Jimmy Jacobs scored a goal 46 seconds into overtime to give the host Friars a 3-2 over St. Augustine Prep Monday afternoon at Ice Line in a non-league encounter.
Gabe Bedwell and Jonathan Holt also scored for Malvern Prep, which improved to 7-5 on the season.
St. Augustine Prep 1 1 0 0—2
Malvern Prep 0 2 0 1—3
First-period goal: Caleb Capecci (SA) from Ty Simonet, 10:16 (pp)
Second-period goals: Gabe Bedwell (MP) from Aidan Kelly and Jonathan Holt, 6:25; Grayson Esposito (SA) from Dom Riccardi, 6:59; Holt (MP) from Bedwell and Kelly, 10:29
Overtime goal: Jimmy Jacobs (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, :46
He is one of hockey’s unsung heroes. Whether he is working for the Philadelphia Flyers or covering an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game for La Salle, Sal Raffa is always on alert when he’s at an ice rink.
After more than two decades as an athletic trainer, Raffa is well aware of the risks that accompany the game of hockey, and cognizant of his responsibility to minimize those risks. When he’s on duty, very little happens on or around the ice that escapes his detection.
“You look for body language for one,” he said. “Whether it be a puck to the foot or hand, or writs, or elbow.
“You’re looking for body language. Typically, it’s body reaction. If you get hit in the throat, your hands automatically go to your throat.
“A lot of times, you look for the environmental stuff, meaning external, like the boards and things like that. A lot of times, if you’re not paying attention and I’ve seen it in my career, athletes will leave a door open for instance to the bench; you can impale a vital organ.”
Just as athletes must (or should) understand basic fundamentals of their sport, so it is for trainers. Raffa never takes that fundamental knowledge for granted.
“Every night, before I cover an event, I go through a process in my head even on the bench I remember the ABCs, (airways, breathing, circulation)” he said. “On the bench I’m looking and watching everything. You don’t know really what’s going to happen but the ABCs, just know that, and kind of practice that when you’re out of this environment, when you’re at home, and just practice, practice, practice.”
Raffa’s vigilance, and that of his colleagues, is particularly important at the high-school level.
“Myself and the other trainers, we’re the only medical professionals here,” Raffa points out. “Typically for a professional hockey game, you have physicians, you have an emergency room physician, you have paramedics, you have surgeons, you have everybody. “For (a high-school game) you’re going on your instincts, you’re looking for something that’s going on. The best thing you can do is rely on what you learn and what you know.”
‘What you know’in Raffa’s case encompasses a broad knowledge base acquired through his years in the profession. When he staffs an event, his medical kit will contain everything from an AED to tourniquets to QuikClot® so he’s prepared in the event of an emergency.
“I have a whole bunch of stuff like that,” Raffa said. “You’re relying on your instincts, you’re holding pressure, calling 9-11.”
One of trainer’s most important attributes is the ability to control his or her emotions in an emergency.
“You gave to remain calm if a kid is choking,” Raffa says. “The worst thing you want to do is freak out. Calm cool collected.
“Same thing on the ice. You see blood, Okay. It’s blood. Control the situation as best as you can. The environment is not a controlled situation because you’re (in a rink) but you can control it as best as you can.”
Raffa stresses the importance of knowing the emergency action plan of each rink he works in, whether be Hatfield Ice Arena, the Wells Fargo Center, or elsewhere. something he says all trainers should do.
“Before you work any events know what you’re dealing with,” he said. “Know where you’re going, and know the surroundings. Know 911, the paramedic’s number, know the closest hospital know all that stuff. You should know that before you cover any event.”
Mathis Pellerin delivered a hat trick as Wyoming Seminary downed the host Raiders 8-2 Friday afternoon at Ice Land.
Elian Estulin and Brendan Marino scored first-period goals for Hun School (8-10) which didn’t score again after taking the 2-0 lead.
The Raiders will host La Salle in an APAC game on Wednesday.
Wyoming Seminary 2 3 2—8
Hun School 2 0 0—2
First-period goals: Elian Estulin (HS) from Justin Laplante, 3:04; Brendan Marino (HS) from Estulin and Vincent Gregoire, 4:15; Yoan Gagnon (WS) from Mathis Pelletin, 7:00; Pellerin (YS) from Gagnon and Alexis Billequey, 10:22
Second-period goals: Xavier Beaulac (YS) unassisted, 13:19; Billequey (YS) from Vitello and Gagnon, 13:57; Oliver Van Der Groen from Ford Boock, 15:10
Third-period goals: Pelletin (YS) from Billequey, 1:08; Matyas Tichy from Daniel Svozil, 3:58; Pellerin (WS) unassisted, 16:33.
