North Penn 4 Downingtown East 3

It was a contest of championship final caliber. Over the course of 51 minutes at Hatfield Ice Arena Thursday night, North Penn and Downingtown East both proved themselves worthy of playing for a Flyers Cup championship.

But only the Knights will get that opportunity.

Nolan Shingle’s goal with 3:43 left in regulation, his second goal in a span of 88 seconds, got the Knight past the Cougars 4-3 in a Class AA semifinal. The goal was Shingle’s third of the game and put the second-seeded Knights (19-3) into net Wednesday’s final against top-seeded Council Rock South (8:45 at Hatfield Ice). The third-seeded Cougars close their season at 15-7.

In the parlance of pugilism, both team got off the canvas. North Penn took a 2-0 lead into the third period on the strength of a power-play goal from Cole Pluck 11:49 into the first-period, which was followed by Shingle’ first goal of the night 7:48 into the second frame

But the Cougars survived those heavy blows and counterpunched. Ryan Nichols got Downingtown East on the scoreboard 4:19 into the third period and Anderson Frain tied the game with 6:44 left in regulation.

When Nichols scored his second goal of the game with 4:36 left in regulation the Cougars appeared to have the upper hand.

Shingle however did not agree with that line of reasoning. He tied the game 3:43 left on the clock before delivering the game winner that started out as a breakaway. Downingtown East goaltender Lucas Fleuty made the initial save on Sam Norton before Shingle followed up.

“Downingtown East is a great hockey team,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “Hats off to them, they’re well coached. We knew, going into the third, up 2-0 that it probably wasn’t going to end 2-0. I didn’t necessarily want to get down 3-2 but I’m proud of the boys. They continued to work, continued to battle.”

Downingtown East coach Mark Bobko praised his team’s resilience.

“Our guy showed a lot of heart,” he said. “Being down 2-0 going into the third, fighting back, and getting a lead.

“What I was telling them in the locker room was in games of this magnitude the margin of error is so tight that if you don’t expend every ounce of energy and focus it can tip the other way just as easily and that’s kind of what we saw here tonight.”

Downingtown East 0 0 3—3

North Penn 1 1 2—4

CR South 7 Spring-Ford 2

Council Rock South got off to a fast start Thursday night and never really slowed down.

Jeremy Rayher scored twice in the first period and the Golden Hawks went on to a 7-2 win over Spring-Ford Thursday night at Hatfield Ice Arena. Top-seeded South (22-2) will try to win its fourth Flyers Cup next Wednesday night when it faces North Penn (8:45 at Hatfield Ice).

Spring-Ford, the 12^th and last seed in the tournament, closed its season at 12-10-1 after winning two games to reach the semifinal round.

Rayher got his team on the scoreboard with 3:23 left in the opening and added a second goal with 57 second left. Those goals, his third and fourth of the tournament, set tone for the evening.

Rayher, a senior, spoke to the importance of the fast start.

“We all knew what my sophomore year with Pennsbury,” he said (the Hawks lost to the Falcons in the Flyers Cup semifinals).

“I just want that ring, everyone on the team wants that ring, so we all just came out hard, we came out with a mindset to win this game.

“We all just took it to them. We hit hard, we got a lot of shots on net. The goalie gave up lots of rebounds and we capitalized on them.”

Koen Gregg scored for the Rams 3:25 into the middle period to make it a 2-1 game but Daniel Filippov answered of South at the 6:34 mark.

The Hawks broke the game open when Jonah Weston, Rayher, and Jackson Mosley all scored goals in a span of 2 minutes, 39 seconds early in the third period. The balance of the period saw Spring-Ford’s Nathan Riley and the Hawks’ Peter Pereborow trade goals.

“We got a little rocky in the second period,” said South coach Joe Houk. “We let them get a real crappy goal, but o thought all in all our puck pursuit was there.

“Maybe a little too much individual play. We got away from our game plan a little bit there.”

But Houk was able to get his troops refocused during the break for the post-second period ice cut.

“I thought we outplayed them from start to finish,” hGoukouk Houk said. “We really didn’t give them much room to breathe.”

Spring-Ford coach Tom Kisela reflected on his first season behind the Rams’ bench.

“For me, this whole season begins and ends with the players,” he said. As a first-year head coach, sometimes ir can take time to establish a culture, but not with these guys. Right from the start, I knew these wanted someone to come in and push them to get better every day.

