Hatboro-Horsham 6, Lower Moreland 5

WARWICK— Hatboro-Horsham and Lower Moreland kicked into overdrive Friday night. The Hatters and the Lions played run-and-gun hockey most of the evening before the Hatters emerged with a 6-5 win in a Suburban High School Hockey League American Division matchup at Revolution Ice Gardens.

Ben Lerner scored two goals for the Hatters who improved to 7-4-1 overall and squared their divisional record at 4-4-1. Marcus Soucy provided a goal and two assists.

Hatboro-Horsham coach Gianni Lafratta praised Soucy’s work with the puck. “He put the pressure on,” Lafratta said, “he created opportunities for his teammates. It was everything we preach; put pressure on the puck carrier, make them make mistakes, and we go the other way.”

Five different Hatboro-Horsham players scored goals and 10 Hatters got onto the scoresheet.

Adam Bostock delivered a hat trick for the Lions (7-2-3, 4-2-3) who were without Coleman Peppelman, the SHSHL’s leading scorer, who was away on club duty.

The first period was, to say the least, up tempo. It was Bostock who got the scoring started, 3:25 into the period. It was the first of five goals in the first frame, which ended with the Hatboro-Horsham holding a one-goal advantage. Seth Lerner, Aidan Esack and Ben Lerner scored for the Hatters before Bostock added a second goal for the Lions.

Bostock tied the game 2:08 into the second period on a brilliant move up the middle of the ice through the Hatter defense before beat netminder Joe Gambino.

But with Peppleman absent and only eight skaters available, Lower Moreland coach Gus Scalfitti had to make some adjustments. “I rotated the guys,” he said, “but we definitely were missing a big, big chunk of our offense.”

Ben Lerner scored his second goal of the game to put the Hatters up 4-3 just 25 seconds after Bostock completed his hat trick. By period’s end the Hatters held a 6-4 lead.

The key stretch of the third period came early on when the Hatters were able to kill consecutive penalties. Gambino made three big saves in a stretch of half a minute to kill off the first one.

The junior said he was able to refocus while his team was shorthanded. “You can’t worry about it,” he said. “You’ve just got to fight and keep playing.”

Tyler Scolnick scored for Lower Moreland with 4:51 left in the game to set up a wild finish. The Lions swarmed the net in the waning seconds before the final buzzer came to the Hatters’ rescue.

“I think for most of the game, we had control,” Lafratta said. “(At the finish) We got out of hand in our own defensive zone, scrambled, not doing the things we needed to do to support our goaltender.”

By Rick Woelfel

Hatboro-Horsham 3 3 0—6

Lower Moreland 2 2 1—5

First-period goals: Adam Bostock (LM) from Vincenzo DeMaio and Simon Pezalla, 3:25; Seth Lerner (HH) from Marcus Soucy, 5:17; Aidan Esack (HH) unassisted, 5:53; Ben Lerner (HH) from Seth Lerner and Alex Howieson, 7:58; Bostock (LM) from Devin Green, 12:10.

Second-period goals: Bostock (LM) unassisted, 2:08; Ben Lerner (HH) from Kyle Mullen, 2:33; Green (LM) from Alex Silverman, 5:51; Howieson (HH) from Vince Tarsi and Sayvion Jones, 7:08; Tarek Elsabash (HH) unassisted, 7:43.

Third-period goal: Tyler Scolnick (HH) from Bostock and Green, 11:09.

Shots: Hatboro-Horsham 31, Lower Moreland 23; saves: Joe Gambino (HH) 18, Jacob Lungin (LM) 25

The most significant stretch of the high-school hockey season is straight ahead. The Suburban High School Hockey League and the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference are in the final weeks of the regular season.

Following that; the league playoffs and the 40^th Flyers Cup tournament. We’ll be following all the action here at Hockey Happenings and here’s your opportunity to be part of it all.

Contact us to promote your product or service here at Hockey Happenings right through the Flyers Cup and the Pennsylvania state championship.

