Truman 2, Council Rock North 2

WARWICK—Truman and Council Rock South had the distinction of opening the Suburban High School Hockey League National Division season against each other Wednesday night.

The result may end being a window into the future, a 2-2 standoff at Revolution Ice Gardens that saw Steven Avellino (Truman) and Logan Hurwitz (South) score two goals each.

For most of the evening the teams battled on even terms.

Avellino scored got the scoring started for the Tigers after just 91 seconds. The goal was a sign that a Truman team that has spent a lot of time skating uphill in recent seasons, particularly late in games, was looking for something more on this occasion.

“I thought that was going to give us a lot of momentum,” Avellino said. “I thought we were going to take the game after that.”

Logan Hurwitz got on the board for South at the 4:35 mark and the game remained deadlocked until the 4:35 mark of the second period when Avellinio beat South goaltender Brett Magloff on a rebound of Robert Dicrostra’s original shot. Hurwitz retied the game just 12 seconds later off a feed from Billy Harrelson and the game ended without further scoring.
Both coaches had things to feel good about after the game. Colin Murphy was behind the South bench in place of Joe Houk who was tending to family related Halloween matters.

“As of right now, our first line all played varsity last year,” Murphy said. “I love seeing them step up into those leadership positions and taking command.

“Tonight, I actually didn’t have to say much. They brought things up to the younger players and led by example.

Truman coach Bill Keyser lauded the work of Jeremy Wedul, his senior goaltender, who finished with 19 saves.

“Jeremy is a come-out-of-the-net-and-and-challenge-the-shooter goalie,” Keyser said. “He is sound in net, we have a lot of confidence in him, and with the confidence he beings to us in the net, they’re able to bring it out on the ice and play better, knowing they’ve got a good goalie behind them.”

Magloff stopped 22 of 24 shots at the other end.

By Rick Woelfel

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Truman 1 1 0—2

C.R. South 1 1 0—2

First-period goals: Steven Avellino (T) from Zackary Keyser, 1:31; Logan Hurwitz (CRS) from Billy Harrelson, 4:35.

Second-period goals: Avellino (T) from Robert Dicrosta (T) and Decklyn Dailey, 4:12; Hurwitz (CRS) from Harrelson and John Hearn, 4:24.

Shots: Truman 24, CRS 21; Saves: Jeremy Wedul (T) 19, Brett Magloff (CRS) 22.

Records: Truman (0-0-1); Council Rock South (0-0-1)

Flyers Cup Day Five Schedule/Results

The 39th Flyers Cup tournament resumes on Monday with semifinal games in Class A and Class 3A

Class A

Bayard Rustin 6, Hershey 2

West Chester East 5, Strath Haven 3

Championship game on Wednesday, 6:30 at Ice Line

Class 3A

Holy Ghost Prep 6, Cardinal O’Hara 5—Luke Aquaro provides a hat trick as the top-seeded Firebirds advance to the championship game. Liam McCanney four goals and an assist for the Lions.

Check our our game story at www.buckscountycouriertimes.com

St, Joseph’s Prep 5, Malvern Prep 3—Mark Colavita two goals and an assist for the Hawks, who will be looking to win their first-ever Flyers Cup

Championship game Monday, 3-19 at Hatfield

Tuesday will feature the semifinals in the Class 2A and Girls Divisions

Class 2A
1 Central Bucks South vs 5 Council Rock South 7:45 at Hatfield

2 Downingtown East vs 3 Conestoga 6:30 at Ice Line

Championship Game Thursday at Hatfield. 7:00

Girls

2 West Chester East vs 3 Radnor, 8:30 at Ice Line

Winner will play 1 Unionville for the Flyers Cup Thursday at 6:30 at Ice Line

Class 2A Scoring Leaders G A Pts

Michael Cameron Conestoga 5 4 9

Jason Sison Conestoga 4 5 9

Joe DeLaurentis C.B. South 3 4 7

Justin Cohn Downingtown East 4 3 7

2018 Flyers Cup Day 2

The Class 2A Flyers Cup tournament begins this evening with eight first-round games

Tuesday Class 2A Round One

CB South 10, Boyertown 0

North Penn 6, Avon Grove 4

Pennridge 6, Central Bucks East 1

Council Rock South 8 Haverford 2

Conestoga 5, Spring Ford 3

Parkland 5, Central Bucks West 1

Downingtown West 10, Council Rock North 0

Downingtown East 11, Perkiomen Valley 1

Updates available at www.flyerscup.org

Quarterfinal games will be played on Thursday, weather permitting.