“For us, having the incredibly successful season we had is a combination of diversity and the lessons learned throughout the year.”

Spring-Ford 0 1 1—2

C.R. South 2 1 4—7

Holy Ghost Prep 5 Salesianum 2

The final numbers on the scoreboard were misleading. True enough, Holy Ghost Prep prevailed over Salesianum 5-2 Thursday night in a Class AAA Flyers Cup semifinal at Hatfield Ice Arena.

The top-seeded Firebirds (20-4-1) earned a place in next Wednesday’s final (6:00 puck drop at Hatfield Ice) against La Salle.

Thursday’s matchup was the second meeting of the season between the two schools. The Firebirds won the first 5-1 on January 9^th.

But on this night, for two periods, the fifth-seeded Sallies gave Holy Ghost Prep all it could handle and going into the third frame the teams were deadlocked at 2-2. The Firebirds put the way by scoring three goals in the third period.

Brady Logue, who paced the Firebirds with a three-goal effort, started the scoring 7:27 into the first period. It was the only goal of the opening frame.

Salesianum (18-4) tied the game on a goal from Jerry DiStefano 8:34 into the middle period Logue answered with his second goal of the game with 4:19 left in the period but when Sean Albert found the back of the net 80 seconds later, the two team were deadlocked once more.

“They did a good job of taking us out of our game,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie. “So, we made some adjustments. I think we got back to what’s worked for us in the third period.”

Once the final period commenced, the Firebirds did their best to make up for lost time. Chase Logue extended his team’ lead 5:17 into the period. Lucas Gonzalez made it a 4-1 at the 7:05 mark before Brady Logue completed his hat trick with 53 seconds remaining.

“Once {Salesianum} scored {their first goal} the momentum kind of changed” said Holy Ghost Prep captain Ryan Lippy. “The kind of stopped our momentum.

“And then we kind of realized that we needed to pick it up but we didn’t start picking it up until the third.”

Holy Ghost Prep enjoyed a 34-20 edge in shots.

Lippy said he and his teammates entered the third period refocused.

“We decided to put the emotion aside,” he said. “And just play our game, play how we should play.”

Salesianum coach Brian LeBlanc celebrated what his team accomplished this season.

“The team executed on every aspect of our game,” he said. “It was a special group of players who played for each other; our family. I’m very proud of what they accomplished this year. Unfortunately injuries during the last two weeks took down some firepower.

“Thank you to the Flyers Cup committee who worked hard to organize a great tournament for these young men.”

• Holy Ghost Prep last won a Flyers Cup in 2017. Salesianum won three Cups in the now-defunct New Jersey/Delaware Division, most recently in 2023, the last year that division existed.

Salesianum 0 2-0—2

Holy Ghost Prep 1 1 3—5.

First-period goal: Brady Logue (HGP) unassisted, 7:27

Second-period goals: Jerry DiStefano (S) unassisted, 8:34; Brady Logue (HGP) from Joe Spadaccino and Santino Tibero, 12:41; Sean Albert (S) from MIchael Cellucci and Braeden Graham, 14:01

Third-period goals: Chase Logue (HGP) from William Harmr, 5:17; Lucas Gonzalez (HGP) from Colin Bara and Brian Kinniry, 7:05; Brady Logue (HGP) unassisted, 16:07

Shots: Salesianum 20, Holy Ghost Prep 34: Saves: Gavin Needs (S) 29, Jack Unger (HGP) 18

Flyers Cup Schedule Thursday 3-13

Class AAA Semifinals at Hatfield Ice Arena

Holy Ghost Prep 5 Salesianum 2

La Salle 7 Father Judge 2

Class AA Semifinals at Hatfield Ice Arena

6:15 1 Council Rock South 7 Spring-Ford 2

8:45 2 North Penn Downingtown East 3

Finals Schedule

Class A Monday, March 17

TBD Garnet Valley vs WC Henderson at Ice Line

Girls Tuesday, March 18

6:00 Avon Grove vs Downingtown East at PNY Arena

Class AA Wednesday, March 19 at Hatfield Ice

8:45 North Penn vs Council Rock South

Class AAA Wednesday, March 19 at Hatfield Ice

6:00 Holy Ghost Prep vs La Salle

Flyers Cup Schedule Wednesday 3-12

Girls Semifinals

Avon Grove 11 West Chester Henderson 1—Lily Shindler, Emily Sullivan, and Skylar Greene combined for seven goals and four assists as the Red Devils downed the Warriors Wednesday night at PNY Arena in a semifinal game that was terminated with 10:23 left in the third period. Shindler finished with three goals and two assists while Sullivan Greene contributed two goals and an assist.

