Pennridge 7 C.R. South 3

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—The level of anticipation could not have been higher for a regular-season game, particularly one being played nearly two weeks before Christmas.

A full house at the Hatfield Ice Blue Rink greeted Pennridge and Council Rock South when they took the ice Wednesday night for a matchup between two bona fide SHSHL and Flyers Cup title contenders.

On this night, it was Rams who emerged victorious by a count of 7-3 to remain unbeaten at 9-0 overall and in SHSHL National Division play. The Golden Hawks suffered their first setback of the season; they stand at 8-1 overall and 7-1 in the division.

Both teams rely on potent offenses and the stars were shining brightly. Shane Dachowski collected a hat trick for the Rams and added two assists. Andrew Savona’s two goals were accompanied by three assists.

Kevin Koles and Blaize Pepe had two-point nights for South; each contributed a goal and an assist.

But even amidst all this firepower, a goaltender stood out, namely Pennridge’s Jacob Winton. The Rams were outshot 40-30 but Winton a junior, finished his evening’s work with 37 saves.

“They’re an absolutely amazing high-output team,” Winton said of his opponents. “We knew that coming into it. They’re an absolutely great hockey team.”

Winton made some big stops at key times when the outcome was still in doubt. Among them was his denial of Illia Mukhin on a backhander five minutes into the second period.

“Obviously, that boosts my confidence,” he said, “giving me that extra jump when they come down. And I think it gives my team an extra jump when they go down to the other end of the ice.”

The Golden Hawks drew first blood when Jackson Mosley beat Winton 6:54 into the opening period. Colin Dachowski answered for Pennridge when he put in his own rebound with 1:37 left in the period, allowing his team to draw even in a period that saw it outshot 12-9.

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna noted that his netminder stepped up on a night when the spotlight was shining bright.

“He was never in this environment,” Montagna said, “even in the Flyers Cup finals. He was awesome tonight.

“In a 1-1 game I thought he made one of the best toe saves that you’ll see a goalie make. I thought that was the turning point in the game.”

Kevin Pico’s goal 5:33 into the second frame gave Pennridge the lead for good. Shane Dachowski extended the lead at 9:00 before Kevin Koles put in a rebound to make it a one-goal game with 8:22 left in the middle session.

Shane Dachowski took over from there, completing his hat trick before the period ended.

The Hawks found themselves shorthanded more than they would have preferred, they drew 14 penalties for 36 minutes. The Rams were whistled for nine infractions for 26 minutes. The two teams will have a rematch on February 7 at Grundy Arena.

C.R. South 1 1 1—3

Pennridge 1 4 2—7

First-period goal: Jackson Mosley (CRS) from Blaize Pepe, 6:54; Colin Dachowski (P) unassisted,15:23

Second-period goals: Kevin Pico P) from Nick Young and Andrew Savona, 5:33; Shane Dachowski (P) from Pico, 8:00; Kevin Koles (CRS) from Jake Weiner and Illia Mukhin, 8:38; Shane Dachowki (P) Savona 9:26; Shane Dachowski (P) from Pico and Savona, 14:56 (pp)

Third-period goals: Savona (P) from Shane Dachowski and Pico, 1:04; Savona (P) from Pico and Shane Dachowski, 6:15 (pp); Pepe (CRS) from Koles, 14:52

Shots: C.R. South 40, Pennridge 30; Saves: Trevor Rakszawski (CRS) 32, Jacob Winton (P) 37

APAC Recap for 12-13

Malvern Prep 3, Hun School 2 (Shootout)

Paxton Hoishik scored in the fourth round of a shootout to give host Malvern Prep a 3-2 win over Hun School Wednesday afternoon at Ice Line.

Brady Doyle tied the game for the Friars with 6:22 left in regulation. Jeremy Jacobs’s goal gave Malvern Prep (4-4, 2-2 in conference) a 1-0 lead in the first period.

Charles Etienne-Jett and Justin Laplante scored third-period goals for the Raiders (2-4, 0-3).

