New Faces Coming Aboard as SHSHL Prepares for New Season

Three new head coaches will be making their debuts when the Suburban High School Hockey League launches its 2024-25 season.

Bill Mooney will be behind the bench at Neshaminy, taking over for veteran Bill Keyser, Vince Forti has replaced Dave Cox at Plymouth Whitemarsh while Scott Ryon is now in charge at Souderton, following the footsteps of Ryan Uchniat.

A total of 15 teams will skate under the SHSHL umbrella during the 2024-25 season. The National Division will include defending Class AA Flyers Cup and state champion Pennridge and defending SHSHL National champion Council Rock South along with Central Bucks East, Central Bucks South, Central Bucks West, Council Rock North, Neshaminy, North Penn, Pennsbury, and Souderton.

The American Division will include Hatboro-Horsham, which will play a full league schedule this season, along with Abington, Plymouth Whitemarsh, Springfield, and Wissahickon. Bensalem, which won the division title a year ago, will not field a team this season.

The new season will kick off on Wednesday, October 30 with a four-game card. Pennridge will take on Pennsbury in a 7:20 start at Grundy Arena while Hatfield will host Central Bucks East against North Penn (7:20), Abington against Wissahickon (8:30), and Central Bucks West against Central Bucks South (9:00).

Pennridge 7 Thomas Jefferson 5

HAVERFORD TMomentum TOWNSHIP—Momentum in a hockey game is often fleeting, and can shift at a moment’s notice. There are occasions however, when momentum shits can prove decisive. So it was for Pennridge on Saturday afternoon.

On two occasions, the flow of the game shifted in the Rams’ favor, allowing them to prevail 7-5 over Thomas Jefferson in the Pennsylvania Cup Class AA championship game at the Skatium.

It’s the second time in three seasons the Rams (23-2-2) have claimed a state title. They bested the Jaguars in overtime two years ago.

Kevin Pico finished his final high-school game with a goal and three assists.

“I’m happy now,” he said. “I’m sad it’s my last high-school game, but I’m happy we got it done, especially with this group and how much we had to fight through to get here, everything we had to play through, and all the adversity we had to go through to get here. It feels great right now.”

Saturday’s Rams-Jaguars rematch required that Pennridge play from behind at the start. Jake Strock beat Jacob Winston with the first shot of the game 27 seconds in. Scotty Allan made it a 2-0 game with a power-play goal at the 6:03 mark and Pennridge goaltender Jacob Winton seemed off his game.

At that point, Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna used his timeout. He said he was confident his team would rebound.
“We knew with the firepower we throw out there, we were going to be fine,” he said. “Jacob was off the first couple shots and we knew he would settle down.

The Ram were looking for a momentum shift. It got one when Colin Dachowki scored his team’s first goal 10:59 into the period.

“The goal Colin scored changed the whole game,” Montagna said.

Andrew Savona and Pico scored goals to give Pennridge a 3-2 lead 4:32 into the second period. But the Jaguars responded with goals from Lucas Blose and Nathan Weiss to take a 4-3 lead at the 7:26 mark.

Just over a minute later there was another momentum shift in Pennridge’s favor, with repercussions that reverberated the rest of the afternoon.

With 8:26 left in the period, Winton collected a centering pass from Thomas Jefferson’s Andrew Oliver and froze the puck. Strock, arriving late to the scene, took a poke at Winton with his stick and was accessed a five-minute major penalty for spearing plus a game misconduct, leaving the Jaguars to go the rest of the way minus their leading regular-season scorer.

It took Savona just 12 seconds to tie the game. James Rush put Pennridge in front for good with 5:29 left in the period and scored his second goal of the game 4:09 into the third frame, Pennridge’s third goal in a span of 12:23 of playing time.

Liam Mahoney made it a one-goal game once more with 10:24 still remaining, but Shane Dachowski scored his second goal of the game with 8:04 left.

Savona noted the impact the spearing call on Strock had on the game.

“It was difficult,” he said, “but it was just huge for us. It gave us a lot of momentum. We were able to get two goals.

