Saturday 3-22
At Robert Morris University Neville Island site
Class A
12:45 Garnet Valley 7 Avonworth 2 Final
Class AA
3:30 North Penn vs Cathedral Prep
Class AAA
6:15 Holy Ghost vs Seneca Valley
A video stream will be available at:
Category: Suburban High School Hockey League
North Penn Takes Flyers Cup AA Final
The game was hanging in the balance. With 4 minutes, 26 seconds gone in the third period of Wednesday’s Class AA Flyers Cup final, second-seed North Penn was holding a 3-2 lead over top-seeded Council Rock South.
But the Knights’ Sam Norton was sitting in the penalty box, having been assessed a minor penalty for high sticking and the Golden Hawks, who were preparing to embark on a two-minute power play, seemed to have momentum flowing their way.
But appearances were deceiving.
Instead of taking a conservative stance, the Knights stayed in an up-tempo mode and were rewarded with a shorthanded goal from Cole Pluck exactly 60 seconds into their supposed penalty kill.
Pluck’s effort led to four additional goals in the third period as North Penn pulled away to an 8-2 to claim the first Flyers Cup in school history. North Penn (20-3) will face Erie Cathedral Prep on Saturday in the Class AA State championship game in suburban Pittsburgh.
Pluck finished with two goals and two assists.
“This feel great he said. “The best moment of my life, so far.”
Pluck described his second goal, which altered the entire texture of the game.
“{C.R. South} needed a goal and were pressing up,” he said. “The {defenseman} just stepped up and I went around him.”
Pluck says the Knights are comfortable playing up-tempo hockey in shorthanded situations.
“We like to try to play offense on the kill sometimes,” he said.
The final period of Wednesday’s matchup was a distinctly separate entity than the first two, which saw Jake Weiner score twice for the Golden Hawks (22-3) and Pluck and Norton match him for North Penn. Daniel Cabrales gave North Penn a 3-2 lead 5:56 into the second frame and the Knights took the lead into the break for the post-second-period ice cut.
“We talked to them between the periods,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “We said we knew we had to come out and take it. They weren’t going to give it to us. {He told his team} we’ve got to come out and finish this game. And that’s exactly what we did, we dominated that third period.”
Pluck’s shorthanded goal gave North Penn a 4-2 lead. Norton followed with his second goal of the night with 7:40 remaining as South slowly unraveled; Nolan Shingle, Declan Leahy and Luke Haftel added goals for North Penn in the closing minutes, all of them coming on power plays; there were nine penalties called in the third period five of them against South. North Penn’s Thomas Sprague and South’s Luke Ralston were each drew simultaneous minors and misconducts as part of the emotional overload down the stretch.
South coach Joe Houk gave full credit to the Knights.
“They were the better team tonight,” he said. “We ran out of gas. We have it everything we had.
‘We’ve said three out of the last four years ‘We’ll be back here next year. But we can’t get over that hump.”
• The All-Tournament Team, selected by the Flyers Cup Committee included:
G Andy Norton North Penn
D Jake Maurer Council Rock South
D James Boyle North Penn
F Sam Norton North Penn
F Cole Pluck North Penn
F Jake Weiner Council Rock South
Norton, a sophomore, was named the winner of the Bobby Clarke Award as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
“It’s a great feeling to know I was the MVP,” he said, “but without the whole team, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in.”
Norton said winning the Flyers Cup title marked the completion of a season-long journey.
“We had a big goal from the start,” he said, “but completing it and getting ahold of this trophy, it’s unreal.”
Of the 25 players on North Penn’s Flyers Cup roster, only three were seniors and 11 were underclassmen.
