Suburban High School Hockey League Counting Down to Opening Night

Besides being a night for trick or treaters, Halloween Night will also serve as Opening Night for the 2018-19 Suburban High School Hockey League season. A total of 17 teams will skate under the SHSHL banner in this, the league’s 45th season, 12 in Class 2A and five more in Class A.

The 12 Class 2A teams will, as usual, be divided into two groups of six. The Continental Division will include Flyers Cup finalist Central Bucks South along with Central Bucks East, Central Bucks West, North Penn, Souderton, and Pennridge.

The National Division will feature Council Rock South, Neshaminy, Pennsbury, William Tennent, Truman, and Abington.

The Class AA league schedule will feature 11 league games with each team playing the others once. Teams may play each other a second time to fill out a 16-game schedule; in that instance the second meeting is the one that will count in the league standings.

The Class A American Division will feature five teams; Wissahickon, Lower Moreland, Hatboro-Horsham, Upper Dublin, and Plymouth Whitemarsh. The five teams will play each other three times each for a total of 12 league games plus four additional non-league games.

Several teams will be absent from the league schedule this year. Upper Moreland and Archbishop Wood, both of which skated in Class A last year, have combined to form a single team that will not be part of the SHSHL structure this season.

Council Rock North has added players from New Hope-Solebury this year; both schools had numbers issues a season ago. This year’s combined team will skate independently.

The SHSHL umbrella will not include a Class AAA division this season. Holy Ghost Prep and LaSalle have joined St. Joseph’s Prep and Malvern Prep to form the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference.

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ISHL Opens Season This Week

The Intercounty Scholastic Hockey League will is kickoff its new season. A total of 36 boys teams and 14 girls teams will skate under the Intercounty League umbrella this season.

The boys’ alignment will include the Ches-Mont, Central, and Philadelphia Catholic Leagues. Some teams, including several from the aforementioned leagues, will compete in the Liberty North and Liberty South divisions, which will include teams from an assortment of existing leagues as well the state of Delaware.

The boys’ season officially begins on Thursday. Defending Class 2A Flyers Cup champion Downingtown East will open its season against Unionville on Friday, November 2 at Ice Line.

The girls’ teams, which in some cases have already begun their seasons, are divided into two seven-team divisions.

The Intercounty League is the oldest scholastic hockey league in the area. It is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this season. The league was launched in 1969 as a six-team organization that included Cardinal O’Hara, Conestoga, Haverford High, Marple Newtown, St. Joseph’s Prep, and Swarthmore

The league alignments will be as follows

Boys

Ches-Mont League

Avon Grove

Downingtown East

Downingtown West

Unionville

West Chester Bayard Rustin

West Chester East

West Chester Henderson

Central League

Conestoga

Garnet valley

Haverford

Lower Merion

Penncrest

Radnor

Ridley

Springfield (Delco)

Strath Haven

Catholic League

Archbishop Ryan

Cardinal O’Hara

Delaware Military Academy

Father Judge

Roman Catholic

Salesianum

Liberty North

Boyertown

Owen J. Roberts

Perkiomen Valley

Spring Ford

Archbishop Carroll

Monsignor Bonner

Bishop Shanahan

Liberty South

Harriton

Interboro

Marple Newtown

Appoquinmink

Kennett

St. Mark’s

Girls

National Division

OJR/Boyertown

Unionville

West Chester Bayard Rustin

Garnet Valley

Downingtown West

Lower Merion

West Chester East

American Division

Avon Grove

Bishop Shanahan

Lansdale Catholic

Conestoga

Penncrest-Strath Haven

Radnor

West Chester East 2

Two of the girls’ teams will be co-op teams

Tennent’s D’Aurizio Sees the Big Picture of the AHA Showcase

William Tennent has dropped its first two games in the Athletes Helping Athletes hockey showcase.

The Panthers fell to Central Bucks East 7-4 Wednesday night at Revolution Ice Gardens after falling to Souderton 9-6 in their opener on October 5.

But for Tennent coach Nick D’Aurizio and his players, there is a lot more to the AHA event than what’s on the scoreboard.

Now in his ninth season behind the Tennent bench, D’Aurizio has been involved with the five-year old AHA showcase since its inception.