Thomas Jefferson 2 2 1—5

Pennridge 1 4 2—7

First-period goals: Jake Strock (TJ) from Ryder McGuirk and Andrew Oliver, :27; Scotty Allan (TJ) unassisted, 6:03 (pp); Colin Dachowski (P) from Andrew Savona and Kevin Pico, 10:59

Second-period goals: Shane Dachowski (P) from Kevin Pico and James Rush, 1:45 (pp); Pico (P) from Nick Young, 4:32; Lucas Blose (TJ) from Nathan Weiss, 5:39; Weiss (TJ) from Allan, 7:26; Savona (P) from Colin Dachowski, 8:46 (pp); Rush (P) from Savona, 11:31(pp)

Third-period goals: James Rush (P) from Josh Kelly 4:09; Liam Mahoney (TJ) 6:36; Shane Dachowski (P) from Pico, 8:56

Shots: Thomas Jefferson 48, Pennridge 33 Saves: Ronald Porupsky (P) 26, Jacob Winton (P 43

Pennridge 7 C.R. South 3

Some are of the opinion that a hockey goaltender occupies the most important position in any team sport. Those who hold that view had it reinforced Wednesday night over the course of the Class AA Flyers Cup final.

At evening’s end, the scoreboard at Hatfield Ice indicated that top-seeded Pennridge had defeated second-seeded Council Rock South 7-3 to win its second Cup title in three years. It also indicated that the Golden Hawks had outshot the Rams 52-29 over the course of the 51-minute game.

All this is indicative of the performance Jacob Winton in the Pennridge net. When the Hawks were surrounding him like birds targeting their prey, Winton held firm, even as his team was being outshot 9-1 in the early going.

When the Rams (22-2-2) finally broke through at the other end, on Shane Dachowski’s goal 9:14 into the first period and not incidentally the first goal of the game, the tone of the evening shifted dramatically.

Even after the Golden Hawks’ Chase Tovsky tied the game with 6:43 left in the period the Rams were not deterred. Kevin Pico put Pennridge back in front with 90 seconds left in the opening session and his team never trailed again.

Ilya Kudzinau tied the game for South (24-2) 23 seconds into the second frame but momentum continued to flow in the Rams’ direction. Dachowski and Pico scored goals to give their side a 4-2 advantage.

At that point South coach Joe Houk used his timeout and pulled goaltender Trevor Rakszawski, who had surrendered the four goals on 13 shots. Trey Prozzillo took his place.

At the other end of the ice, Winton remained resolute. He allowed a single goal over the final 33:37 of regulation.

“Making some of those [early] saves kind of set the tone for later in the game,” he said. “I think it just kind of put us in the right mindset going into the second and third periods.”

Houk felt a number of his players’ shots misfired. “We shot just as many pucks over the net as at him,” he said. “We pressured the goalie with less shots last game (in a semifinal win over Boyertown) than we did this game.

“We beat ourselves. I think we’re a better team than them but they got all the bounces tonight, they got the opportunities, and my goaltender was not very strong.”

Winton spoke to the momentum shift that occurred after Dachowski scored the game’ first goal.

“As soon as you score a goal momentum shifts,” he said. “We just kind of kept going from there.”

The Rams did just that. Colin Dachowski’s goal made it a 5-2 game 3:35 into the third period. Ilya Muhkin answered for South and it was a 5-3 game with 8:20 still remaining but Shane Dachowski and Pico closed the door on the Hawks and opened another for themselves; Pennridge will face Penguins Cup champion Thomas Jefferson Saturday at the Skatium in the state championship game (2:00 start).

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna said Wednesday’s win should eliminate any doubt about the credibility of his program.

“We graduated eight really important guys two year ago,” he said. “The team had to listen, for two years, about us being a one-line hockey team. To win again tonight is a complete and total validation of this program.”

Ice chips—Winton was named the Bobby Clarke Award winner as the tournament’ Most Valuable Player. The rest of the All-Tournament team included Shane Dachowki (the tournament’s leading scorer), Colin Dachowski, Pico, and Blaise Pepe and Kevin Coles from Council Rock South.

Council Rock South 1 1 1—3

Pennridge 2 2 3—7

First-period goals: Shane Dachowski (P) from Andrew Savona, 9:14; Chase Tovsky (CRS) from Blaize Pepe, 10:17; Kevin Pico (P) from Tyler Manto and Savona, 15:30

Second-period goals: Gavin Nisenzon (CRS) from Ilya Kudzinau :23; Shane Dachowski (P) unassisted, 4:18 (pp); Pico (P) from Shane Dachowski, 13:38

Third-period goals: Colin Dachowski (P) from Ryan Mikulich, 3:35; Ilya Muhkin from Nikita Volbuiev and Kevin Koles, 8:40; Shane Dachowski (P) from Pico and Nick Young, 9:20; Savona (P) from Colin Dachowski, 14:30

Shots: Council Rock South 52, Pennridge 29; Saves: Trevor Rakszawski (CRS) 9 and Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 13, Jacob Winston (P) 49

C.R. South 3 Boyertown 1

One of the unique elements of the Flyers Cup tournament is the finality of it. All season long there is another game or another round of playoffs to nurse the pain of defeat.

