Wissahickon 10, Hatboro-Horsham 6

WARWICK—After spotting their opponent a significant head start, Wissahickon took control of its Suburban High School Hockey League Class A semifinal against Hatboro-Horsham Wednesday night.

Trailing 3-0 in the first period, the Trojan scored nine goals in the equivalent of one period of hockey and went on to a 10-6 win at Revolution Ice Gardens. The third-seeded Trojans (10-8 overall) will face top-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh in Thursday’s final (8:30) at Hatfield Ice.

Prior to the opening faceoff, Wissahickon figured to be playing uphill. Leading scorer Nicholas Hussa and Daniel Glazier were serving suspensions while Ben Junker was sidelined with an injury. With next week’s Flyers Cup opener against Unionville already set, it would have been understandable had the Trojans struggled.

Alex Carrozza, their captain, admitted that focusing was a bit difficult. “A little bit,” he said. “Especially since we played them the last game of the regular season (a 9-1 win for the Hatters last Friday). They kind of put a couple goals in on us. It was tough for us to play. We were able to come back and actually put a good team together.”

The second-seeded Hatters (11-6-0-1) were in command at the start, thanks to a goal from Nick Long and two from Aidan Esack, which gave them a 3-0 lead just 6:07 into the first period.

The flow of the game changed however when Carrozza scored for the Trojans with 54 seconds left in the opening session.

“I thought it was important to score that goal.” said Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington.”

It wasn’t apparent immediately, but Carrozza’s effort was a preview of what was to come. Wissahickon’s Bryan Garry and the Hatters’ Seth Lerner traded girls early in the second period before the Trojans scored seven times in a span if 5 minutes, 49 seconds to take a 9-5 lead with 48 seconds left in the 17-minute period.

Garry scored three times in that span. A.J. Pounds added two goals during the spurt, while Carrozza and Nolan Ryan also scored.

Hatter coach Gianni Lafratta felt his team got away from what it defensively in the opening period. “We had guys in the slot, we kept everything outside,” he said.” Gary, I think, had three shots on net.

“We had that three-goal lead and the little things started to fall apart, the passing, the presence in the defensive zone.”

Garry added a fifth goal in the third period. He also had an assist.

Ice Chips—Plymouth Whitemarsh defeated Truman 12-2 in the evening’s other semifinal. Aidan Keogh scored four goals for the Colonials before the game was called with 10:54 left in the third period. Luke Weikel, Colin Franzoni, and Dean Keller added two goals each.

Wissahickon 1 8 1—10

Hatboro-Horsham 3 2 1—6

First-period goals: Nick Long (HH) unassisted, 1:28; Aiden Esack (HH) from Alex Howieson and Jack Steinberg, 3:31; Esack (HH) from Marcus Soucy, 6:07; Alex Carrozza from Nolan Ryan, 16:06.

Second-period goals: Bryan Garry from Michael Bonanni, 3:23; Howieson (HH) from Tarek Eisabbagh, 4:38; A.J. Pounds from Ty Schiff, 10:23; Garry unassisted, 10:32; Carrozza unassisted, 11:27 (pp); Seth Lerner (HH) from James McCoy and Howieson, 12:19; Pounds from Garry, 13:17; Nolan Tyan uunassisted. 15:40; Garry from Pounds and Schiff 15:49; Garry from Pounds, 16:12

Third-period goals: McCoy (HH) unassisted, 4:13; Garry unassisted, 15:36

Shots: Wissahickon 47, Hatboro-Horsham 27; Saves: Chris Shea 20, Joe Gambino (HH) 37

Class AA Semifinals

Central Bucks South 5, Neshaminy 2

Council Rock South 4, North Penn 2

Thursday Schedule

6:30 Central Bucks South vs. Council Rock South

8:30 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. Wissahickon

Both games at Hatfield Ice

La Salle 4, Holy Ghost Prep 1

BRISTOL—Few things are more impressive or imposing than a goaltender standing tall. Aidan McCabe did just that for La Salle Wednesday afternoon to help the Explorers successfully defend its Founders Cup title. The senior netminder stopped 30 of the 31 shots he saw as La Salle bested Holy Ghost Prep 4-1 at Grundy Arena to retain the championship of the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference.

The Explorers (15-13), who have won six of their last seven games will carry an abundance of momentum with then into next Thursday’s opening round of the Class AAA Flyers Cup where they are seeded second behind the Firebirds (15-5-1).

