Flyers Cup Results Thursday, March 12

Class AA Semifinals

North Penn 4 Downingtown West 1—(see story)

Boyertown 4 Council Rock South 3—Brayden Kotzen scored with 38 seconds left in regulation to give second-seeded Boyertown the come-from-behind win over the third-seeded Golden Hawks Thursday night at Ice Line.

The Bears (17-5), who will face North Penn in Tuesday’s final, never led until Kotzen’s game winner; the teams traded goals all evening.

Dylan Remick tied the game for Boyertown with 1:26 remaining in regulation; he also assisted on the game winner.

Jake Weiner scored the Golden Hawks’ first two goals, one in each of the first two periods. Allen Pronin also scored for South, which closed the season at 17-6.

Council Rock South 1 1 1—3

Boyertown 1 1 2—4

First-period goals: Jake Weiner (CRS) from Jordan Sarne, 7:55 (sh); Zach Rosen from Brayden Havrilla and Joseph Bilotta, 12:57

Second-period goals: Weiner (CRS) from Wesley Mallon, 9:55 (pp) Nate Ochranek (B) from Brayden Kotzen and Logan Brown, 11:04

Third-period goals: Allen Pronin (CRS) from Weiner and Trey Prozzillo, 4:54; Dylan Remick (B) from Jax Drost and Kotzen, 15:34; Kotzen (B) from Brown and Remick, 16:22

Shots: Council Rock South 20, Boyertown 27; Saves: Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 23, Lucas Yancey (B) 17

Class AAA Semifinals

Holy Ghost Prep 3 Malvern Prep 2 OT— (see story)

La Salle 4 St. Joseph’s Prep 1—Luke Bauman scored two goals and William Padulka and Patrick Lunsford also scored goals as the third-seeded Explorers (8-13) topped the second-seeded Hawks Thursday night at Ice Line.

John Greenwalt assisted on three goals for La Salle, which will face top-seeded defending champion Holy Ghost Prep in Tuesday’ final.

Cole Gargon scored for the second-seeded Hawks, who finished the season at 17-8.

The game was tied at 1-1 early in the second period when Baumann and Lunsford scored goals five minutes apart to give La Salle a 3-1 lead with 6:21 left in the period.

Baumann added his second goal 5:16 into the third period.

La Salle 1 2 1—4

St. Joseph’s Prep 1 0 0—1

First-period goals: William Padulka (L) unassisted, 9:47; Cole Gargon (SJP) from Michael Castelli, 14:07 (pp)

Second-period goals: Luke Baumann (L) from John Greenwalt, 5:33; Patrick Lunsford (L) from Greenwalt and Andrew Frantz, 10:39 (pp)

Third-period goal: Baumann (L) from Greenwalt and Lunsford, 5:16 (pp)

Shots; St. Joseph’s Prep 41, La Salle 23; saves: Declan Geary (SJP) 19, Anthony Foster (L) 40

Flyers Cup Results Wednesday March 11

Wednesday, March 11

Girls Semifinals

Avon Grove 9 West Chester East 1

Lower Merion 3 Downingtown West 2

Flyers Cup Class AA Semifinals Preview

North Penn vs. 5. Downingtown West 8:45 at Hatfield Ice

North Penn

Coach: Kevin Vaitis

Record: 24-1

Key players: So. Andy Norton .927 save %; Sr. James Boyle 2 goals, 0 assists, 2 points in tournament; Jr. Samuel Norton 3-4-7; Sr. Nolan Shingle (F), 3-5-8

In this tournament: Def. Shawnee 9-2 in first round; def. Owen J. Roberts 6-3 in quarterfinals

5. Downingtown West

Coach: Brett Mackell

Record: 13-8-1

Key players: Sr. Justin Adams .926 save %; So. Peter Budaj 0 goals, 8 assists, 8 points; Jr. Braiden Maya 3-1-4; Jr. Brady Cusa 2-2-4; Logan Brown 2-2-4; Nate Ochranek 2-2-4

In this tournament: Def. Pennridge 6-2 in first round; def. C.B. East 6-2 in quarterfinals