The stakes are starkly different come March. Win or go home. And on Thursday night, Boyertown and Council Rock South made it clear they didn’t want to go home.

It was the Golden Hawks who prevailed, 3-1 in a Class AA Flyers Cup semifinal at Hatfield Ice. Second-seeded South (24-1) will face top-seeded Pennridge next Wednesday at 8:45 at this same venue in what is expected to be a scintillating final.

Third-seeded Boyertown closes the season at 20-3.

Thursday’s game wasn’t bad as an appetizer.

The Hawks had the better of the play offensively but encountered a hot goaltender in Tyler Griffith who recorded 41 saves, few of which were of the routine variety.

“That’s kid’s probably the best goaltender we’ve seen all year,” said South coach Joe Houk. “We got [44] shots today, they were quality shots. He was phenomenal.

“And people warned me about him ‘If he’s hot, he’s going to steal a game from you.’ But, we persevered, we dug deep, and we survived to play next week.”

Largely due to Griffin’s efforts (16 saves) the first period was scoreless, and it was the Bears who grabbed the evening’s first lead when Noah Cutillo beat Trevor Rakszawski 1:19 in to the second frame. Jake Weiner answered for South at the 6:31 mark.

The score remained deadlock to period’s end. By that point, the Hawks had a 32-13 shot advantage.

As the teams took the ice for the third period following an ice cut, the enormity of the moment hung in the air.

“Their goaltender had a solid game,” said South’s Evan Mostoller. “I’ll give him that. But we just had to find that back of the net.”

Mostoller did just that from outer edge of the right circle 4:31 into the final period.

“It’s may last year here and I kind of want to make a run to states and everything,” he said. I’ve been in the Flyers Cup three times now …. This the year I think we’re going to make it.

As the clock counted down the Bears found themselves stymied by not only Rakszawski but the defense in front of him; Boyertown managed but our shots in the third period.
South’s final goal, which came with 38 seconds remaining, was credited to Gavin Nisenzon when he was pulled down from behind in the Boyertown defensive while skating toward an empty net; the referee on the play awarded goal.

Boyertown 0 1 0—1

C.R. South 0 1 2—3

Second-period goals: Noah Cutillo (B) from Luke Hennessy, 1:44; Jake Weiner (CRS) from Nikita Volobuiev, 6:31

Third-period goals: Evan Mostoller (CRS) from

Peter Pereborow and Blaise Pepe, 4:31; Gaven Nisenzon (CRS) unassisted, 16:22

Shots: Boyertown 20, Council Rock South 44; Saves: Tyler Griffith (B) 41, Trevor Rakszawski, 19

Flyers Cup Schedule Thursday 3-14

Thursday, March 14

Class AAA Semifinals

La Salle 5 Holy Ghost Prep 2

Malvern Prep 3 St. Joseph’s Prep 1—Teague Murray and James Young scored first-period goals and the second-seeded Friars went on to beat the third-seeded Hawks Thursday night in a Class AAA Flyers Cup semifinal at Ice Line.

Henry Tesoriero also scored for Malvern Prep (11-8) which will meet La Salle in the final.

Tristan Winata scored for St. Joseph’ Prep (16-7)

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 1—1

Malvern Prep 2 0 1—3

First-period goals: Teague Murray (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs and Jonathan Holt, 12:11 (pp); James Young (MP) from Logan Love, 13:47

Third-period goals: Henry Tesoriero (MP) unassisted, 15:25 (en); Tristan Winata (SJP) unassisted. 16:09

Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 36, Malvern Prep 35; Saves: Jacob Aranda (SJP) 32; Matt Crawford (MP) 35

Class AA Semifinals

Penneidge 10, Downingtown West 1—

The top-seeded Rams scored six goals in the first period and rolled to the win over the fourth-seeded Whippets in a Class AA semifinal Thursday night at Hatfield Ice.

Shane Dachowswki scored four goals for Pennridge (21-2-2) and added an assist. Nolan Shaw provided two goals. Kevin Pico, Josh Kelly, Tyler Manto, and Andrew Savona all scored goals.