“We’re happy to be a part of it,” he said. “We were happy to be part of this in Year One and we were lucky enough to have some good teams early on; we won it two years in a row.”

D’Aurizio credits tournament organizer Eric Tye for helping the event reach its current level of prominence. “Eric does a great job,” he said. “The impact that (the showcase) has on the AHA and the Bucks County Admirals, it makes it all worth it. And it really gets the season off on a really good note. Everybody’s upbeat, everybody enjoys themselves, it’s a great month.”

D’Aurizio says the showcase has allowed his program and the players in it to connect with the special-needs athletes who benefit from AHA’s efforts. “Year after year, they love working with the AHA kids,” he said, “the Admirals kids.

“They always embrace the (honorary) captains that we have. It’s just awesome to see. Every year they ask me ‘Hey, when is the Admirals skate?’ It’s something they really look forward to and that makes you feel good as a coach because it means your kids are good people. They’re not only good players but they’re good people. And that’s what we try to breed here at Tennent and again, we’re thrilled to be a part of it.”

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Athletes Helping Athletes Update

The Athletes Helping Athletes showcase continued Wednesday night at Revolution Ice Gardens. Father Judge bested Central Bucks South 3-2 to complete opening round play with a perfect 3-0 record. The Crusaders are assured of a spot in next Friday’s championship game.

In the other game on Wednesday’s card, North Penn was a 9-4 winner over Souderton.

Here are the current standings

Father Judge 3-0

C.B. East. 2-1

Hatboro-Horsham 2-1

C.B. South 1-1

North Penn 1-1

Souderton 1-2

William Tennent 1-2

Archbishop Wood 0-3

The results and and remaining games are listed below

Wednesday, October 3

7:20 9 North Penn vs. Souderton 4

9:05 8 C.B. South vs. C.B. East 1

Friday, October 5

7:25 4 North Penn vs Father Judge 11

7:35 12 Hatboro-Horsham vs. Archbishop Wood 1

9:10 6 William Tennent vs. Souderton 9

Wednesday, October 10

7:20 0 Hatboro-Horsham vs. C.B. East 2

9:05 3 Archbishop Wood vs. Father Judge 11

Friday, October 12

7:30 Flyers Alumni vs. Team AHA

Wednesday, October 17

7:00 7 Father Judge vs. C.B. South 2

9:05 7 C.B. East vs. William Tennent 4

Wednesday, October 24

7:20 6 Archbishop Wood vs. William Tennent 13

9:05 7 Souderton vs. Hatboro-Horsham 9

Thursday, October 25

7:00 C.B. South vs. North Penn

Friday, October 26

5:45 Consolation 7 vs 8

7:25 Consolation 3 vs. 4

7:35 Consolation 1 vs. 2

9:10 Consolation 5 vs. 6

AHA Showcase About More Than Hockey

The Athletes Helping Athletes Showcase has become a fixture in local hockey circles. For the eight teams involved, (Central Bucks South, Central Bucks East, Father Judge, North Penn, Souderton, William Tennent, Hatboro-Horsham, Archbishop Wood) it is an opportunity to tune up for the season to come.

But it also an opportunity to promote the Athletes Helping Athletes effort as AHA founder Rick Leonetti explains.

“When the (AHA) kids come in here, I know they’re excited to be here,” Leonetti said Monday night. “I know the teams are excited to have them all which is even more beneficial. The parents get to sit back and watch the kids (participate in a ceremonial puck drop) and be a part of the team.

“Some of the teams let the let kids go into the locker room before the game. It’s an exciting thing because the kids get to do something typical.

“We have some high-school kids coming tonight that will host them and sit with them and talk to them. Whether they’re into the hockey games or not, the girls that are here tonight will sit with them and talk to them about everything under the sun.”

The showcase is now in its fifth season. North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis has brought his team to the showcase since Year Two.

“There are a few of my players that have been here since we started,” he said. “It just something that shows them that there’s more to ice hockey. Having some of these athletes here and cheering us on up against the glass, it’s really a thrill for them and it’s a great experience for us to kind of give back to them.”

The tournament will continue at Revolution Ice Gardens through October 26.