Hun School 0 0 2 0 0—2

Malvern Prep 1 0 1 0 1—3

First-period goal: Jeremy Jacobs (MP) unassisted, 3:08;

Third-period goals: Charles Etienne-Jett from Andrew Darst and Ryan Levesque, 3:48; Justin Laplante (HS) from Anders Van Raalte, 4:31; Brady Doyle (MP) from Jacobs and Aidan Kelly, 6:22

Bergen Catholic 5 Holy Ghost Prep 3

Matthew Cholaj and Andrew Morgan scored goals for the Firebirds in Wednesday’s non-league loss.

Levesque’s Role at Hun School Extends Beyond the Ice

At the start of what was to be his senior year of high school, Ryan Levesque made a big decision. Instead of completing his secondary education at Hunterdon Central High, the Reddington, New Jersey resident chose to enroll at The Hun School instead and repeat his junior year.

That was prior to the 2022-23 school year.

“I heard about [Hun School] through friends that had played hockey there,” Levesque recalls. “They’re older now, they’re in college. Then I heard about it from a friend at [Princeton Day School] which is actually surprising because he didn’t go to Hun, but his mother and my mother talked about it and she hard great things. We found that it was a good match for me.

“It’s been a great experience.”

Levesque (#15) takes his leadership role seriously

Now a senior at Hun School, Levesque acknowledged he had some adjustments to make when he first arrived on campus.

“I would say the first week or so was pretty tough,” he said, “trying to gauge the different education level, how they treated their students, how their classes were commenced.

“It was definitely a tough change at first, but once I got really settled in everything really just became a routine and it started to just come to me naturally.

“I never had a problem with meeting new people, but I would say breaking the ice was definitely the biggest part. I kind of had to get over that little hump, I would say. Because I didn’t know anyone going into the school so it was a definitely a big adjustment in that aspect, but now I have a lot of friends there. I keep in touch with them not only in school but out of school and I would say that was the biggest adjustment.”

Lavesque says his passion for hockey accelerated the transition process.

“I feel like the ice is a different home for me,” he said. “I’ve always felt it feels so natural to me. All my problems go away as soon as I hit the ice. It really doesn’t matter where I touch down but I feel as if I really jelled with the guys on the team last year and this year.

“For me personally, it was definitely a big step from transferring from a public to a private setting but I definitely felt as soon as I touched the ice I’d fit in right away.”

As a senior on a young team, Lavesque takes his leadership responsibilities seriously. He stresses the importance of being a positive influence for his teammates on the ice and elsewhere.

I definitely hope to produce my best for this team, on and off the ice,” he said. “I look to be a guy the younger kids on the team playing varsity for the first time, cam look up to, not only as a teammate but as a person on and off the ice.

“I’m definitely excited to take a leadership role just to be a guy people can turn to on and off the ice; if they need anything.”

La Salle 3 Holy Ghost Prep 1

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—Heading down the stretch at Hatfield Ice Monday evening, La Salle found itself hanging on.

The Explorers had the better of the play most of the day against Holy Ghost Prep and held a 2-1 lead with 3:27 remaining in regulation when Michael Zarzycki drew a five-minute major penalty plus a game misconduct for cross checking.

La Salle would have to play the remainder of regulation plus the start of an overtime period shorthanded. It was time for goaltender Jake Rossi to stand tall.

He and the defense corps in front of him did just that, limiting the Firebirds to two shots on goal the rest of the way while Patrick Brace added an empty-net goal with 80 seconds remaining.
The 3-1 win that resulted kept the Explorers perfect in the APAC at 4-0 and improved them to 8-1 overall. Afterward, La Salle coach Wally Muhelbronner lauded his veteran netminder’s effort.

“He’s been solid for two years now,” Muehlbronner said. “It’s not surprising me with Jake. He has very, very good focus and he’d made big saves like that a lot for us.”

Declan Kelly gave La Salle a 1-0 lead 2:36 into the opening period with a shot along the ice from the right point that got past Firebird netminder Jack Bothoff.