North Penn 2 1 5—8
C.R. South 1 1 0—2
First-period goals; Jake Weiner (CRS) from Wesley Mallon, :54; Cole Pluck (NP) from James Boyle, 1:56; Samuel Norton (NP) from Norton, 6:50
Second-period goals; Weiner (CRS) from Jonah Weston and Jagger Smith, 3:34; Daniel Cabrales (NP) from Declan Leahy, 5:56
Third-period goals: Pluck (NP) from Boyle, 5:36 (sh); Norton (NP) from Pluck, 9:40 Nolan Shingle (NP) from Pluck, 13:14 (pp) Leahy (NP), unassisted, 14:05 (pp); Luke Haftel (NP) from Derek Lugura, 14:40 (pp)
Shots and saves unavailable
Flyers Cup Cup Class AAA and AA Finals Preview
Longtime rivals collide Wednesday night in a Flyers Cup finals doubleheader at Hatfield Ice. Here’s a look at the matchups.
Class AAA Final—6:00
1 Holy Ghost Prep (20-4-1)
Coach: John Ritchie
Players to watch: Brady Logue 25 goals, 18 assists, 43 points inc. 6 goals and 2 assists for 8 points in the tournament; Joe Spadaccino 10-17-27, 0-3-3 in the tournament; Brian Kinniry 18-6-24, 1-1-2 in the tournament; Jack Unger 1.74 GAA, .922 save percentage
How they got here: Defeated Owen J. Roberts 10-0 in the quarterfinals and Salesianum 5-2 in the semifinals.
2 LaSalle (17-7)
Coach: Wally Muehlbronner
Players to watch: Nole Donohue 14 goals, 19 assists, 33 points including 1 goal and 4 assists for 5 points in the tournament; Grant LaGreca 20-5-25, 3-0-3 in the tournament; Julian Tarsi 10-14-24, 0-4-4 in the tournament; Jake Rossi 1.90 GAA, .926 save percentage
How they got here: Defeated Devon Prep 7-0 in the quarterfinals and Father Judge 7-2 in the semifinals.
Ice chips: This game marks the fourth meeting of the season between the two teams. The Firebirds won the previous three, including the Founders Cup championship game for the APAC title 6-4 on February 26th.
The Explorers will be trying to win their third consecutive Class AAA Flyers Cup and their 13th overall (they’ve also won it once in Class AA). Their 13 overall titles is a record in any classification. Holy Ghost Prep has won four Flyer Cup titles, three times in Class AAA, once in Class AA.
Class AA Final—8:45
1 Council Rock South (22-2)
Coach: Joe Houk
Players to watch: Jake Weiner 43 goals, 21 assists, 60 points, including 2 goals, 2 assists, 4 points in the tournament; Jeremy Rayher 33-31-64, 4-2-6 in the tournament; Jordan Sarne 18-27-45, 1-3-4 in the tournament; Trey Prozzillo 2.56 GAA; .884 save percentage
How they got here: Defeated Owen J. Roberts 10-0 in the quarterfinals and Spring-Ford 7-2 in the semifinals
2 North Penn (19-3)
Coach: Kevin Vaitis
Players to watch: Cole Pluck 24 goals, 33 assists, 57 points; 3 goals in the tournament; Samuel Norton 28-28-53.0-3-3 in the tournament Nolan Shingle 23-18-41, 4-2 in the tournament; Aidan Quigley 1.91 GAA .923 save percentage; Andrew Norton 2.14 GAA .909 save percentage
Ice chips: The teams split two regular-season meetings. The Golden Hawks won the first 6-3 on November 20th, the Knights took the rematch 5-3 on February 5th.
South is seeking its fourth Flyers Cup title and its first since 2012. North Penn is seeking its first Cup.
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 12th 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
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
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
North Penn 5 Pennridge 0
It can be quite a challenge to face the defending state champions.
But North Penn had a resounding answer.
The Knights posted a 5-0 win over defending Flyers Cup and state champion Pennridge in Thursday’s quarterfinal game of the Flyers Cup at Hatfield Ice Arena.
Nolan Shingle got things started for North Penn, netting the first goal of the evening with an assist from Danial Cabrales and Samuel Norton with just over nine minutes to go in the first period.