LaSalle captains Nathan Benner (L) and Ryan Ferry accept the Founders Cup from APAC Commissioner Jim Britt (photo by Liz Diretto)

Holy Ghost Prep, the top seed in the APAC playoffs, had the better of the play in the early going; at one time they had an 8-1 edge in shots, but McCabe kept them at bay and the second-seeded Explorers broke through at the 5:15 mark when David Kimmel took a shot from the left point, a single stride inside the blue line that beat Firebird netminder Sean Joyce. Keenan Schneider made it 2-0 with 56 seconds left in a period that saw McCabe make 13 saves.

“We had a good warmup,” McCabe said, “and we were doing a good job of keeping the shots to the outside so I could see the puck and track it in.”

Senior forward Ryan Ferry, one of La Salle’s captains, said McCabe’s early efforts energized his teammates. “McCabe has been good all year,” he said. “I expect nothing less.”

The Firebirds took advantage of an extended power play to score the only goal of the second period after the Explorers’ Chris Wnek and Kimmel drew back-back-penalties. Byron Hartley took a shot from the right circle that Dan Behr tipped past McCabe at the 11:15 mark.

But that was all the offense the hosts could generate. No one was more impressed with McCabe’s performance than Holy Ghost Prep assistant coach John Seravalli, who took charge behind the bench in the absence of Gump Whiteside, who missed the game because of illness.

“He made every good save,” Seravalli said. “He kept his rebounds intact. They blocked shots when we got shots off and he made great saves.”

David Brunner extended LaSalle’s lead with a goal at the 8:28 mark of the third period. Schneider scored his second goal of the game into an empty net with 25 seconds remaining.

Ferry noted that it took time for this year’s team to meld. “We just got closer as a team,” he said. “We had a lot of young kids on our team this year, a loot of seniors that were on JV last year so we didn’t know each other that well. We got a lot closer, started understanding how to play with reach other, and got s lot more chemistry.”

Ice Chips—La Salle will face Roman Catholic next Thursday in its Flyers Cup opener while the Firebirds will go against Bishop Shanahan. The Firebirds had a 31-25 edge in shots.

La Salle 2 0 2—4
Holy Ghost Prep 0 1 0—1
First-period goals: Collin Keiser (L) unassisted, 5:15 (sh); Keenan Schneider (L) from David Kimmel, 15:04.
Second-period goal: Dan Behr (HGP) from Byron Hartley and Evan Mudrick, 11;15 (pp)
Third-period goals: David Bruner (L) from Collin Keiser, 8:28; Schneider (L) unassisted, 15:35 (en).
Shots: La Salle 25, Holy Ghost Prep 31; Saves: Aidan McCabe (L) 30, Sean Joyce (HGP)) 21

Updated Playoff Schedule

Wednesday, February 26

4:00 APAC Founders Cup Final: La Salle vs Holy Ghost Prep at Grundy Arena

At Hatfield Ice

6:30 SHSHL Class AA Semifinal C.B. South vs. Neshaminy

8:30 SHSHL Class AA Semifinal North Penn vs C.R. South

At Revolution Ice Gardens

7:20 SHSHL Class A Semifinal Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. Truman

9:00 SHSHL Class A Semifinal Hatboro-Horsham vs. Wissahickon

Thursday, February 27

6:30 SHSHL Class AA Final at Hatfield Ice

8:30 SHSHL Class A Final at Hatfield Ice

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North Penn 7, Pennsbury 4

Josh Kaufhold scored two goals and five other players scored one goal each as North Penn downed Pennsbury 7-4 Wednesday night in a SHSHL Class AA quarterfinal game Monday night at Hatfield Ice. The second-seeded Knights will face third Council Rock South in Wednesday’s semifinals (8:30 at Hatfield Ice). Both the Knights and the Falcons will open play in the Flyers Cup tournament next Tuesday.

Goals came fast and furious Monday night. Before the first period ended the Knights had a 3-2 lead. Ryan Kaufhold, Luke Van Why and Zachary Cline scored for North Penn while Jake Machlovitz and Andrew Falkenstein scored for Pennsbury.
Tyler Greenstein and Josh Kaufhold added second-period goals to give the Knights a 5-2 advantage with 4:16 left in the middle period.

Erik Eisler brought Pennsbury closer with a goal with 9:09 left in regulation but Josh Kaufhold’s second goal, which came during a power play with 5:05 remaining, extended North Penn’s advantage. Eisler scored his a second goal of the night for the Falcons with 1:16 left before Thomas Boyle finished the scoring for the Knights with an empty-net goal.