CB South vs. North Penn 6:45 at Warwick

Pennridge vs. Council Rock South 8:50 at Hatfield

Conesotoga vs. Parkland, 6:45 at ice Line

Downingtown East vs. Downingtown West, 8:50 at Ice Line
Schedule subject to change due to weather….

Note: the last team to successfully defend a Flyers Cup Class 2A title was Council Rock South in 2011 and ’12.

Wednesday Class A Quarterfinals All POSTPONED TO THURSDAY, MARCH 8

1 Bayard Rustin vs 9 Palmyra,

4 Springfield vs 5 Hershey

3 Lower Dauphin vs 6 Strath Haven

2 West Chester East vs 10 Unionville

Class 3A Quarterfinals THURSDAY, MARCH 8

4 LaSalle vs. 5 Cardinal O’Hara, 7:10 at Hatfield

3 Malvern Prep vs. 6 Archbishop Ryan 8:15 at Ice Line

2 St. Joseph’s Prep vs. 7 Father Judge. 8:00 at Skatium

Semifinals Monday

Our thanks to the administration and staff at Holy Ghost Prep for their support.

Holy Ghost Prep is a private, Catholic, all-boys school located in Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Located adjacent to the busy I-95 corridor in metropolitan Philadelphia, Holy Ghost Prep attracts students from more than 100 elementary feeder schools from throughout metropolitan Philadelphia counties and New Jersey

Today is a vibrant community of nearly 500 young men preparing for college and adult life through a challenging program which stresses the cultivation of students’ unique gifts and talents, academic excellence, and generous service to the poor. We continue to be mindful of our founding history as a seminary as we seek to form young men morally, intellectually, and spiritually in the Spiritan tradition.

Note: Tuesday’s Class 2A game between #6 Parkland and #11 C.B. West is now an 8:15 start at Hatfield Ice

Tuesday Class 2A Round One

1 CB South vs 16 Boyertown 7:15 at Warwick

8 Avon Grove vs 9 North Penn 7:00 at Ice Line

4 Pennridge vs 13 Central Bucks East, 7:10 at Hatfield

5 Council Rock South vs 12 Haverford, 9:00 at Warwick

3 Conestoga vs 14 Spring Ford 6:45 at Ice Line, 8:45 at Ice Line

6 Parkland vs 11 Central Bucks West, 8:15 at Hatfield (NOTE NEW START TIME)

7 Downingtown West vs 10 Council Rock North, 8:45 at Ice Line

2 Downingtown East vs 15 Perkiomnen Valley, 8:30 at Ice Line

Hockey Happenings Update 2-24-18

Pennridge defeated Council Rock South 5-4 Friday night to earn the second seed in the Suburban High School Hockey League Class 2A Playoffs.

With that, here are the matchups for the four quarterfinal games set for Monday.

C.B. South vs. 8. Neshaminy. 6:15 at Rev. Ice Gardens

4. North Penn vs 5. CR North 7:30 at Hatfield

2. Pennridge vs. 7. C.B. East 9:10 at Hatfield

3. Council Rick South vs 6. CB West 7:55 at Revolution Ice Gardens

The upper bracket semifinal will be Wednesday at Revolution Ice Gardens at 7:00

The lower bracket semifinal will be Wednesday at Hatfield at 7:10

Championship game will be Thursday at Hatfield at 7:10

The Class A semifinals will be played Wednesday as follows

Wissahickon vs. Hatboro-Horsham 8:50 at Hatfield

Abington vs. Lower Moreland. 8:45 at Revolution Ice Gardens

Championship game will be Thursday at Hatfield at 8:50

A reminder: The SHSHL playoffs have no bearing on the Flyers Cup seedings.