2. Boyertown vs. 3 Council Rock South 8:30 at Ice Line

2. Boyertown

Coach: Joe Slowik

Record: 16-5

Key players: Lucas Yancey .915 save % Brayden Kotzen 5 goals, 2 assists, 7 points; Declan Black 0-4-4;

In this tournament: Def. Souderton 12-2 in first round: def. Pennsbury 5-3 in quarterfinals

3. Council Rock South

Coach: Joe Houk

Record: 17-5

Key players: Trey Prozzillo .922 save %; Jake Weiner 6 goals, 1 assist, 7 points; Jordan Sarne 2-1-3; Connor Holland 1-1-2

In this tournament: Def. Spring-Ford 6-3 in first round; def. C.B. South 3-1 in quarterfinals:

Ice chips: North Penn is attempting to become the first Class AA champion to successfully defend since Downingtown East in 2019. Last year’s title was its first. Council Rock South won championships in 2009, ’11, and ’12. Downingtown West and Boyertown are each seeking their first Flyers Cup.

North Penn 6 Owen J. Roberts 3

Over the course of his four-year career at North Penn, James Boyle has made it a point to step up when his team needed him most. He came up big Thursday night.

Boyle set the tone by scoring his team’s first two goals in the second period as the Knights bested Owen J. Roberts 6-3 at Hatfield Ice Arena to advance to the Class AA Flyers Cup semifinals. The top-seeded and defending-champion Knights (24-1) will face fourth seed Downingtown West next Thursday in the semifinal at the same venue (6:30 start).

Boyle, who is regarded as one of the area’s premier defensemen, missed Tuesday’s first-round win over Shawnee due to illness.

“It was good to get back,” he said, and get a couple right away.”

North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis cited Boyle’s contributions to the Knights’ success over the past two seasons.

“I said at one point that {North Penn’s Samuel Norton} is probably the best player in the league,” Vaitis said, “but James is right up there. He’s honestly, the energy of this team.

“We won on Tuesday but it wasn’t our best game. We were missing something; were missing James.”

The evening’s opening goal was set up when Norton made a dash down the left wing and made a cross-ice pass to Boyle who collected the puck between the circles and beat Wildcat goaltender Page Faith on the netminder’s glove/left side 6:55 into the frame. It was his 16^th goal of the season.

His 17^th came five-and-a-half minutes later when Vaitis used his timeout with the Knights in the midst of an extended power play; the Wildcats’ Maximillian Connell was serving a double minor for boarding and unsportsmanlike conduct. One minute, 37 seconds later, Quinn Rafter was sent off for slashing Vaitis took advantage of the situation to give his power-play unit a breather.

“I think that was huge,” Boyle said, “to settle down and just gather ourselves to capitalize on the five-on-three. I think we needed it, just to settle ourselves down.”

North Penn’s two-man advantage was extended when the Wildcats’ Jaxton Rafter drew a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct followed by a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct

By the time things had quieted down, Nolan Shingle and Chris Silvotti had added power play goals and North Penn had a 4-0 lead.

“We had a full five-on-three for two minutes,” Vaitis said. “It was a 1-0 game at the time. Our power play unit was out there at the beginning of {the four-minute power play}. We called a timeout to draw a couple things up, but also to give them a breather.

“It was a big moment for us, and the boys did a great job on that power play.”

Declan Leahy extended North Penn’s lead 5:38 into the third period before Brody Majcher got Owen J. Roberts (13-8) on the scoreboard with 9:42 left in regulation. Shingle added a sixth goal for the Knights before Richie Pupek and Tyler Moyer added goals for the Wildcats.

Emotions were on edge throughout the final period. By evening’s end, each team had been called for 10 penalties.

Now the Knights will prepare for Downingtown West.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” Vaitis said. “They’re a good team down there in the Intercounty League. We have some time off here to go rest up, practice Monday, watch some film on Monday, and get ready for therm.”