Brenanna Regester, Blaire Stoltzfus, Miranda Post and Molly Tursi also scored for top-seeded Avon Grove.

Paige Muetterties scored fourth-seeded Henderson’s only goal in the second period.

West Chester Henderson 0 1 0

Avon Grove 6 4 1—11

Downingtown West 13 Conestoga 3—Ava Thomas scored 10 goals and assisted on two others as the second-seeded Whippets advanced to the championship game. Madison Vitali, Isabel Nolan, and Mia D’Innoceno also scored for the Whippets before the game was halted with 8:58 remaining in the third period.

Darcy Malik, Sofia Kaiser, and Audris Tsai all scored for third-seeded Conestoga.

Conestoga 0 3 0—3

Downingtown West 5 4 4—13

WC Henderson 7 Hershey 4

When it mattered most, West Chester East found another gear. Leading 4-3 going into their third period of their Class A Flyers Cup semifinal against Hershey, the Warriors scored twice in a seven-minute span and went on to post a 7-4 win at Ice Line.

Second-seeded Henderson (16-6) will face top-seeded Garnet Valley in the Cup final Monday at Ice Line (time TBD). The Warriors previously won the Cup in 2007.

Andrew Denny led the scoring blitz for the Warriors scoring four goals. Three other players scored one goal each, among them Declan Herr, who also contributed a pair of assists. Hunter Haas and Nick DeNardi also chipped in two assists apiece. Haas wound up leaving the game early in the second period with an apparent lower-body injury.

Fans who favor an abundance of scoring got their wish early on; there were five goals scored in the first period. Denny staked his team to a 2-0 lead, his first goal coming 4:53 into the opening frame and his second not quite seven minutes later during a power play.

But the sixth-seeded Trojans (14-8-1), who took the ice as the defending Class A Flyers Cup and state champions, were quick to respond. Bryce Erwin and Lucas scored goals 90 seconds apart to tie the game, albeit briefly.

The Warriors retook the lead on Declan Herr’s goal with 48 seconds remaining in the opening period only to see Brady Cox tie the game for the second time with 8:09 left in the second frame.
Blake Platz, the Warriors’ senior captain, put his team ahead for the third time with just 14 seconds left in the middle period. As it turned out, his goal put his team in front for good.

Going into the third period, the game was still up for grabs but Denny altered that equation when he scored his third goal 31 seconds into the period. Anthony Barthol followed with a goal of his own at the 6:59 mark

“Coming out in the third period we pretty much put two up quick,” Platz said, “and then shut them down.”

Platz said he and his teammates stuck to fundamentals down the stretch after regaining the lead.

“The biggest thing in high-school hockey that I see is playing defensively sound, getting the puck out, and taking care of your D-zone,” he said. “Once that happens, if you’ve got pretty good forward lines, you can take care of the game.”

Henderson coach Tom Aughey felt the game was being played on even terms until the decisive third period.

“Coming out of the ice cut you could tell our boys really wanted it more,” he said. “They really wanted it more than anything else they could have right now.”

Hershey 2 1 1—4

WC Henderson 3 1 3—7

First-period goals: Andrew Denny (WCH) from Hunter Haas, 4:53; Denny from Haas, 11:47 (pp); Bryce Erwin (H) unassisted, 13:42; Tyler Lucas (H) from Cole Umberger, 15:12; Declan Herr (WCH) from Nick DeNardi, 16:12

Second-period goals: Brady Cox (H) from Umberger, 8:51; Blake Platz (WCH) from Miles Donnelly, 16:46

Third-Period goals: Andrew Denny (WCH) from Platz and DeNardi, :31; Anthony Barthol (WCH) from Herr, 6:59; Owen Hulays (H) from Erwin, 9:05; Denny (WCH) unassisted, 15:46 (sh), (en)

Shots: Hershey 24, WC Henderson 45; Saves: Alex Placeros ((H) 38, Matt Cieslukowski 20

Garnet Valley 2 WC East 1

In the Flyers Cup atmosphere, pressure and mistakes are magnified. So it was Tuesday night.

Kaden Longo’s goal off a turnover with 48 seconds left in the second period proved decisive as Garnet Valley prevailed over West Chester East 2-1 in a Class A semifinal at Ice Line.

