Tag: Hun School

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 5 The Hun School 0

Thomas Leonards delivered  a hat trick a La Salle shut out The Hun School 5-0 Thursday evening in an APAC game at Pro Skate.

It was the second consecutive conference win for the Explorers and boosted their record to 5-11 overall and 2-5 in the APAC. Hun School dropped to 11-8 overall an 3-4 in conference. Thursday’s loss was the first time this year the Raiders have been shut out.

La Salle took a 2-0 first-period lead on goals from River Carangi and Roman Tkach.

Leonards took over in the second period, with a goal 1:51 into the period and a second goal with 6:24 remaining during a power play. Leonards completed the hat trick 22 seconds into the third period. Danny Trainor earned the shutout in goal.

La Salle 2 2 1—5

Hun School 0 0 0—0

First-period goals:

Second-period goals:

Third-period goal:

Shots: La Salle 26, Hun School 18 Saves: Danny Trainor (L) 18. Chase Kishler (HS) 21

Holy Ghost Prep 4 Hun School 1

Lawrence Township, NJ—Discipline is an important attribute for a hockey team. That trait increases in importance as the stakes get higher

Holy Ghost Prep and the Hun School were playing for high stakes Thursday afternoon. And it was the Firebirds who maintained their focus long enough to post a 4-1 win at Ice Land.

The result assures Holy Ghost Prep (13-2, 7-0 in the APAC) of the top seed when it tries to defend the APAC title when the Founders Cup playoffs commence on February 18. And while the seeding for the Flyers Cup tournament won’t be announced for another five weeks and more, the Firebirds, who are the defending Class AAA champions, seemingly have the inside trac to the top seed in that event as well.

Thursday’s matchup was the second between the Firebirds and Raiders (11-6, 3-3 in the APAC) in six days and the battle scars from that first encounter were still smarting. So, the task of staying attuned to the task at hand had additional significance.

“We know (Hun School) is a real physical team,” said the Firebirds’ Chase Logue. “As long as we just stayed calm, stayed focused, and not do dumb things or take dumb penalties {they would be successful}.

“It doesn’t help when you’re down a guy on the penalty kill but we killed every penalty off.

“The guys worked hard and we deserved this one.”

The Firebirds scrambled their lineup; six regulars were missing due to injury, illness, and club duty. The newcomers stepped up. Josh Zdunkiewicz set up Jake Samron for the first goal of the game with 5:36 left in the opening period. Logue made it a 2-0 game with four seconds and change left in the period.

Zachary Vallee cut the deficit in half with 5:58 left in the second frame with a shorthanded goal when a breakdown left him alone in the neutral zone on the receiving end of a Devin Espana outlet pass. Vallee went in on a breakaway and beat Firebird netminder Matt Salita.

With the teams separated by a single goal entering the third period, the intensity level, already high, kicked up a notch. There were 13 penalties called in the final period.

One against the Raiders led to Logue’s second goal of the game. Nate Trawinski was serving a roughing minor when Logue launches a wrister from the right point that beat Blake Echternacht in the Hun School net with 12:14 left in regulation.

Just over a minute later, emotions boiled over when Espana and the Firebirds’ Brandon Watkins squared off. Each was assessed a fighting major plus a game misconduct.

Zdunkiewicz and Hun School’s Justin Bibeau received roughing minors in the same incident.

Logue completed a hat trick with 6:57 left in the game, getting the better of Chase Kishler, who took over for Echternacht on goal not quite midway through the third period.

“It was a great first period,” said Hun School coach N.G. Welsh, “and we didn’t play our game for the last two.

“They took advantage of it.”

Holy Ghost Prep senior Lucas Gonzalez finished the game with on two assists. He noted the importance of his team’s fast start.

“I think we just had to take it to them,” he said, “instead of letting them take it to us early. I think early in the game we hit everybody got it on net.

“I think if our whole group is going fast and playing hard, we’re tough to beat.”

The APAC semifinals are set for Wednesday, February 18 at Ice Line. The championship game us set for February 25 and will be hosted by the highest-seeded finalist.

