Flyers Cup Class AA Finals Preview

Tuesday, March 17

North Penn vs. 2 Boyertown 8:45 at Hatfield Ice

North Penn

Coach: Kevin Vaitis

Record: 25-1

Key players: Sr. James Boyle 17 goals, 11 assists, 28 points; Jr. Samuel Norton 22-23-55; So. Andy Norton .924 save %

In this tournament: Def. Shawnee 9-2 in first round; def. Owen J. Roberts 6-3 in quarterfinals; def. Downingtown West 4-1 in semifinals.

2. Boyertown

Coach: Joe Slowik

Record: 17-5

Key players: So. Brayden Kotzen 17 goals, 23 assists, 40 points; Sr. Logan Brown 22-14-36; Sr. Zach Rosen 22-10-32; So, Lucas Yancey .907 save %

In this tournament: Def. Souderton 12-2 in first round: def. Pennsbury 5-3 in quarterfinals; def. Council Rock South 4-3 in semifinals.

Ice chips: North Penn is trying to become the first Class AA team to successfully defend a Flyers Cup title since Downingtown East won its third straight championship in 2019 … SHSHL teams have won the last four Class AA Cup titles. Three of the four went on to win the state championship including North Penn last year … The last SHSHL team to successfully defend a Class AA Cup title was Council Rock South in 2012.

Class AAA Flyers Cup Finals Preview

Tuesday, March 17

Holy Ghost Prep vs. 3 La Salle 6:00 at Hatfield Ice

Holy Ghost Prep

Coach: John Ritchie

Record: 19-4

Key players: Matt Salita .914 save %; Chase Logue 29 goals, 6 assists, 35 points; Lucas Gonzalez 11-15-26; Anthony Valeriote 7-16-23

In this tournament: Had a bye in the quarterfinals; def. Malvern Prep 3-2 in overtime in semifinals.

3. La Salle

Record 8-13

Key players: Anthony Foster .923 save %; Thomas Leonards 13 goals, 2 assists, 15 points; Patrick Lunsford 7-1-16; Andrew Frantz 4-9-13

In this tournament: Def. Father Judge 6-2 in quarterfinals; def. St. Joseph’s Prep 4-1 in semifinals

Ice chips: This marks the 10th time Holy Ghost Prep and La Salle have met in a Flyers Cup final, the third time in the last four years. La Salle has a 6-3 edge in those meetings. The Explorers have won 13 Cups in all, including one in Class AA. The Firebirds have won five, including one in Class AA.

CLASS A FLYERS CUP FINAL POSTPONED!

Due to the possibility of severe weather. Monday’s Class A Flyers Cup championship game between Hershey and Penncrest was postponed.

It has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 18 at 7:30 at Ice Line. Tickets for tonight’s game will be honored on Wednesday

APAC Concluding 8th Season This Week

When the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference was launched in the fall of 2018 it was unique in the realm of Philadelphia-area interscholastic hockey; a hockey-only conference comprised of schools where hockey was a full-fledged varsity sport, overseen and supervised by administrators at each member institution; Holy Ghost Prep, Hun School, La Salle, Malvern Prep and St. Joseph’s Prep.

Hun School joined the APAC following its second season, the other four institutions have been part of the conference since it was founded.

As the APAC concludes its eighth season this week, with the Class AAA Flyers Cup final on Tuesday between Holy Ghost Prep and La Salle, with the state title hame to follow on Saturday, what was something of an experiment has proven to be an unqualified success, a successful melding of academic, athletic, and spiritual components.

Steve Mackell is in his second season as the Commissioner of the APAC, having succeeded Jim Britt, who had served in the commissioner’s post from the time the alliance was founded.

Mackell, who has had a long career in amateur hockey as a coach and administrator, cited the keys to the APAC’s success.

“I’m honored to be in the shoes of Jim Britt,” he said. “I think that the level of people we’re dealing with, the coaches, understand the game, they understand what they want to do with the kids, to make them men.

“I think it’s a combination of the academic environment and the athletic environment, which puts the APAC at really the echelon of hockey in this area.”

Mackell stresses the importance of the hockey programs at each conference school being a full-fledged varsity under direct institutional supervision.

