Neshaminy 5, Pennsbury 4

BRISTOL— It was a rivalry game that matched all expectations. Noah Seewagen scored with 7:52 remaining in the third period to give Neshaminy a 5-4 win over Pennsbury Thursday night at Grundy Arena in a Suburban High School Hockey League game that had significant ramifications.

The ‘Skins improved to 6-4-1 overall and 5-2 in National/Continental Division play and, it should be noted, 2-0 against Pennsbury this season. The Falcons (9-1-0-1, 6-1 in divisional play) suffered their first regulation loss.

Both teams were trying to strengthen their case for a favorable placement on the Flyers Cup bracket when the field is revealed on March 28.

Neshaminy was taking the ice 24 hours after a loss to Central Bucks East and ‘Skins coach Matt DeMatteo said the loss gave his team a jolt.

“I think (Wednesday) night was a huge wakeup call,” he said. “I think the older guys realized how few games are left and they knew they had to being it tonight.”

The key sequence in the game commenced 63 seconds into the second period. With Pennsbury holding a 1-0 lead, the Falcons’ Eddie Bossler drew a five-minute major penalty for high sticking.

It took Nolan Geria just 30 seconds to tie the game and Matt Buchinski put Neshaminy in front just 26 seconds after that.

The ‘Skins never trailed again. 

Brendan MacAinsh tied the game for the Falcons at the 5:29 mark of the period while the teams were skating four on four but goals from Max Gallagher and Jacob Helms gave Neshaminy a two-goal lead before the period ended.

Erik Eisler and Justin Marlin scored third period goals for the Falcons but Seewagen’s goal off a Pennsbury turnover proved decisive.

“They came to play and we were just a little undisciplined,” said Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley. No matter the circumstances, these games are always tight and that’s what makes a great rivalry.”

•Thursday’s game was the third annual Gannon Cup game, played in memory of former Neshaminy School District students and hockey players Patrick Gannon and Phil Oseredzuk. Both would have been seniors this year and both played club hockey with many of the players who took the ice Thursday night,

Gannon died as the result of an an accident in July of 2016 at age 13 and Oserdzuk perished in an accident in May of 2019 at age 16.

More than $6,100 was raised Thursday night for charitable organizations that were established in memory of the young men who perished.

Neshaminy’s Rob Seewagen noted that while Thursday’s win meant a lot to he and his teammates, the evening was about something more important.

“At the end of the day, it’s more remembering Pat and Phil,” he said. “They were our age group in terms of the class of 2021. It hurts that they’re not here but this why we come out and do this every year. We love them and we want to honor them and their families.”

The Gannon Cup is named for Mike Gannon, Patrick’s father a longtime coach with the Grundy Senators youth program.

 Neshaminy 0 4 1—5

Pennsbury 1 1 2—4

First-period goal: Brendan MacAinsh (P) from Shane Siegmund and Reece Millman, 13:51

Second-period goals: Nolan Geria (N) from  Thomas Gallagher, 1:43 (pp); Matt Buchinski (N) from Max Gallagher and Geria, 2:09, (pp); MacAinsh (P) from Shane Siegmund and Reece Millman, 5:29; Max Gallager (N from Michael Knipple, 7:15; Jacob Helms (N) unassisted, 13:57

Third-period goals: Erik Eisler (P) from Justin Marlin, :33 (pp); Marlin (P) from Jake McCaw, 7:49; Noah Seewagen (N) from Max Gallagher, 8:08
Shots: Neshaminy 40, Pennsbury 36; Saves: Brian Nelson (N) 32, Marek Jorgenson (P) 35

SHSHL Announces Playoff Format

                                  

The Suburban High School Hockey League has officially announced its playoff format.  The postseason will begin on Monday, March 29. Six teams vie for the National/Continental division championship while four other teams will square off for the American Division crown.

