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Updated standings of the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference as of January 24, 2019
Standings Won Lost OTW OTL PTS
LaSalle (13-5) 5 0 1 0 17
Malvern Prep (10-3) 4 2 0 0 12
St. Joseph’s Prep (6-12) 1 4 1 0 5
Holy Ghost Prep (5-9) 0 4 0 2 2
Each team receives: 3 points for a regulation win
2 points for an overtime win
1 point for an overtime loss
The Firebirds snapped a seven-game losing streak with the non-league win on Wednesday at Grundy Arena. Evan Mudrick, Alex D’Angelo, and Andrew Serafin scored the goals. D’Angelo also picked up two assists.
Sean Joyce earned the shutout in goal.
BRISTOL—The struggle continued for Holy Ghost Prep Thursday afternoon. Luke Antonacci scored two goals as the Princeton Day School shut out the Firebirds 4-0 in a nom-league encounter at Grundy Arena.
The Firebirds (4-9) have now lost seven straight games.
The Panthers (8-7) were in control early on. Drew McConaughy beat Sean Joyce with a backhander at the 8:28 mark of the first frame to give his team a 1-0 lead. Antonacci made it a 2-0 game at 11:19.
The Panthers wound up outshooting the Firebirds (4-9) 17-3 in the first period. “We had a good first shift,” said Thomas McNulty, one of the Firebird captains. “And then after that, we kind of went downhill, we lost our intensity. It seemed like we weren’t all in today.”
Kevin Flahile extended the Panthers’ lead with a goal at the 6:41 mark off the second period before Antonacci added his second goal of the game 4:50 into the third period with a shot from the right point.
Jeremy Siegel pitched the shutout in goal. It was the fourth straight win for the Panthers and their second over over an Atlantic Prep Athletic conference team in 24 hours; Princeton Day bested LaSalle 4-2 on Wednesday.
Princeton Day coach Scott Bertoli said his team was able to take advantage of the Firebirds’ relative youth on the blue line. “I think we recognized that we’re young on the back end,” he said. “I like the fact that we got pucks deep and penetrated. We had a ton of opportunities.
“I give their goalie credit … that could have been a four or five-goal game and I thought he hung in there.”
In the wake of Thursday’s loss the Firebirds continue to look for solutions for what has become an extraordinarily difficult puzzle.
“We’ve been in a little bit of a slump,” McNulty said, “and honestly, we’re not used to that at all. This is my fourth year on the team and I’ve never experienced anything like this.
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“We’re slowly trying to piece together this puzzle and figure it out but it just comes down to our work ethic. And yes, a lot of guys left last year but we just need to put in the work and I think we’ll start to click.
Notes—The Panthers outshot the Firebirds 33-15. Laura White, who refereed, works games for the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Princeton Day 2 1 1—4
Holy Ghost Prep 0 0 0—0
First-period goals: Drew McConaughy (PDS) from Stephan Gorelenkov, 8:28; Luke Antonacci (PDS) from Colby Auslander and Ty Eastman, 11:19.
Second-period goal: Kevin Flahile (PSD) from Gibson Linnehan and Chris Cecelia, 6:41.
Third-period goal: Antonacci (PDS) from Gorlenkov and Cecelia, 4:50.
Shots: Princeton Day 33, Holy Ghost Prep 15; Saves: Jeremy Siegel (PDS) 15, Sean Joyce (HGP) 29.
Holy Ghost Prep and Malvern Prep will play an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday, January 30. Game time will be 7 p.m.
BENSALEM—The pattern is becoming all too familiar for Holy Ghost Prep. Matthew Frett scored 35 seconds into overtime to give Gloucester Catholic a 2-1 win over the Firebirds Thursday afternoon at Grundy Arena.
It marked the third time in three games Holy Ghost Prep has gone down to defeat following regulation. The Firebirds (4-8) fell to LaSalle in overtime on December 21 and St. Joseph’s Prep in a shootout on December 14.
The winning goal came on a two-one one situation. Frett carried the puck down the right wing, took his time, and beat Firebird netminder Sean Joyce.
“It’s just really frustrating,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside. “We’ve just got to start winning some hockey games. We’ve got to care a little bit more, we’ve got to work harder, and just get better.”
For most of the afternoon the teams skated on even terms. The game got off to a fast pace. Six minutes of the opening period passed without a whistle. Joyce came up big when he denied Gloucester Catholic’s Carter Jones with six-and-a-half minutes left in the period.