“Pennsbury is a very good hockey team,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “They came out ready to play, great wanted it just as bad as we did. Not the cleanest of games for us but I think coming out of the C.B. South game last week there was a little bit of a letdown.

“We got out of here with a 7-4 win but we’ve got to come ready to play, we’ve got to play much better on Wednesday,”
Pennsbury 2 0 2—4
North Penn 3 2 2—7

Elsewhere

Neshaminy 5, Central Bucks East 3—Rob Seewagen and Joey DeMatteo scored two goals each as the fourth-seeded ‘Skins bested the Patriots Monday night in a quarterfinal game at Grundy Arena. Neshaminy will face top seed Central Bucks South in Wednesday’s semifinals.

Central Buck South 13, Central Bucks West 3

HATFIELD—Central Bucks South had some high-performance fuel in their gas tanks Monday night. The Titans built a 5-0 first-period lead and went on to defeat Central Bucks West 13-3 in a Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA quarterfinal at Hatfield Ice that was terminated with 8:17 left in the third period. The top-seeded Titans (15-0-0-1) will advance to a Wednesday semifinal against Neshaminy in this same venue Wednesday night (6:30). Neshaminy, the fourth seed, bested fifth seed Central Bucks East 5-3 in another Monday quarterfinal.

Colin Abbonizio scored six goals and assisted on another for the Titans, who are seeking their ninth SHSHL title. Dominic Patrone and Connor Gaffney scored two goals each.

Jake Lang, who had been out of the lineup for several weeks for the eighth-seeded Bucks, was on the ice for the opening faceoff and wound up scoring two goals.

The Titans are already assured of the top seed in the upcoming Flyers Cup tournament; the SHSHL playoffs do not impact the Flyers Cup seedings. But any notion that South might coast through the league tournament was immediately dispelled.

Abbonizio scored the game’s first goal at the 6:23 mark of the first period and Aidan Gaffney made it 2-0 just 10 seconds later. Abbonizio completed a hat trick before the first period ended.

“We were so fired up- to get playoffs going,” he said. “We really had everyone going. Everyone is just so excited that we put everything out there.”

Abbonizio, the Titans’ captain, emphasized that the SHSHL title matters a lot to he and his teammates. “We never look past this tournament,” he said. “Obviously, South has gad a lot of success in past years. These trophies (for winning the regular season and league titles) are an appetizer. We want to get those trophies and we want more.”

By the end of the second period South had built a 10-0 lead but they maintained their focus to the final buzzer. Their coach, Shaun McGinty, would have it no other way.
“We break it down season by season,” he said. “Tonight is the second season. Everybody is 0-0-0. What happened last week is over We all know each other in this second season.”

Both teams are locked into their Flyers Cup seeds. The top-seeded Titans will host number-16 Conestoga next Tuesday at Hatfield Ice (6:40 start). The 15th-seeded Bucks (7-7-2-1) will face second seed Haverford at the Skatium at 7:00 that same evening.

C.B. West 0 3 0—3
C.B. South 5 5 3—13
First-period goals: Colin Abbonizio (CBS) unassisted, 6:23 (pp); Aidan Gaffney (CBS) from Ryan Gingras and Connor Gaffney, 6:36; Daniel Kvecher (CBS) from Abbonizio, 7:17; Abbonizio (CBS) unassisted, 14:11; Abbonizio (CBS) unassisted, 14:56.
Second-period goals: Keith Orlando (CBS) from Evan Hee and Chris Trefz, 1:13; Abbonizio (CBS) unassisted, 1:18; Jake Lang (CBW) from Ben Morris and Sammy Poliak, 4:03; Dominic Patrone (CBS) from Nick Klein and Gingras, 5:44; Lang (CBW) from Trefz and Hee, 6:52; Patrone (CBS) from Matt Milanesi and Gingras, 11:31 (pp); Connor Gaffney (CBS) from Max Levitz, 12:09; Abbonizio (CBS) from Stephen McMillan, 13:37
Third-period goals: Gaffney (CBS) from Owen Mendham, 3:47 (pp) Abbonizio (CBS) from McMillan, 6:30; Aidan Gaffney (CBS) from Connor Gaffney 7:43
Shots: C.B. West 25, C.B. South 54; Saves: Jake Coddington (CBW) 41, Mason Moyer (CBW) 22