On Match 29, the number National/Continental seed will face the number six seed while the fourth seed will face the fifth seed. The winners will advance to play the top two seeds in the semifinals Wednesday, March 31.

The American Division semifinals will also be contested on March 31 with Wissahickon, the top seed, facing the fourth seed and the second seed going against the third seed. The championship games in both classes will be played on Thursday, April 1.

The results of the playoffs will have no bearing on the seedings for Flyers Cup tournament, which will be announced on March 28.

Abington Using Win over Truman to Launch Playoff Push

          Abington 6, Truman 1

  The postseason doesn’t officially begin for another week and a half but Abington has already adopted a playoff mindset. The Galloping Ghosts are in a stretch that wills see than play four games in a span of 10 days. The results will determine not only their status for the SHSHL American Division playoffs but perhaps earn them a place on the Class AA Flyers Cup bracket,

The first step in the process took place Wednesday night as Abington scored a 6-1 decision over Truman at the Bucks County Ice Sports Center.

Griffin Carpenter scored twice and four other players added one goal each as Abington improved its record to 6-3

“Tonight’s game started Monday night,” said Abington coach Ken Brzozowski. “We had an outstanding practice. We knew that we had four games coming up, games we know that we can compete in. We had an outstanding practice and that transferred into tonight. They did everything that I asked them to do.”

The Galloping Ghosts were forced off the ice for a time earlier this year because of Covid issues. But the team made the most of the down time,

“We got shut down for 10 days,” Brzozowski said. “we got together, we watched some game film over Zoom. I think that helps as well, whenever the kid can see themselves on the ice, and then come to practice and try to fix those things, as simple as they may be, I think paid dividends tonight.”

Senior Defenseman Holden Brooker said the Monday practice helped he and his teammates get their skates back under them following the layoff.

“We didn’t have a game for one week and we were looking a little sluggish,” he said. That practice definitely helped us out a little bit. It definitely got us moving tonight and hopefully we can do that our next game too.”

With three games remaining in the regular season, the Galloping Ghosts still have hopes of a Flyers Cup invitation; despite the fact they are competing the SHSHL’s American Division they are classified as a Class AA team for Flyers Cup purposes. 

“I can’t remember the last time we were in the Flyers Cup,” Brooker said. “it would be great, it would keep (our) spirits up. We’ll try to do the best we can.”

• The SHSHL playoffs will be contested the week of March 29. Four American Division teams and six National/Continental teams will qualify and play for separate championships.

Truman 0 1 0—1

Abington 1 3 2—6

First-period goals: Colin Bruton (A) from Ian Heydt, 10:47

Second-period goals: Ian Heydt (A) from Nick Kleinwski and Jordan Heydt, :25; Jarrett Wolf (T) from James Gallagher and Jeremy McCartney, 2:28; Griffin Carpenter (A) from Joe Stelacio, 8:38; Sam Pavlik (A) from Stelacio, 10:59

Third-period goals: Carpenter (A) unassisted, 1:40; Sean Faye (A) from Pavlik and Ian Heydt, 7:59 (pp)

Shots: Truman 19, Abington 46; Saves: Connor Pilla (T) 40, Sam Nemec (A) 18

APAC Update

Here are the current Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference standings as of March 17

                                     Won      Lost    OTW      OTL  Pts 

Malvern Prep (11-1)        5          1          3            0     21

La Salle (7-4)                    6          3          0            0     18

Holy Ghost Prep (5-6)      3         3          0             3     12

St. Joseph’s Prep (3-8)      1         8          0            0      3

Remaining Games

March 22 Holy Ghost Prep vs. Pennsbury 5:30 at Grundy

March 26. La Salle vs St. Joseph’s Prep 7:00 at Skatium

La Salle 4, St. Joseph’s Prep 2

Four different players scored goals as La Salle downed St. Joseph’s Prep 4-2 Wednesday afternoon in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at Hatfield Ice.

