Blaise Pepe’s goal with 1:27 left in overtime gave Council Rock South a 3-2 non-league win over host Malvern Prep Monday night at Ice Line.
Illia Mukhin and Chase Trovsky also scored for the Golden Hawks who have started the season with three consecutive wins, two of them over APAC opponents.
Tovsky’s shorthanded goal with 4:26 left in the second period tied the game after Brady Doyle scored a pair of goals two minutes apart to give the Friars (2-1) a 2-1 lead.
Trevor Rakszawski got the win in goal; he was credited with 54 saves. Matt Crawford was credited with 40 at the other end of the ice.
Council Rock South 1 1 0 1—3
Malvern Prep 0 2 0 0—2
First-period goal: Illia Mukhin (CRS) from Kevin Koles and Jake Weiner, 13:48
Second-period goals: Brady Doyle (MP) from Caiden Canale, 10:11; Brady Doyle (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs and Adan Kelly, 12:11 (pp); Chase Trovsky (CRS) unassisted, 12:34 (sh)
Overtime goal: Blaise Pepe (CRS) unassisted, 3:33
Shots: Council Rock South 56, Malvern Prep 43; Saves: Trevor Rakszawski (CRS) 54, Matt Crawford (MP) 40
Jeremy Jacobs scored three goals and assisted on a fourth as Malvern Prep defeated St. John’s College High 6-3 Wednesday afternoon in a non-league game in Rockville, Md.
Caiden Canale, House Young and Henry Tesoriero scored one goal each as the Friars won their second straight.
Council Rock South 6, St. Joseph’s Prep 3
Council Rock South came out on top in Wednesday’s non-league game at the Class of 1923 Rink on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—If a single word could best describe Council Rock South’s performance Thursday night it would be ‘workmanlike.’ Four different players scored goals and Carson Lopez was perfect between the pipes as the Golden Hawks shut out Boyertown 4-0 in a Class AA Flyers Cup quarterfinal at Hatfield Ice.
Top-seeded South (19-1-0-1) will face Conestoga or Pennsbury in a Monday night semifinal at the same venue. The Hawks will be seeking to return to the finals after losing the title game to Pennridge last spring.
Eighth-seeded Boyertown closed its session at 14-6.
It took South some time to get control of the game. Tyler Griffin in the Boyertown net kept the Hawks at bay for a period and a half. The freshman finished with 45 saves.
Carson Lopez watched Griffith at work when he wasn’t occupied guarding South’s net.
“That goalie is real good,” he said. “He stoned us left and right. Take it from me, he’s going to steal this whole thing if he has a couple years of high school under his belt.”
Griffin made 14 saves in the first period while the Hawks limited their foes to five shots at the other end.
South finally broke through 8:22 into the second frame when Kevin Koles caught iron with a shot and Jake Weiner put in the rebound. Jeremy Rayher made it a 2-0 game at the 10:38 mark and James Diiulio extended his team’s lead when he beat Griffith with six seconds left in the period.
“We’re a grinding team,” Werner said. “That’s what our goals are. The dirty goals are the nice goals.”
Weiner, a freshman, says the Hawks rely more on grit than finesse. “We’re not a flashy team,” he said. “We like playing in the corners and getting dirty.”
Blaize Pepe completed the scoring for the evening when he solved Griffith 7:09 into the third period. It was a win the Hawks had to work for, despite the scoreline.
“I think we made ourselves work for this one,” he said. “We weren’t really focused coming into the game. We’ve got to eliminate that because if we come out like that (in the semifinals) we’ll be going home.”
A victory in a single-elimination tournament would seemingly be cause for celebration, but Lopez, one of four seniors on South’s playoff roster, took a different view.
“I don’t think any of us are enjoying it,” he said. “We definitely thought we should have played a lot better, but we’re definitely ready to go to work on Monday.
Ice chips—South enjoyed a 49-21 edge in shots. The Hawks have won three Class AA Flyers Cup titles, in 2009, ‘11, and ‘12.
Boyertown 0 0 0—0
C.R. South 0 3 1—4
Second-period goals: Jake Weiner (CRS) from Kelvin Koles, 8:22; Jeremy Rayher (CRS) from Illia Mukhin and Weiner, 10:38; James Diiulio, from Koles and Chase Tovsky, 16:54 (pp)
Third-period goal: Blaise Peppe (CRS) from Tovsky (CRS), 7:09
WEST GOSHEN—Things came together for Malvern Prep Monday night. It was certainly the right time. Six different players scored goals as the Indians downed Radnor 7-2 in a first-round Class A Flyers Cup matchup at Ice Line.
Eleventh-seeded North (6-10-1-1) advances to a second-round game that is tentatively scheduled for Thursday against Strath Haven or Hershey. Sixth-seeded Radnor closes the season at 11-8.