Playoff Updates

Here is the updated playoff schedule for the week of February 24 and beyond

Monday, February 24

APAC Founders Cup Semifinals

4:00 (1) Holy Ghost Prep vs. (4) Malvern Prep at Grundy Arena

4:00 (2) La Salle vs. (3) St. Joseph’s Prep 4:00 at Hatfield Ice

SHSHL Class AA Quarterfinals

Game 1 (1) Central Bucks South vs. (8) Central Bucks West 7:20 at Hatfield ice

Game 2 (4) Neshaminy vs. (5) Central Bucks East 7:20 at Grundy Arena

Game 3 (3) Council Rock South vs. (6) Pennridge 7:20 at Revolution Ice Gardens

Game 4 (2) North Penn vs. (7) Pennsbury 9:00 at Hatfield ice

Wednesday, February 26

APAC Founders Cup Championship Game

Time TBD at home rink of highest-seeded finalist

SHSHL Class AA Semifinals

Semifinals Wednesday, February 26

Winners of Games 1 and 2 6:30 at Hatfield

Winners of Games 3 and 4 8:30 at Hatfield

SHSHL Class A Semifinals

Game 1 (1) Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. (4) Truman 7:20 at Rev. Ice Gardens

Game 2 (2) Hatboro-Horsham vs. 3. Wissahickon 9:00 at Rev. Ice Gardens

Thursday, February 27

SHSHL Championship Games

6:30 Class AA Final at Hatfield Ice

8:30 Class A at Hatfield Ice

The 2020 Flyers Cup selection show will air Sunday, February 22 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on You Tube

Flyers Cup Schedule

Monday, March 2 Class A First round

Tuesday, March 3 Class AA First round

Wednesday, March 4 Class A Quarterfinals; possible NJ/Del QF

Thursday, March 5 Class AA and Class AAA Quarerfinals

Monday, March 9 Class A Semifinals and Girls Play-in

Tuesday, March 10 Possible NJ/Del Quarterfinals

Wednesday, March 11 Class AA and Class AAA Semifinals

Thursday, March 12 Class AA and Class AAA Semifinals

Monday, March 16 NJ/Del and Girls Seemifinals

Tuesday, March 17 Class A Final and Possible Class AA Final

Wednesday, March 18 Class AAA Final and Possible Class AA Final

Thursday, March 19 NJ/Del Final

Friday, March 20. Girls Final

Saturday, March 21 Pa. State Finals at Ice Line

La Salle’s Nathan Benner Skates for His Brother

Nathan Benner’s days as a La Salle College High School hockey player are dwindling to a precious few. The APAC playoffs are ahead followed by the Flyers Cup tournament and perhaps a trip to the state championship. But, at most a month from now, the senior forward will take off his La Salle jersey for the last time.

Benner, who is one of the Explorers’ captains, says his time at La Salle has shaped him as person as well as a hockey player. “It really challenges you,” he said. “Mentally and physically with the hockey, mentally with school. Every week you have tests, you have homework when you get home from school, when you play club hockey (Bennner is skating for the Philadelphia Quakers this year after spending his club career with the Valley Forge Minutemen) you have hockey five days a week, every day on the weekend, balanced with La Sale hockey. Just the values that they stress here, the leadership, the hard work ethic, good character, all in all has definitely made me who I am today.”

Perhaps what Benner treasures most from skating for the Explorers is having his younger brother Jacob in the stands watching his every move.

Jacob Benner is 14 years old and deals with the challenges of Downs Syndrome and Hirschsprung Disease.

Since Nathan started playing hockey the year he turned six, Jacob has been a fixture in the stands whether at a club game or a high-school game.

“He’s been coming to every one of my games from the time I was five years old until now,” Nathan said, “and he memorized everybody’s’ name on the team, everyone’s number, even though we don’t have names on the back of our jerseys.

“When we’re about to leave for a game he’ll go ‘Who do we play today?’ as if he’s on the team, His happiest time is when he comes to watch me play and when he gets to be at the rink.”

sf benner.JPG

Jacob Benner flanked by brother Nathan (right) and father Walter. Photo furnished by La Salle College High School.

On more occasions than not, Jacob Benner is the most enthusiastic La Salle supporter in the building. “He’s the loudest one in the stands,” Nathan says. “He’s always yelling everyone’s name, yelling at the refs, yelling ‘Get into the game.’ Telling us to work harder; he’s always encouraging everyone. Everyone can hear him from the bench and everyone kind of smiles and builds off of what he does from the stands.”