James Boyle added a goal, assisted by Cabrales, with five minutes left in the second period to extend North Penn’s lead.
Cole Pluck scored back-to-back goals to put the game away in the third period. His first goal, coming less than two minutes into play, was assisted by Samuel Norton and Boyle while his second, coming six minutes later, was assisted by Shingle and Cabrales.
With 2:36 to go, Landon Hostetter iced the cake for the Knights with an assist from Chris Silvotti.
“We had a good team effort,” Pluck said. “We’ve got a great goaltender (Andy Norton) and we put a lot of trust in him.
“Late in the game, they were really trying to score and that opened up the ice a lot for us.”
The two teams are very familiar with each other. This was the third meeting between them this year. North Penn won the first game, 5-0, on December 19 and the rematch, 4-3, in overtime, on Jan. 29.
“We knew they were going to be good,” Andy Norton said. “We beat them two times this year, one in overtime, and coming into this game, we really knew that we had it.
“Our offense was really our defense. They played amazing.”
Norton made 24 saves in goal for North Penn.
“The second period I was definitely nervous just having that 1-0 lead but I had confidence that we’d score again,” he said.
It was the second time North Penn had shut out the Rams.
“That shows a lot,” Andy Norton said.
North Penn will take on third seed Downingtown East, a 4-0 winner over No. 6 Downingtown West, in the semifinals. The game will be Thursday at Hatfield at 8:45 p.m.
“This is the furthest we’ve gone in my four years here,” Pluck said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
The loss wasn’t just the end of the season for Pennridge; it was the end of an era. Longtime head coach Jeff Montagna is stepping down.
“We’re not built to come back,” Montagna said. “When they got the lead they were able to put three guys back there and we didn’t play very smart. We didn’t play a good game today. Sometimes that just happens.
“You go as far as your talent takes you. You lose enough guys, eventually it has to end. I’d rather it was 5-0 than 2-1 in overtime.
“To come out here and get a Flyers Cup win (Tuesday’s 7-2 opening round victory over Avon Grove), we’ve done that for nine straight years and I don’t think any other team in the league has done that, I’m proud of them.”
Montagna guided the Rams to the Flyers Cup and state championships in both 2022 and 2024.
“This was the first high school job I had, and I didn’t really know what I was doing,” he said. “It’s a vastly different experience from club hockey. I was blessed with talent and talent has a way of making coaches look a lot better than they are.
“To know that our players, that every time they walk in this rink for the rest of their lives, they can look up and see the banners and go to their drawers and get their rings out, to know that the players get to do that, it’s really special.”
Pennridge 0 0 0—0
North Penn 1 1 3—5
First-period goal: Nolan Shingle (NP) from Danial Cabrales and Samuel Norton, 7:53
Second-period goal: James Boyle (NP) from Cabrales, 16:56
Third-period goals: Cole Pluck (NP) from S. Norton and Boyle, 1:16; Pluck (NP) from Shingle and Cabrales, 7:33; Landon Hostetter (NP) from Chris Silvotti, 15:24
Shots: Pennridge 24, North Penn 30; Saves: Jacob Winton (P) 21, Andrew Slutsky (P) 4; Andy Norton (NP)
C.R. South 5 Boyertown 3
This was absolutely the comeback of the season. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Council Rock South overcame a 3-0 deficit in the final 11:19 of the third period to defeat Boyertown, 5-3, in Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the Flyers Cup at Hatfield Ice Arena.
“We flipped a switch,” said CR South senior defenseman Peter Pereborow. “We went into the locker room for that intermission (when the Zamboni was resurfacing the ice) and just changed everything. We realized we can’t let any team get to us and that we had to come out battling. Any team can beat any team and we just had to find a way to win.
“This is a lesson learned. When they scored that third goal, I was like, ‘We’re going to dig down and find a way to win this one’ and we did. I’m so proud of us.”