The win was the Explorers’ third straight and improved them to 4-3 in the APAC (5-4 overall).
Keenan Schneider and Jack Armstrong scored first-period goals to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. Matt Moresco scored for the Hawks (3-6, 1-6) 3:44 into the second period to cut the margin in half but Max Mongo extended La Sake’s lead at the 5:56 mark.

Chase Hannon’s power-play goal with 2:37 left in the game sealed the win for the Explorers before Moresco added a power-play goal of his own with. 22 seconds remaining.

La Salle enjoyed a 42-20 edge in shots. The Explorers are now tied for second place in the APAC with a game in hand. The Explorers and the Firebirds will meet Friday night at Grundy Arena. 

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 1 1—2

La Salle 2 1 1—4

First-period goals: Keenan Schneider (L) from Jake Hannon and Ryan Desmond, 7:11; Jack Armstrong (L) from Desmond, 12:59

Second-period goals: Matt Moresco (SJP) from Joseph Samango, 3:44; Max Mongo (L) from Armstrong, 5:56

Third-period goals: Chase Hannon (L) from Thomas Doucet, 13:23 (pp); Moresco (SJP) from Michael Ahearn and Dominic Fantozzi, 15:38 (pp)

Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 20, La Salle 42; Saves: Rocco Bruno (SJP) 38, Liam Gross (L) 18

Drexel Coach Kyle Zoldy Has Cherished Memories of His Time at La Salle

For Kyle Zoldy, playing hockey at La Salle College High School was a life-changing experience. It’s been nearly 13 years since Zoldy graduated from La Salle. But his experiences at the school determined the direction of his life and certainly influenced his decision to remain involved in hockey.

After leaving La Salle, Zoldy went on to play at Drexel. Today, he’s the head coach of the Dragons’ nationally ranked ACHA Division I program, when he’s not tending to his responsibilities as an executive at Comcast.

For Zoldy, who grew up in Quakertown and had always attended Catholic school, enrolling at La Salle was a case of following in his father’s footsteps.

“I was looking at Lansdale Catholic, or La Salle,” Zoldy recalls. “My dad was an alumni of La Salle which was the primary reason it was on my radar; he had a great experience there. He loved the values and brotherhood it was about.”

Hockey also factored into Zoldy’s decision to enroll at La Salle. I’d been playing competitive hockey my whole life,” he said and La Salle had one of the better programs in the area. I had gotten in touch with (head coach Wally Muehlbronner) and started talking to him. I visited the school, did the official tours, visited practice and just fell in love with everything about the place from the academics through the athletics, and ultimately took a chance going there.

“Coming from a small Catholic School in Quakertown I went in there not knowing a soul and left with a handful of brothers and teammates that I played four years of hockey with and are still great friends to this day.”

Visitors to the La Salle campus may notice two signs, one reading ‘Enter to Learn,’ the other ‘Depart to Serve.’

Zoldy took those admonitions to heart.

“Enter to Learn is the kind of the first thing you see when you’re coming in,” he said, “and whether its learning academically, athletically, or just having the right values of selflessness, sacrifice, and kind of a true brotherhood mentality, looking out for the guy next to you, you’re learning that all throughout the days that you’re on campus.

“Then when you leave every day the last thing you see is that Leave to Serve sign and I think that’s your calling to being to the world all of the teaching and lessons you’ve been fortunate enough to be blessed with at La Salle. 

You try to deliver that just in being a good person, being a good father, husband, whatever it might be. For me, I’ve tried to take it on a little bit and continue serving in a hockey capacity, as the coach at Drexel. Wally obviously played a big role in inspiring me to pursue coaching.”

Zoldy says the faculty at La Salle, along with his fellow students, helped him grow and mature as a person.

“There are a lot of people that spend most of your time with,” he said. “Certainly, certain professors have a greater impact than others and then too, some of the upper classmen you spend a lot of time with if you’re playing hockey, lacrosse, or football, whatever it might be. I think it’s who you have the opportunity to spend the most time with that has an impact on you.