“Honestly it feels good said senior forward Noah Epstein, the Indians’ captain. “It’s a well-deserved win from the whole team.
“I think we finally got something. We’re playing as a team.”
The Indians took advantage of an early power play to take the lead. Nick Hahn scored from between the two circles just 2:26 into the first frame.
The Ramparts had their chances after that but Ian Goldberg made some quality saves in the North net. Andrew Knight pocketed the equalizer at 11:17 but Goldberg’s work in goal energized his teammates.
“We have a great goaltender,” Epstein said. “Ian is always playing amazing. He makes things easy for us, honestly. He pushes the rebounds out and we get them out for him, He does everything for this team.”
At that point momentum shifted dramatically in the Indians’ direction. Lucas Siomos, Ryan Keil, and Drew Birden scored goals in a span of 2:24 to give North lead at. The end of the first frame. All were on long shots that Radnor netminder James Danner seemed to have a good look at.
Radnor’s Ryan Carr and North’s Jackson Accardi traded goals in the middle period. Jesse Schaff and Siomos scored found the back of the net in third, though Danner picked up his level of play in the last two periods.
Goldberg enjoyed the opportunity to play with a lead. “I was feeling pretty confident,” he said. “I really didn’t have to do much in the third. I just knew if I played well, they’d play well too.
C.R. North 4 1 2—7
Radnor 1 1 0—2
First-period goals: Nick Hahan (CRN) from Jackson Accardi, 2:36 (pp); Andrew Knight (R) unassisted, 11:17; Lucas Siomos (CRN) from Dan Maglathlin and Zach Weissman, 13:35; Ryan Keil from Maglathlin, 15:13 (pp); Drew Borden (CRN) from Hahn, 16:50
Second-period goals: Ryan Carr (R) from Knight, 13:04; Accardi (CRN) from Brody’s Capaldi, 14:27
Third-period goals: Jesse Schaff (CRN) from Weissman (CRN) and Maglathlin, 3:18; Siomos (CRN) unassisted, 13:28
Shots: C.R. North 32, Radnor 29; Saves: Ian Goldberg (CRN) 27, James Danner (R) 25
BRISTOL—The defense never rested. And at evening’s end, Council Rock South was rewarded for its defensive work with a 4-2 win over Pennsbury in the SHSHL National Division championship game before a packed house at Grundy Arena.
Thursday’s win gave the top-seeded Golden Hawks (17-1-0-1) the third SHSHL title in their history. The previous two came in 2010 and 2020.
Third-seeded Pennsbury fell to 14-6. Three of the Falcons’ defeats have been at the hands of the Hawks.
Not that the victors had an easy time of it. The game plan was to contain the Falcons’ Brendan Macainsh, who came into the game with 38 goals. He finished with two more but the Hawks were able to neutralize the Falcons’ high-flying attack to come extent; many of Pennsbury’s shot attempts were from long range or outside the faceoff dots; the Falcons finished with just 22 shots on goal to South’s 40.
The Hawks congratulate each other after Thursday’s 4-2 over Pennsbury for the SHSHL National Division title
Hawks’ netminder Carson Lopez was in good form, but got plenty of help from his blue-line corps.
“(Pennsbury) likes to stretch the ice out a lot,” Lopez said, “So, about halfway through the game, we told our defense ‘Enough with the pinch and start backing off. Play in the neutral zone.’ And it worked.”
South defenseman and captain Kevin Koles said the key to the win involved giving the Falcons and Macainsh as few opportunities as possible.
“Limiting them to (22) shots was very crucial,” he said. “We had to stop one of their best players. They obviously played him a lot and we locked him down. He only had two goals on us.
Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley noted his team needed more chances than it got.
“We only had 22 shots,” he pointed out, “And we’re used to putting 15 a period up. “They played us very, very well. But, we didn’t quit.”
Chase Trovsky scored a pair of first-period goals to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead after the first frame.
It appeared a clock malfunction might have cost South a third goal. A scramble in the Falcons crease was in progress in the waning seconds of the period and the puck wound up in the net but the buzzer failed to sound. After a lengthy consultation, the goal was disallowed.
Joseph Weston extended South’ lead with a goal at the 8:02 mark of the second period.
Macainsh got Pennsbury on the board with 3:42 left in the middle period when his shot from the deep right-wing corner caught Lopez by surprise.
Macainsh briefly made it a one-goal game 5:20 into the third period when he scored a power-play goal after the Hawks were caught with too many men on the ice.
It took Blaize Pepe just 48 seconds to respond for the Hawks however and Lopez was impregnable the rest of the way.
Koles said he and his teammates knew how dangerous the Falcons were after Pennsbury scored eight goals against Pennridge on Wednesday in the semifinals.
