APAC Playoffs at Hand

The APAC Founders Cup playoffs begin Wednesday afternoon with a play-in game featuring fourth-seeded La Salle hosted fifth-seeded Malvern Prep. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at Hatfield Ice.

Here’s a look at how the Friars and the Explorers got to this point.

Malvern Prep

Coach: Bill Keenan

Record: 4-10-2, 2-6 in the APAC

Key players: Sr. Jake Weingartner 7 goals, 11 assists 18 points; Sr. Pax Hoishik 6-9-15; Sr. Ryan Caterino 2.66 GAA, .912 save %

La Salle

Coach: Wally Muehlbronner

Record: 6-12, 3-5 in APAC

Key players: Fr. Thomas Leonards 11 goals, 2 assists, 13 points: Patrick Lunsford 4-8-12; So. Andrew Frantz, 4-7-11; Jr. Anthony Foster 2.94 GAA, .913 save pct.; So. Danny Trainor 1.59, .920

This season:

11-26 Malvern Prep 2 La Salle 0

1-14 La Salle 3 Malvern Prep 2

Wednesday’s winner will face top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep next Wednesday in one half of a semifinal doubleheader at Ice Line. The other half of that doubleheader will match second-seeded Hub School and third seed Joseph’s Prep.

Hun School 5 Malvern Prep 2

There were signs an explosion was impending. When it occurred, it was an overwhelming force. The Hun School snapped a 2-2 tie with three goals in a 3 minute, 51 second span of the second period and shut the door afterward.

The result was a 5-2 win over Malvern Prep Tuesday afternoon at Ice Land that had ramifications throughout the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference. The win assured the host Raiders (13-9 overall, 4-4 in the APAC) of facing St. Joseph’s Prep in the Founders Cup semifinals on February 18. The result of Wednesday’s game between St. Joseph’s Prep and Holy Ghost Prep will determine whether the Raiders are seeded second or third.

Malvern Prep (4-11-2, 2-6), which was missing several players due to injury, finishes the APC regular season in fifth place and will travel to fourth-place La Salle next Wednesday, February 11 to play for a slot in the semifinals. Game time will be 4:00 at Hatfield Ice.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Hun School, which went 5-17 a year ago.

“I think we had a lot of great things come together this year,” said Hun School coach N.G. Welsh. “We’ve got some great goaltending. We’ve got production all the way down to the third line, and there’s goals and assists across the board from nine forwards and three or four {defensemen,} which is awesome to see.”

Wednesday afternoon’s first period was a shootout. Andrew Starck gave the Friars a 1-0 just 44 seconds after the opening faceoff. Zachary Vallee tied the game at the 7:07 mark.

Cole Scarbinsky gave Malvern Prep the lead once more with a power-play goal when he beat Hun School netminder Blake Echternacht with 2:58 remaining in the opening session. The goal came while the Raiders’ Conor Mulligan was in the box serving a hooking penalty.

Echternacht would not yield again.

Jacob Kelly-LePage tied the game at 2-2 with 1:19 left in the period. Mulligan was out of the by that point and picked up the primary assist.

Anders Van Raalte gave Hun School the lead 4:21 into the second period. The power-play goal game with the Friars’ Bennett Stanton in the box for tripping.

Vallee took over from there, scoring his second goal of the game 60 seconds later before completing his hat trick 18 seconds shy of the period’s halfway point.

Vallee, a junior who is in his first year at Hun School, says he and his teammates are focused on doing the little things well.

“First on the puck,” he said. “Shooting and going through the net. Just jamming the net. Little things that work.”

Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan noted his team was unable to maintain its good start.

“I thought we came out well,” he said. “We put one in early in the game.

“Being down a couple with injuries kind of flip-flopped the lineup a little bit but we’ve got to play three periods of hockey.

“I thought we played well in the first period we played well in the third period. But, the second period got away from us.”

Malvern Prep 2 0 0—2

Hun School 2 3 0—5

First-period goals: Andrew Starck (MP) from Paxton Hoishik, :44; Zachary Vallee (HS) unassisted, 7:07; Cole Scarbinsky (MP) from Jake Weingartner and James Young, 14:02 (pp); Jacob Kelly-LePage (HS) from Conor Mulligan and Luca Jean, 15:41

Second-period goals: Anders Van Raalte (HS) from Andrew Darst and Jean, 4:21 (pp); Vallee (HS) from Aiden Honan and Blake Echternacht, 5:21; Vallee (HS) from Van Raalte and James Dolan, 8:12

Shots: Malvern Prep 33, Hun School 26; Saves: Ryan Caterino (MP) 16 an Isaac Maloney (MP) 5, Blake Echternacht (HS) 31

La Salle 3 Malvern Prep 2

It’s been a tough season for the La Salle Explorers in some respects as a young team tries to find its way. But months of toil and sweat came to fruition Wednesday evening. Andrew Frantz’s power-play goal with 1:52 left in the third period gave La Salle a 3-2 win over Malvern Prep at Hatfield Ice.

