

Dane Fitchett got the Rams on the scoreboard at 4:47 and Shane Dachowski tied the game at 10:13 but Illia Mukhin answered for South 27 seconds later via bad bounce and the Hawks never trailed again.

At period’s end Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna made a goaltender change, inserting Jacob Winton between the pipes.

With 48.2 seconds remaining in the game emotions boiled over and a scrum erupted along the boards near the Council Rock South bench. Four players were penalized.
South’s Blaize Pepe received a roughing minor plus a major penalty for fighting. Lopez, the only goaltender the Hawks had dressed, was penalized for leaving his crease and banished for being the third man in a fight.

The Rams lost Dachowski via a fighting major and a game misconduct and Andrew Savona for being a third man in.

That turned out to be the last goal of the evening but the fireworks weren’t over; with 10 seconds left in the game Weiner and Gavin Nisenzon drew misconduct penalties for the Golden Hawks.

The late-game histrionics overshadowed Lopez’s work in the South net; he finished with 41 saves.

“He gives confidence to the team,” said South’s Ilya Kudzinau. “It gives us the confidence to push back. It’s really nice to have a goalie like that.”

Montagna noted his team was in the game up to the last.

“We outplayed that team for long stretches,” he said. “We had odd-man rush after odd-man rush but we couldn’t finish.”

In the end, the Rams were unable to get the better of Lopez.

“We know what Carson is,” Montagna said. We got to him early and he settled in and made big save after big save for them.”

South coach Joe Houk noted his team picked up the pace in the third period.

“I thought we outplayed them in the third period,” he said. “We loved the puck better. We had more opportunities. They had a lot of power plays but they couldn’t (convert).

“Like I told the guys, a good team finds way to win and we found a way to win tonight.”

Council Rock South 3 0 2—5

Pennridge 2 0 1—3

Third-period goals: Mukhin (CRS) from Weiner and Ilya Kudzinau, 9:36; Chase Tovsky (CRS) from Koles, 10:18 (sh); Kevin Pico (P) unassisted, 16:21

Shots: Council Rock South 40, Pennridge 44; Saves: Carson Lopez (CRS) 41, Jacob Gilbert (P) 8 and Jacob Winton (P) 27

La Salle 5 Hun School 2

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, N.J.—Evan Golato scored two goals and three other players scored one goal each as La Salle bested Hun School 5-2 Wednesday afternoon in an APAC game at Ice Land.

The win moved La Salle (9-8-2, 5-2 in conference) into a tie for first place with Holy Ghost Prep in the conference standings.

The Explorers broke the game open with four unanswered goals in the second period. Ryan Desmond, Golato, Ryan Wiley, and Golato again scored goals in a span of 8 minutes, 57 seconds to give La Salle a commanding lead.

Scott Richmond scored for the Raiders (8-11, 2-4 in conference 54 seconds into the third period.

La Salle’s Grant LaGreca and Hun School’s Elian Estulin traded goals to complete the scoring.

Jake Rossi got the win in goal, stopping 40 shots. Stephen Chen made 54 saves for the Raiders in the loss.

La Salle 0 4 1—5

Hun School 0 0 2—2

Second-period goals: Ryan Desmond (L) from Evan Golato and Cam Ross, 3:11; Golato (L) from Will Gregorio and Desmond, 8:00; Ryan Wiley (L) from Tim Whittock and Julian Tarsi, 10:01; Golato (L) from Desmond and Ross, 12:08

Third-period goals: Scott Richmond (HS) from Elian Estulin, :54; Grant LeGreca from Whittock and James Carpenter, 9:33; Estulin (HS) from Justin LaPlante, 11:29

Shots: La Salle 59, Hun School 42; Saves: Jake Rossi (L) 40, Stephen Chen (HS) 54

C.R. South, Pennridge Set for Key SHSHL Matchup

It shapes up as the most significant game of the year in the SHSHL, and one of the league’s most meaningful regular-season games of recent years.
Council Rock and Pennridge will square off Wednesday night in a game that is likely to have a profound impact on the SHSHL’s National Division standings and the Class AA Flyers Cup rankings.

Game time is 7:20 in the Blue Rink at Hatfield Ice. The game will also be streamed on the Flyers Cup YouTube channel.

It’s the second meeting of the season between the two teams. Pennridge won the first meeting 7-4 on December 15 in a game that counted toward the Flyers Cup rankings but not in the division standings.

Here’s how the teams match up for Wednesday’s game.