“We heard about what happened yesterday,” he said, “and how they beat Pennridge. So, we knew what we had to do coming into the game, and that’s what we did.”
Ice chips—Both teams will be back at Grundy Arena on Tuesday for first-round Class AA Flyers Cup games. The top-seeded Hawks will face number-16 Spring Ford at 8:15 while the fifth-seeded Falcons will face number-12 Abington at 6:15.
Pennsbury 0 1 1_2
C.R. South 2 1 1—4
First-period goals: Chase Tovsky (CRS) from Blaize Pepe, 8:03; Tovsky (CRS) from Kevin Koles and Pepe, 16:37;
Second-period goals: Jonah Weston (CRN) from Bobby Gilbert and James Diiulio, 8:02; Brendan Macainsh (P) unassisted, 13:18
Third-period goals: Macainsh (P) from Chris Sarvere, 5:20; Pepe (CRS) unassisted, 6:08
Shots: Pennsbury 22. Council Rock South 35; Saves: Aaron McDaniel (P) 31; Carson Lopez (CRS) 20
How the Hawks got here: Via a bye in the quarterfinals. Blaize Pepe and Jake Weiner lead the team in scoring, each with 30 points. Pepe has produced 13 goals and 17 assists for while Weiner has scored 21 goals and provided 9 assists. Kevin Koles is next with 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points. Goaltender Carson Lopez is one of the area’s best.
Neshaminy (12-5-1)
Coach: Matt DeMatteo
How the ‘Skins got here: Defeated Central Bucks South 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Max Gallagher scored three goals and assisted on another. Nolan Geria provided two goals and two assists. Gallagher has 26 goals and 12 assists for 38 points. Geria has contributed 11 goals and 17 assists for 28 points.
This season:
Pennridge vs. Pennsbury
8:30 at Hatfield Ice
Pennridge (13-4)
Coach: Jeff Montagna
How the Rams got here: Via a bye in the quarterfinals. The defending National Division, Class AA Flyers Cup and state champions are paced by Kevin Pico who has collected 24 goals and 25 assists for 49 points. Andrew Savona has added 18 goals and 27 assists for 45 points while Shane Dachowski has contributed 19 goals and 14 assists for 33 points.
Pennsbury (13-5)
Coach Ryan Daley
How the Falcons got here: Defeated Central Bucks East 6-4 in the quarterfinals., Brendan Macainsh delivered a pure hat trick and added two assists; he has 34 goals and 19 assists for 53 points this season, including the quarterfinal. Andrew Falkenstein has provided 6 goals and 26 assists for 32 points while Justin Marlin has contributed 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points. Falkenstein (4) and Marlin (3) had seven assists between them in the quarterfinal.
This season:
11-3 Pennsbury 6 Pennridge 3
1-12 Pennridge 11 Pennsbury 4
What comes next: Wednesday’s winners play for the National Division title on Thursday. The highest seeded finalist will host. All four semifinalists will compete in the Class AA Flyers Cup tournament.
American Division Championship Game
Abington vs. Plymouth Whitemarsh
7:20 at Hatfield Ice
Abington (15-0-1-1)
Coach: Ken Brzozowski How the Galloping Ghosts got here: Earned a place in the final as the regular-season division champion. Matt Kramer leads the team in scoring with 26 goals and 19 assists for 45 points, Ian Heydt has added 13 goals and 20 assists for 33 points. Sam Abramson has contributed 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points while Sam Paulik has provided 18 goals and 14 points for 32 points. Sam Nemec will start in goal.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (12-6)
Coach: Dave Cox
How the Colonials got here: Defeated Quakertown 7-2 in the semifinal. Matt Flynn and Dylan Novitski each scored two goals in the win. Flynn added two assists. Flynn has scored 28 goals this season and added 22 assists for 50 points, David Branigan has added 13 goals and 27 assists for 40 points. Chris Maslij will start in goal.
This season:
11-3 Abington 8 Plymouth Whitemarsh 5
1-5 Abington 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh 1
1-26 Abington 4 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3
What come next: Both finalists will compete in the Flyers Cup tournament, Abington in Class AA, Plymouth Whitemarsh in Clsss A
X Pennridge finishes second on the basis of having defeated Pennsbury in their second meeting, which was the game that counted in their divisional records
American Division W L T OTL Pts
Abington (15-0-1-1) 10 0 1 1 22
X Plymouth Whitemarsh (11-6) 7 5 0 0 14
Quakertown (10-4-1-1) 6 4 1 1 14
Wissahickon (9-7) 6 6 0 0 12
Springfield (0-16) 0 12 0 0 0
Plymouth Whitemarsh finishes second on the basis of having won the season series with Quakertown
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