“I think it’s the key to our conference,” he said, “that this is a varsity sport. The schools all fully back the sport. The student bodies there, the athletic directors there. The principals have been to many of the games and we’re very fortunate to have the support of the schools in our league.

”I think that’s what makes it real easy to deal with them because they can deal with a lot of stuff from an expectation standpoint before they even come into the rink.

{The players and coaches} know what they’re dealing with because they have to answer to people at school as well.”

Mackell is proud of the APAC’s success in helping its student athletes strike a balance among the various components of their lives and achieve success on and off the ice.

“All hockey players have a lot going on.” he said. I think the level of academics, what they need to do to stay in good standing at their schools from an academic standpoint, the spiritual world, and also the athletic side, to play at that level of hockey.

“There’s a lot of juggling that goes on between their club teams, their high-school teams, between their academic lives and their spiritual lives. I think that you see motivated young men that are all looking to move on to the next level, whether it’s in college, whether it’s in {junior hockey}, whether it’s in a different sport, whether it’s no sport, or academics, they understand their high schools are very important to where they are and I think they’re all striving for that.”

Flyers Cup Results

Tuesday, March 3

Class AAA Quarterfinals

La Salle 6 Father Judge 2 see story for details

Malvern Prep 6 Devon Prep 4—Ryan Jacobs scored two goals as the fourth-seeded Frairs bested the fifth-seeded Tide at Ice Line to earn a spot in the semifinals against top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep. James Young, Cole Scarbinsky, Pax Hoishik, and William McCullough all scored for Malvern Prep. Ryan Caterino made 25 saves in goal.

St. Joseph’s Prep 8 Salesianum 0—Cole Gargon scored twice and six other players added one goal each as the second-seeded Hawks shut out the seventh-seeded Sallies at the Skatium. Aiden Quinn, Connor Martin, Frankie Ely, Cole Sullivan, Bradan Fisher, and Vincent Burnett all scored for the Prep, which will face La Salle in next Thursday’s semifinals. Declan Geary earned the shutout in goal.

“I thought we played with incredible speed and that really opened up our offense,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach Charlie van Kula. We knew Salesianum was going to be a good test. In the past we may have let our foot off the gas a bit, but I am proud of how our guys stayed dialed in, stayed positive, and played for one another.”

Class AA First Round

Owen J, Roberts 7 Avon Grove 5

Central Bucks South 4 Downingtown East 3—Ryan Montagna’s goal with 11:03 left in regulation proved to be the game winner as the sixth-seeded Titans outlasted 11th seed Downingtown East at Hatfield Ice. It was Montagna’s third goal of the game. He also added three assists.

Pennsbury 8 Haverford 5—Jacob Sarver scored three goals an added an assist an Shane Gleisner provided two goals and three assists as the 10th-seeded Falcons bested seventh seed Haverford at the Skatium to advance to the quarterfinals.

Council Rock South 6 Spring-Ford 3—Jake Weiner scored five goals, two of them in the third period, a the third-seeded Golden Hawks held off the 14th-seeded Rams at Hatfield Ice.

Boyertown 12 Souderton 2—Maxwell Ryon and Matthew Ceoss scored for the 15th-seeded Indians in the loss to the second-seeded Bears at Ice Line.

North Penn 9 Shawnee 2—the top-seeded and defending champion Knights scored four goals in the first period and went on to the win over the 16th-seeded Renegades. Samuel Norton, Gabriel Dunn, Nolan Shingle, and Chris Silvotti each scored twice. Derek Lugara also scored for North Penn which will face Owen J. Roberts in the quarterfinals.

C.B. South 4, Downingtown East 3—See story for details

Wednesday March 4

Girls Quarterfinals

4. Conestoga vs 5. West Chester East 5:00 at PNY

2. Downingtown West vs. 7 Pennridge 8:45 at PNY

3. Lower Merion Maroon v. 6 Radnor 6:45 at PNY

Monday, March 2

Class AA First Round

Central Bucks East 6 Conestoga 3—Trailing 3-2 after two periods, the 13^th-seeded Patriots scored four goals in the third and stunned the fourth-seeded Pioneers Monday night at Ice Line. Evan Asimmakopoulos scored what proved to be the winning goal with 13:44 left in regulation. Ethan Cenci extended the lead with a power-play goal with 12:18 left and added an empty-net goal with 21 seconds remaining.