Council Rock South (11-1-0-1, 5-0-0-1 in the National Division)

Coach: Joe Houk

Leading scorers: Blaize Pepe 13 goals 12 assists 25 points

Kevin Koles 9/13/22

Jake Weiner 15/6/21

Goaltender: Carson Lopez .915 Save percentage 2.16 GAA

Pennridge (10-3, 5-1 in the National Division)

Coach: Jeff Montagna

Leading scorers: Andrew Savona 16 goals 22 assists 38 points

Kevin Pico 16/18/34

Shane Dachowski 16/12/28

Goaltender: Jacob Gilbert .870 Save percentage 3.76 GAA

Malvern Prep-St. Joseph’s Prep Matchup to Aid the Fight Against RTS

When Malvern Prep hosts St. Joseph’s Prep in an APAC game on Thursday, February 9 at Ice Line, the evening will be about more than just hockey.

The game itself will be the centerpiece of a dine-and-donate event to raise funds for the effort to find a cure for Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome, or RTS, a rare genetic syndrome.

RTS is a genetic syndrome which is typically a mutation of the CREBBP or EP300 gene. Those with RTS have an intellectual disability along with both developmental and growth delays. Some have other medical issues as well.

Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan’s 3-year old son Connor is afflicted with RTS, which occurs in one of every 125,000 children.
“It’s a spectrum,” Kenan said, “so some kids have more impediments than others.

“My son was diagnosed last year, so, we’re trying to bring awareness to it for a good cause. We’ve met some other families with the syndrome and we want to do our part in raising awareness and giving back.”

The dine-and-donate event will begin at 7 p.m. and continue until 10:30. The game between the Friars and the Hawks will begin at 8:30.

Keenan’s entire family will join him in a ceremonial pick drop including his wife Sarah, Connor, and Connor’s siblings. 8-year old J.J. and 6-year old Olivia.

Keenan is grateful for the support he and his family have received from the Malvern Prep community and the area hockey community.

“We’re lucky to have such a great community from Malvern Prep and the hockey community that wants to help us raise awareness,” he said, “and we’re looking forward to a good night. This is our first year obviously having something like this and we’ll build onto it. Maybe have some other families come out in the future, and overall we’re just looking for it to be a fun night where everybody can learn and bring awareness.”

Keenan feels an obligation to be a voice for families dealing with RTS.

“As most people know, I don’t like to be in the spotlight,” he said, “and my family does not like to be in the spotlight. At the end of the day this event isn’t just about Connor. It is for all those with RTS and being able to educate others is a big part of what me and my family are trying to do.”

Council Rock South 5 Holy Ghost Prep 4

WARWICK TOWNSHIP—There was an air of anticipation in the building when Holy Ghost Prep and Council Rock South took the ice at Revolution Ice Gardens Monday night.

The matchup brought together two teams who are legitimate Flyers Cup contenders in their respective classes; the Firebirds in Class AAA and the Golden Hawks in Class AA.

It was the Golden Hawks who prevailed on this occasion overcoming am early 2-0 deficit to post a 5-4 win.

Monday’s game was also a meeting of two of the area’s most respected coaches. Joe Houk has been at Council Rock South for 17 seasons. Gump Whiteside has been at Holy Ghost Prep for 15 seasons and spent eight years at Germantown Academy before that.

Both Houk and Whiteside have won scores of games and have Flyers Cup and state titles on their resumes. They share a passion for the game of hockey—and a mutual respect that goes back to when they played against each other in their high-school days.

“Joe’s a pro,” Whiteside. “Quite honestly, he’s been a mentor to me. I’ve coached Joe for many, many, many, many years and he’s always been a pro,

“He always approaches it the right way. He doesn’t have an ego it’s not about him. It’s about his players.

“And you could see it tonight. He had his team prepared. Joe is the ultimate pro, the ultimate mentor, and quite honestly a great guy.”

Whiteside noted the tenaciousness Houk’s teams regularly bring to the rink.

“They play with grit,” he said.”

Houk similar sentiments.

“Gump is a good guy, a good human being,” he said. “He brings such a good quality of the sport to the game.

“He’s a man of character. And he cares about the kids. It’s not ‘Win at all costs’ with him. It’s more about development and hopefully, you move some of those kids on.

“He’s just a good guy. He’s a good guy for the sport.”

• Jake Weiner scored a pair of goals 45 seconds apart that turned a 2-2 standoff into a 4-2 South lead and the Golden Hawks never trailed again.

The win was South’s 11^th of the season against two defeats with one of the losses coming in overtime.

Houk said going against a team the Firebirds said a lot about his own team’s potential for success.

“If we can at that sustained level we played at tonight,” he said. “The physical part of it, keeping things simple, keeping things to the outside, getting the opportunities on transition. I thought we controlled the whole game (but) they’re good. They’ve got some really, really good skill players. They move the puck well. They’re a good team. They’re going to go far too.”

Brady Baehser scored three goals for the Firebirds, who saw their record drop to 13-6.

“We got up 2-0 and that’s when we started to take them lightly,” he said. “And we just fell apart.”
Baehser said the defeat highlighted the importance delivering a solid effort from the start to finish of each game.”

