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Garnet Valley 7 Avonworth 2

Garnet Valley’s up-tempo offense was on display Saturday afternoon for all the world to see. Nolan Stott and Kevin Walton each scored two goals and each contributed two assists as the Jaguars pounced on Avonworth 7-2 to win the Class A Pennsylvania at the Robert Morris Island Sports Center in suburban Pittsburgh.

It marks the first state championship for Garnet Valley (23-) which finished its season as Central League, Flyers Cup, and state champions.

Head coach Stephane Charbonneau said the state title marked the climax of a long journey that featured contribution from the entire group.

“We all had a job to do,” he said. “We went one by one. We asked our guys ‘What is your job for your team and what are you going to do and what are you going to sacrifice?’

“Everyone had a job to do and these kids are awesome.”

Jake Morrow gave the Jaguars a 1-0 lead 7:18 into the opening period. Cooper Powell answered for the Antelopes at the 9:43 mark but Garnet Valley counterattacked by scoring six unanswered goals.

Kaden Longo’ goal with 3:32 left in the first period put Garnet Valley in front for good. Walton and Stott added goals in the second period and Aiden Delfin, Stott, and Walton in the third to give the Jaguars a 7-1 lead with 4:34 left in the game.

Garrett Stoops stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced in goal.

This game marked the 12th straight victory for the East in the state title game.

Garnet Valley 2 2 1—7 23-2

Avonworth 1 0 1—2

First-period goals: Jake Morow (GV) fron Nolan Stott,7:18 (pp); Cooper Powell (A) unassisted, 9:43; Kaden Longo (GV) unassisted 14:28;

Second-period goals: Kevin Walton (GV) from Dylan Orr, 4:16; Stott from A.J. Tenhuisen, 6:53

Third-period goals: Aiden Delfin (GV) from Walton, 1:04; Stott (GV) from Walton, 2:32 (pp); Walton (GV from Delfin and Matt Abbonizio, 3:20; Austin Dzadovsky from Connor Ralston 12:26 (sh)

Shots: Garnet Valley 33, Avonworth 26; Saves: Garrett Stoops (GV) 24, Danny Mack (A) 26

North Penn 4 Cathedral Prep 1 NP 21-3

North Penn 0 0 3—4

Cathedral Prep 0 1 0—1

Second-period goal: Tucker Kinnear from Ethan Cunningham and Chris Bruschi, 5:19

Third-period goals: Samuel Norton (NP) unassisted, 2:49 (pp); James Boyle (NP) from Norton and Cole Pluck, 13:21 (pp); Daniel  Cabrales (NP), 13:43 unassisted;  Nolan Single (NP) 16:17 (en) unassisted

Shots: North Penn 35, Erie Cathedral Prep 27; Saves: Andy Norton (NP) 26, Ian Brown (CP) 31

Flyers Cup Class A Finals Peview

It’s no surprise that Garnet Valley and West Chester Henderson reached Class A Flyers Cup final (7:00 Monday) at Ice Line. The Jaguars and the Warriors were the top two seeds. Here’s a look at how they got there.

1 Garnet Valley (21-2)

Coach: Stephane Charbonneau

Players to watch: Kevon Walton 36 goals, 23 assists, 59 points, inc. 3 goals and 1 assist in the tournament; Jake Robinson 21-25-46; 2-1-3 in the tournament; Nolan Stott 24-18-42, 1-3-4 in the tournament; Garrett Stoops .909 save percentage, 1.59 GAA

How they got here: Defeated Plymouth Whitemarsh 10-0 in the quarterfinals and West Chester East 2-1 in the semifinals.

2 West Chester Henderson (16-6)

Coach:  Tom Aughey

Players to watch: Blake Platz 31 goals, 18 assists 49 points inc. 3 goals and 2 assists in the tournament; Hunter Haas 26-43-49; 4-3 in the tournament; Andrew Dent 4-2-6 in the tournament; Matt Cieslukowski 2.81 GAA, .884 save percentage

How they got here: Defeated Marple-Newtown 7-6 in the quarterfinals and Hershey 7-4 in the semifinals.

Ice chips: The two teams met once during the regular season with Garnet Valley taking a 5-2 bwin on January 31. Nolan Stott paced the Jaguars with two goals and an assist …Garnet Valley won the Class A Flyers Cup in 1998. Henderson claimed the title in 2007. The Jaguars are taking a 12-game winning streak into the finals. The Warriors have won three of their last four.

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

Flyers Cup Off and Running

Listed below is the schedule through Wednesday.

 Monday, March 3

Class A First Round

Plymouth Whitemarsh 9 Springfield-Delco 6 (details to follow)

Class A Play-Ins

Strath Haven 2 Moorsetown 1 (details to follow)

Hatboro-Horsham 6 Radnor 0—The 14th-seeded Hatters upset the 11th-seeded Raptors at Ice Line. Vince Graziani and Victor Wilkins each scored three goals for the Hatters, Eric Miller turned aside all 14 shots he saw. Hatboro-Horsham (12-8) will take a four-game winning streak into a first-round meeting with Hershey on Tuesday

Girls Play-In

West Chester East 11 Pennridge 5—The sixth-seeded Vikings took control with six goal in the first period. Kylie Chandler led the way for East with five goals and two assists.