It was the first APAC victory for the Explorers (4-11, 1-5 in conference) who had suffered two one-goal losses in APAC play prior to Wednesday when their efforts were at last rewarded.

Senior forward Matt Martin assisted on two of La Salle’s goals, including the game winner.

“{The win} means a lot,” he said. “It feels good to finally get a win after all the work we’ve been putting in at practice.”

The winning goal came off an offensive zone draw after the Friars’ Andrew Starck was called for tripping with 1:57 remaining in regulation. The Explorers won the ensuing faceoff and Frantz found the puck on his stick at the point- before launching a shot past Malvern Prep goaltender Ryan Caterino.

The third period did not lack for drama. La Salle’s Quinn Leonards and Starck traded second-period goals to send the game into the final stanza deadlocked at 1-1. Pax Hoishik put Malvern Prep (4-8-2, 2-4 in conference) with 7:11 left in regulation but Leonards answered for the Explorers with 4:55 left to set up the stretch run.

La Salle junior Patrick Lunsford savored the thrill of victory.

“It feels so good,” he said. “We’ve put in so much work all year. We’ve come up just short in so many games, it feels so great to {get the win}.”

Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan observed that APAC games offer little margin for error.

“We know APAC games are going to be tight,” he said. “We outshot them in the game (43-33). “The late penalty in the third hurt us. They got a good offensive draw out to their point for a shot on net; they got a bounce.”

It was the second consecutive one-goal loss for the Friars; they fell to St. Joseph’s Prep 3-2 last Friday.

“When we have leads in the game we’ve got to find a way to hold the lead,” Keenan said. “And when we’re down in games, we’ve got to find a way to put on pressure and get pucks to the net,”

Malvern Prep 0 1 1—2

La Salle 0 1 2—3

Second-period goals: Quinn Leonards (L) from Matthew Jones, 6:21; Andrew Starck (MP) from Jake Weingartner, 16:38

Third-period goals: Pax Hoishik (MP) from Weingartner, 9:49; Leonards (L) from Greenwalt and Matthew Martin, 12:05; Andrew Frantz (L) from Martin and Greenawalt, 15:08 (pp)

Shots: Malvern Prep 43, La Salle 33 Saves: Ryan Caterino (MP) 30, Anthony Foster (L) 41

Keenan’s Impact at Malvern Prep Goes Beyond the Ice

The impact Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan has on his players goes beyond the rink. The respect the Friars have for their coach was on display last Wednesday night when Malvern Prep staged its fourth annual RTS Awareness Night; the proceeds of the game between the Friars and Holy Ghost Prep were earmarked for research into Rubinstein Taybi Syndrome is a genetic disorder that cause intellectual and developmental disabilities. Connor Keenan, Bill Keenan’s soon-to-be-6-year old son, is afflicted with RTS.

Pax Hoishik, a senior on the Malvern Prep roster, says the occasion means a lot to the players.

“I’ve participated in the event for three years,” he said. “And every single year it gets more close knit with the guys and even closer with Coach Keenan. Having that bond with Coach Keenan and his family as a whole and being able to celebrate the night for him and his kid is pretty unbelievable.”

Hoishik has been a full-time varsity player for three seasons now; he was a swing player as a freshman. He notes the evening is not just another hockey game.

“We’re playing for {Keenan},” Hoishik said. We’re playing for {Connor}. We’re playing for his family and we get to do that as a team. That’s why it’s so special.”

Hoishik and his teammates respect how Keenan is able to balance a full-time job with seeing to his family’s needs while still devoting the necessary time to coaching the Friars.

“It’s extremely impressive to me,” Hoishik said. “Some of the other captains and I were talking about it how incredible it is he is able to make time for something like that with everything going on in his life. We just thought it’s pretty incredible that he is able to make that time for us.”

Bill and Sarah Keenan have been married for 13 years. Connor is the youngest of their three children.

Sarah Keenan lauds her husband for how he deals with his assortment of responsibilities including periodically traveling to Baltimore to see a specialist who works with RTS patients.