Owen J. Roberts 0 0 3—3

North Penn 0 4 2—6

Second-period goals: James Boyle (NP) from Samuel Norton and Nolan Shingle, 6:55; Boyle (NP) from Norton, 12:18: Shingle (MP) from Ismael Cabrales and Norton, 13:21; Chris Silvotti (NP) from Shingle, 14:21

Third-period goals: Declan Leahy from Silvotti and Gavin Lombardi, 4:38; Brody Majcher (OJR) from Colin Daugherty, 7:18; Norton (MP) from Shingle, 9:44; Richie Pupek (OJR) from Daugherty, 14:14; Tyler Moyer (OJR) from Majcher and Tanner Nau, 15:21

Shots: OJR 41, North Penn 50; Saves: Page Faith (OJR) 44, Andy Norton (NP) 38

Council Rock South 3 Central Bucks South 1

By Karen Sangillo

It’s one of the great truths in sports.

It’s difficult to beat the same team three times in a season.

Council Rock South showed just how true it is, beating Central Bucks South, 3-1, in the quarterfinals of the Flyers Cup Class 2A tournament on Thursday night at Hatfield Ice Arena.

It was the fourth meeting of the season between the two SHSHL rivals. They split in the regular season, but CB South shut out the Golden Hawks, 2-0, in the league semifinals.

“We were definitely thinking about that,” CR South captain Jake Weiner said. “This is bigger and I think we did a good job. They’re a great team. They’ve got some of the best players over there.

“We just worked hard and played our game the right way and we won. It’s always great to beat a rival. It’s hard to beat the same team three times in a row, but also we knew how they were going to play. They like to bring the guy low and shoot up high with the pass, so we played that perfect.”

The second period made up for an uneventful first period.

Connor Holland netted his first goal of the tournament to put the third-seeded Golden Hawks on the board first, seven minutes into the second frame.

With 2:24 remaining Weiner received a two-minute roughing penalty, and that was the opening the Titans needed. Eleven seconds into the power play, Ryan Montagna scored his fourth goal of the tourney for sixth seed CB South to tie the game.

“I was so proud of them,” said CB South coach Josh Sklar. “They battled their way back. They faced that adversity. They didn’t give up. They kept pushing and made good things happen.

“When you see a team as many times as we’ve seen each other, they know what we have and we know what they have. There’s no more surprises. It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row.”

Thirty seconds into the third period, Jordan Sarne scored what would prove to be the game winner. Weiner capped the evening with an insurance goal.

“It was a good game,” said CR South coach Joe Houk. “We had a game plan. We had to shut them down in the neutral zone because that’s where they beat us the last two games. If you control the neutral zone, that’s where you win or lose games.

“Our game plan was a good one and we stuck to it. Our kids battled hard and persevered. We got that early goal in the third period and that helped.”

Weiner capped the evening with an insurance goal.

“When they tied it up, that’s when the killer instinct kicked in for us,” Weiner said. “We started working really hard, doing what we needed to do. It was beautiful.”

The Golden Hawks will face second seed Boyertown, a 5-3 winner over No. 10 Pennsbury, in the semifinals on Thursday at Hatfield.

“It’s a must-win game,” Weiner said. “We have a lot of seniors here, we’ve all lost the last three years in a row and we’ll do everything we can to try to beat them.”

CB South had a young roster this season and can expect continued growth next year.

“We lost I think eight seniors so we had a lot of people coming in,” Sklar said. “Lot of people stepping into roles but they grew into them as the year went on. We gave them the tools and they took it and ran. They did everything we could ask for. This was a very good learning experience and next year we’ll hit the ground running again.”

CB South 0 1 0—1

CR South 0 1 2—3

Second period goals: Connor Holland (CRS) from Aidan Judge and Jordan Sarne, 6:57; Ryan Montagna (CBS) from Dominic Gibson, 14:47;

Third period goals: Sarne (CRS) from Jake Weiner, 0:30; Weiner (CRS) from Chase Stratton and Allen Pronin, 6:18

Shots: CB South 25, CR South 27; Saves: Nathan Napolitano (CBS) 20

Flyers Cup Results Thursday, March 5

Class AA Quarterfinals

Boyertown 5 Pennsbury 3—The 10th-seeded Falcons held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 but fell to the second-seeded Bears at Ice Line. Shane Gleisener, Connor Gray, and Francis DeLucia scored for Pennsbury

Council Rock South 3 vs. Central Bucks South 1

Downingtown West 6 Central Bucks East 2—Alex Wilson and Ethan Cenci scored for the 13th Patriots in the loss to the fifth-seeded Whippets at Ice Line. Graziani scored twice for the Hatters. Joey Magnin also scored.