Boyertown, the tourney’s ninth seed, started strong with a pair of first period goals, scoring on their first shot when Noah Cutillo took a feed from Braydon Havrilla while the Bears were on a power play barely two minutes into the game.
Logan Brown added a second goal for Boyertown, assisted by Cutillo.
After a scoreless second period, the Bears added a third goal while playing shorthanded when Cutillo’s pass found Jax Drost, who got it into the net.
“I think in the early portion of the game we were playing good,” CR South senior center Jackson Mosely said. “We just weren’t playing to our potential. We were getting a lot of shots, but they weren’t going on net. I think we got away from our game a little bit. Obviously, it was frustrating because we were shooting so much and we couldn’t get a goal but eventually we were able to get them in.
“When they put in that third goal, I thought it was just going to be a harder game for us to win. I knew we were going to have to go through some adversity.”
Then everything changed.
The Golden Hawks, seeded first in the tournament, netted a power play goal on their 56th shot of the game when Jeremy Rayher took a pass from Jack Weiner and Jackson Mosley with 11:19 to go.
That was the first of many, as Weiner scored with an assist from Jake Maurer on CR South’s next shot on goal with 10 minutes to go. A minute and a half later, Jordan Sarne (Rayher assist) tied it up with a power play goal.
Less than a minute later, Jagger Smith netted the game winner with an assist from Weiner, who iced the cake with an empty net goal with 38 seconds to go.
“We had some good bursts of momentum in the first and second periods, but I think we really got on board when we got that first goal,” Mosely said. “We needed to get one to get a few. I think they knew how good we are and once we got that first one, they were shaken a little bit.”
The Golden Hawks held an astounding 68-23 advantage in shots on goal.
“They have a great goalie (Tyler Griffith) and that’s hard to work against,” said Weiner, a junior forward. “In playoff hockey, anything can happen any time. We were going hard the whole game; we were taking a lot of shots. We just needed to bury one. There was never a doubt in my mind that we would pull it off.
“Being the one seed puts a target on our backs, but I love that. I love teams coming at us. It makes us work harder and not want to give up.
We’re excited for the next game. We know business is on the table and we have to finish, and we’ll take what we learned in this game as we move forward. Never give up. Keep shooting. Find a way to win.”
CR South advances to the semifinals and will take on 12th seeded Spring-Ford, a 4-0 winner over fourth seed Haverford.
Boyertown 2 0 1—3
Council Rock South 0 0 5—5
First-period goals: Noah Cutillo (B) from Brayden Havrilla, 2:10; Logan Brown (B) from Cutillo, 9:40
Third-period goals: Jax Drost (B) from Cutillo, :40; Jeremy Rayher (CRS) from Jack Weiner and Jackson Mosely, 5:41; Weiner (CRS) from Jake Maurer, 6:59; Jordan Sarne (CRS) from Rayher, 8:34; Jagger Smith (CRS) from Weiner, 9:06; Weiner (CRS), 16:22
Shots: Boyertown 23, Council Rock South 68; Saves: Tyler Griffith (B) 63; Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 20
Flyers Cup Results for Thursday, 3-6
There are 10 Flyers Cup games on the schedule for Thursday night. By the time finishes Thursday night, 25 of the 41 teams that started the week will have been eliminated.
Class AAA Quarterfinals
Salesianum 4 Malvern Prep 2
Father Judge 6 St. Joseph’s Prep 2
Class AA Quarterfinals
Council Rock South 5 Boyertown 3
Spring-Ford 4 Haverford High 0
North Penn 5 Pennridge 0
Downingtown East 4 Downingtown West 0
Class A Quarterfinals
Garnet Valley 10 Plymouth Whitemarsh 0
WC East 3 Kennett 2
WC Henderson 7 Marple-Newtown 6 OT
Hershey 6 Penncrest 0
Flyers Cup Schedule Results, Tuesday March 4
Class AAA First Round
Holy Ghost Prep 10 Owen J. Roberts 0
The top-seeded Firebird blasted the eighth-seeded Wildcats Tuesday night at Hatfield Ice Arena in a Class AAA quarterfinal game that was terminated 1:07 into the third period.