“He is a really strong guy to deal with everything that comes at him and the stuff we have to deal with with Conner,” she said. “I obviously take on a lot while he’s coaching but he’s taking on as much as he possible can whenever he’s home.

“I’m really proud of him. He has taken everything on his back really well. He deals with all that comes through and doesn’t show it at home. So, whatever the hockey world id he leaves it with the hockey team but also includes us as his family with the whole thing.”

Salesianum 4 Malvern Prep 2

Salesianum had a bit too much for Malvern Prep Thursday night. Too much in terms of physicality and firepower. Liam Bell scored two goals set the pace as the Sallies downed the Friars 4-2 Thursday night in a Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinal at Ice Line.

Fifth-seeded Salesianum (18-3) will move to the semifinals next Thursday against top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep. Fourth-seeded Malvern Prep closes the season at 5-11.

Salesianum coach Brian LeBlanc said his team took care of the small details.

“Our game is forecheck hard and backcheck hard,” he said. “Every shift we have 110 percent in that 45-second shift and every person on all three lines did that. That’s what gets you success.”

Senior Braeden Graham, the Sallies’ captain, said he and his teammates were comfortable with the game’s physics tone.

“We knew they were going to come out hitting,” he said. “We knew they were a team that hit. we knew from watching film on them that we had to match that so playing the body tonight was really important to us to keep their skill payers contained.”

Bell have his team a 1-0 lead 10:33 into the first period off a setup from Jerry DiStefano who played the puck across the goal mouth from the right wing. Bell was perfectly positioned to tuck the disk inside the left post.

The Friars suffered a huge loss with 10:54 left in the second period when they lost senior forward Teague Murray, one of their primary offensive threats. Murray checked the Sallies’ Connor Davis into the boards near the Salesianum bench and was assessed a five-minute major penalty for a check from behind plus a game misconduct.

“You don’t want to see a kid get kicked out of the game,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “I think the call was a little borderline but you can’t control the {referees}.

“Obviously, we needed somebody to put the puck in the net for us and that was a back breaker but you have got to find a way to step up and fill the void.”

Sean Melican extended Salesianum’s lead with 49 seconds left in the second period when he found his target from between the faceoff circles. Bell scored his second goal of the night 2:49 into the third period. From that moment on Malvern Prep was playing against the clock as much as the Sallies.

James Young got the Friars on the scoreboard 7:31 into the final session with a shot from just inside the blue line during a power play.

Salesianum’s Sean Albert and Malvern Prep’s Luke Johnson traded goals down the stretch.

Keenan credited the Sallies for their effort

“They’re a really good team,” he said. “They’re well coached. I’ve known {LeBlanc} for a few seasons now. They play fast, they play physical. Our boys I think matched the intensity, we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”

Graham says he and his Salesianum teammates aren’t finished yet. “We’re very proud of ourselves,” he said, “but we know this isn’t the end.

“A lot of the teams in the APAC have disrespected us. They don’t think we’re on the same level as they are because we play in a different league (the Prep/Catholic Division of the ICSHL).”

Ice chips—Salesianum won three Flyers Cup titles in the now-defunct New Jersey/Delaware Division, including the last one two years ago.

Salesianum 1 1 2—4

Malvern Prep 0 0 2—2

First-period goal: Liam Bell (MP) from Jerry DiStefano and Connor Davis, 10:33

Second period goal: Sean Melican (S) from Davis and Justin Celestino, 16:11

Third-period goals: Bell (S) unassisted, 2:49; James Young (MP) unassisted, 7:31 (pp); Sean Albert (S) from Braedon Graham, 9:53; Luke Johnson (MP) from Gabe Bedwell and Matt Barbacane, 13:56 (pp)

Shots: Salesianum 33, Malvern Prep 23; Saves: Gavin Needs. (S) 21; Matt Crawford (MP) 29

Malvern Prep 4 Hun School 0

The postseason is a time for a fresh start. Malvern Prep took advantage of the opportunity Monday afternoon. House Young scored two goals and Matt Crawford delivered a shutout in goal as the Friars bested The Hun School 4-0 in the APAC’s Founders Cup play-in game at Ice Line.

Fourth-seeded Malvern Prep (5-9) will face top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep in one half of a semifinal doubleheader on February 19 and will be part of the Flyers Cup tournament after that. Fifth-seeded Hun School (5-16-2) will conclude its schedule with two non-league games; the Raiders are bypassing the Flyers Cup.

For the Friars, who have beaten Hun School three times in 20 days, it’s been something of a new beginning.

“We’re starting to hit our stride,” said Malvern Prep Bill Keenan. “Finishing out the [APAC schedule], going into the APAC playoff and the Flyers Cup. We want to find out stride and we’re just continuing to build right now.”

