Tag: hockey

SHSHL Sets Alignment for 2021-22

A total of 17 varsity teams will skate under the Suburban High School Hockey League banner this season. Eleven Class AA teams and six Class A squads will be in the fold when the 2021-22 season commences on Wednesday, November 3.

There will be some changes in the makeup of the league; Council Rock North will return to the Class AA sector. Bensalem will skate in Class AA this season while Truman, which was a Class A team a year ago, will not field a varsity team this winter.

The Class AA National Division will include defending champion Pennsbury, along with Neshaminy, Council Rock South, Council Rock North, and Bensalem. The Continental Division will encompass North Penn, Souderton, Central Bucks East, Central Bucks West, and Central Bucks South.

The American Division will feature the league’s Class A schools, including defending champion Wissahickon, Plymouth Whitemarsh, Hatboro-Horsham, Quakertown, William Tennent, and Abington.

Launch of Arcadia Hockey Program Marks the Start of a New Era

             A new era is dawning at Arcadia University. Beginning this fall the university will put men’s and women’s NCAA Division III varsity hockey teams on the ice. The Knights will play their home games at Hatfield Ice and compete in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference, which includes teams in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland.

The 25-game regular season will commence on Halloween Weekend. Several teams in the hockey-only conference, including Arcadia, are members of the Middle Atlantic Conference in other sports, including Wilkes, Lebanon Valley, and Stevenson. Kings, which did not field a team last season, is also part of the MAC.

The Arcadia men’s team is coached by Vincent Pietrangelo a Michigan native who has been on the job since September of 2019.  Before coming to Arcadia, he spent three years as an assistant at the SUNY at Canton. Prior to that he was an assistant at Division I Ferris State.

Pietrangelo, who played college hockey at Division III Finlandia University has always wanted to build his own program and embraces the challenges that accompany that, notably in the area of recruiting.

“A startup program isn’t for everybody,” he said. “I guess the one unique thing is, I have a special opportunity for guys to come in and help write the history of something and build something from the ground up.

“So, that’s the kind of players that I’ve been going after, guys pretty much like myself. I took this job on (because) I wanted to start a program from scratch. It’s been my dream job, and I want guys to have that same kind of passion, that are saying ‘I want to be part of something, I want to be one of the founding members and take this program from starting to something great.’”

One challenges Pietrangelo has faced is attracting players who can meet Arcadia’s academic standards.

“Obviously finding kids that meet that academic requirement is something I have to look at,” he said. “But I guess just getting the word out that we are starting a program and having a program was the biggest challenge.

“Year One was just kind of watching kids, letting the hockey world know that Arcadia is starting. I was able to grab five really good kids that were pretty connected in the world and were able to also kind of help me recruit. I did that up until the pandemic hit. That was very challenging, once the pandemic hit, to recruit. instead of being able to meet a player face to face at the rink, I’m having to watch a lot more video and do a lot more phone calls. I’m more of a personal recruiter, I like to be face to face. So, that was kind of a new challenge for me.”

Like all players coming into NCAA hockey. Pietrangelo’s players will have to make some adjustments, and make them in a hurry.

“We practice every day,” he pointed out, which is a very different transition for a lot of my guys that are coming in. They’re used to playing 60 games a year in junior. Now they’re only playing 25 but it’s a lot more taxing than a lot of people think just because every day these student-athletes have to get up and go to class and study. 

“They’re in the weight room, then they come to practice. That takes a toll on their bodies. All my guys are coming in at 21 as freshmen. They’ll be playing against some seniors that are 25, 26 years old.”

La Salle 5, Father Judge 0

HATFIELD—In the end, it could be said La Salle did what was necessary. Michael Casey scored three goals and Chris Wnek added two more as La Salle shut out Father Judge 5-0 Tuesday night in a Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinal game at Hatfield Ice. The second-seeded Explorers, who have now won seven straight, will face Holy Ghost Prep in a Thursday semifinal (6:30 at Hatfield Ice).

In theory the Martin could have been much wider. The Explorers (9-4) outshot the seventh-seeded Crusaders (6-6-1) 47-14 over the course of the 48 minutes.

But Father Judge goaltender Colin McKee was the best player in the building by far. He made 40 saves before leaving the game with an injury with 90 seconds remaining in the third period.
La Salle dominated the first period, outshooting the Crusaders 11-4 but came away with just one goal, courtesy of Casey during a power play at the 11:01 mark off a setup from Dan Whitock. The goal came while Father Judge’s Sean Ford was sitting in the penalty box serving an interference minor.