Frett got his team on the scoreboard with just 61 seconds left in the opening session. Tyler Carter took the initial shot from the left wing. Joyce made the save but Frett put in the rebound.
Holy Ghost Prep was forced to come up by big on the penalty kill in the second period when defenseman Jack Kelly drew a five-minute major penalty plus a game misconduct, at the 6:48 mark for head contact. The Firebirds stood tall at the start of the subsequent power play before things even up when the Rams’ Connor Millikan drew a boarding call at 8:06.
The third period saw the Firebirds fail to take advantage of one power-play chance but they got a second when Frett was sent off for hooking with 4:31 left in the game. This time the hosts were able to capitalize. Stefen Melekos took the initial shot from the right wing, Ram goaltender Christopher Liscio made a quality save but Byron Hartley put in the rebound with a forehander.
The sudden-death overtime period was over seemingly in the blink of an eye.
“There were parts of the game where I thought our effort was really good,” Whiteside said. “Puck possession time, I thought we did some really good things. But again, we lost 2-1 and that’s the bottom line.”
Notes—Gloucester Catholic was a semi finalist a year ago in the New Jersey High School Athletic Association’s private school tournament. It is one of four schools that is playing a round robin with Atlantic Prep athletic Conference teams. The others are The Hun School, Princeton Day, and St. Augustine.
Gloucester Catholic 1 0 0 1—2
Holy Ghost Prep 0 0 1 0—1
First-period goal: Matthew Frett (GC) from Tyler Carter, 14:59
Third-period goal: Byron Hartley (HGP) from Stefen Melekos and Thomas McNulty, 12:16 (pp)
Overtime goal: Frett (GC) from Jake Grace, :35
Shots: Gloucester Catholic 27, Holy Ghost Prep 25; Saves: Christopher Liscio (GC) 24, Tristan Devine (HGP) 25
Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference W L OTW OTL Pts
LaSalle (12-3) 5 0 1 0 17
Malvern Prep (6-3) 2 2 0 0 6
St. Joseph’s Prep (5-6) 1 2 1 0 5
Holy Ghost Prep (4-7) 0 4 0 2 2
Teams receive three points for a regulation win, two points for a win in an overtime or shootout, one point for a loss in overtime or shootout
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Gloucester Catholic at Holy Ghost Prep
St. Joseph’s Prep at St. Augustine
HATFIELD TOWNSHIP—It was a hockey game that featured a bit of everything, including a dramatic finish and an outstanding effort in goal; from the losing goaltender.
Jan Olenginski scored off a faceoff 2:23 into overtime to give LaSalle a 3-2 win over Holy Ghost Prep Friday night at Hatfield Ice in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference matchup between the two longtime rivals.
The goal came off a draw in the circle to the left of Holy Ghost Prep goaltender Sean Joyce. Sam Lipkin drew the puck back to the top of the circle where Olenginski was waiting to launch a shot that beat Firebird netminder Sean Joyce.
“I didn’t really have to do too much,” Olenginski said. “He went right to me and I just shot it.”
LaSalle (10-2, 6-0 in the APAC) dominated the bulk of the last two periods. That the Firebirds were able to take the game to overtime was a testament to Joyce’s efforts in goal. He made 39 saves, two of them on penalty shots.
“He’s a competitor,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside. “He comes to play every game, that’s all you can ask for. And that just gets our guys going.”
The Firebirds (4-7, 0-6) essentially started the evening with a one-goal advantage. LaSalle’s Eric Ford drew a cross-checking penalty just 59 seconds after the opening faceoff. Colin Costello put his team in front just 11 seconds after that.
Max Levenberg responded for the Explorers with a shot from the right side off a scramble in front with 17 seconds remaining in the period.
In the second period the game turned from physical to chippy. Ten penalties were called in the period but the most significant of them came with 2:21 remaining when the Explorers were awarded a penalty shot when the Firebirds’ Jake Marek was whistled for closing his hand over the puck in the crease.
Lipkin took the penalty shot but Joyce turned his forehander aside.
Andrew Budzynski gave LaSalle it’s first lead with 8:15 left in the third period on a play that Michael Casey started with a move down the right wing. Casey went cross ice to Lipkin who in turn found Casey who deposited the puck in the lower right-hand corner of the net.
All three players involved in the play, along with Olenginski, are sophomores.
“A lot of those guys that are sophomores now had a year to play together here , to know the way we want them to play when they’re playing for LaSalle,” said Explorer coach Wally Meuhlbronner. “I think the best quality about them is that they’re unselfish and they work hard and play together well.”