The Friars had the upper hand from the outset; they outshot the Raiders 14-6 in the opening period but it took time to find the back of the net. It was 5:32 into the second frame before Andrew Starck put his team in front by going top shelf against Hun School goaltender Elliot Wong. Gabe Bedwell made it 2-0 at the 7:24 mark when he put a bullet inside the left post.

“We definitely got off to a quick start,” Bedwell said. “That’s what we need every game, a quick start, we need everybody firing, everybody going.’

“That will bring us to the Flyers Cup. I think we all just need to work together and jut get on it from the jump.”

Young scored his first goal with 4:01 left in the period. His second effort of the night came with 4:37 left in the third period. By that point the Raiders, who had just 13 skaters available, were using up their energy reserves.

“It’s been one thing or the other this year,” said Hun School coach Eric Szeker. “I give a lot of credit to our guys. They worked hard, they battled.

“Malvern played a great game too so you’ve got to give a lot of credit to the other side.”

The Friars outshot the Raiders 50-16. Matt Crawford earned the shutout in goal for Malvern Prep. His best save came when he denied Matt Trawinski from point-blank range just past the midway point of the second period. Wong made 46 saves at the other end of the ice.

“An unbelievable performance,” Szeker said. “He’s been light’s out the whole season. He’s been one of our best players so to see him have another performance like that is not too surprising.”

Hun School 0 0 0—0

Malvern Prep 0 3 1—4

Second-period goals: Andrew Starck (MP) from Peter Narog, 5:39; Gabe Bedwell (MP) from Pax Hoishik and Cole Scarbinsky, 7:24; House Young (MP) from Jake Winegartner and Hoishik, 12:59

Third-period goal: Young (MP) from Winegartner and Matt Barbacane, 11:23 (pp)

Shots: Hun School 16, Malvern Prep 50 Saves: Elliot Wong (HS) 46, Matt Crawford (MP) 16

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.”

St. Joseph’s Prep 2 Malvern Prep 1 OT

The APAC playoffs are still a ways off, but fans who took in Thursday’s matchup between St. Joseph’s Prep and Malvern Prep got a taste of the postseason atmosphere. Cole Gargon’s goal 2:37 into overtime gave the Hawks a 2-1 win that put a damper on the Friars’ Senior Day.

The result assures St. Joseph’s Prep (9-7, 4-3 in the APAC) of a third place in the conference standings with one regular-season conference game remaining against Hun School next Friday. By virtue of the point acquired in the overtime loss, Malvern Prep (3-9, 2-5) will finish fourth, regardless of the result of their regular-season league finale next Wednesday, also against Hun School.

Gargon’s winning goal concluded an overtime session that for most of two minutes played out in the Malvern Prep offensive zone. But a turnover in the neutral zone gave the Hawks their opportunity. They patiently cycled the puck before Frankie Ely deposited it on Gargon’s stick and the sophomore put a shot past Friar goaltender Matt Crawford.

“In overtime, like anything else, it’s a possession game,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach David Giacomin. “and they possessed it.

“You don’t want to overcommit, you want that one turnover so you can start possessing the game. And, if you watched that play develop, he took the puck out of the (Hawks’) offensive zone; they had a little bit of tired legs and all it needs is one move around a guy and we’re walking in and getting shots.”

The two regulation goals came late in the first period. Jake Weingrtner put the hosts in front when he beat Declan Geary in the Hawk net with 4:03 left in the opening session. The goal came when Michael Castelli was in the box serving a roughing infraction, one of eight penalties called in the first period.

The Hawks responded with an even-strength goal from Bradan Fisher, who beat Crawford from the low slot with 1:27 remaining.

From there. The game evolved into a goaltending dual between Geary and Crawford who between them made 48 saves. Both netminders needed to be in top form.

“It’s always fun playing against {Crawford} Geary said. “We’ve practiced with goalie coaches before. It’s a fun environment with Senior Night. It’s a big one.”

Geary said the pressure of a big game sharpens his focus.

“It’dun,” he said. “I don’t like high-scoring game. I like the low-scoring ones here it’s tight and all that. It’s just fun to compete.”

Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan said his team was looking to keep the momentum going after defeating Hun School two days ago.

“We knew it would be a tough battle with St. Joe’s,” he said. “They’re a physical team, they move the puck well.
“Our guys matched it, our intensity was high, we came up a little short.”