Brady Logue scored three times for the Firebirds. John Gavaghan found the back of the net twice while five other players scored one goal each.
“We had a very simple plan tonight,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie, “to control the tempo and pace of the game against a team we were only able to video pre-scout against some common opponents.
“I would say we accomplished that but their team and goaltender deserve lot of credit for hanging in there.”
Holy Ghost Prep (19-4-1) will face either Malvern Prep or Salesianum in next Thursday’s semifinals.
Owen J. Roberts 0 0 0—0
Holy Ghost Prep 5 4 1—10
First-period goals: Brady Logue (HGP) from Anthony Valeriote, 3:01; Patryk Oszer from Michael Previtera, 7:32; John Gavaghan (HGP) from B. Logue and Valeriote, 9:25 (pp); William Harmar from Nate Romer, 10:19; B. Logue from Joe Spadaccino and Harmar, 16:15;
Second-period goals: B. Logue (HGP) from Joseph Kaufmann and Chase Logue, 11:04; C. Logue (HGP) from Kaufmann, 11:42; Kaufmann (HGP) from Spadaccino, 14:49; Gavaghan (HGP) from B. Logue, 16:07 (pp)
Third-period goal: Brian Kinniry (HGP) from Colin Bara, 1:07
Shots: O.J. Roberts 8, Holy Ghost Prep 43; Saves: Josh Burnheimer (OJR) 33, Jack Unger (HGP) 8
La Salle 7 Devon Prep 0—Check elsewhere on this site for details.
Class AA First Round
Spring-Ford 4 Central Bucks South 3—Dylan Cyr scored a shorthanded goal 5:11 into overtime as the 12th-seeded Rams stunned the fifth-seeded Titans at Hatfield Ice Arena.
Cyr’s winning goal, his second goal of the game, came when the Titans coughed up the puck behind their own net during a power play.
Spring-Ford trailed 3-1 going into the third period but goals from Stephen Falbo and William Schaeffer forced overtime.
The Titans trailed 1-0 after the first period but Logan Hood, Jake Stepp, and Ryan Frey all scored goals in a span of 3:04 to give South a two-goal lead with 7:48 left in the middle period.
The Titans closed the season at 17-7.
Spring-Ford will gave Haverford High in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Pennridge 7 Avon Grove 2—The seventh-seeded Rams took a 3-1 lead into the first period and broke the game open with four unanswered goals in the third at Hatfield Ice Arena. Nate McKean and Rush each scored two goals as the defending Class AA Flyers Cup and state champions began their defense. James Embert, Shane Dachowki, and James Young also scored goals. Dachowski contributed two assists while Jacob Winton recorded 28 saves in goal.
Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna spoke to the importance of his team’s fast start.
“Even with the new guy, we have a lot of experience,” he said. “We have. a lot of pride, we have. a lot of expectations. We’ve been here before, we know what needs to be done.
“We have enough guys in that locker room that understand that in this type of game you can win the game in the first period.”
Pennridge (14-8) will face second seed North Penn on Thursday in the quarterfinals.
Downingtown West 3 Central Bucks East 1—Gavin Widmer gave the 11th-seeded Patriot a 1-0 lead with five seconds left in the second period but the sixth-seeded Whippets responded with three goals in the third.
Downingtown West will face Downingtown East in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
The Patriots closed the season at 10-10-1.
Class A First Round
Kennett 7 Strath Haven 1
Hershey 4 Hatboro-Horsham 1—Four different player scored for the sixth-seeded Trojans. Vince Graziani scored for the Hatters (12-9)
Marple-Newtown 9 Palmyra 3
Hockey Happenings 