BRISTOL— Starting a game with a four-goal advantage is a big edge for a hockey team. Council Rock South was essentially in that situation Thursday night. The Golden Hawks scored four unanswered goals in the first period and went on to a 5-2 in over Central Bucks South at Grundy Arena.
The win lifted the Golden Hawks to 10-1-0-1 overall and their 5-0-0-1 mark in divisional play kept them in control of their own destiny in the SHSHL National Division chase.
Both teams came to the rink with lineups liberally sprinkled with junior varsity call ups necessitated by injuries and suspensions and it was Council Rock South which found its equilibrium first with its veterans leading the way.
Blaize Pepe scored the Golden Hawks’ first goal with 5:35 left in the opening period. Kevin Koles made it 2-0 just 61 seconds later and Jake Weiner extended his team’s lead 52 seconds after that with his team’s third goal in a span of 1 minute, 53 seconds.
Koles scored his second goal of the game with 47.3 seconds left in the period leaving the Titans (7-6-0-1, 4-3 in the division) in a very deep hole.
The second period was something of a fresh start for Central Bucks South, including a goaltender change; Jason Magaruh replaced Dom Varacallo in goal.
The Titans cut the deficit in half the middle period courtesy of Michael Nemec and Aydon Thierolf but could come no closer.
“(Council Rock South) is a good team,” said Central Bucks South coach Shaun McGinty. “They capitalized in the first period. We lost 4-0 in the first period, won 2-0 in the second period, and we lost 1-0 (on an empty net goal from Gavin Nisenzon) in the third period.
“We were giving chances (In the first period); a good team is going to capitalize and South is a good team.”
Council Rock South coach Joe Houk acknowledged how difficult it was for his team to stay focused after its strong start.
“It’s kind of hard when you get up to 4-0 he said. “You’ve got to find a way to sustain that level of play. When you get up 4-0 you can’t back off.
(Central Bucks South) is a good team. They’ve got some good players on that team and you can’t let them back in the game.”
Golden Hawks forward Bobby Gilbert praised his team’s effort
“It was a very hard game,” he said. “Everybody was battling hard, the playoffs are coming up. We seemed to dig more deep though, and we got the job done.”
C.B. South 0 2 0—2
C.R. South 4 0 1—5
First-period goals: Blaize Pepe (CRS from Daniel Filippov, 11:25; Kevin Koles (CRS) from Jake Weiner and Jeremy Rayher, 12:26; Weiner (CRS) from Koles and Pepe, 13:18 (pp); Koles (CRS) from Jordan Sarne, 16:13
Second-period goals: Michael Nemec (CBS) from Aydin Thierolf and Justin Keilman, 3:52; Thierolf (CBS) from Colin Mendham, 11:05 (pp)
Third-period goal: Gavin Nisenzon (CRS) from Koles 16:13 (en)
Shots: C.B. South 31, C.R. South 30; Saves: Dom Varacallo (CBS) 7 and Jason Magaruh (CBS) 18, Carson Lopez (CRS) 29
Gump Whiteside has announced his retirement as the hockey coach at Holy Ghost Prep. Whiteside will step down at the end of the 2023 season, his 15th as the Firebirds’ head coach.
In that span, Whiteside’s teams have won two Flyers Cup Class AAA titles (in 2015 and ’17), the 2015 Pennsylvania Class AAA state championship, and five National Scholastic Invitational tournament titles.
In 2020, Whiteside was honored by USA Hockey with the 2020 Bob O’Connor Award for Excellence in Coaching Education. The award is given each year to a member of the volunteer coaching staff of USA Hockey’s coaching education program.
Whiteside previously coached at Germantown Academy. He will remain at Holy Ghost Prep as the assistant director of athletics and assistant director for the Holt Center and facilities.
Chase Hannon scored two second-period goals in a three-minute span to give La Salle a 2-0 win over St. Augustine in a non-conference game Wednesday at Hatfield Ice.
The win evened La Salle’s record at 8-8-2 on the season.
BRISTOL—There wasn’t much to choose between Holy Ghost Prep and Malvern Prep Wednesday afternoon. The regulation 51 minutes wasn’t enough to decide things. It took Brady Baehser’s goal 2:03 into overtime to give the host Firebirds a 3-2 win in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at Gundy Arena.
The win lifted Holy Ghost Prep to 13-5 overall and 4-1-1-1 in the APAC. Malvern Prep dropped to 6-5 overall and 1-4-0-1 in conference.
Baehser said the Friars controlled the flow of the game for most of the afternoon.
“It looked like they were trying to slow down our speed and eliminate chances,” he said. ”When we did get chances, their goalie had a really good game, but we started to figure it out towards the end and got the win.”
Senior forward Zach Pers said the Firebirds’ experience (there are 10 seniors on the roster) made an impact in the late going.