Cole Kleindienst, Morris Ostrobrod and Samuel Gottesman also scored for East whih will face North Penn or Shawnee in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Downingtown West 6 vs. Pennridge 2—Fifth-seed Downingtown West broke the game open Monday night with three second-period goals and built a 5-0 third-period lead before Ryan Burke and Lanndon Bishop scored for the 12^th-seeded Rams, who closed the season at 6-12-1.

Class A First Round

Garnet Valley 2 Palmyra 1

West Chester Henderson 6 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3 see story for details

Marple Newtown 5 West Chester Rustin 1

Hatboro-Horsham 10, Radnor 0 see story for details

WC Henderson 6 PW 3

They sent up camp in the offensive zone early on and never really left. West Chester Henderson applied pressure from the opening faceoff and kept it up for a full 51 minutes. The result was a 6-2 win over Plymouth Whitemarsh Monday night in the opening round of the Class A Flyers Cup at Hatfield Ice.

The ninth-seeded Warriors (6-12-1) will face top-seeded Hershey in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded Colonials closed the season at 14-4.

Henderson set the tone from the start. Harrison Eller got the Warriors in on the scoreboard 2:34 into the opening period when he beat Lucas Bennett from close range. That goal established a pattern for the balance of the period. Cooper Kanze tied the game for the Colonials with 2:55 left in the period on a shot that Warrior goaltender Ian Stefanovski probably wished he could have another look at, but Aller put his team back in front just eight seconds later.

By the time the period ended, the Warriors had launched 16 shots. It was Bennett’s work in goal that kept the Colonials close.

“Breakout is something we talk about a lot,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti. “Obviously, we struggled a little bit. Getting the puck out of the zones quick is a priority for the defense. You don’t want to give good teams extra zone time. It leads to extra chances and that’s how goals go in.”

Forti acknowledged that Henderson scoring first put his team in a hole they never could escape.

“There was some stat that said s scoring the first goal gives you a 70 percent chance of winning,” he said. “We usually want to get the first one. Unfortunately, they did. And we were just kind of chasing the game ever since then.”

Anthony Barthol extended Henderson’s lead 2:46 into the second period. Kanze scored his second goal of the night exactly 10 minutes later to send the teams into the post-second period ice cut just one goal apart on the scoreboard.

But Henderson separated itself once more when Declan Herr scored from the left wing that found space inside the near post, a shot Bennett appeared not to see. Miles Donnelly essentially shut the door with a power-play goal with 2:47 remaining.

Barthol added an empty net goal with 1:17 left.

The Warriors finished with a 49-20 advantage in shots.

It was a disappointing end to an impressive season.

“I think the guys played well all season,” Forti said. “It’s tough way to end a good season, so it doesn’t feel like it in the moment but overall, I think they did a lot of good things.”

West Chester Henderson 2 1 3

Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 1 0—6

First-period goals: Harrison Aller (WCH) from Miles Donnelly, 2:36; Cooper Kanze (PW) from Dan Moloney, 14:05; Aller (WCH) from Anthony Barthol and Decal Dowd, 14:13

Second-period goals: Barthol (WCH) from Dowd and Aller, 2:46; Kanze (PW) from Dan Guller and Brandon Wooldridge, 12:46 (sh)

Third-period goals: Declan Herr (WCH) from Donnelly and Dowd, :49; Donnelly (WCH) from Dowd, 13:13 (pp); Barthol (WCH) unassisted, 15:43 (en):

Shots: West Chester Henderson 49, Plymouth Whitemarsh 20 Saves: Ian Stefanovski (WCH) 18, Lucas Bennett (PW) 43

Flyers Cup Results

Tuesday, March 3

Class AAA Quarterfinals

La Salle 6 Father Judge 2 see story for details

Class AA First Round

Owen J, Roberts 7 Avon Grove 5

Council Rock South 6 Spring-Ford 3—see story for details

Boyertown 12 Souderton 2—Maxwell Ryon and Matthew Ceoss scored for the 15th-seeded Indians in the loss to the second-seeded Bears at Ice Line.