Jacob’s support never wavers, regardless of the numbers on the scoreboard. “Just seeing him cheer me on and watching the games is one of the best things,” Nathan said. “Whether we win or lose, he’s always telling me ‘Good game.’ He loves watching me play no matter how I play and it’s always great to have that.”

Two years ago, Jacob decided he wanted to get on skates himself and began taking lessons at Hatfield Ice. Kati Link was his first instructor. He’s still at it and hopes to play hockey himself one day Nathan drives his brother to his skating lessons, swimming lessons, and other activities.

“At first it was very hard,” Nathan said of his brother’s first efforts on skates, “but he’s able to stand up now, he’s able to move around, and the smile on his face when he skates is one of the best thigs to look at. He always wears my hockey jersey when he goes on the ice and he loves it.”

Nathan Benner says spending time with his only sibling has altered his outlook on and off the ice. “For me, it’s kind of just helped me all around in life with maturing, leadership qualities, about being a good role model,” he said, “because I know my brother wants to model himself off of what I do. I have to be a good role model for him. Even if I do bad things, or say bad words, he models off that so I really have to be watching and be mindful of how I’m acting, because he’s always watching me and acting as if I would act.”

The 2020 Flyers Cup selection show will air Sunday, February 22 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on You Tube

SHSHL Playoff Pairings

The game sites and times for Monday’s Suburban High School Hockey League Class AA quarterfinals have been set.

Quarterfinals Monday, February 24

Game 1 (1) Central Bucks South vs. (8) Central Bucks West 7:20 at Hatfield

Game 2 (4) Neshaminy vs. (5) Central Bucks East 7:20 at Grundy

Game 3 (3) Council Rock South vs. (6) Pennridge 7:20 at Revolution Ice Gardens

Game 4 (2) North Penn vs. (7) Pennsbury 9:00 at Hatfield

Semifinals Wednesday, February 26

Winners of Games 1 and 2 6:30 at Hatfield

Winners of Games 3 and 4 8:30 at Hatfield

Finals Thursday, February 27

6:30 at Hatfield

The Class A semifinals will be played as a doubleheader at Revolution Ice Gardens on Wednesday, February 26

Game 1 (1) Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. (4) Truman 6:30

Game 2 Wissahickon vs. Hatboro-Horsham 8:20

(This game matches the second and third seeds. As of Friday morning the deedings had not been finalized)

Finals Thursday, February 27

8:30 at Hatfield

SHSHL Update for 2-17-20

Game results through 2-19

Standings

Class AA W L T OTL Pts

C.B. South (13-0-0-1) 12 0 0 0 24

North Penn (12-3-0-0) 11 1 0 0 22

C.R. South (10-6-0-0) 10 1 0 1 21

Neshaminy (11-4-0-0) 9 3 0 0 18

C.B. East (9-4-1-1) 6 4 1 1 14

Pennridge (10-6-0-0) 7 5 0 0 14

Pennsbury (10-5-1-0) 6 5 1 0 13

C.B. West (7-6-2-1)) 4 6 2 0 10

Souderton (3-11-1-1) 3 7 1 1 8

William Tennent (5-10-0-1) 3 8 0 1 7

Abington (4-13-0-0) 3 9 0 0 6

Quakertown (2-13-1-0) 1 9 1 0 2

Council Rock North (1-15-0-0) 0 12 0 0 0

Class A W L T OTL Pts

Plymouth Whitemarsh (16-1-0-0) 12 0 0 0 22

Hatboro-Horsham (11-5-0-1) 6 5 0 1 13

Wissahickon (9-8-0-0) 6 6 0 0 12

Truman (3-13-0-0) 3 9 0 0 6

Lower Moreland (3-14-0-0) 3 9 0 0 6

Standings are calculated as follows

2 points for a win whether in regulation or OT

1 point for a tie or overtime loss

If a game is tied at the end of regulation there will be five minutes of three-on-three overtime. If the game is still tied it will be recorded as a tie game.