“For me, obviously, a lot of it happened within the hockey program. I think Wally instills a mentality in his players right off the bat that the team always comes first. Work ethic will always be prioritized above skill and that was something that always resonated with the seniors, the juniors, all the way down to the freshmen.

“That was instilled in me and it’s something I still take (with me) to this day. Always putting your teammates and others first and again never being outworked in anything, whether its work, life or hockey, take pride in that work ethic.”

Zoldy feels La Salle prepared him well, for college and the world beyond. “La Salle challenges you to excel and prepares you to do well in university and college after high school,” he said, “but I think above all your communications skills get strong at La Salle. Obviously communicating with the professors, they’re great. They want to interact with their students and the same thing with the coaches that you meet.

“So, taking the work ethic, the challenging aspects of the academics at La Salle of always being eager to learn more and challenge yourself, and your communications skills, those are certainly the big things that served me well in my career, even before Comcast.”

To learn more about La Salle College High School Click Here

Holy Ghost Prep 7, Father Judge 2

Braedon Baehser scored two goals as Holy Ghost Prep defeated Father Judge 7-2 Monday night at Grundy Arena. Sean Marshall, Carlos Rodriguez, Landon Stout, Col Stevens, and Eric Pohl all added goals for the Firebirds, who snapped a four-game losing streak.

Father Judge 1 1 0—2

Holy Ghost Prep 2 4 1—7

Flyers Cup Rankings Updated

There was relatively little movement in the Flyers Cup Committee’s second set of power rankings which were released Monday. 

In Class AAA the top five remained unchanged. In Class AA Council Rock South moved into fifth place, displacing Pennridge. In Class A, Wissahickon, which was ranked fifth last week, and Springfield-Delco, which had been ranked fourth, exchanged placed. in the girls’ rankings, Downingtown West moved into the top spot ahead of Bux-Mont as the two teas reversed positions from last week while Avon Grove, now ranked fourth, and West Chester Bayard Rustin, now fifth, also exchanged places.

The committee will not release another set of rankings before the full tournament field is released on March 28.

Class AAA

1. Malvern Prep

2. Holy Ghost Prep

3. La Salle

4. St. Joseph’s Prep

5. Roman Catholic

Class AA

1. Downingtown West

2. Pennsbury

3. Haverford High

4. Spring-Ford

5. Council Rock South

Class A

1. West Chester East

2. Strath Haven

3. West Chester Henderson

4. Wissahockon

5. Springfield-Delco

Girls

1. Downingtown West

2. Bux-Mont

3. West Chester Henderson

4. Avon Grove

The scholastic hockey season will conclude in April with the Flyers Cup tournament. We’d love to help you promote your product, service, or event during the tournament. Contact us at rwoelfel2013@gmail.com for more information.

Malvern Prep 7, St. Joseph’s Prep 0

WEST GOSHEN— A lot of people stepped up for Malvern Prep Monday afternoon. Jack Constabile scored two goals and five other players scored one goal each as the Friars downed St. Joseph’s Prep 7-0 in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at Ice Line.

The win gave Malvern Prep the APAC regular season title and essentially assured the Friars (10-1 overall, 5-1-2-0 in conference) of the top seed for the Class AAA Flyers Cup, which begins April 5.
The Hawks, who were missing several players for an assortment of reasons (they dressed just 16 players) dropped 3-5 overall and 1-5 in conference.

As has been the case for Malvern Prep all season long everyone helped out. “We’re sticking to our basics,” Constabile said. “Everyone is putting in a part, they all have a role. Everyone is doing their job.

“We’re moving pucks fast, getting second opportunities in front of the net. I think that’s been a big part of our success this year.