Our e-mail is rwoelfel2013@gmail.com

Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference Making Its Mark

The Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference has completed exactly two thirds of his inaugural season. LaSalle, Malvern Prep, Holy Ghost Prep, and St. Joseph’s Prep each have three conference games remaining, one each against each other.

APAC Commissioner Jim Britt expressed satisfaction with how the league has evolved. “It is a great start to what we hope is an ever-expanding and developing environment,” he said. “The kids are reacting well because of the support that the institutions, the school administrations, the high-quality coaching staffs that are involved.

“The kids are reacting and progressing as we’d hoped. It is a great environment to develop the students both through hockey and through the academic environment and it’s an exciting time for those programs. I’ve been very pleased with how well teams have been playing, the pace of the games, the skill quality, the fact that people are focused on playing the game right. You strip away some of the stuff that has marred (high-school hockey) in the past and it makes it a great experience for everyone involved. They’re very happy with it.”

Britt notes that a strong conference with a membership of schools committed to hockey is a major step forward for the sport.

“I think it’s important,” he said. I have been involved with high school hockey for over 20 years in a lot of different capacities. I have some very close friends who have given heart and soul, blood sweat and tears, to develop strong programs. I think what we’re doing here with the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference is the next step.

“I know coaches in various programs that are doing a bangup job in the Suburban League and the Intercounty League and (the APAC) takes it to the next step, it takes it to the next level of commitment by the institutions. And that’s important. It’s important at every level of these students’ development, that all of the adults are on the same page, all the adults are pulling for the right things, are trying to do the right things.”

In addition to facing each other three times each, the four APAC schools are all playing a group of four New Jersey institutions; Gloucester Catholic, St. Augustine, Princeton Day School, and the Hun School. Could the APAC expand?

Britt says the member schools are cautiously in that regard. “The approach is to basically take it one step at a time,” he said. The idea is to make sure that we’re doing it not just for the right way, but for the right reasons and that we don’t missing anything. That we’re not forgetting anything because of the way that we are structuring this.

“Having said that, we have had some discussions about the possibility of having other programs joining the conference.”

Batting weather complications, the SHSHL will conclude its league season on February 12. Playoff dates have yet to be announced.”

Wednesday January 30 Malvern Prep vs Holy Ghost Prep 7:00 at Wells Fargo Center

Friday, February 1 St. Joseph’s Prep at LaSalle 5:00 at Hatfield

Wednesday, February 6 Malvern Prep at Lasalle 4:00 at Hatfield

Holy Ghost Prep at St. Joseph’s Prep 4:30 at Class of 1923 Rink

Monday, February 11 LaSalle at Holy Ghost Prep 4:00 at Grundy

Tuesday, February 12 St. Joseph’s Prep at Malvern Prep, 3:55 at Ice Line

Following that; the league playoffs and the 40^th Flyers Cup tournament. We’ll be following all the action here at Hockey Happenings and here’s your opportunity to be part of it all.

Contact us to promote your product or service here at Hockey Happenings right through the Flyers Cup and the Pennsylvania state championship.

Our e-mail is rwoelfel2013@gmail.com

APAC Standings. 1-24-19

Updated standings of the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference as of January 24, 2019

Standings Won Lost OTW OTL PTS

LaSalle (13-5) 5 0 1 0 17

Malvern Prep (10-3) 4 2 0 0 12

St. Joseph’s Prep (6-12) 1 4 1 0 5

Holy Ghost Prep (5-9) 0 4 0 2 2

Each team receives: 3 points for a regulation win

2 points for an overtime win

1 point for an overtime loss

Holy Ghost 3, St. Augustine 0

The Firebirds snapped a seven-game losing streak with the non-league win on Wednesday at Grundy Arena. Evan Mudrick, Alex D’Angelo, and Andrew Serafin scored the goals. D’Angelo also picked up two assists.