Holy Ghost Prep 2 0 2—4

Hun School 0 1 0—1

First-period goals: Jake Smaron (HGP) from Josh Zdunkiewicz, 11:24; Chase Logue (HGP) from Anthony Valeriote and Lucas Gonzalez, 16:56

Second-period goal: Zachary Vallee (HS) from Devin Espana, 8:02 (sh)

Third-period goals: Logue (HGP) from Gonzalez, 4:46 (pp); Logue (HGP) from Smaron, 10:03

Shots: Holy Ghost Prep 32, Hun School 28; Saves: Matt Salita (HGP) 26, Blake Echternacht (HS) 22 and Chase Kishler (HS) 6

Hun School 4 St. Joseph’s Prep 3

Brandon Harrison’s first varsity goal came at a most opportune moment. The sophomore found the back of the net with 5:51 remaining in the third period and that tally turned out to be the game winner as The Hun School bested St. Joseph’s Prep 4-3 Tuesday afternoon at Ice Land.

The result was a big step toward making the pieces of the APAC puzzle fit together. The host Raiders improved to 3-2 on conference play and 11-5 overall. They sit in second place in the conference standings, seven points behind first-place Holy Ghost Prep, who they will face in a rematch Thursday afternoon. Hun School also has a game in hand.

St. Joseph’s Prep (12-5 overall) dropped to 2-3 in the APAC.

It was the third meeting of the season between the two schools and that familiarity sparked intensity that was evident from the opening faceoff.

“That game was really fun to play in,” Harrison said. “It got a little chippy at the end (there was an altercation following the final buzzer) but scoring that goal to seal it was pretty good.”

The two teams entered the third period locked in a 2-2 stalemate. Aiden Honan gave the Raiders the lead on a solo effort with 7:01 left in regulation.  Working from behind the St. Joseph’s Prep net, Honan tucked the puck inside the right post. Harrison followed with what at the time was an insurance goal but the hosts needed to file a claim on that insurance policy when Justin Bibeau was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct immediately following Harrison’s goal.

The Raiders successfully killed off the penalty and wound up with power play of their own when the Hawks’ Noah Stuhl sent to the box for elbowing with 2:07 remaining but the Hawks didn’t back off. Jake Ely scored with 40 seconds remaining to make it a one-goal affair and the visitors finished the game on a power play after Luca Jean was flagged for elbowing immediately afterward.

But Hun School goaltender Elliot Trottier was equal to the challenge.

“It’s a good game every time we play them,” said Hun School coach N.G. Welsh. “We were better {In the first period}, they were better in the second, we were better in the third.

“I’m sure we’ll see them again.”

Welsh say this season’s three meetings (The Raiders have won two of the three) have given the Hawks and the Raiders in-depth knowledge of each other.

“We each know who are top couple of guys are,” he said. “We each know we have good quality goaltending so comes down to who has more discipline and who executed better.”

St. Joseph’s Prep coach Charlie Van Kula said his team came out second best in the area of execution.

“We have up big plays,” he said. “They capitalized on their chances, we didn’t.

“I respect their discipline. “They’re a tough team to play against. They’re physical, they’re pesky. I thought our guys represented themselves well and fought through a lot of it. I was happy about that. We’ve got to kind of flush it and look ahead to next week.”

• This was Hun School’s first APAC start of the season that was decided in regulation. The previous four went to overtime.

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 2 1—3

Hun School 1 1 2—4

First-period goal: Luca Jean (HS) from Zachary Vallee and Aidan Honan, 14:43

Second-period goals: Bradan Fisher (SJP) from Thomas Ely, 1:05 (pp); Jacob Kelly-LePage (HS) from Devin Espana, 2:10; Cole Gargon (SJP) from Michael Waslick and Noah Stuhl, 8:08

Holy Ghost Prep 2 Hun School 1

There was an abundance of energy in the air at Grundy Arena Friday night. In the stands, fans were celebrating Holy Ghost Prep’s senior night. On the ice, the Firebirds and The Hun School were leaving nothing to chance.

It was the hosts who prevailed. Chase Logue’s goal 16 seconds into overtime have his side a 2-1 win. Logue weaved his way through traffic from center ice and beat Hun School’s senior goaltender Blake Echternacht who went home with the loss on his record despite being the best player on the ice for most if not all, of the evening.

The result keeps the Firebirds (12-2 overall) atop the APAC standings with a perfect 6-0 conference record. Hun School, which is in the midst of playing five games in eight day, dropped to 10-5 overall and 2-2 in the APAC.