Wednesday March 4

Girls Quarterfinals

4. Conestoga vs 5. West Chester East 5:00 at PNY

2. Downingtown West vs. 7 Pennridge 8:45 at PNY

3. Lower Merion Maroon v. 6 Radnor 6:45 at PNY

Monday, March 2

Class AA First Round

Cole Kleindienst, Morris Ostrobrod and Samuel Gottesman also scored for East whih will face North Penn or Shawnee in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Class A First Round

Garnet Valley 2 Palmyra 1

West Chester Henderson 6 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3 see story for details

Marple Newtown 5 West Chester Rustin 1

Hatboro-Horsham 10, Radnor 0 see story for details

Hatboro-Horsham 4 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3

When two teams play each other five times over the course of a season, there are no secrets. Familiarity breeds intensity. And Thursday’s SHSHL final played out that way.

Vince Graziani’s goal 28 seconds into Stanley Cup-style sudden-death overtime, gave Hatboro-Horsham a 4-3 win over Plymouth Whitemarsh at Hatfield Ice. His game winner, his second goal of the game, came on a shot from the deep right wing.

“It feels amazing,” Graziani said. “We’ve come so far to get to this point.

“P-W has a great team, they have a great program, and it was just a great battle.”

The teams split four regular-season meetings and Thursday’s result superseded them all. It gave the Hatters (17-3) their second consecutive division championship in a championship-caliber game.

“This was a fantastic game,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Shane Smith, “with two evenly matched teams that played well and hard against each other. This was the kind of game we expected. If you looked up championship in the dictionary this game would have {defined it}.”

William Moffa got the scoring started for the Hatters 3:01 into the opening frame. Brandon Wooldridge tied the game for the Colonials (14-3) 77 seconds later. Graziani’s first goal of the night put the Hatters up 2-1 with 5:27 left in the period.

Cooper Kanzee, who assisted on the Colonials’ first goal, tied the game once more when he beat Patrick Murphy in the Hatter net with exactly three minutes left in the second period.

Special teams played into a third period that included four minor penalties. Joseph Mangin’s goal that put the Hatters up 3-2 came while Ryan Jagher was serving an interference penalty. Kanzee tied the game for the last time with 7:57 left in regulation came while the Hatters’ Luca Staffieri was in the box serving an interference penalty of his own.

It was as evenly matched an affair as could be imagined. But, a winner had to be determined,

“I think it just came down to one play at the end,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti. They’re a very good team and they capitalized.

“It was back and forth. I’m proud of our guys from battling until the end.”

Graziani spoke to the challenges that arose from playing the Colonials for a fifth time this season.

“It’s hard,” he said. You’ve just got to find your chances and find when to do things and put the puck in the net.”

Both teams open play in the Class A Flyers Cup on Monday. The sixth-seeded Hatters will face Number-11 Radnor while the eighth-seeded Colonials will take on ninth-seeded West Chester Henderson. Both games will be played at Hatfield Ice,

Hatboro-Horsham 2 0 1 1—4

P-W 1 1 1 0—3

First-period goals: Willlim Moffa (HH) from Nathan Nemchinov and Aiden North, 3:01; Brandon Wooldridge (PW) from Cooper Kanzee and Dan Guller, 4:18; Vincent Graziani (HH) from Luca Staffieri, 11:33

Second-period goals: Kanzee (PW) unassisted, 14:00

Third-period goals:[1] Joseph Mangin (HH) from Nemchinov and Graziani, 3:31; Kanzee (PW) from Guller and Ryan Jagher, 9:03

Overtime goal: Graziani (HH) from Nemchinov, :28

Shots: Hatboro-Horsham 43, Plymouth Whitemarsh 26; Saves: Patrick Murphy (HH) 23, Max Yoder (PW) 39

[1]

C.B. South 2 C.R. South 0

They set the pace early and didn’t let up.

Central Bucks South defeated three-time SHSHL champion Council Rock South, 2-0, in a National Division semifinal on Wednesday night at Grundy Arena.

Jamison Crouch put the Titans on the board just 36 seconds into the game, with assists from Joseph Slobodrian and Ryan Montagna.

It would prove to be the only goal the Titans needed, but Ryan Frey added an insurance goal 10 minutes later, also assisted by Slobodrian.

“That first goal really set the tone for us,” said Frey, a senior. “We knew we were going to get the first goal, it was just a matter of how. To get it on the first shift was huge. That gave us the momentum and it stuck with us the whole game.