“We’re a very talented team and we think we can win games based off that. But that outworked us all night, all three periods and it showed on the scoreboard.”

Holy Ghost Prep 2 2 0—4

Council Rock South 2 3 0—5

First-period goals: Landon Stout (HGP) from Patrick Slook and John Seravalli, 1:03; Brady Baehser (HGP) from Seravalli, 5:18; Blaize Peppe (CRS) unassisted, 8:39; Kevin Koles (CRS) from Gavin Nisenson, :41

Second-period goals: Jake Weiner (CRS) from Illia Muckhin, 3:19; Weiner (CRS) from Jeremy Rayher, 4:04; Baehser (HGP) from Seravalli, 8:26 (pp); Joseph Diiulio (CRS) from Weiner and Pepe, 12:04; Baehser (HGP) from Stout, 12:35 (pp)

Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 27, Council Rock South 41; Saves: Jack Unger (HGP) 36 Carson Lopez (CRS) 23

Malvern Prep 3 St. Augustine Prep 2 OT

Jimmy Jacobs scored a goal 46 seconds into overtime to give the host Friars a 3-2 over St. Augustine Prep Monday afternoon at Ice Line in a non-league encounter.

Gabe Bedwell and Jonathan Holt also scored for Malvern Prep, which improved to 7-5 on the season.

St. Augustine Prep 1 1 0 0—2

Malvern Prep 0 2 0 1—3

First-period goal: Caleb Capecci (SA) from Ty Simonet, 10:16 (pp)

Second-period goals: Gabe Bedwell (MP) from Aidan Kelly and Jonathan Holt, 6:25; Grayson Esposito (SA) from Dom Riccardi, 6:59; Holt (MP) from Bedwell and Kelly, 10:29

Overtime goal: Jimmy Jacobs (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, :46

Trainer Sal Raffa Doing His Part to Make Hockey a Safer Game

By Rick Woelfel

He is one of hockey’s unsung heroes. Whether he is working for the Philadelphia Flyers or covering an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game for La Salle, Sal Raffa is always on alert when he’s at an ice rink.

After more than two decades as an athletic trainer, Raffa is well aware of the risks that accompany the game of hockey, and cognizant of his responsibility to minimize those risks. When he’s on duty, very little happens on or around the ice that escapes his detection.

“You look for body language for one,” he said. “Whether it be a puck to the foot or hand, or writs, or elbow.

“You’re looking for body language. Typically, it’s body reaction. If you get hit in the throat, your hands automatically go to your throat.

“A lot of times, you look for the environmental stuff, meaning external, like the boards and things like that. A lot of times, if you’re not paying attention and I’ve seen it in my career, athletes will leave a door open for instance to the bench; you can impale a vital organ.”

Just as athletes must (or should) understand basic fundamentals of their sport, so it is for trainers. Raffa never takes that fundamental knowledge for granted.

“Every night, before I cover an event, I go through a process in my head even on the bench I remember the ABCs, (airways, breathing, circulation)” he said. “On the bench I’m looking and watching everything. You don’t know really what’s going to happen but the ABCs, just know that, and kind of practice that when you’re out of this environment, when you’re at home, and just practice, practice, practice.”

Raffa’s vigilance, and that of his colleagues, is particularly important at the high-school level.

“Myself and the other trainers, we’re the only medical professionals here,” Raffa points out. “Typically for a professional hockey game, you have physicians, you have an emergency room physician, you have paramedics, you have surgeons, you have everybody. “For (a high-school game) you’re going on your instincts, you’re looking for something that’s going on. The best thing you can do is rely on what you learn and what you know.”

‘What you know’ in Raffa’s case encompasses a broad knowledge base acquired through his years in the profession. When he staffs an event, his medical kit will contain everything from an AED to tourniquets to QuikClot^®so he’s prepared in the event of an emergency.

“I have a whole bunch of stuff like that,” Raffa said. “You’re relying on your instincts, you’re holding pressure, calling 9-11.”

One of trainer’s most important attributes is the ability to control his or her emotions in an emergency.

“You gave to remain calm if a kid is choking,” Raffa says. “The worst thing you want to do is freak out. Calm cool collected.

“Same thing on the ice. You see blood, Okay. It’s blood. Control the situation as best as you can. The environment is not a controlled situation because you’re (in a rink) but you can control it as best as you can.”

Raffa stresses the importance of knowing the emergency action plan of each rink he works in, whether be Hatfield Ice Arena, the Wells Fargo Center, or elsewhere. something he says all trainers should do.

“Before you work any events know what you’re dealing with,” he said. “Know where you’re going, and know the surroundings. Know 911, the paramedic’s number, know the closest hospital know all that stuff. You should know that before you cover any event.”