Casey extended the Explorers’ lead 6:44 into the second period during another power play. The goal game just six seconds after the Crusaders’ Shawn Miller was flagged for high sticking.
But that was all the Explorers could do in the first two periods against McKee, who spent most of that time under heavy enemy fire; his team was outshot 34-8 over the first 32 minutes and the Explorers charged the Crusader net with impunity during much of that span.

“Their goalie played tremendous,” said La Salle head coach Wally Muehlbronner.

Both sides spent considerable time in special-teams situations. The game featured 17 minor penalties.

The third period, which included eight penalties, saw La Salle extend its lead. Chris Wnek beat McKee at the 4:30 mark before scoring his second goal of the night during a power play at 11:50.
With three minutes to go, McKee was pulled for an extra attacker and Casey completed his hat trick into an empty net with 2:08 left in regulation.

Muehlbronner left the rink happy to be advancing but otherwise dissatisfied. “How many two-on-ones did we give up by not playing a simple, smart game like we have been?” he said. “It’s a two-goal game going into the third period, Judge had some really good opportunities and their goaltender is playing phenomenal. That’s a tough game.”

Muehlbronner made it clear his players must step up their games if they hope to attain their goal of winning the 12th Flyers Cup in school history. “Hopefully they understand they were probably lucky to win tonight,” he said, “and we’re lucky to be moving on.”

Father Judge 0 0 0—0
La Salle 1 1 3—5
First-period goals: Michael Casey (L) from Dan Whitock and David Kimmel, 11:01 (pp);
Second-period goal: Casey (L) from Andrew Budzynski, 6:44 (pp);
Third-period goals: Chris Wnek(L) unassisted, 4:34; Wnek (L) from Tim Whitock, 11:50 (pp); Casey (L) unassisted, 13:52.
Shots: Saves: Colin McKee (FJ) 40 and David Marcelinho (FJ) 2, Liam Gross (L) 14

Jared Ingersoll Won a Flyers Cup Playing for Malvern Prep Now He’s Trying to Help This Year’s Team Win Another

As the Class AAA Flyers Cup tournament gets underway this week, Jared Ingersoll recalls his own scholastic hockey experience. Ingersoll is in his second season as an assistant coach with Malvern Prep, the top seed in the Class AAA bracket. The Friars will open tournament play Tuesday night against Salesianum.

Nearly a quarter century ago, Ingersoll was skating for the Friars as they captured the 1997 Class AAA Flyers Cup championship. Ingersoll himself was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player; he graduated from Malvern Prep not long after.

Today, Ingersoll reflects on how the school shaped his life. He enrolled as a freshman in the fall of 1993 but began considering the school several years before that.

“One of my best friends from grade school who I’m still friends with today left our grad school after sixth grade and went to Malvern as a middle schooler,” Ingersoll said. “That kind of put it on my radar.

“I visited the campus and watched a couple hockey games. And my dad went to Penn Charter, so I think he kind of understood the value a place like Malvern could provide to me.
“So it really was my number one school from the seventh grade when I started looking at high schools. As soon as I went on campus it was a perfect fit for me.”

When it came to adjusting to high school, Ingersoll found his greatest challenge was dealing with increased responsibility. “There is a lot more accountability in your classes,” he said, “and the teachers are a lot more demanding and expecting more out of you.

“One of the things from my perspective that Malvern is very good at is kind of pushing you out of your comfort zone. And trying to really set you up and prepare you for college and then post college and into the real world. So, my transition was more just kind of getting acclimated and managing my time. You’ve got a lot of different things going on and you have to think about things you didn’t have to before.”

In addition to playing hockey, Ingersoll played soccer at Malvern Prep. He notes that effective time management was necessary, to survive academically.

“You’re going to practice every day after school,” he saod. You’re not getting home until later at night and you’ve got your schoolwork, you really hard to learn how to take advantage of free time during your school day. During lunch breaks you’d do your activities, but any time you can use to maybe study for an exam and get some homework done, any work you can do during the day just kind of helps you. 

“You learn pretty quick that you’re not going to survive if you try to cram everything into a couple hours when you get home from practice and you’re already tired. It’s finding little windows to keep up with your work and get everything done.”

Ingersoll says when he was attending Malvern Prep it was virtually imperative to go to his teachers for extra help. 

“If you weren’t going to them for help and asking questions, you were going to be falling behind,” he said. “That was just part of the expectations, that you were interacting with your teachers outside of that specific class. They encourage it and its part of the expectations that you’re putting in that extra effort and making sure you fully understand what the teacher is teaching.

“There are difficult concerts in the subjects you’re going through, whether it’s a language or math, whatever it is, you need that extra help and the teachers were always available. They had specific times set up throughout the day where they would just sit there where anyone coming into ask questions could get help.