Sean Joyce earned the shutout in goal.

SHSHL Alters Class AA Playoff Criteria

The Suburban High School Hockey League has altered its Class AA playoff-selection criteria. This season, the eight playoff teams will be selected based on points/regular-season record. In recent years, the top three finishers in each division qualified for the playoffs, along with two wild card selections.

The change means that in essence, the 12 Class AA teams are playing in one division, which they’ve been doing since last year in terms of scheduling, since each team plays one league game against each of the other Class AA teams.

The current Class AA standings are as follows (League Games Only)

Won Lost Tied Points League Games Remaining

North Penn 6 1 2 14 2

Central Bucks South 6 0 1 13 4

Pennridge 4 1 0 8 6

Central Bucks West 4 3 0 8 4

Neshaminy 3 3 1 7 4

Council Rock South 2 2 2 6 5

Abington 2 3 1 5 5

Truman 2 4 1 5 4

Pennsbury 2 4 0 4 5

William Tennent 1 6 1 3 3

Souderton 0 7 1 1 2

Suburban High School Hockey League By the Numbers As of 1-22-19

Suburban High School Hockey League Update

Scoring GP G A Pts

Coleman Peppelmn LM 11 31 19 50

Vincenzo DeMaio LM 11 26 17 43

Sean Gary Wiss 10 24 17 41

Dean Keller PW 11 21 20 41

Bryan Gary Wiss 10 25 15 40

Adam Bostock LM 11 13 24 37

Tyler Greenstein NP 12 16 16 32

Steven Avellino Tr 10 24 6 30

Jake Weikel PW 11 16 13 29

Chris Trefz CBW 10 6 22 28

Eric Slater Pr 9 22 6 28

Colin Franzoni PW 11 16 11 27

Reis Braccio CBS 12 15 11 26

Nathan Oh NP 12 10 16 26

Ari Nordlinger UD 10 14 11 25

Robert Seewagen Nesh 10 15 9 24

Matt Cade Wiss 10 11 13 24

Perry Carpenter Ab 10 16 8 24

Josh Kaufhold NP 11 8 15 23

Jake Nelson NP 11 14 9 23

Aidan Keogh PW 10 17 6 23

Devin Green LM 10 10 13 23

Bobby Markus WT 11 13 8 21

Goals Against Average Min GAA

Luke Stranik Pr 425 2.37

Oscar Levin CBS 456 2.53

Chris McIntyre CBE 240 2.60
Andrew Zanoni CBW 240 2.80

Nick Ebbinghaus NP 336 3.00

Joe Gambino HH 430 3.23

Matt Oganowski CBE 288 3.33

Steve Glik Nesh 432 3.56

Jacob Snellenberg Ab 335 3.87

Michael Henderson Wiss 480 3.90

(Min. 240 minutes played)

Save Percentage Min. GA Save Pct.

Chris McIntyre CBE 240 13 .912

Steve Glik Nesh 432 32 .902

Luke Stranik Pr 425 21 .900

Joe Gambino HH 430 29 .885

Jonathan Pritchard Soud 432 68 .880

Oscar Levin CBS 456 24 .880

Jimmy Sweeney CRS 256 21 .879

Jeremy Kennard CBW 265 25 .873

Jeremy Wedul Tr 480 48 .873

Andrew Zanoni NP 240 14 .854

(Min. 240 minutes played)

SHSHL Standings

SHSHL Standings Through games of 1-18-19

Class 2A W L T Pts

North Penn (7-2-3) 6 1 2 14

C.B. South (8-3-1) 6 0 1 13

Pennridge (7-2-1) 4 1 0 8

C.B. East (7-3-1) 4 3 0 8

C.B. West (6-5) 4 3 0 8

Neshaminy (4-4-2) 3 3 1 7

C.R. South (5-4-2) 2 2 2 6

Abington (3-5-2) 2 3 1 5

Truman (3-6-2) 2 4 1 5

Pennsbury (3-6-2) 2 4 0 4

William Tennent (3-8-1) 1 5 1 3

Souderton (1-10-1) 0 7 1 1

Class A

American Division W L T Pts

Lower Moreland (7-1-3) 5 1 3 13

Wissahickon (8-1-2) 5 1 2 12

Plymouth Whitemarsh (8-3) 5 3 0 10

Hatboro-Horsham (6-4-1) 3 4 1 7

Upper Dublin (3-8) 0 8 0 4

The top eight teams in Class 2A will qualify for the playoffs irregardless of division.