Those will be announced tomorrow.

SHSHL Standings/Playoff Update 2-22-17

Hope some of you stayed up to watch the women’s gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada last night…. It was worth it.

The Suburban High School Hockey League concludes its regular season Friday night.

Here’s an overview of how the standings look.

BTW: The Miracle on Ice, the U.S. win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics, occurred 38 years ago today. For the high-school players who may not have done so yet; find this game on You Tube and watch it.

Class 2A W L T Pts

Central Bucks South 10 0 0 20

Council Rock South 8 1 1 17

Pennridge 8 1 1 17

North Penn 8 2 1 17

Council Rock North 6 4 1 13

Central Bucks West 5 5 0 10

Central Bucks East 4 6 1 9

Neshaminy 3 7 1 7

Thursday

Central Bucks South vs. Central Bucks West 8:45 at Rev. Ice Gardens

Friday

Council Rock South vs. Pennridge 7:10 at Hatfield

The eight playoff teams in Class 2A are set.

Central Bucks South will be the top seed. The result of the Council Rock South-Pennridge game

will determine seeds two and three. North Penn is locked into fourth place via the tiebreaker system. Thanks to Kenny Haas for the late update….

Seeds five through eight are set.

Quarterfinal Games

C.B. South vs. 8. Neshaminy
CRS-Pr winner vs. 7. C.B. East
CRS-Pr loser vs 6. CB West
North Penn vs 5. CR North

Class 1A W L T Pts

Wissahickon 13 1 0 26

Lower Moreland 10 4 0 20

Abington 9 3 1 19

Hatboro-Horsham 9 4 0 18

Friday

Abington vs. Hatboro-Horsham 8:50 at Hatfield

The four playoff teams are set. The result of the Hatboro-Horsham-Abington game will determine the final order of finish.

There is also a key Class 3A game set for tomorrow as Holy Ghost Prep faces Malvern Prep at Ice Line (8:45). The Firebirds are in line for the #1 seed in the Class 3A Flyer Cup tournament

Playoffs begin next Monday

Prep Division Standings W L T Its

Holy Ghost Prep 6 1 0 12

St. Joseph’s Prep 5 3 0 10

Malvern Prep 4 3 0 8

LaSalle 3 4 0. 6

Salesianum 0 7 0 0

Teams in bold have completed their regular-season schedules.

Hockey Happenings Update

With one week left in the Suburban High School Hockey League regular season, here’s how the standings look. Standings are based on divisional games only through 2-16-18

SHSHL

Class 2A Standings W L T Pts

C.B. South 10 0 0 20

Council Rock South 8 1 1 17

Pennridge 8 1 1 17

North Penn 7 2 1 15

Council Rock North 6 4 1 13

C.B. West 5 5 0 10

C.B. East 4 6 0 8

Souderton 3 7 0 6

Neshaminy 2 7 1 5

William Tennent 1 7 2 4

Truman 1 7 1 3

Pennsbury 0 8 0 0

Class 2A Scoring G-A Pts

Eric Slater Pr 33-20—53

Zac Herman Crn 22-21—43

Joe DeLaurentis CBS 23-18—41

Matt Stoll CBS 24-16—40

Michael Walker Pr 17-19—36

Andrew Galetta NP 19-14—33

Patrick McGinley Pr 20-12—32

Daniel Guest Crn 15-16—31

Nathan Oh NP 8-20—28

Matt Meli CRS 20-6—26

Collin Kleiser CRS 13-13—26

John Vanni CRN 12-12—24

Reis Braccio CBS 7-17—24

Brandon Smmmonds CRN 7-16—23

Colin Abbonizio CBS 9-14—23

Class 2A Goaltenders (Save Pct)

Oscar Levin CBS .938

Steve Glik Nesh .908

Tim White CBS .903

Luke Stranik Pr .901

Josh Smith Sou .894

Eric Lineman Wt .873

Our thanks to the administration and staff at Holy Ghost Prep for their support.