The first period was contested almost exclusively on Malvern Prep’s offensive side of the red line, but the Friars couldn’t solve Andrew Custer in the St. Joseph’s Prep net; he stopped 12 shots in the period and went on to make 42 saves in the game. His teammates did good work in front of him early on to deprive their opponents of quality chances.

“Our first period, we didn’t play the game we wanted to,” Constabile said. “We weren’t getting guys in front, second opportunities. It was not our typical game but in the second period we started to play our game.”

St. Joseph’s Prep’s Jeffrey Hammond (in red) and Malvern Prep’s Matt Harris follow the play in Monday’s game. (photo by Gracie Cleveland)

The Friars certainly did. Matt Harris beat Custer with a shot from between the faceoff dots at the 2:13 mark for the day’s first goal before he and his teammates broke the game open with a three-goal spurt late in the period.

Quinn Dougherty finished off an end-to-end rush up the right wing before beating Custer with a backhander at 11:34. Constabile made it 3-0 42 seconds later when he finished off a game of tic tac toe with Harris and Jimmy Kirk. When Hayden Campbell found the back of the net at the 14:33 mark, it was Malvern Prep’s third goal in a span of 2:59.

Jeremy Jacobs, Chris Blango, and Constabile all scored goals in the third period.

Senior forward Ryan Sambuco finished the afternoon with two assists. He noted his team thrived on a back-to-basics approach, in part because of its depth.

“We have big depths going into the games,” he said. “We can get consistent from our first through our fourth line. It’s huge going into it and it makes it easier for us to kept it simple and just roll the lines and keep moving forward throughout the game.”

Ice Chips— Anthony Puerto made 15 saves in the Malvern Prep net before being relieved by Riley McCarry with 5:11 left in the game. McCarry made four saves of his own and preserved the shutout … The Friars were listed first in the Class AAA Flyers Cup rankings that were released Monday, while the Hawks were ranked fourth. No further rankings will be published prior to the tournament field being announced on Sunday, March 28. The APAC playoffs will not affect the Flyers Cup seedings.

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 0—0
Malvern Prep 0 4 3—7
Second-period goals: Matt Harris (MP) from Pierre Larocque and Jack Constabile, 2:13; Quinn Dougherty (M) unassisted, 11:34; Constabile (MP) from Kirk and Harris, 12:16; Hayden Campbell (MP) from Matt Donatucci and Chris Blango, 14:33
Third-period goals: Jeremy Jacobs (MP) from Jack Sharer, :58 (pp); Blango (MP) unassisted, 8:25 (pp): Constabile (MP) from Blango, 14:27
Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 19, Malvern Prep 49; Saves: Andrew Custer (SJP) 42, Anthony Perti (MP) 15 and Riley McCarry (MP 4

For more about Malvern Prep Click Here

For more about St. Joseph’s Prep Click Here

SHSHL Update for 3-15

             SHSHL Standings as of 3-15-21

National/Continental                     W      L      T      OTL   Pts.

Pennsbury (9-0-0-1)                        6      0      0      0        12

Council Rock South (6-3-0-2)        4     2      0      1          9

Neshaminy (5-3-1)                           4      1      0      0         8

Pennridge (6-3)                                 4      2      0      0        8

Central Bucks South (4-3-1)           3      1      0      0        6

North Penn (5-4-1-1)                      3      3      0      1         7

Central Bucks East (5-3-1-1)           1      3      0     1        3      

Souderton (2-7)                                 1      5      0      0       2

Central Bucks West (0-10)                0      6     0      0       0

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

American Division                             W      L      T    OTL    Pts.

Wissahickon (10-1)                             10      1      0      0     20 

Abington (5-3)                                      5      3      0      0        10

Plymouth-Whitemarsh (6-4-)    5      4      0      0         10

Hatboro-Horsham (4-4-1-1)           4      4      1      1         10

William Tennent (4-5-1-0)               4      5      1      0        9

Truman (4-6)                                      4      6      0      0        8

Quakertown (1-8-0-1)                      1      7      0      1        3