The top four teams in Class A will qualify for the playoffs.

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Flyers Cup Finals Set For Wells Fargo Center

Sunday, March 17 will not only be the day to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day but also a day to celebrate interscholastic hockey.

Five Flyers Cup championship games will be played on that date at the Wells Fargo Center.

The finals will determine champions in the New Jersey/Delaware and Girls Divisions, as well as Eastern Pennsylvania boys’ champions in Class A, Class AA, and Class AAA. Game times have not been announced.

The Flyers Cup has been an annual tradition since it was first contested 1980.

Neshaminy 6, Abington 2

BRISTOL‑ The point has come in the Suburban High School Hockey League season, when points are becoming precious. Neshaminy picked up two important points in the standings Thursday night.

Rob Seewagen scored three goals and added a pair of assists to propel his team to a 6-2 win over shorthanded Abington at Grundy Arena that was last seen heading for the exit at the final buzzer to beat the approaching snow.

The win lifted Neshaminy to 4-4-2 overall and 3-3-1 in league play. Seewagen himself leads his team in scoring with 15 goals and nine assists for 24 points.

The sophomore got things started by scoring the game’s first goal 1:57 into the first and assisting on Jacob Helms’s effort 62 seconds later.

“A lot of these kids I’ve grown up with,” Seewagen said. “Not only on the ice are we clicking, but in the locker room we’re really tight, we have a really good bond.”

Seewagen said the size of the squad lends to and increases the significance of the closeness of the group. “We don’t have a lot of guys,” he said. “On any given night, we only 13-14 guys, including the goalie. It’s definitely difficult when you’re out there every other shift, but when we’re that close like that, every shift you’re out there you’re playing for each other.”

The Galloping Ghosts (3-5-2, 2-3-1) got back in the game for a time when consecutive penalties to Joey DeMatteo (cross checking) and Joey Buday (tripping) gave them a two-man advantage for 56 seconds.

Neshaminy was able to kill one penalty buy not the second; Tommy Rourke scored the power-play goal at the 6:12 mark of the period, only to see DeMatteo answer back at 8:53.

Abington took the ice down four skaters and one backup goaltender for various reasons. Coach Ken Brzozowski said he team is still evolving. “We work hard in practice,” he said. “We’re missing a little bit of that translation from what we do I practice to the games. I think one we can get that to click we’ll continue to be competitive at the (Class AA level).”

Seewagen and Helms scored second-period goals for Neshaminy in a span of just 50 seconds.

Perry Carpenter, Abington’s top sniper, scored to make it a 5-2 with 4:07 left in the middle period before Seewagen completed his hat trick 6:44 into the third.

Abington 1 1 0—2

Neshaminy 3 2 1—6

First-period goals: Rob Seewagen (N) from Joey DeMatteo, 1:57; Jacob Helms (N) from Seewagen, 2:59; Tommy Rourke (A) from Joe Stelacio and Elijah Coston, 6:24 (pp); DeMatteo (N) from Joseph Hornung, 8:53.
Second-period goals: Seewagen, from Charles Potash, 7:15; Helms (N) from Potash and Seewagen, 8:05; Perry Carpenter (A) from Elijah Coston, 11:53.

Third-period goal: Seewagen (N) unassisted, 6:44

Malvern Prep 9, St. Augustine 3

The Friars prevailed on Thursday’s non-league game.