Holy Ghost Prep is a private, Catholic, all-boys school located in Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Class 1A Standings W-L-T Pts

Wissahickon 13 0 0—26

Abington 9 3 0—18

Lower Moreland 9 4 0—18

Hatboro-Horsham 8 4 0—16

Upper Dublin 7 6 0—14

New Hope Solebury 2 11 0—4

Plymouth Whitemarsh 2 11 0—4

Upper Moreland 0 11 0—0

Teams in bold have clinched a playoff spot

Teams in italic in contention for a playoff spot

SHSHL Update for 2-12-18

Two weeks remain in the SHSHL regular season.

Here are the Class 2A standings including divisional games only through Friday, February 10.

W-L-T Pts

CB South 10-0-0 20

CR South 7-1-1 15

Pennridge 7-1-1 15

North Penn 7-2-1 15

CR North 5-4-1 11

CB West 5-4-0 10

CB East 3-6-0 6

Souderton 3-6-0 6

Neshaminy 2-7-1 5

Tennent 1-6-2 4

Truman 1-6-1 3

Pennsbury 0-8-0 0

Eight teams will qualify for the Class 2A SHSHL playoffs. Historically, playoff qualifiers have received Flyers Cup invitations. The top six teams, C.B. South, C.R. South, Pennridge, North Penn, Council Rock North, and C.B. West are all assured of playoff spots. Central Bucks East and Souderton will clinch spots by earning two points (one win or two ties) in their two remaining games.

In Class A, Wisssahickon has clinched the top spot in a four-team playoff with a 12-0-0 record (24 points). Lower Moreland (9-4-0, 18 points) is also assured of a spot with one divisional game remaining. Abington (8-3-0, 16) and Hatboro-Horsham (7-4-0, 14) are favored claim the last two spots. Upper Dublin (7-6-0, 14) is also in contention.

Our thanks to the administration and staff at Holy Ghost Prep for their support.

Holy Ghost Prep is a private, Catholic, all-boys school located in Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Independence League Playoffs

Germantown Academy will face Springside Chestnut Hill on Tuesday instead of Pennington in the IISL semifinals. game time will be 4:00 at Oaks. The winner will face Episcopal or Pennington in Thursday’s championship game at Penn.

Hockey Happenings 12-30-17

It’s Almost Time for Hockey

It’s almost time for the Suburban High School Hockey League to awaken from its holiday slumber. The league season is set to resume on Wednesday. Here’s how the standings would look if the 12 Class 2A teams were all in one division.

W-L-T Pts

C.B. South 5-0-0 10

C.R. South 4-0-1 9

Pennridge 4-0-0 8

North Penn 3-1-0 6

CR North 2-3-1 5

Souderton 2-2-0 4

Wm. Tennent 1-3-2 4

CB East 2-3-0 4

Neshaminy 1-3-1 3

CB West 1-2-0 2

Truman 0-2-1 1

Pennsbury 0-6-0 0

Keep in mind, the official league season in Class 2A this season consists of 11 games; each team will play the others once.

Wissahickon continues to lead the Class A Division with a perfect 8-0-0 league mark. Hatboro-Horsham is next at 6-1-0 followed by Abington at 4-2-0 and Upper Dublin at 4-4-0.

Winter Classic

While the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres are squaring off in the Winter Classic on Monday, two local teams will also be taking the ice. Archbishop Wood and Lansdale Catholic will face off at Junge Pavilion at The Academy of the New Church in what has become a New Year’s Day tradition. Game time will be 2 p.m. weather permitting.

It Starts With a Handshake

I’ve heard criticism of the new SHSHL protocol which mandates teams shake hands before the opening faceoff than after the game, but I personally like the idea. It sends the right message and gets the evening off to a positive start.