“Really, it falls on you and your accountable for how successful you are. They provide you every opportunity to be successful. Whether you take advantage of it or not separates kids that succeed and don’t succeed at Malvern.”
After graduating from Malvern Prep, Ingersoll went on to Penn State where he earned a degree in Management Science and Information Systems. He says his time at Malvern gave him a solid academic foundation and the discipline to succeed in college.

“The accountability is a big thing and holding myself to a high standard,” he said. “Going into college I was going from Malvern which is a fairly small school to Penn State. I’d have a classroom of 4 or 500, 600 people. You can get away with anything. 

“Just having that discipline to seek out the teachers in a big school like that, they’re available to you if you take advantage of it. So, having the discipline to go to class and get your work done and manage your time with all the extracurriculars and distractions in college, Malvern kind of sets you up for that.”

Ingersoll cherishes his time behind the Malvern Prep bench, alongside head coach Bill Keenan, whom Ingersoll coached for two years when Keenan was skating for Bishop Shanahan and Ingersoll was an assistant coach there.

“I had such a great experience at Malvern,” he said, “specifically during my hockey career. Our ultimate goal is to win a Flyers Cup. I don’t necessarily need that for myself. I would like these kids to look back on their Malvern hockey experience the same way I do.

 “I’m still best friends with a lot of the guys that I played with at Malvern and have memories that we still talk about today. I really hope that this group of kids looks back on their hockey experience the same way I do.”

For more information on Malvern Prep CLICK HERE

Flyers Cup History

Ten of the 22 teams still alive in the 2021 Flyers Cup tournament have won Flyers Cup titles in the past.

They include:

Class AAA

Malvern Prep (11) 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992-93, 1997, 2001-05 #

La Salle (11) 1996, ’98,1999 2008-09, 2011-14, 2016. 1019 %

Holy Ghost Prep (4) 2003, 2007, 2015, 2017 &

Cardinal O’Hara (2) 2006, ‘10

Father Judge (2) 1993, 2000 @

St. Joseph’s Prep (1) 2018

# Malvern Prep won the Class A title in 1991

% La Salle won the Class AA title in 1999

& Holy Ghost Prep won the Class AA title in 2003

@ Father Judge won the Class AA title in 1993

Class AA

Haverford (4); 1992, 2005-07 @

@ Haverford won the Class A title in 1992

Class A

WC East   (2); 2008, 2013

WC Henderson (1) 2007

Girls

D-town East (1); 2014

West Chester Henderson 5, Wissahickon 1

HATFIELD—Making the transition from the regular season to the Flyers Cup tournament requires stepping up. On Thursday night, Wissahickon was unable to make the climb.

Alex Holloway and Edward Jefferis each contributed two goals and two assists as West Chester Henderson prevailed over the Trojans 5-1 in a Class A quarterfinal game at Hatfield Ice.

The sixth-seeded Warriors (5-7-2) earned a place in Tuesday’s semifinals while third-seeded Wissahickon concluded its season at 12-2.

The Trojans came into the game averaging nine goals per game but never got into high gear against a Henderson team that kept them under pressure all evening long.

“They could keep up with (Henderson’s) speed,” said Wissahickon coach Ken Harrington,” but they would make decisions a little too quick because (opponents) were right on top of them. (But) a lot of times they weren’t and they would get in that mode ‘I’ve got to get rid of it.’”

And while the Trojans did generate some quality chances, they were unable to solve Warrior goaltender Dylan Krick until late in the third period.

“We had a lot of chances,” Harrington said, but they didn’t go in. We had enough, but their goalie was very good.”

Henderson jumped in from early on. Holloway corralled a loose puck just inside the Wissahickon blue line and went in alone on Trojan goaltender Michael Bonnani before putting the puck past him just 3:33 into the opening period. A second turnover on a similar play set up a goal from Jefferis and the Warriors had a 2-0 lead at the 12:38 mark.

Holloway set up Jefferis from behind the net and his teammate scored his second goal of the night to make it a 3-0 game 2:45 into the second period. Robbie Moses extended Henderson’s lead when he blasted a shot past Bonnani from the right faceoff circle at 14:19.By that point in the game, the Trojans, who had just 10 skaters available instead of their usual 12, were running low on energy.

Holloway scored his second goal of the game with 6:54 left in regulation on a shot from the left point, two long strides inside the blue line. Bonnani appeared to be screened on the play.

Wissahickon finally got on the scoreboard with 4:16 remaining when Ben Junker scored a power-play goal on a low shot from the high slot that found its way through traffic.

The Warriors outshot the Trojans 35-32.