Logue describe his game winner.

“I’d been looking for, {an opening} all night,” he said. “I found a lane, trusted my ability, and went in. The guys in the room (Lucas Gonzalez and Jack Gavaghan got the assists) helped me out a lot.

“{Logue} is a phenomenal player,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie. “I kind of had a conversation with him at the end of last year that coming into this year, he could be the best player in the league. I think he’s started that way, and he’s proven himself.

Holy Ghost Prep dominated the first half of the opening period. The Raiders didn’t record a shot on goal until nine-and-a-half minutes had elapsed. But they recorded the period’s only goal, a power-play effort which came off the stick of Luca Jean with 6:27 remaining in the period. The Firebirds’ Anthony Valeriote was serving a sentence for cross checking at the time.

The Firebirds drew even with 51 seconds left in the middle period when Bill Harmar made   a run down the left wing, cut to the net, and beat Echternacht with a backhander.

As the teams lined up for the ensuing faceoff, Valeriote and the Raiders’ Anders van Raalte engaged. The encounter ended with van Raalte being accessed a major penalty for spearing plus a game misconduct. As a result, the Firebirds started the third period with an extended power play but were unable to capitalize on the advantage and the game remained deadlocked through the balance of regulation. Echternacht and the defense in front of him were the primary reasons why.

“I knew when {Nathaniel Welsh} was taking over Hun School they were going to be really structured defensively,” said Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie, “and they were going to be tough and physical. They’ve got a lot of seniors over there

“Hats off to them. They probably played us the tightest of the teams we’ve played so far this year.

Ritchie praised Echternacht’s work in the Raider net.

“I’ve known him since he was 10 or 11 years old,” he said. “I knew he was going to be formidable in net.”

Welsh has been watching Echternacht’s work all season.

“He stood on his head tonight, all night,” he said.

Welsh praised his team’s effort was frustrated his team’s seven penalties, which resulted in five Firebird power plays. The Raiders had four.

“We played hard both ways tonight,” he said. “And we played a lot of time on the PK. Which is unfortunate. I would have liked a little more five on five, or five on four our way.”

Ice chips—The two teams will have a rematch on Thursday afternoon at Ice Land … Ten Holy Ghost Prep seniors were recognized prior to game time. John Bottgof, one of the 10, got the win in goal.

Hun School 1 0 0 0—1

Holy Ghost Prep 0 1 0 1—2

First period goal: Luca Jean (HS) from Andrew Darst, 10:33 (pp).   

Second-period goal: Billy Harmar HGP unassisted, 16:09

Overtime goal:  Chase Logue (HGP) from Lucas Gonzalez and Jack Gavaghan, :16

Shots: Hun School 27, Holy Ghost Prep 43; Saves: Blake Echternacht (HS) 41, John Botthof 26

Hun School 3 La Salle 2 OT

The ending came in the blink of an eye. Devin Espana’s shot off a left circle faceoff exactly halfway through overtime gave The Hun School a come-from-behind 3-2 win over La Salle Wednesday afternoon in an APAC matchup at Hatfield Ice.

The goal came just seven seconds after La Salle’s William Podulka was swept to the penalty box for roughing, giving the Raiders a four-skaters-to-three advantage for the finish.

The Raiders overcame a 2-0 second-period deficit to lift their record to 10-4 overall and 2-1 in the APAC. They’ve won seven of their last eight starts. But it took them the entirety of the first two periods to get their skates under them.

“We’ve got to find a way to decide We’ve want to play from the first drop of the puck,” said Hun School coach Nathaniel Welsh. “But when they decide they want to turn it on, it’s a good hockey team.”

The Explorers (3-11, 0-5) took a 1-0 lead 4:50 into green second frame when Andrew Frantz delivered a power-play goal on a shot from the left point. River Carangi made it 2-0 with 7:04 left in the period on a setup from Nick Mantellino on a play that built up from behind the Hun School net.

At that point, the Explorers seemed to have the upper hand. But the Zachary Vallee scored for the Raiders off a La Salle breakdown with 1.9 seconds left in the period and the complexion of the game changed at that point; following the break for the post-second period ice cut Hun School returned for the third period riding a fresh wave of energy.