Kelly later set up Dean Carvalho who scored a power-play goal 5:30 into the second period to give the Explorers a two-goal.

But the Firebirds (2-6, 0-2 in the APAC) kept working and were rewarded 10:48 into the middle period when Caine Bickel scored off a feed from fellow freshman Nathan Romer. The goal came off a La Salle turnover.

Following Zarzycki’s penalty, Kelly knew he and his teammates had to step things up a bit.

“A five-minute penalty like that, we just have to keep things simple and get the puck out of our zone,” he said. “Keep working all the way through to the end of the game. Those close games, it’s really important to play a full three periods.”

Kelly a junior is playing a more prominent role with the Explorers this season after skating on the third line a year ago.

“Last year we had all these seniors,” he said. “It’s more of a leadership role this year and just showing these underclassmen how to work hard and maybe [overcome] the talent that we lost last year.”

For Holy Ghost Prep, the afternoon was another step in the maturation of a young team, that has taken big strides since the start of the season.

“It’s kind of an ongoing thing,” said Firebird coach John Richie. “We have so many new guys, we graduated 10 seniors, so some of this just come down to chemistry and our coaching staff is together for the first time.

“So, they’re learning our style, we’re kind of still learning some of their tendencies. We’re better than we were a month ago.”

Ice chips— La Salle has beaten each of the other APAC schools once.

Holy Ghost Prep 0 1 0—1

La Salle 1 1 1—3

First-period goal: Declan Kelly (L) from Liam Donahue and Charlie Kennedy, 2:36

Second-period goal: Dean Carvalho (L) from Kelly and Grant LaGreca, 5:35 (pp); Caine Bickel (HGP) from Nathan Romer, 10:48

Third-period goal; Patrick Brace (L) unassisted, 15:40

Shots; Holy Ghost Prep 23, La Salle 32; Saves; Jack Bothoff (HGP) 29; Jake Rossi (L) 22

Click here for more about La Salle College High School

Click here for more about Holy Ghost Prep

APAC Oveview for 12-12-23

W L OTW OTL Pts GF GA

La Salle (8-1) 4 0 0 0 12 16 3

St. Joseph’s Prep (4-1) 2 1 1 0 5 12 8

Malvern Prep (3-4) 1 2 0 1 4 6 9

Holy Ghost Prep (2-6) 0 2 0 0 0 2 5

Hun School (2-3) 0 2 0 0 0 2 13

teams receive three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, and one point for an overtime or shootout loss.

* Scoring GP G A Pts PPG

Dean Carvalho (Ls) 3 2 3 5 1.67

Will Gregorio (Ls) 3 1 3 4 1.33

Will Carpenter (Ls) 3 1 3 4 1.33

Jeremy Jacobs (MP) 3 1 3 4 1.33

Julian Tarsi (Ls) 3 2 1 3 1.00

Declan Kelly (Ls) 3 0 3 3 1.00

Robert McGinn (SJP) 2 1 1 2 1.00

Anthony Prete (HGP) 1 1 0 1 1.00

Mike Holt (HGP) 1 0 1 0 1.00

(scoring through 12-10)

Hun School 8 Notre Dame 2

The Raiders scored the non-league won on Friday afternoon to even their record at 2-2.

C.B. South 8 C.B. East 1

In boxing, there are crossroads fights. In hockey, there are crossroads games. Central Buck East and Central Bucks South found themselves at a crossroads Friday night, with each looking to vault themselves into the top tier of the SHSHL National Division standings.

It was the Titans who made the climb, on the strength of seven unanswered goals over the last two periods-plus to post an 8-1 win at the Bucks County Ice Sports Center that boosted their record to 6-1-1 in league play (6-2-1 overall. The result put South within three points of first-place Pennridge and a single point behind second-place Council Rock South, which has a game in hand.

Jeff Kvecher scored twice for the winning side, six other players scored one goal each.

Perhaps the most eye-catching stat of the evening however was the Titans limiting the Patriots (4-3) to just one goal.