North Penn 6 Owen J. Roberts 3

Class A Quarterfinals

Penncrest 9 Garnet Valley 0

Kennett 8 Hatboro-Horsham 3— Thord-seeded Kennett built a 6-0 lead over the sixth-seeded Hatters at Ice Line.

Hershey 4 West Chester Henderson 3

West Chester East 6 Marple Newtown 2

Wednesday March 4

Girls Quarterfinals

West Chester East 10 Conestoga 3

Lower Merion 10 Radnor 0

Downingtown West 10 Radnor 0

Tuesday, March 3

Class AAA Quarterfinals

La Salle 6 Father Judge 2 see story for details

Malvern Prep 6 Devon Prep 4—Ryan Jacobs scored two goals as the fourth-seeded Frairs bested the fifth-seeded Tide at Ice Line to earn a spot in the semifinals against top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep. James Young, Cole Scarbinsky, Pax Hoishik, and William McCullough all scored for Malvern Prep. Ryan Caterino made 25 saves in goal.

St. Joseph’s Prep 8 Salesianum 0—Cole Gargon scored twice and six other players added one goal each as the second-seeded Hawks shut out the seventh-seeded Sallies at the Skatium. Aiden Quinn, Connor Martin, Frankie Ely, Cole Sullivan, Bradan Fisher, and Vincent Burnett all scored for the Prep, which will face La Salle in next Thursday’s semifinals. Declan Geary earned the shutout in goal.

“I thought we played with incredible speed and that really opened up our offense,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach Charlie van Kula. We knew Salesianum was going to be a good test. In the past we may have let our foot off the gas a bit, but I am proud of how our guys stayed dialed in, stayed positive, and played for one another.”

Class AA First Round

Owen J, Roberts 7 Avon Grove 5

Central Bucks South 4 Downingtown East 3—Ryan Montagna’s goal with 11:03 left in regulation proved to be the game winner as the sixth-seeded Titans outlasted 11th seed Downingtown East at Hatfield Ice. It was Montagna’s third goal of the game. He also added three assists.

Pennsbury 8 Haverford 5—Jacob Sarver scored three goals an added an assist an Shane Gleisner provided two goals and three assists as the 10th-seeded Falcons bested seventh seed Haverford at the Skatium to advance to the quarterfinals.

Council Rock South 6 Spring-Ford 3—Jake Weiner scored five goals for the third-seeded Hawks, two in the third period

Boyertown 12 Souderton 2—Maxwell Ryon and Matthew Ceoss scored for the 15th-seeded Indians in the loss to the second-seeded Bears at Ice Line.

North Penn 9 Shawnee 2—the top-seeded and defending champion Knights scored four goals in the first period and went on to the win over the 16th-seeded Renegades. Samuel Norton, Gabriel Dunn, Nolan Shingle, and Chris Silvotti each scored twice. Derek Lugara also scored for North Penn which will face Owen J. Roberts in the quarterfinals.

Monday, March 2

Class AA First Round

Central Bucks East 6 Conestoga 3—Trailing 3-2 after two periods, the 13^th-seeded Patriots scored four goals in the third and stunned the fourth-seeded Pioneers Monday night at Ice Line. Evan Asimmakopoulos scored what proved to be the winning goal with 13:44 left in regulation. Ethan Cenci extended the lead with a power-play goal with 12:18 left and added an empty-net goal with 21 seconds remaining.

Cole Kleindienst, Morris Ostrobrod and Samuel Gottesman also scored for East whih will face North Penn or Shawnee in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Downingtown West 6 vs. Pennridge 2—Fifth-seed Downingtown West broke the game open Monday night with three second-period goals and built a 5-0 third-period lead before Ryan Burke and Lanndon Bishop scored for the 12^th-seeded Rams, who closed the season at 6-12-1.