“It really feel like can beat anybody,” said veteran defenseman Andrew Darst, “and the key right now is figuring out how to get a good start on the road. Coming off the bus after an hour-long bus ride. Just getting a good start and getting ahead in the beginning.”

In a very real sense, the start of the third frame was a new beginning for the Raiders. Zachary Vallee tied the game with 4:19 left in the regulation to set the stage for the finale.

“Our first two operations weren’t great,” Welsh said. “Getting off the bus ride we weren’t really ready to play, but in the third period, we hit our stride a little bit.”

The Explorers seemingly had the better of things at the start of the extra period but Podulka’s penalty set up the visitors with an offensive zone faceoff and the Raiders took advantage of what La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner indicated was one in a series of critical errors.

“It’s definitely a disappointing loss,” he said. “We lost that game the way I look at it. All three goals directly resulted from us not doing something or doing something we shouldn’t have done.

“The penalty {that set up the winning goal} was not a smart penalty. And we didn’t pick up on the backcheck on the other two goals.”

Hun School 0 1 1 1—3

La Salle 0 2 0 0—2

Second-period goals: Andrew Frantz (L) from Liam Greenwalt and Nick Mantellino,4:50 (pp); River Carangi (L) from Mantellino, 9:56; Jimmy Dolan (HS) from Devin Espana, 16:59

Third-period goal: Zachary Vallee (HS) from Jacoby Kelly-LePage and Luca Jean, 12;41

Overtime goal: Espana (HS) from Andrew Darst and Vallee, 2:30 (pp)

Shots: Hun School 25, La Salle 28; Saves: Elliot Trottier (HS) 23, Daniel Trainor (L) 22

Hun School, St. Joseph’s Prep Reach Purple Puck Finals

The Prep Division of the Purple Puck Tournament will feature an All-APAC final. The Hun School rallied from a 3-2 deficit following  the first 25-minute period to score a 6-3 win over Paul VI in a Thursday morning semifinal.

The Raiders scored four goals in the second half in a span of 16:38 to pull away to the win.

Zachary Vallee scored twice for Hun School. Devin Espada, Conor Mulligan, Anders Van Raalte and Andrew Darst also scored goals.

The Raiders will face St. Joseph’s Prep in Monday afternoon’s final. Cole Gargon, Bradan Fisher, and Noah Stuhl all scored goals in the second half as the Hawks shut out Jesuit Dallas 3-0. Declan Geary recorded the shutout in goal.

The championship game will be a rematch of  an  APAC game 19 days ago that saw Hun School (8-3) defeat St. Joseph’s Prep (10-4) 2-1 in overtime.

Hun School 6 Paul VI 3

Paul VI 3 0—3

Hun School 2 4—6

First-half goals: Caden DeVellii (PVI) unassisted, 2:42; Zachary Vallee (HS) from Conor Mulligan and Ezra Broomer, 14:31; Braiden Galaida (PVI) from Nathan Cogbill, 15:45; Devin Espada (HS) from Lyca Jean and Jacob Kelly-LePage, 22:32 (pp); Tommy Ernst (PVI) from Morgan Shaw, 24:17

Second-half goals: Anders Van Raalte (HS) from Nathaniel Trawinski and Justin Bibeau, 6:15; Mullugan (HS) from LePage and Andrew Darst, 16:10; Darst (HS) from Bibeau, 18:50; Vallee (HS) from Broomer, 22:53 (pp)

Shots: Paul VI 28, Hun School 32; Saves: Matthew Cogbill (PVI) 26, Elliott Trottier (HS) 25

St. Joseph’s Prep 3 Jesuit Dallas 0

Jesuit Dallas 0 0—0

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 3—3

Second-half goals: Cole Gargon (SJP) frim Ben Kurson and Jake Ely, 3:10 Bradan Fisher (SJP) from Adan Charrafi, 7:01; Noah Stuhl (SJP) from James Fratantuono and Michael Castelli,  12:29;

Shots: JD 10, SJP 29   Saves: Bennett Ortegon (JD) 25, Declan Geary (SJP) 10

Malvern Prep 4 Hun School 3 OT

WEST GOSHEN TOWNSHIP—The drama ended amidst a frenzied atmosphere. House Young’s goal with 1:32 remaining in what turned into five-on-four overtime gave Malvern Prep a 5-4 win over The Hun School Wednesday afternoon at Ice Line.