“I thought our D zone was lot better than it usually is. We got pucks out when we needed to. We got traffic in front of their goalie early, that’s how we scored those two goals and overall I thought we played a very good game.”

The teams split in the regular season.

“We knew this was going to be a good game,” Frey said. “We knew we had to get on their goalie early and we did and that’s how we were able to win this one.

“I honestly didn’t think that lead was going to hold up. I thought it was going to be one of those games were we scored, then they scored and back and forth. I’m so glad we won.”

The Golden Hawks pulled goaltender Trey Prozzillo with 2:28 to go in the third period in a last-ditch effort to score, but were thwarted by CB South’s defense.

CB South advances to Thursday night’s final against top seed North Penn, an 11-1 winner over Pennsbury in the other semifinal.

“Winning this game gives us so much confidence,” Frey said. “We have three big wins coming into it. We have momentum and we’re going to go into that game with a lot of energy and hopefully pull out a nice win.”

CB South’s last league title was in 2018.

“It’s always exciting to be playing for a league title,” said CB South goaltender Nathan Napolitano, a junior. “Playing for a championship is always fun.”

The Titans have lost twice to the Knights this season.

“We want to play North Penn again,” Napolitano said. “We gave them two of our not-best efforts so we play them well, and we’ll see what happens.”

The early lead gave him confidence in the team.

“A lead is always easier than trying to keep your team in it,” he said. “When they got the first one, my job got easier.”

CB South 2 0 0—2

CR South 0 0 0—0

First-period goals: Jamison Crouch (CBS) from Joseph Slobodrian and Ryan Montagna, 0:36; Ryan Frey (CBS) from Slobodrian, 10:32

Shots: CB South 27, CR South 27; Saves: Nathan Napolitano (CBS) 27, Trey Petrillo (CRS) 25

Hatboro-Horsham 11 Springfield 1

Hatboro-Horsham broke open a one-goal game by scoring six times in the second period en route to an 11-1 win over Springfield Wednesday night in the SHSHL Class A semifinal at Hatfield Ice.

The contest was stopped with 1:56 left in the third period via the 10-goal rule.

The second-seeded Hatters (16-3), the defending champions, will face top-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh at 8:30 Thursday night at the same venue as they try to complete a successful title defense.

Vince Graziani led the barrage for the Hatters with a four-goal outburst. Nate Nemchinov scored twice and five other players scored one goal each.

Patrick Murphy made 35 saves in goal.

Lincoln Coleman provided Springfield’s only goal, in the third period.

Graziani opened the scoring seven seconds into the game but that was the only goal of the opening period.

He added two goals in a pan of 1:53 early in the second period and the Hatter pulled away after that.

“The beginning of the game was a real battle,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Shane Smith. “We scored in the first minute and then it was back and forth. We ended up pulling away for the win.

“The team is excited and looked forward to tomorrow’s game against Plymouth Whitemarsh.”

Springfield coach Don Quinn credited his team for its effort.

“Now how we wanted it to end,” he said, “but I’m proud of my team for playing with respect and class to the very end of the game.”

For Quinn, the evening marked the end of an era. He coached his older son, Owen last season and younger son Grayson completed his senior season Wednesday night.

“I will cherish every minute I got to coach them and share the ice with them,” he said.”

Springfield 0 0 1—1

Hatboro-Horsham 1 6 4—11

First-period goal: Vince Graziani (HH) unassisted :07

Second-period goal: Graziani (HH) from Luca Staffieri, 5:24; Graziani (HH) from Evan Snow, 7:17; Nate Nemchinov (HH) from Staffieri and Kyle Roesing, 10:08; Staffieri (HH) unassisted, 14:47; Joseph Mangin (HH) from Aidan North, 16:33; Graziani (HH) from Nemchinov, 16:41

Third-period goals Giovanni Bucci (HH) from Mangin, 1:08; Lincoln Coleman (S) from Gavin McManus, 4:09; Roesing (HH) from Nick Gallo and Bucci, 9:52; Nemchinov (HH) unassisted, 13:26; Snow (HH) from Cole Meyer, 15:04

Shots: Springfield 36, Hatboro-Horsham 53; Saves Emmett Kline (S) 42, Patrick Murphy (HH) 35