Class A First Round

Garnet Valley 2 Palmyra 1

West Chester Henderson 6 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3 see story for details

Marple Newtown 5 West Chester Rustin 1

Hatboro-Horsham 10, Radnor 0 see story for details

SHSHL Preview 2-24-26

SHSHL Playoffs Wednesday 11-25

National Division Semifinals

1 North Penn vs. 4 Central Bucks South

6:30 at Hatfield Ice

North Penn

Coach: Kevin Vaitis

Record: 20-1

Key Players: Samuel Norton 24 goals, 32 assists 56 points; Chris Silvotti 23-27-51; Nolan Shingle 26-20-46; James Boyle 13-18-31; G Andy Norton .930 save %, 1.44 GAA

4. Pennsbury

Coach: Ryan Daley

Record: 13-5-1

Key players: Shane Gleisner 45 goals, 22 assists, 67 points; Shane Hicks 22-24-46; Jacob Sarver 19-21-40; Brendan Milliken .885 save%, 3.64 GAA

This year:

12-3 North Penn 6, Pennsbury 2

1-28 North Penn 7 Pennsbury 3

2 Council Rock South vs 3 Central Bucks South

7:20 at Grundy Arena

Coach: Joe Houk

Record: 15-4

Key players: Jake Weiner 38 goals, 19 assists, 57 points; Jordan Sarne 17-17-34; Allen Pronin 12-16-28; Wesley Mallon 1-10-11; Trey Prozzillo .899 save %, 2.55 GAA

3. Central Bucks South

Coach: Josh Sklar

Record: 14-5

Key players: Ryan Frey 19 goals, 28 assists, 47 points; Ryan Montagna 28-26-34; Joey Slobodrian 15-19-34; Dominic Gibson 18-11-29; Nathan Napolitano .889 save %, 3.23 GAA

This year:

11-12 CR South 3 C.B. South 0

2-11 C.B. South 5 C.R. South 2

Ice chips: The two National Division semifinal winners will face each other in Thursday’s championship game. the highest seeded finalist will have home ice.

Council Rock South is trying to win the National Division title for fourth consecutive year. That would match the Titans’ streak from 2015-18; they also won titles in 2012 and ‘13. The Golden Hawks also claimed titles in 2010 and 2020. North Penn won previous titles in 2002 and ’09. Pennsbury’s only league championship came in 2021.

American Division Semifinal

2 Hatboro-Horsham vs 3 Springfield

2 Hatboro-Horsham

Coach: Shane Smith

Record:

Key players: Vince Graziani 32 goals, 28 assists, 60 points; Nathan Nemchinov 23-21-44; Luca Staffieri 16-16-32; Eric Miller .873 save %, 2.63 GAA

3. Springfield

Coach: Don Quinn

Record: 7-10

Key players: Grayson Quinn 26 goals, 15 assists 41 points; Gavin McManus 14-13-27; Kellen Warman 7-15-22; Emmett Kline .827 save %, 5.44 GAA

Ice chips: The winner of this game will face top-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh for the Division title Wednesday at 8:30 at Hatfield Ice. The Hatters also won the American Division title in 2018. They are seeded sixth for the upcoming Class A Flyers Cup. Springfield, which has never won a SHSHL title, was not selected for the tournament

Pennsbury 8 Pennridge 4

If you’re a hockey fan who likes to see lots of goals, Grundy Arena was the place be Monday night. Pennridge and Pennsbury put on a fireworks display that featured seven first-period goals before the Falcons, who overcame an early 2-0 deficit, pulled away to an 8-4 win in the opening round of the SHSHL National Division playoffs.

Fourth-seeded Pennsbury (13-5-1) will face top-seeded North Penn in a Wednesday semifinal. The fifth-seeded Rams (6-11-1) will be off until they face Downingtown West in the opening round of the Flyers Cup.

The barrage of goals started early on. James Rush scored a pair of goals four-and-a-half minutes apart to put Pennridge up 2-0 7:33 into the opening period.

Shane Hicks woke up the Falcons when he scored two goals in a span of to tie the game. Jacob Sarver put Pennsbury in front with 5:09 remaining before Ryan Burke tied the game for the last time.

Hicks completed a hat trick with a power-play goal with 1:07 left in the period and Shane Gleisner extended the lead 54 seconds into the second period.