Joseph Butter scored for Downingtown West (18-5)

Downingtown West 0 1 0

Pennridge 6 2 2

Council Rock South 3 Boyertown 1

Championship games will be played Tuesday, and Wednesday, March 19, and 20.

Flyers Cup Update 3-8-24

41 teams began play in the Flyers Cup tournament four days ago. 33 have been eliminated. Here’s what’s ahead.

Tuesday, March 12

Class AA Semifinals

Marple Newtown vs. Unionville 6:15 at Ice Line

Garnet Valley vs. Hershey 8:30 at Ice Line

Wednesday, March 13

Girls Semifinals

Avon Grove vs. Conestoga 6:45 at PNY

Downingtown West vs. West Chester Henderson 5:00 atPNY

Thursday, March 14

Class AAA Semifinals

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

St. Joseph’s Prep vs. Malvern Prep 7:45 Ice Line 1

Class AA Semifinals

Downingtown West vs. Pennridge 8:45 at Hatfield Gray

Boyertown vs. Council Rock Smith 8:30 at Hatfield Blue

Championship games will be played Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, March 18, 19, and 20.

C.R. South 12 Spring-Ford 0

It didn’t take long for Council Rock South to assert its superiority Tuesday night. The Golden Hawks scored goals on their first three shots and five of their first seven en route to a 12-0 rout of Spring Ford in a Class AA Flyers Cup first-round game at Grundy Arena that was called after the second period.

South (22-1), the second seed in the tournament, advances to a quarterfinal game on Thursday against Cherokee at a site and time to be determined

Tuesday’s 12-goal output produced a plethora of impressive numbers. Kevin Koles scored the first goal of the night just 31 seconds after the opening faceoff. He went on to score an additional goal and add five assists for seven points.

“We’ve got to take every game,” the senior defenseman said, “so we know what we’re up against. We can’t take any game lightly because we know we’re going to have tougher competition later down the road, so we’ve got to play every game the same.”

Koles assisted on Nikita Volobuiev’s scoring effort and added a second goal himself to put South up 3-0 just 2:54 into the opening period. Blaise Pepe and Jeremy Rayher added additional goals before the period ended.

The 15th-seeded Rams did not record their first shot on goal until less than 90 seconds remained in the opening period.

Evan Mostoller assisted on Koles’s first goal and Pepe’s. The senior defenseman noted that postseason success requires that everyone on the roster pitch in.

“You just have to know what your role is on the team,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if the [opponent] is not the best team, you’ve just got to play your hardest.”

Mostoller says that one element of a player learning his role and fitting in involves not worrying about making a mistake.

“Play your game,” he said. “Play the way you play. If you make a mistake, someone will tell you what you did wrong.”

Volobuiev scored two goals to complete a hat trick. Rayher, Jordan Sarne (twice), Jonah Weston, and Jake Weiner all scored goals.

Volobuiev’ second goal made it am 8-0 game with 6:17 left in the period.

Spring-Ford coach Todd Lambart lifted starting goaltender Grant Olson at that point; the junior received a round of applause from the spectators and the South bench as he left the ice after facing 27 shots.

For the Hawks however, the postseason journey continues. Koles and his teammates are aware they’re being targeted by the rest of the tournament field.

“We know everybody’s trying to beat us,” he said. “It’s been like that for the last four years I’ve been in the league.

“We’ve got to stay focused and do what we can.”

Spring Ford 0 0—0

C.R. South 5 7—12

First-period goals: Kevin Koles (CRS) from Evan Mostoller, :31; Nikita Volobuiev (CRS) from Koles, 1:37; Koles (CRS) unassisted, 2:54; Blaise Pepe (CRS) from Mostoller and Koles, 6:14; Jeremy Rayher (CRS) from Pepe and Koles, 6:45

Second period goals: Jake Weiner (CRS) from Volobuiev, 2:56; Jonah Weston (CRS) from Chase Tovsky and Blaise Pepe, 5:09; Volobuiev (CRS) from Jake Weiner, 10:43; Volobuiev (CRS) from Koles, 10:48; Rayher (CRS) from Pepe and Tovsky, 11:15; Jordan Sarne (CRS) from Koles and Jackson Mosley, 11:53; Sarne (CRS) from Rayher and Weston, 16:17

Shots: Spring Ford 3, Council Rock South 33; Saves; Grant Olson (SF) 19 and Casey Dunleavy (SF) 2; Trevor Rakszawski 3