The custom is not unique to hockey. It’s common in professional soccer re; the Premier League and in the World Cup. We also saw that protocol on display recently at a college basketball game; the teams shook hands after the national anthem prior to player introductions.

Safety First Part I

In years past it was rare for SHSHL games to be postponed because of bad weather and games would often be played when other high-school events were called off. But coaches now have a protocol to request a postponement from the league in the wake of unfavorable road/travel conditions.

Several games were called off earlier this month in the wake of storm. They will be made up at some point, inserted into the designated home team’s practice ice slot.

Safety Part II

A scary moment occurred in the second period of the North-Penn-C.B. South game on December when the Knights’ George Boyle was taken into the boards from behind by the Titans’ Reis Braccio, who received a major penalty plus a game misconduct on the play and deservedly so. Boyle was down on the ice for the better part of three minutes.

Some would consider hockey a dangerous game. The view from here is that it is a game that has certain inherent risks. Every player, regardless of age, experience, or level of play, has an inherent responsibility to play the game safely.

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SHSHL Scoring Leaders as of 12-30-17

Class 2A

G-A PTS

Zac Herman, CRN 13-11—24

Eric Slater, PR 12-12—24

Michael Walker, PR 12-11—23

Matt Stoll, CBS 12-7—19

Matt Melli, CRS 14-3—17

Daniel Guest, CRN 9-8—17

Reis Braccio, CBS 4-12—16

Nathan Oh, NP 5-10—15

Brandon Simmonds, CRN 4-11—15

Joe DeLaurentis, CBS 13-1—14

Andrew Galetta, NP 9-5—14

Jared Albano, NP 5-9—14

Class A G-A PTS

Brian Gary, Wiss 30-18—48

Sean Gary, Wiss 23-16—39

Ari Nordinger, UD 20-7—27

Dean Keller, PW 20-5—25

Perry Carpenter, Ab. 12-10—22

Hockey Happenings Update 12-18-17

The weather forced some postponements in the SHSHL last Friday. Those games will be made up after the start of the new year. With one week remaining before the holiday break, here’s how things are shaping up.

Wissahickon is the only unbeaten team in the league. The Trojans are 8-0 in Class A in the wake of an 11-4 win over Plymouth Whitemarsh last Wednesday night. The Trojans are averaging better than 10 goals per game and have reached double figures six times.

Bryan Gary leads the team in scoring with 30 goals and 18 assists for 48 points. Sean Garry has 23 goals and 16 assists for 39 points.

The Trojans’ scheduled meeting with Council Rock North last Friday was postponed; Wissahickon is now off until January 3.

In Class 2A, the best records belong to Central Bucks South and Pennridge, both of whom are 7-1. The Rams and the Titans are both 4-0 in divisional play.

The Titans are paced by Joe DeLaurentis (13 goals, 1 assist) and Matt Stoll (8g/6a) with 14 points each. Their biggest win was a 1-0 decision over defending state champion Downingtown East back on November 30.

Eric Slater leads the Rams in scoring with 12 goals and12 assists for 24 points. Michael Walker has 12 goals and 11 assists for 23.

The two teams will meet each other on January 17th

Two of scholastic hockey’s most influential figures were behind the benches last Wednesday night when Council Rock South and Hoy Ghost Prep squared off. Joe Houk (Council Rock South) and Gump Whiteside (Holy Ghost Prep) have seen a lot of jockey in their time.

On this occasion, the Firebirds prevailed 9-1 over the Golden Hawks, who were minus six regulars but Houk took a pragmatic view of the occasion, looking at it as learning experience for a team that is young in places.

‘I should have four guys back by the first of the year,” he said.

Houk only has 11 players on his varsity roster; he compensates by utilizing JV call ups to fill out the roster. He noted that fatigue, mental as well as physical, was a factor against the Firebirds after the Golden Hawks fell behind 7-1 after two periods

“I told them, ‘In a case like this your body may be tired but your mind is not,’’ he said, “you’ve got to keep going for another 16 minutes.”