The shootout will not be used

Scoring Through 2-17

Class AA G A Pts

Michael Roby (CRS) 26 15 41

Jake Lang (CBW) 24 17 41

Chris Trefz (CBW) 12 29 41

Tyler Greenstein (NP) 18 22 40

Antii Autere (CRS) 14 22 36

Josh Kaufhold (NP) 17 19 36

Robert Seewagen(Nesh) 21 14 35

Beau Brusius-Yedman (Pb) 13 20 33

Dominic Patrone (CBS) 14 18 32

Sean Gorman (CBE) 26 4 30

Colin Abbonizio (CBS) 15 14 29

Justin Carrelli (WT) 21 7 28

Class A G A Pts

Aidan Keogh (PW) 23 31 54

Jake Weikel (PW) 33 20 53

Dean Keller (PW) 20 22 42

Alex Howieson (HH) 20 18 38

Luke Weikel (PW) 17 20 37

Bryan Gary 21 15 36

Nicholas Hussa 26 8 34

Seth Lerner (HH) 19 12 31

Robert DiCostra (Tr) 16 14 30

Colin Franzoni (PW) 14 13 27

Aidan Esack (HH) 11 15 26

Goals Against MP GA GAA

Mason Moyer (CBS) 608 17 1.34

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS) 554 21 1.82

Brian Nelson (Nesh) 524 28 2.56

Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 628 34 2.60

Ryan Pico (Pr) 720 40 2.67

Chris McIntyre (CBE) 726 41 2.71

Save Percentage MP Sh Svs Sv Pct.

Mason Moyer (CBS) 608 259 242 .934

Chris McIntyre (CBE) 726 448 407 .908

Jimmy Sweeney (CRS)554 216 195 .903

Ryan Pico (Pr) 720 400 360 .900

Nick Ebbinghaus (NP) 628 302 268 .887

Topher Seiler (Pb) 519 359 318 .886

La Salle 6, Malvern Prep 3

WEST GOSHEN— Coming off an emotional loss, La Salle needed a good performance Monday night and got it. It wasn’t a. Perfect effort but the Explorers played well enough long enough to post as 6-3 win over Malvern Prep in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at Ice Line.

Five different players scored goals as the Explorers (10-14) improved to 2-3-2-1 in the APAC to move into third place in the APAC with one conference game remaining. It was La Salle’s first time on ice since losing to Holy Ghost Prep last Friday.

Keenan Schneider, who scored a goal and added an assist, noted Monday’s result had far-reaching ramifications. “It was very important,” the sophomore said. “We needed these three points to clear our seeding in the Flyers Cup and right we can keep moving forward.”

The Friars (6-8 overall, 2-5-2-0 in conference) had the better of play early on, thanks in part to an early power play chance but the Explorers successfully killed off the penalty before Jake Armstrong scored the evening’s first goal at the 4:59 mark with help from Nathan Benner and Ryan Ferry. Schneider made it 2-0 with 52 seconds left in the period.

The Explorers extended their their lead at the 4:16 mark of the second stanza when the Friars coughed up the puck in front of their own net and Max Maddallo put the puck past Malvern Prep netminder Anthony Perti. It became a 4-0 game when Dan Dolan found the back of the net at 11:02.

The Friars cut into the deficit by scoring twice in the final minute of the period. Jimmy Kirk scored off a La Salle turnover with 55 seconds remaining before Ryan Sambuco added a shorthanded goal with nine seconds left. By period’s end, the Friars had a a 23-14 edge in shots but were still two goals down.

“When you have that many shots it’s tough when you don’t get your bounces,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “I thought we played a solid couple periods there, the bounces just didn’t go our way.”

It was still a game at the start of the final period and the Friars picked up where they left off when La Salle’s Chase Hannon drew a hooking penalty nine seconds in to create a four-on-four situation. Sambuco scored his second goal of the evening off the ensuing faceoff to make it a one-goal game.

By this point, La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner had some concerns. “I think we got a little complacent,” he said, “and got away from what we were doing well that got us to 4-0. I think we played a good simple game the way we want to play the first period-and-a-half and then you get up 4-0 and you think it’s going to be easy. It’s not.”

Muehlbronner’s concerns were eased when David Kimmel concluded a game of tic tac toe with Schneider and Jake Hannon with 9:10 left in regulation to make it a two-goal game once more. Andrew Budzynski scored into an empty net with 41 seconds remaining.

La Salle 2 2 2—6
Malvern Prep 0 2 1—3
First-period goals: Jake Armstrong (L) from Nathan Benner and Ryan Ferry, 4:59; Keenan Schneider (L) from David Kimmel and Nolan Woudenberg, 15:08
Second-period goals: Max Maddallo (L) from Tim Whitlock, 4:16; Dan Dolan (L) from Frank Ford and Chris Wnek, 11:02
Third-period goals: Sambuco (MP) unassisted, :24; Kimmel (L) from Schneider and Jake Hannon, 6:50; Andrew Budzynski (L) unassisted, 15:19.
Shots: LaSalle 25, Malvern Prep 32; Saves: Aidan McCabe (L) 29, Anthony Perti (MP) 19;