Flyers Cup Schedule Tuesday 3-5

Nine games are on this evening’s card

Class AA First Round

Tuesday, March 5

Pennridge 10 Bensalem 2

Downingtown East 3 Central Bucks East 2

Downingtown West 9 Souderton 4

Haverford High 6 North Penn 2

Council Rock South 12 Spring Ford 0

.Cherokee 6 Lower Merion 3

Boyertown 7 Pennsbury 2

Central Bucks South 5 Avon Grove 2

Class AAA Quarterfinal

Holy Ghost Prep 5 Father Judge 1

Unionville 5 P-W 2

The bigger the stakes, the more missed opportunities and mistakes hurt. Plymouth Whitemarsh learned that season the hard way in its Flyers Cup opener against Unionville Monday night.

The Longhorns turned in in a methodical workmanlike performance over the eighth-seeded Colonials en route to a 5-2 win in a Class A first-round game at Hatfield Ice.

The eighth-seeded Colonials closed their season at 13-5 The ninth-seeded Longhorns (9-11) advance to play top seed and three-time defending champion West Chester East Thursday night at Ice Line at a time to be determined.

Plymouth Whitemarsh found itself in a hole early on. Anthony Kulp beat Colonial netminder Julian Lucks from the left circle just 24 seconds after the opening faceoff.

The Colonials also hurt themselves with penalties. Jason Segal was called for boarding just 1:25 into the opening period, and picked up the 10-minute misconduct that went with it. Segal’s teammate Tim Murphy drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at 3:36 and this time Unionville struck; Alex Tomaszewicz made it a 2-0 game with a power-play goal at the 4:40 mark.

Michael Ta scored twice in the second frame to give the Longhorns a 4-0 lead but the Colonials kept battling; indeed they outshot the Longhorns 31-24. But they were unable to solve Unionville goaltender Zach Tomaszewicz until the third period. By that point, Cole Blackburn tallied the Longhorn’s fifth goal 3:21 into the final session.

Charlie Spause finally got Plymouth Whitemarsh on the scoreboard at the 5:27 mark. Issac Mishkin added a shorthanded effort with 1:20 left in the game.

Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Dave Cox noted that his team battled to the finish despite the steep uphill climb it faced.

“We dug ourselves a hole early,” he said. “We found some momentum and really could have capitalized on the chances that we got.”

After Spause’s goal. Cox wished for just a little more time.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said, “especially for our seniors. I couldn’t be more proud of our leadership group, our senior group.”

Cox said the heart his team displayed will leave him with warm memories of the 2023-24 season.

“Especially [The SHSHL American Division final],” he said. “We never stopped playing. When these guys get going and they band together, it’s truly the most honorable thing for a coach.”

Although they were the home team, the Colonials wore their alternate red jerseys, styled after those of the Montreal Canadians, instead of the customary white. The jerseys are early nominees for the Most Impressive Uniforms in the tournament,

Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 0 2

Unionville 2 2 1—5

Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 0 2

First period goals: Anthony Kulp (U) from Cole Blackburn, :24; Alex Tomaszewicz (U) from Riley Andrews,4:40 (pp)

Second-period goals: Michael Ta (U) from Tomaszewicz, 8:45; Ta (U) from Corrado Ditoro, 16:04

Third-period goals: Blackburn (U) from Tripp Young and Kulp, 3:21; Charlie Spause (PW) from Tim Murphy, 11:33 Issac Mishkin (PW) from Jason Segal, 15:40

Shots: Unionville 24, P-W 31; Saves: Zach Tomaszewicz 29, Julian Lucks (PW) 19

Flyers Cup Schedule-Monday, March 4

Seven first-round games will kick off the 45^th Flyers Cup Tournament Monday night

Class AAA Quarterfinals

La Salle 6 Perkiomen Valley 1

Malvern Prep 8 Devon Prep 0

St. Joseph’s Prep 5 Salesianum 3

The fourth quarterfinal: .4 Holy Ghost Prep vs. 5. Father Judge i scheduled for Tuesday at 8:30 at Grundy Arena.

Class A First Round

Unionville 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh 2

Lower Dauphin 9 Radnor 7

7. Penncrest 5 Palmyra 4

6. Springfield-Delco 3 West Chester Henderson 2 OT

All Flyers Cup games will be streamed LIVE on the Flyers Cup YouTube Channel