Alex D’Angelo tied the game for Holy Ghost Prep with 6:31 remaining off a feed from Jack Kelly.
Before overtime however, the Firebirds to weather another storm. With les than two minutes left in regulation, Lipkin found himself on a breakaway for the Explorers when Kelly threw his stick along the ice at him. This time it was Olenginski who took the penalty shot but again, Joyce proved impenetrable.
LaSalle finished with a 42-22 edge in shots.
Holy Ghost Prep 1 0 1 0—2
LaSalle 1 0 1 1—3
First-period goals: Colin Costello (HGP) from Eric Pohl and Evan Mudrick, 1:10 (pp); Max Levenberg (L), 15:43.
Third-period goals: Andrew Budzynski (L) from Sam Lipkin and Michael Casey, 7:49; Alex D’Angelo (HGP) from Jack Kelly, 9:29.
Overtime goal: Jan Olenginski (L) from Lipkin, 2:23.
Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 22, LaSalle 42; Saves: Sean Joyce (HGP) 39, Aidan McCabe (L) 20
To learn more about LaSalle College High School CLICK HERE
To learn more about Holy Ghost Prep CLICK HERE
Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference W L OTW OTL Pts
LaSalle (9-2) 5 0 0 0 15
&Malvern Prep (5-2) 2 2 0 0 6
St. Joseph’s Prep (4-4) 1 2 1 0 5
Holy Ghost Prep (4-6) 0 4 0 1 1
& overall record incomplete
Includes games through 12-16-18
3 points for regulation win, 2 points for overtime/shootout win, 1 point for overtime/shootout loss
By Rick Woelfel
BRISTOL— St. Joseph’s Prep climbed off the canvas Friday night. Down 2-0 at the start of the third period, the Hawks scored twice to force overtime before prevailing over Holy Ghost Prep 3-2 in a shootout at Grundy Arena in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game.
Austin Amato, the first player to shoot in the best-of-three shootout, was the only player to find the back of the net, by beating Firerbird netminder Sean Joyce low on the stick side.
But he and his mates worked hard to get to that point.
The first period belonged to Holy Ghost Prep. Jack Kelly and Andrew Serafin scored goals to give the Firebirds (4-6, 0-5 in the APAC) a 2-0 lead.
There was no scoring in the middle period but the Firebirds to had the upper hand before getting a big opportunity just after the buzzer when the Hawks’ Jared Schaal drew a double minor plus a misconduct, allowing the Firebirds to start the third period with a four-minute power play on fresh ice. But the hosts couldn’t capitalize and the momentum shifted after Schaal left the penalty box.
Nicholas Corrado scored a power-play goal off a goal-mouth scramble at the 5:08 mark before Owen Moke tied the game at 11:02 to draw the Hawks (4-4, 2-2 APAC) even.
“It seems this is the way we’ve been playing,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach David Giacomin. “We win won, we lose one. We come back and play two terrible periods or one terrible period and then all of a sudden find the fire and start being aggressive.”
The Firebirds’ inability to capitalize on their four-minute power play started their downhill slide. “That really hurt us,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach Gump Whiteside. “We get that ice cut and that fresh sheet of ice and then come out their with that four-minute power play and couldn’t generate some offense. “They shut us down there. I don’t think we played with enough speed and enough momentum.”
St. Joseph’s Prep dominated the five-minute NHL-style three-on-three overtime period. Joyce made four big saves to send the game to the shootout. “He’s rock solid back there,” Whiteside said.
Hawk goaltender Dan McGill was impenetrable in the extra period, stopping shots from Thomas McNulty, Serafin, and Colin Costello while Joyce denied Schaal and Evan Cassidy.
McGill noted that the Hawks had renewed energy when they took the ice in the third period. “We came back out with a great mindset,” he said. We were looking for the win.
The Hawks outshot the Firebirds 36-24, but the margin was 32-14 over the last two periods and overtime.
St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 2 0—2*
Holy Ghost Prep 2 0 0—2
First-period goals: Jack Kelly (HGP) from Colin Costello, 7:43; Andrew Serafin (HGP) unassisted, 12:46.
Third-period goals: Nicholas Corrado (SJP) unassisted, 5:08 (pp); Owen Moke (HGP) from Michael Urbani and Fran Verratti, 11:02
Shootout goal: Austin Amato (SJP) first round
Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 36, Holy Ghost Prep 24; Saves; Dan McGill (SJP) 22; Sean Joyce (HGP) 34.
St. Joseph’s Prep defeated Holy Ghost Pep 4-2 Friday night in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at the Class of ’23 Rink’
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