Tuesday, March 4

Class AAA First Round

1 Holy Ghost Prep vs 8 Owen J Roberts 6:15 at Hatfield Blue

2 La Salle vs 7 Devon Prep 6:00 at Hatfield Gray

Class AA First Round

8 Conestoga vs 9 Boyertown 8:30 at Ice Line

5 Central Bucks South vs 12 Spring-Ford 8:30 at Hatfield Blue

7 Pennridge vs Avon Grove 8:10 at Hatfield Gray

6 Downingtown West vs 11 Central Bucks East 6:15 at Ice Line

Class A First Round

Strath Haven vs 5 Kennett 6:30 at Ice Line

Hatboro-Horsham vs Hershey 8:30 at Skatium

7 Marple-Newtown vs 10 Palmyra 6:30 at Skatium

Wednesday, March 5

Girls Quarterfinals

4 West Chester Henderson vs 5 Radnor PNY

WC East vs 3 Conestoga 6:00 at PNY

Place your link HERE to promote your product or service during the tournament. E-mail us at rwoelfel 2013@gmail.com

Playoff Scoreboard Wednesday 2-26

        APAC

Founders Cup Final

Holy Ghost Prep 6 La Salle 4

SHSHL

National Division Semifinals

Council Rock South 4 Pennridge 1

Central Bucks South 4 North Penn 3

American Division Semifinal

 Hatboro-Horsham 8  Springfield-Montco  6

Central  Semifinals

Haverford 3  Marple Newtown 2

Garnet Valley 7 Penncrest 4

Pioneer Finals

Boyertown 9 Spring-Ford 3

Ches Mont Semifinals

Kennett 3 Downingtown West 0

West Chester Henderson 6 Downingtown East 3

Girls National Finals

Downingtown West 12 Avon Grove 9

Girls American Finals

West Chester Henderson 7 Conestoga 2

Playoff Ponderings—APAC

Monday, February 10

APAC Founders Cup Play-in Game

(5) Hun School at (4) Malvern Prep

3:30 at Ice Line

Hun School 5-15-2, 0-8 in APAC

Coach: Erik Szeker

Players to watch—Jake Beck 1 goal, 3 assists, 4 point in APAC games; Elliot Wong 4.25 GAA, .882 save percentage; Patrick Donoghue 5.25 GAA, .883 save percentage

Malvern Prep 4-9, 3-5 in APAC

Coach: Bill Keenan

Players to watch—Teague Murray 5 goals, 2 assists, 7 points; James Young 1 goal, 6 assists, 7 points Andrew Starck 4 goals, 2 assists, 6 points; Matt Crawford 2.47 GAA, .905 save percentage; Riley Doyle 3.24 GAA, .856 save percentage

What’s at Stake?—Winner faces Holy Ghost Prep in Founders Cup semifinals on February 19

It’s About More Than the Score

It’s been a difficult season at Malvern Prep if you go strictly by the numbers. The Friars are just 4-9 on the season and 3-5 in the APAC as they prepare to host The Hun School on Monday in the Founders Cup playoffs play-in game (3:30 at Ice Line). At one point, they lost seven consecutive games but they’ve won two of their last three heading into the postseason.

But there is much more to high-school hockey and high-school sports in general than wins and losses. There are life lessons to be learned and relationships to be nurtured.

 Bill Keenan understands that and in fact embraces that mindset. Now completing his sixth season as the Friars’ head coach, he reflects on what he wants the nine seniors on his roster to take away from their high-school hockey experience.

“The thing I want them to take away is that there’s more than just hockey, right?,” he said. “One of my philosophies is Malvern Prep is a great school, they have a great culture. My job is to yes, coach hockey but it’s to create better young people. I hope that they take that away from this game, this experience.

“It’s just a family and the brotherhoods that they make within the game, with their teammates, that’s what really carries them for the rest of their lives. They’ll look back and they’ll remember the guys they were playing with shoulder to shoulder. Guys they were out there practicing with. So, to me, that’s what I want them to take away.”

One lesson Keenan wants his players to learn is how do deal with adversity, on the ice and off; how to deal with the gut punches and occasional low blows that life hands out. He says hockey can be an effective teaching tool in that regard.

“Adversity comes in all facets of your life,” he said, “and with the game of hockey you’re going to have ups, you’re going to have downs, you’re going to have good games you’re going to have bad games.

“You can even break down the shifts, you’re going to have good shifts and bad shifts.

“You just have to be a resilient person and I think we have a resilient team. Yes, we’ve had a rough year. We had a good couple games where we fell short a goal or two but it’s good just to see the team start to rebound, hopefully through the end of the season and the Flyers Cup.”