South defenseman Aiden Linso touted his team’s defensive effort.

“We play together as a team,” he said, “so really we knew what we had to do.

“The offense comes back, plays [defense] and we work the puck out to our wingers, so we knew they weren’t scoring a lot of goals tonight.”

D.J. Lindenmuth gave South a 1-0 lead 2:56 into the opening period on a shot from the deep right wing. Corey Kosick tied the game at the 14:56 mark when he forced a turnover in the South defensive zone and scored on a solo effort.

The East offense, which been averaging better than four goals a game prior to Friday night, was not heard from thereafter, to the chagrin of Patriot coach Jeff Mitchell.

“I don’t know what was up with my team tonight,” he said. “It’s completely unacceptable in my opinion.”

Leading 2-1 after the first frame, the Titans broke the game open with two goals in the second period and four more in the third.

Linso, who assisted on three goals himself, stressed the importance of he and his teammates maintaining their focus after they built their lead.

“It’s real important,” he said. “Teams can come back just like that. We had to make sure everybody was doing their job. People can’t be getting goal hungry. If we stay together as a team, we’ll keep winning games like that.”

South coach Shaun McGinty noted that his team’s defensive work could have been better.
“I don’t want to take anything away from East,” he said. “They’re a good team, they’ve got some guys that can put the puck in the net but we had some guys that were trying to fly the zone a little earlier than normal and not protecting the house as we call it.

“That stuff’s going to haunt you against a C.R. South, Pennridge, against East when they’re firing.”

Ice chips—The National Division standings may look different at the end of next week. Council Rock South and Pennridge will met on Wednesday before the Rams take on the Titans the following night. Both games will be at Hatfied Ice.

C.B. East 1 0 0—1

C.B. South 2 2 4—8

First-period goals: D.J. Lindenmuth (CBS) from Jake Stepp and Aidan Linso, 2:51; Corey Kosick (CBE) unassisted, 14:56 (sh); Joey Slobodrian (CBS) from Jeff Kvecher, 16:34

Second-period goals: Jake Kunkle (CBS) unassisted, 1:50; Kvecher (CBS) from Sean Cutter 16:27 (pp)

Third-period goals: Ryan Frey (CBS) from Cutter, 2:27 (sh); Colin Mendham (CBS) from Linso and Alex Cannon, 6:21; Stepp (CBS) unassisted at 7:12; Kvecher (CBS) from Linso and Logan Hood, 9:32

Shots: C.B. East 14, C.B. South 31; Saves: Cole Breen (CBE) 23, Dom Varacallo (CBE) 13

APAC Recap for 12-7

St. Augustine 5 La Salle 1—The loss on Thursday was the Explorers’ first of the season after seven wins. Dean Carvalho scored the La Salle goal.
Jake Rossi stopped 46 shots in goal.

Christian Brothers Academy 4 Malvern Prep 3—Thomas Mantellino’s goal with 5:44 left in regulation was the difference as Christian Bothers Academy edged the Friars in a non-league game on Thursday.

Jeremy Jacobs scored twice for Malvern Prep, which also got a goal from Henry Tesoriero

Bensalem 4 P-W 3 OT

Plymouth Whitemarsh and Bensalem have moved to the head of the pack in the SHSHL’s American Division. On Thursday night at Hatfield Ice, they began finding out about each other.

Alex Hood’s goal 1:38 into overtime gave the Owls a 4-3 win in what is shaping up as an entertaining season-long series. Thursday’s game was the first of three meetings between the two teams.

The result pushed Bensalem to 5-1 overall and in the division; the Owls have been perfect since an opening-night loss to Wissahickon. They came from behind three times on Thursday.

The Colonials (4-2 overall) lost for the first time in five league starts.

Alex Baylevich set up the winning goal when he put the puck on net from his post at the right point. Hood was on hand to score his second goal of the game and his 22^nd of the season. He also contributed two assists to his team’s cause.

Hood described the winning goal.