Note from History: Henderson won a Class A Flyers Cup title in 2007,

WC Henderson 2 2 1—5
Wissahickon 0 0 1—1—1
First-period goals: Alex Holloway (WCH) unassisted, 3:33; Edward Jefferis (WCH) from Holloway, 12:38
Second-period goals: Jefferis (WCH) from Holloway, 2:45; Robbie Moses (P) from Christopher Lawrence, 14:19
Third-period goals: Holloway (WCH) from Jefferis and Tyler Krick, 9:06; Ben Junker (P) from Ty Schaffer’s and Bryan Garry, 11:44 (pp)
Shots: WCH 35, Wiss. 33 Saves: Dylan Krick (WCH) 32, Michael Bonnani (W) 30

It’s Time

The start of the 42nd Flyers Cup tournament is at hand.

The action kicks off Monday night with a pair of Class A play-in games

8 Penncrest 5 vs 9 Plymouth Whitemarsh 1

7 Radnor vs. 10 Bayard Rustin   8:45 at Ice Works

On Tuesday there is a full slate of eight Class AA first-round games.

1 Downingtown West vs. 16 Ridley    6:15 at Ice Line

8 Perkiomen Valley vs. 9 Neshaminy  6:45 at Ice Line

4 Spring Ford vs. 13 Downingtown East 8:45 at Ice Line

5 Council Rock South vs. 12 Avon Grove 6:30 at Hatfield Ice

3 Haverford vs. 14 North Penn     8:15 at Ice Line

6 Central Bucks South vs 11. Owen J. Roberts 8:10 at Hatfield Ice

7 Central Bucks East vs. 10 Pennridge 6:00 at Hatfield

2 Pennsbury vs. Conestoga 8:40 at Hatfield

Quarterfinal games in both classes are scheduled for Thursday

There will also be a single Class AAA quarterfinal game on Thursday

3 Holy Ghost Prep vs 6 Cardinal O’Hara 8:40 at Hatfield Ice

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!

APAC Update 3-27

Final Regular Season Standings. W L OW OL 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

 

Playoff Schedule

Monday 3-29   St. Joseph’s Prep vs. La Salle   7:30 at Grundy

Wednesday 3-31   Monday’s winner vs. Malvern Prep 8:00 at Ice Line

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!

C.B. South 2, Pennridge 0

                       

BRISTOL— A cohesive defensive effort plus a solid performance in goal formed a winning combination for Central Bucks South Wednesday night. The result was a 2-0 win over Pennridge in a Suburban High School Hockey League National/Continental matchup that brought the SHSHL’s playoff puzzle a step closer to being solved.

Dan Kvecher scored both goals for the Titans (6-4-1 overall, 5-2 in divisional play) who still have hopes of claiming the second seed in the upcoming SHSHL playoffs via a win over Neshaminy Friday night.

Pennridge, which was playing its first league since March 1  due to Covid issues, dropped to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in divisional play.

The Titans were outshot 40-26 but did all they could to support goaltender Mason Moyer, and many of the Rams’ shots came from outside the faceoff dots.

“Obviously, it’s not the amount of shots you want to give up,” said senior defenseman Owen Mendham, “but we have Moyer back there to help us out. We did a good job of tying people up and chipping pucks out into the corners and not giving up high-scoring chances.”

South coach Shaun McGinty praised Moyer’s effort between the pipes. “Giving up 40 shots, I would have hoped we would have had better defense,” he said, “but obviously, the back end of that defense is Moyer. I’ve been saying this game in and game out, he’s the cornerstone of the team. He did his job tonight.”

 The Titans got on the scoreboard when Kvecher beat Ryan Pico from close range off a feed from Aidan Gaffney at the 12:55 mark of the opening period. At the other end of the ice, the Rams fired 11 shots at Moyer but came up empty, a pattern that repeated itself all night.

Moyer made his best save of the game on Richie Shanks with 10:15 left in the game during a Pennridge power play.

Kvecher added an empty-net goal with 21 second left in regulation. 

“It was a very frustrating evening,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna. “I thought that in the third period, we generated a lot more chances.

“I thought in the first period we made it really on (Moyer). A lot of eye-level stuff that he could see.” 

Despite the loss, Montagna took away some positives from the evening. “I thought that was our best game in a long time,” he said. “we played a great defensive game, we had a ton of offensive-zone time. We’ve got to find a way to break though on that and I thought we were a little soft in the offensive end getting around the net.”

 C.B. South 1 0 1—2

Pennridge 0 0 0—0

First-period goal: Dan Kvecher (CBS) from Aidan Gaffney, 12:05

Third-period goal: Kvecher (CBS) unassisted, 15:39 (en)

Shots: C.B.South 26, Pennridge 40; Saves: Mason Moyer (CBS) 40, Ryan Pico (PR) 24