The top-seeded Jaguars (21-2) will take a 12-game winning streak into Monday’s championship game against West Chester Henderson (at Ice Line, time TBD) where they will attempt to win their second Flyers Cup title; their first came in 1998. Fourth-seeded West Chester East closed its season at 11-10.

The winning goal came off a miscue when the Vikings coughed up the puck to the left of their goaltender Cameron Chandler and Longo was able to coral the puck and tuck it in the net.

“I think being alert out there really helps us,” Longo said. Having our head up. We have a great group of forwards, a great group of defensemen, we have good chemistry out there.

“I think, crashing the net, everything just worked out.”

The Vikings started the scoring when Konrad Finnin beat Garrett Stoops with the first shot of the game 2:10 into the opening period. Longo responded 10:30 into the opening frame during a power play with a shot from just inside the left faceoff circle.

Neither team could find the back of the net after that until Longo’s game winner but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The Jaguars outshot the Vikings 46-31 but Chandler kept the Jaguars at bay

“We knew it was going to be a strong battle with these guys,” said Garnet Valley coach Stephane Charbonneau. “They all know each other. Everybody knows everybody.

“They started strong but we kept battling and working hard and chipping the puck out. Finish our checks, stay out of the box; that was very important for us.”

There were just six penalties called in the game, West Chester East was assessed four of them and Viking coach Eric Wolf felt that having to kill four penalties cost his team in the late going.

“It wasn’t lack of effort that lost this game,” he said. “We were fighting an uphill battle against one, sometimes two teams, so it’s tough. It’s hard to penalty kill for that long. It takes a lot out of your guys.

Wolf praised his netminder’s work; Chandler finished with 44 saves. A strong case could be made that he was the best player on the ice

“He was going to have to be the best player on the ice for us to win this game,” Wolf said. “We told him that coming into the is tournament. If we were going to be here in the end, he would have to be our best player.”

West Chester East 1 0 0—1

Garnet Valley 1 1 0—2

First-period goals: Konrad Finnin (WCE) from Sean Farrell, 2:10; Kaden Longo (GV) from Nolan Scott and A.J. Tenhuisen, 10:30 (pp)

Second-period goal: Longo (GV) Matt Abbonizio, 16:12

Shots: West Chester East 31, Garnet Valley 46; Saves: Cameron Chandler (WCE) 44, Garrett Stoops (GV) 30

Upcoming Flyers Cup Schedule 3-8-25

Tuesday March 10

Class A Semifinals at Ice Line

6:30 1 Garnet Valley vs 4 Wet Chester East

8:30 2 West Chester Henderson vs 6 Hershey

Wednesday March 11

Girls Semifinals at PNY

6:00 1 Avon Grove vs 4 West Chester Henderson

7:45 2 Downingtown West vs 3 Conestoga

Thursday, March 12

Class AAA Semifinals at Hatfield Ice Arena

6:00 1 Holy Ghost Prep vs 5 Salesianum

8:30 2 La Salle vs 6 Father Judge

Class AA Semifinals at Hatfield Ice Arena

6:15 1 Council Rock South vs 12 Spring-Ford

8:45 2 North Penn vs 3 Downingtown East

Finals Schedule

Class A Monday, March 17

Class AA Monday, March 17 or Wednesday, March 19

Class AAA Wednesday, March 19

Girls Tuesday, March 18

Salesianum 4 Malvern Prep 2

Salesianum had a bit too much for Malvern Prep Thursday night. Too much in terms of physicality and firepower. Liam Bell scored two goals set the pace as the Sallies downed the Friars 4-2 Thursday night in a Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinal at Ice Line.

Fifth-seeded Salesianum (18-3) will move to the semifinals next Thursday against top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep. Fourth-seeded Malvern Prep closes the season at 5-11.

Salesianum coach Brian LeBlanc said his team took care of the small details.

“Our game is forecheck hard and backcheck hard,” he said. “Every shift we have 110 percent in that 45-second shift and every person on all three lines did that. That’s what gets you success.”

Senior Braeden Graham, the Sallies’ captain, said he and his teammates were comfortable with the game’s physics tone.

“We knew they were going to come out hitting,” he said. “We knew they were a team that hit. we knew from watching film on them that we had to match that so playing the body tonight was really important to us to keep their skill payers contained.”

Bell have his team a 1-0 lead 10:33 into the first period off a setup from Jerry DiStefano who played the puck across the goal mouth from the right wing. Bell was perfectly positioned to tuck the disk inside the left post.