Rush completed his own hat Trick with a power-play goal of his own 3:24 into the second period but Pennridge would not score again.

Connor Gray and Sarver added goals for Pennsbury in the second period and Hicks scored his fourth goal of the game late in the third.

“I love the way we played tonight,” said Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley. “We got off to a little bit of a slow start nut we responded really well and never looked ack.

“After getting the goal support, we committed to our systems, particularly in the {defensive} zone.”

Pennridge 3 1 0—4

Pennsbury 4 3 1—8

First-period goals: James Rush (Pr) from Kaden Gunning and Landon Bishop, 3:01; James Rush (Pr) unassisted, 7:33; Shane Hicks (Pb) from Jacob Sarver, 9:03; Hicks (Pb) from Shane Gleisner and Sarver, 10:56; Sarver (Pb) from Jaxon Pinto. 11:51; Ryan Burke (Pr) from Dean Venner, 13:36; Hicks (Pb) from Gavin Schlotter and Sarver, 15:53 (pp);

Second-period goals: Gleisner (Pb) unassisted, :54; Rush (Pr) from Bishop and Venner, 3:24 (pp); Connor Gray (Pb) from Schlotter and Francis DeLucia, 9:59; DeLucia (Pb) from Hicks, 13:39

Third-period goals: Hicks (Pb) unassisted, 15:48

Shots: Pennridge 28, Pennsbury 29; Saves: Andrew Slutsky (Pr) 21, Brendan Milliken (Pb) 24

C.B. South 2 C.B. East 1

Ryan Frey’s goal with six minutes left in the third period gave Central Bucks South a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Central Bucks Easy Monday night in the opening round of the SHSHL National Division playoffs at Hatfield Ice.

The third-seeded Titans (15-5) will face second seed Council Rock South in a semifinal game on Wednesday. The sixth-seeded Patriots (6-12-1) will be idle until next week when they will face Conestoga in the opening round of the Class AA Flyers Cup.

It was East who struck first Monday night. Ethan Cenci’s goal 4:43 into the second period gave the Patriots a 1-0 lead. Joey Slobodrian tied the game for South 2:44 into the final period.

Frey’s game winner came off assists from Dom Gibson and Dom DiMarino.

Nathan Napoliano got the win in goal, making 17 saves. Cameron Young game up big in goal for the Patriots, making 46 saves.

“The team stayed the course,” said South coach Josh Sklar. “Everyone bought into the system and kept pushing.

“We ran into a hot goalie and we just needed to keep shooting and traffic in front.”

Sklar told his players to take a back-to-basics approach.

“We told them to simplify their game,” he said, “and make the smart, easy decision with the puck”

• The Titans are seeking their first SHSHL title since 2018 when they won their last of four straight.

Central Bucks East 0 1 0—1

Central Bucks South 0 0 2—2

Second-period goal: Ethan Cenci (CBE) from Samuel Gottesman and Tyson Cowan, 4:43

Third-period goals: Joey Slobodrian (CBS) from Ryan Frey and John Lord, 2:44; Frey (CBS) from Dom Gibson and Dom DiMarino 11:00

Shots: C.B. East 18, C.B. South 48; Saves: Cameron Young (CBE) 46, Nathan Napolitano (CBS) 17

The Hockey Happenings podcast previewing the Flyers Cup tournament is available HERE

SHSHL Playoff Schedule

The Suburban High School Hockey League playoff schedule for 2026 is now set. Pairings and game times are listed below.

Monday, February 23

National Division First Round

Central Bucks South vs 6. Central Bucks East 7:00 at Hatfield
Pennsbury vs. 5 Pennridge 7:10 at Grundy

Wednesday, February 25

National Division Semifinals

North Penn vs. Pennsbury or Pennridge 6:30 at Hatfield
Council Rock South vs. Central Bucks South or Central Bucks East 7:20 at Grundy

American Division Semifinal

Hatboro-Horsham vs. 3. Springfield 8:30 at Hatfield

Thursday, February 26

National Division Final

@ 6:10 at Hatfield

American Division Final

8:20 at Hatfield

@ If Council Rock South is the highest seeded finalist this game will be played at Grundy