The Friars are assured of hosting the postseason play-in game against Hun School sometime prior to February 19 when the semifinal are scheduled. The winner will face Holy Ghost Prep in one semifinal. St. Joseph’s Prep will face La Salle in the other. Both semifinal games will be played at Grundy Arena. The highest seeded finaliat will host the Founders Cup championship game.

St. Joseph’s Prep 1 0 0 1—2

Malvern Prep 1 0 0 0—1

First-period goals: Jake Weingartner (MP) from House Young, 12:57 (pp); Ben Kersun (SJP) from Bradan Fisher, 15:33

Overtime goal: Cole Gargon (SJP) from Frank Ely, 2:37

Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 28, Malvern Prep 23 Saves: Declan Geary (SJP) 22, Matt Crawford (MP) 26

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St. Joseph’s Prep 4 Malvern Prep 1

PHILADELPHIA—Cole Gargon stepped up for St. Joseph’s Prep in a big way for Sr. Joseph’s Prep Wednesday afternoon. The sophomore scored three of his team’s goals as the Hawks bested Malvern Prep 4-1 in an APAC encounter at the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 Arena.

The win lifted St. Joseph’s Prep (5-1, 3-1 in the APAC) into a three-way tie for the top spot in the conference standings but the Hawks have a game in hand over Holy Ghost Prep and La Salle, the teams they are tied with.

The hosts had to play from behind. After a scoreless first frame Gabe Bedwell gave the Friars (2-5, 1-3) the lead 6:50 into the second people when he put in a rebound of Matt Barbacane’s shot.

Gargon tied the game with a power-play goal at the 7:56 mark and put his team ahead for good 86 seconds later when he weaved his way through traffic front of the net and beat Malvern Prep goaltender Riley Doyle.

Gargon completed his hat trick six minutes into the third period before Frank Ely, who missed some time after being helped off the ice with an injury early in the first period finished the scoring with 2:08 left in the game.

Afterwards, Gawk coach David Giacomin credited Gargon and his linemates for their effort.

“Their line played well,” he said. “It was tough being without Frankie Ely for a while because of the injury but once he came back it was nice to be able to get that line back.”

Giacomin noted his team had some ups and downs over the course of the afternoon.

“The first 10 minutes of the game we played really well,” he said. “Then they took it to us a bit and won the board battle and all that stuff and it took us a little while to get back into it.”

Giacomin said the break for an ice cut between the second and third periods helped the Hawks regain their focus.

“Today it was well needed,” he said. The second period was not a pretty period to watch. There were a lot of scrums, there wasn’t much up-and-down skating. We had to get them back to doing what we were supposed to do.”

The Friars were limited to just 15 shots on goal.

“We’ve been stressing moving through the ice, good zone entry, and getting shots on net,” aid Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “We weren’t able to get much traffic today.

“Overall, I thought our effort was there for a period-and-a-half and then it tailed off.”

Malvern Prep 0 1 0—1

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 2 2—4

Second-period goals: Gabe Bedwell (MP) from Matt Barbcane and Paton Hoishak, 3:50 (pp); Cole Gargon (SJP) from Frank Ely, 9:04; Gargon (SJP) unassisted, 10:30 (pp)

Third-period goals: Gargon (SJP) from Michael Castelli and Ely, 6:00; Ely (SJP) unassisted, 14:52

Shots: Malvern Prep 15, St. Joseph’s Prep 25; Saves: Riley Doyle (MP) 21, Declan Geary (SJP) 14

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HGP-Malvern Prep Matchup About Much More Than Hockey

Thursday’s Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference matchup between Malvern Prep and Holy Ghost Prep will be about much more than what happens on the ice.

For the third year in succession, the hockey community is coming together for RTS Awareness Night and highlight the fight against Rubnenstein Taybi Syndrome, a genetic disorder. Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan and his wife Sarah joined the fight when they learned their son Connor, who will turn 5 in January, was afflicted with RTS.

Connor is the youngest of the Keenans’ three children. His brother JJ is 10, his sister Olivia is 8.

Proceeds from Thursday’s game (6:45 puck drop at Ice Line) will go to support the families of children dealing with the disorder.

“This is our third annual RTS Awareness Night,” Keenan said. “It’s a great night to come together as a community and raise awareness not only for RTS but those affected with rare diseases.

“Sometimes life is bigger then sports or a hockey game. We are grateful for the community that surrounds us and the support they provide to Connor and our family.”

“We look forward to continuing this event for many years to come. The past two years we played against St. Joseph’s Prep and this year Coach Ritchie without hesitation willingly said Holy Ghost would participate. It is a great sign of strength in why we play in this league because again it’s more than just a game.”