Houk has won three Flyers Cup titles and a state title in his tenure with the Golden Hawks. Joe is a great guy,” Whiteside said. “He’s a friend and a great coach and I just have a lot of respect for him and his program, any team that he’s ever coached. He’s just a quality guy. He’s what high-school hockey is all about. That’s why guys play for him because he’s a great guy. He’s a quality coach, and a good friend.”

Downingtown East is off to a 7-1 start in the Ches-Mont Division of the Intercounty Scholastic Hockey League. The loss to Central Bucks South has been the cougars’ only setback of the season. They’re 2-0 in the Ches-Mont which technically puts them in fourth place because they’ve played so few league games.

Downingtown West is officially on top at 4-2-1-0 in the Ches-Mont (5-2-1 overall) followed by West Chester Bayard Rustin (3-0-1-1) and West Chester East (2-2-1-0).

Lower Merion leads the Central League Northern Division with a 5-0-1-0 mark (7-0-1-0 overall) while Conestoga is next at 5-1 and 7-1. Springfield-Delco leads the Southern Division with a perfect 8-0 mark.

Note that the Intercounty League uses overtime during the regular season.

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Holy Ghost Prep 9, CR South 1 12-13-17

Two of the most respected figured in Philadelphia area scholastic hockey circles were behind the benches Wednesday night when Holy Ghost Prep and Council Rock South squared off at Grundy Arena.

The Firebirds’ Gump Whiteside and the Golden Hawks’ Joe Houk have seen an abundance of high-quality hockey over the years and the teams they’ve coached have had considerable success; including collecting four Flyers Cup titles between them.

On this night, the Firebirds, the defending Class 3A Flyers Cup champions, dominated, scoring six goals in the second period and going on to a 9-1 win over a depleted South squad in a Suburban High School Hockey League non-league matchup. Max Massari scored twice for the winners (7-3) while seven other players scored one goal each.

Houk was without six of his regulars, including Dylan Feoli and Matt Owens, who have been out all season with injuries, and Matt Meli, who is leading the team in scoring.

“We’re a short bench to begin with,” Houk said. “we’ve only got 11 rostered guys, we bring up five guys from (the junior varsity) every game).”

The Firebirds led just 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Shane Stevens at the 10:53 mark. South goaltender Mason Procz kept his team in the game by making 15 saves in the opening period.

It was a 3-0 game with five minutes left in the session when the Firebirds broke the game open by exploding for four goals, including two by Massari, in a span of 3:37.

South avoided the shutout when Jared Wagenmann scored with 56 seconds left in the game off Sean Joyce, the Firebirds’ backup goaltender who came on in the third period to spell Tristan Devine who had little to do; his team outshot the Golden Hawks (4-2-1) 57-10.

Whiteside was concerned about his team’s slow start. “We had a really slow start,” he said, “just a lack of focus. We responded really well in the second and third periods.

“We still have a lot of work to do. This is a veteran team but we still have lot of work to do. I wasn’t happy with their focus in the first period at all.”

Council Rock South 0 0 1 —1

Holy Ghost Prep 1 6 2—9

First-period goal: Shane Stevens (HGP) from Andrew Serafin, 10:53.

Second-period goals: Evan Midrick (HGP) from Eric Pohl and Beau Brusius 1:15; Luke Aquaro (HGP) from Byran Hartley, 6:34; Max Massari (HGP) from Thomas McNulty, 10:53; Colin Costello (HGP) assist unavailable, 13:18; Massari (HGP) from Casey Buck, 13;53 (sh); Alex D’Angelo (HGP) unassisted, 14:30 (sh).

Third-period goals: Serafin (HGP) from Hartley, 8:47; Pohl (HGP) from D’Angelo, 11;59; Jared Wagenmann (CRS) unassisted, 15:04.

Shots: Council Rock South 10, Holy Ghost Prep 57.

Records: Council Rock South (4-2-1); Holy Ghost Prep (7-3)