Young’s shot was a blast from the right point that caught part of the left post on its way to the back of the net, passing Hun School goaltender Chase Kishler en route. Pax Hoishik set up the goal with a cross-ice pass.

“We had a time out {prior to the final sequence} and we talked about it,” Young said. “My friend Pax set me up. We work on it all the time in practice.”

The win lifted the Friars to 4-3-1 overall and 2-2 in the APAC.

Young called the win huge.

“It sends us {into the holiday break} on a good note,” he said. “And that’s what we need to go into the APAC playoffs and the Flyers Cup.”

The final stages of the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference affair were anything but routine. Hun School (3-3, 1-1 in the APAC) rallied to tie the game at 3-3 with 4:16 left in regulation after Zachary Valle and Youhe Tong scored goals 66 seconds apart.

But the Raiders, who took four penalties in the third period, carried that habit into overtime.

Hun School started the session with a four-skaters-to-three advantage after the Friars’ Logan Love was whistled for his fourth penalty of the game with 15 seconds left in regulation.  But the advantage evaporated when Jacob Kelly-LePage was called for tripping 1:21 into the extra period, and when Andrew Darst was flagged for a trip at the 2:42 mark the Raiders found themselves shorthanded, leaving the door open for Young’s game winner.

“It was good to battle back in the third period,” said Hun School coach Nathaniel Welsh, “They gave up two breakaways; we scored on two breakaways, which is what we had to do. Then we went into overtime up by a guy and didn’t capitalize and went down by two guys.”

Vallee gave the Raiders an early lead 1:03 into the opening period. Jake Weingartner answered for Malvern Prep at 2:57.

Weingartner and Lyndon MacClay scored goals 72 seconds apart to put Malvern Prep up 3-1 with 14:44 left in the middle period. At that point, Welsh used his timeout and Kishler took over in the Raider net, replacing starter Blake Echternacht.  Kishler was impregnable through the balance of regulation and into overtime.

Hun School rallied when Vallee scored his second goal of the afternoon with 5:50 left in regulation. Tong picked off an errant pass in the neutral zone for his game tying goal with 4:44 remaining to set up a finish that will be long remembered.

Weingartner said Hun School’s physical style combined with its speed made it a difficult foe to deal with.

“I think Hun School’s physicality is what made their team good today,” he said. “I think we outplayed them, but I think they were a physical team and think they used that to their advantage today.”

Winning goaltender Ryan Caterino made 28 saves

Hun School 1 0 2 0—3

Malvern Prep 1 2 0 1—4

First-period goals: Zachary Vallee (HS) unassisted, 15:57; Jake Weingartner (MP) from Ryan Jacobs and Pax Hoishik, 2:57

Second-period goals: Weingartner (MP) from Hoishik and Jacobs, 1:04; Lyon MacClay (MP) from Luke Johnson and Andrew Starck, 2:16

Third-period goals: Vallee (HS) from Eli Broomer, 11:10; Yoube Tong (HS) unassited, 12:16

Overtime goal: House Young (MP) from Hoishik, 3:28

Shots: Hun School 31, Malvern Prep 39

Hun School 2 St. Joseph’s Prep 1 OT

Zachary Vallee’s goal 1:59 into overtime gave The Hun School a 2-1 win over St. Joseph’s Prep Wednesday afternoon at the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 Rink.

The game’s two regulation goals came late in the third period. Luca Jean gave Hun School (2-1, 1-0 in conference) a 1-0 lead with 3:32 left in regulation.Jake Ely tied the game for St. Joseph’s Prep (5-3, 1-1 in the APAC) with 1:41 remaining.

Blake Echternacht reorded 25 saves in the Hun School net.

Hun School 0 0 1 1—2

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 1 0—1

Third-period goals: Luca Jean (HS) from Jacob Kelly-LePage, 13:28 Jake Ely (SJP) from Thomas Ely,15:19;

Overtime goal: Zachary Vallee (HS) unassisted, 1:59;

 Shots: Hun School 15, St. Joseph’s Prep 26; Saves: Blake Echternacht (HS) 25. Declan Geary (SJP) 13