The Friars suffered a huge loss with 10:54 left in the second period when they lost senior forward Teague Murray, one of their primary offensive threats. Murray checked the Sallies’ Connor Davis into the boards near the Salesianum bench and was assessed a five-minute major penalty for a check from behind plus a game misconduct.

“You don’t want to see a kid get kicked out of the game,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “I think the call was a little borderline but you can’t control the {referees}.

“Obviously, we needed somebody to put the puck in the net for us and that was a back breaker but you have got to find a way to step up and fill the void.”

Sean Melican extended Salesianum’s lead with 49 seconds left in the second period when he found his target from between the faceoff circles. Bell scored his second goal of the night 2:49 into the third period. From that moment on Malvern Prep was playing against the clock as much as the Sallies.

James Young got the Friars on the scoreboard 7:31 into the final session with a shot from just inside the blue line during a power play.

Salesianum’s Sean Albert and Malvern Prep’s Luke Johnson traded goals down the stretch.

Keenan credited the Sallies for their effort

“They’re a really good team,” he said. “They’re well coached. I’ve known {LeBlanc} for a few seasons now. They play fast, they play physical. Our boys I think matched the intensity, we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”

Graham says he and his Salesianum teammates aren’t finished yet. “We’re very proud of ourselves,” he said, “but we know this isn’t the end.

“A lot of the teams in the APAC have disrespected us. They don’t think we’re on the same level as they are because we play in a different league (the Prep/Catholic Division of the ICSHL).”

Ice chips—Salesianum won three Flyers Cup titles in the now-defunct New Jersey/Delaware Division, including the last one two years ago.

Salesianum 1 1 2—4

Malvern Prep 0 0 2—2

First-period goal: Liam Bell (MP) from Jerry DiStefano and Connor Davis, 10:33

Second period goal: Sean Melican (S) from Davis and Justin Celestino, 16:11

Third-period goals: Bell (S) unassisted, 2:49; James Young (MP) unassisted, 7:31 (pp); Sean Albert (S) from Braedon Graham, 9:53; Luke Johnson (MP) from Gabe Bedwell and Matt Barbacane, 13:56 (pp)

Shots: Salesianum 33, Malvern Prep 23; Saves: Gavin Needs. (S) 21; Matt Crawford (MP) 29

Father Judge 6 St. Joseph’s Prep 2

Father Judge took control of the game with a four-goal outburst in the second period and stunned St. Joseph’s Prep 6-2 Thursday night in a Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinal at the Skatium.

Carlos Rowland and Owen Myers each scored twice for the sixth-seeded Crusaders (16-5), who will face La Salle next Thursday in the semifinals while the third-seeded Hawks closed their season at 10-10.

Rowland scored the first goal of the night 7:19 into the opening period. When he scored a second time, 50 seconds into the second frame, the burst. Gavin Culver, Myers, and Joseph Mullen followed with goals in a span of 3 minutes, 6 seconds and 11:16 still to go in the second period Father Judge had a 5-0 lead.

“We weren’t prepared,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach David Giacomin. “The boys thought they would walk all over Father Judge.”

Jai Perry-Pereira got the Hawks on the scoreboard with 2:18 left in the second session but St. Joseph’s Prep never got any closer.

Myers scored his second goal of the night with 7:09 left in regulation. Michael Washlick added the Hawks’ second goal with 4:49 remaining.

“Judge’s goalie (Christian McDonald) played great,” Giacomin said. He made four unbelievable saves.

“In one-and-done scenarios you have to show up. Father Judge did and that’s why they are moving on. Our goalie played well despite the score as he got no help in the second period.”

Father Judge 1 4 1—6

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 1 1—2

First-period goal: Carlos Rowland (FJ) from Gavin Culver, 7:19

Second-period goals: Rowland (FJ) from Jake Proud and Owen Myers, :50; Culver (FJ) from Charles Heron, 2:38; Myers (FJ) from Rowland, 4:54 (sh); Joseph Mullen (FJ) unassisted, 5:44; Jai Perry-Pereira (SJP) from Adam Charaffi, 14:42

Third-period goals: Myers (FJ) unassisted, 9:51; Michael Washlick (SJP) from Patrick Sweeney and Perry-Pereira, 12:11

Shots: Father Judge 44, St. Joseph’s Prep 35 Saves: Christian McDonald (FJ) 33, Declan Geary (SJP) 38