“Going down the stretch in a game like that shows how deep our team is,” he said. “We got a couple fortunate bounces, guys looked like they were slipping on banana peels out there. But other than that, I think we have a good group here that knows what they’re doing and is up to any task.”
It could be argued the Friars deserved a better fate. They never trailed until Baehser scored his game-winning goal. Their goaltender, sophomore Matt Crawford, was stellar between the pipes, making 36 saves.
“Matt hasn’t had much time in the net this year,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “It was his second game. We played him against Hun last week and he looked good and we wanted to give him a shot against Ghost.
“He looked good. He stood on his hand, he kept control of the puck, and have us an opportunity to win the game.”
The Friars took a 1-0 lead on Jeremy Jacobs’ shorthanded goal with 5:16 left in the first period. The goal came while his teammate Colin Inskeep was serving an interference penalty.
Pers tied the game for Holy Ghost Prep with 2:16 left in the period. It was the only regulation goal scored with both teams at full strength.
Malvern Prep got another power-play chance early in the second period when the Firebirds’ Patrick Slook was sent to the penalty box for delay of game when he was judged to have purposely knocked his own net off its moorings. Jack Sharer scored the go-ahead goal for the Friars 3:52 into the period.
Kieran Mulholland tied the game for the Firebirds with 3:37 left in the second session.
The third period was scoreless, largely in part to Crawford’s efforts on goal. He stopped 14 shots in the final session.
The Firebirds began the overtime on a power play after the Friars’ Jimmy Jacobs was boxed for an obvious holding infraction with 1:41 left in regulation.
The winning goal was set up by Mulholland’s dash up the center of the ice. Crawford stopped his shot but Baehser put in the rebound for the win.
Firebird senior Ciaran Chambers credited his teammates for their patience.
“It was extremely important to wait for our time,” he said. “We knew as a unit, going into this game, that we are the better team. We knew that going in. We wanted to go out there and wait for our time because we knew it was going to come.”
Holy Ghost Prep’s Ciaran Chambers (in white) battles with Malvern Prep’s Jack Sharer in front of Malvern Prep goaltender Matt Crawford during Wednesday’s game. (Photo by Robert Barnes)
Malvern Prep 1 1 0 0—2
Holy Ghost Prep 1 1 0 1—3
First-period goals: Jeremy Jacobs (MP) from Jimmy Jacobs, 11:44 (sh); Zach Pers (HGP) from Ronnie Selzer and Kieran Mulholland, 14:49
Second-period goals: Jack Sharer (MP) from Jimmy Jacobs and Jeremy Jacobs, 3:52 (pp); Mulholland (HGP) from Brady Baehser and Landon Stout, 13:23 (pp)
Overtime goal: Baehser (HGP) from Mulholland, 2:03
Shots: Malvern Prep 22, Holy Ghost Prep 39; Saves: Matt Crawford (MP) 36, Colin Mudrick (HGP) 20
CLICK HERE for more information about Holy Ghost Prep
CLICK HERE for more information about Malvern Prep
The Grundy Skate Shop is a full-service hockey pro shop inside the Grundy Arena, offering a great selection of equipment, brands and various services. We do a full range of repairs as well as offer custom hockey jerseys. Owner Bill Keyser, has over 25 years experience in the industry and specializes in skate sharpening, including profiling. Please visit our Facebook page or stop in and check us out!
Jeffrey Hammond scored two goals, including the game winner with 2:08 left in the third period proved to be the game winner as St. Joseph’s Prep downed St. Augustine Prep on Monday at Holly dell Ice Arena. John Lynch and Patrick Sweeney also scored for St. Joseph’s Prep (14-3-2).
Kai Ackerman scored twice for the Hermits.
The Hawks built a 3-0 lead on first-period goals from Lynch, Sweeney, and Hammond.
Ackerman scored with 2:21 left in the middle period to get St. Augustine Prep on the scoreboard, then added his second goal with 11:55 left in the third period.
Hammond’s second goal have his team a two-goal advantage before Enzo Fanelli scored for the Hermits to make it a one-goal game with 1:48 left in the final period. got the win in goal, making 32 saves.
Ajay White earned the win in goal with 32 saves.
St. Joseph’s Prep 3 0 1—4 St. Augustine Prep 0 1 2—3
First-period goals: John Lynch (SJP) from Joe Samango, 6:45; Patrick Seeeney (SJP) from Dante Passio and Samango, 12:28; Jeffrey Hammond (SJP) from Eric Seo and Lynch, 12:49
Second-period goal: Kai Ackerman (SAP) from Enzo Fanelli and Dale Curtis,14:39
Third-period goals: Ackerman (SAP) from Curtis and Fanelli, 5:05; Hammond (SJP) from Tristan Winata and Matthew Giuliani, 14:52; Fanelli (SAP)) from Ty Simonet and Robert Romarino, 15:12. Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 18, St. Augustine Prep 35
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