“All three of their kids were puck watching,” he said, “so I went backdoor. [Baylevich] found me like he always does. Tic tac toe in the back of the net.”

Both teams came into Thursday’s encounter at less than full strength. The Colonials had three regulars out of the lineup including two front-line centers. For their part, the Owls had only eight skaters available. That circumstance forced their coach Bill Hood to do some juggling.

“We had a lot of penalties (8) which hurt,” he said. “But we’ve got kids that play very high level club hockey so they’re used to this kind of pace.”

The scoring started early. David Branigan put Plymouth Whitemarsh in front just 55 seconds into the first period. Hood tied the game at the 2:21 mark.

Jason Segal put the Colonials back in front with 44 seconds left in the middle period and Plymouth Whitemarsh seemed to have the upper hand heading into the third frame, but the momentum shifted dramatically when Cole Salayda tied the game with a shorthanded with 12:13 left in regulation.

Tim Murphy gave Plymouth Whitemarsh the lead for the last time with a one timer from the high slot with 6:33 remaining.

But that wasn’t enough; Lucas Gonzalez poked in a rebound with 4:01 left to kick off the mad dash to the finish line.

Ricky Gonzalez in the Bensalem net might have made the biggest contribution to his team’s win. He finished with 32 saves, many of them difficult.

“Ricky’s been a rock all year,” Bill Hood said. “He definitely gives us confidence back there. We take some risks at times defensively and he’s always back there.”

The loss was a tough one for the Colonials but their coach Dave Cox took a pragmatic view.

“We knew coming in that Bensalem was going to be a tough opponent,” he said, “and I believe it was a good test of our character and what we need to work on.

“I’m proud of our boys for faced the adversity. We had a very short bench tonight, A lot of the boys were playing with different linemate pairs and that took some adjusting to, and our power-play wasn’t working well but they worked hard every shift. Overtime losses are never easy, but we look forward to seeing this team a couple more times.”

Bensalem 1 0 2 1—4

P-W 1 1 1 0—3
First-period goals: David Branigan (PW) unassisted, :55; Alex Hood (B) from Cole Salayda and Brandon Stahl. 2:21;

Second-period goal: Jason Segal (PW) from Tim Murphy and Daniel Molony, 16:16

Third-period goals: Salayda (B) from Lucas Gonzalez and Hood, 4:47 (sh); Murphy (PW) from John Zawislak and Molony, 10:27; Gonzalez (B) from Justin Rapone and Hood, 12:59

Overtime goal: Hood (B) from Alex Baylevich, 1:38

Shots: Bensalem 25, Plymouth Whitemarsh 35; Saves: Ricky Gonzalez (B) 32; Julian Lucks (PW) 21

NP Ice Hockey Toy Drive is an Annual Tradition

The North Penn Hockey Club is once again conducting a toy drive in support of the North Penn Valley Boys and Girls Club, and its efforts to serve needy families in the North Penn area.

Those interested in participating are asked to Venmo North Penn Ice Hockey at @NPHockey with a donation.

North Penn Ice Hockey will match up to $500 of the donations. The club will utilize the donations to purchase toys for children ages 5-12 and gift cards to local grocery stores for those in need.

They will be delivered to the Boys and Girls Club on Monday, December 18.

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis says the toy drive in part of North Penn Ice Hockey’s ongoing effort to serve its community.

“We look at it as we’re one community here,” he said, “and if there is an opportunity for us to help out those less fortunate right now, those going through some difficult times, we want to lend a hand.

“This past weekend, a bunch of us went over and we were raking leaves at an over-55 community, helping some of the elderly who can’t get out there or can’t afford to pay somebody to rake their leaves up.

“I think we’re teaching these kids to give back to the community. We’re fortunate with the situation we’re in; we’re able to play ice hockey, it’s not the cheapest sport. So, if we can give back a little and help those less fortunate or having a difficult time right now, we’re willing to do it.”

For more information about the toy drive, contact Vaitis at kevinvaitis@comcast.net