Malvern Prep, St. Joseph’s Prep to Meet in Benefit Game

For the second consecutive year, Malvern Prep and St. Joseph’s Prep will meet on the ice as part of an effort to raise awareness of Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome or RTS.

The Friars and the Hawks will square off in a regularly scheduled Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game this coming Thursday, November 30, at 6:30 at Ice Line.

Proceeds from the evening will be donated to several organizations who support individuals with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes intellectual and developmental disabilities and impacts one in 125,000 children.

Connor Keenan, the son of Malvern Pep coach Bill Keenan, is afflicted with RTS; he will celebrate his fourth birthday in January.

Thursday’s varsity game will be the main event of a tripleheader which will begin with a junior-varsity game at 3:30 followed by a middle-school game at 5:10.

The day’s events actually begin at 3:00 Thursday afternoon with a Dine and Donate event at Ice Line’s Goal Line Pub that will run until 9:00 that evening.
Keenan expressed his thanks to his colleagues at Malvern Prep and in the hockey community for their support.

“Spreading awareness of this rare syndrome is very important to us,” he said. “The Malvern community has been so amazing and supportive to helping us raise awareness.

“Last year was the first year we did this event and we are so happy to bring it back again this year. It is something we look forward to each and every year. Connor and our family are truly blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people.”

Speaking at last year’s inaugural benefit event, Keenan’s wife Sarah cited the importance of raising awareness of RTS.

“It’s very rare,” she said. “So, it’s important just make people aware of it for inclusion purposes and to get that research really going to see if they can help kids with the syndrome out.”

Bill Keenen cited St. Joseph’s Prep coach David Giacomin for his support of the event.

“When I asked Coach Giacomin to be a part of this event last year, there was no hesitation and an immediate ‘Yes’ response,” he said. “St. Joe Prep, although rivals on the ice are great partners and show a great amount of sportsmanship by being involved.”

Flyers Cup First Round Games

Flyers Cup Schedule for Monday, March 7

Class A First Round

Radnor 10 Plymouth Whitemarsh 8

Council Rock North 7 Penncrest 3

Palmyra 9 Strath Haven 4

West Chester Henderson 6 Wissahickon 0

Tuesday, Match 8

Class AA First Round

1 Pennridge vs 16 Ridley 6:30 at Hatfield Gray

8 Downingtown East vs 9 Cumberland Valley 6:45 at Ice Line 3

4 Pennsbury vs 13 Owen J. Roberts 6:00 at Hatfield Blue

5 Avon Grove vs 12 Central Bucks East 6:30 at Ice Line 1

3 Council Rock South vs 14 Abington 8:10 at Hatfield Blue

6 Downingtown West vs 11 C.B. South 8:30 at Ice Line 1

7 Conestoga vs 10 Neshaminy 9:15 at Skatium

2 Haverford vs 15 Souderton 7:30 at Skatium

Quarterfinals in both classes are scheduled for Thursday, March 10. Game sites and times to be determined.

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Give them a call at 215-675-0121

Flyers Cup Tournament Names Host Sites

Three different venues will serve as host sites for the 2021 Flyers Cup tournament. The scholastic hockey showcase is scheduled to get underway on Monday, April 5.

Tournament games will be played at Hatfield Ice in Hatfield, Ice Line in West Chester, and Ice Works in Aston.

Speaking on the Hokey Happenings podcast. Flyers Cup Committee President Eric Tye indicated that tournament games would be limited to those three facilities.

“The way this looks right now is, I don’t foresee this changing, the tournament will only be played in three rinks this year,” he said. Hatfield, Ice Line, and Ice Works.

“Some rinks just can’t hold (Flyers Cup) games because of restrictions. Some rinks opted not to have Flyers Cup games in their buildings and we understand all that. We’ll revisit with all those rinks again next year but for this year, the tournament will be played at just Hatfield, Ice Line, and Ice Works.”

Tye said plans are still in place to allow spectators at Cup games. “We got a little help from the state last week when they bumped up the occupancy levels in the buildings,” he said. “Seeing as the tournament doesn’t start for another month, we may see another bump, or hopefully two bumps. But we will be allowing fans in up to the capacity limits of the rinks. If the rink says we can have 125 people in there, we’ll put the first 125 people who show up in the building.”

Tye indicated if spectators are allowed to attend Flyers Cup games, masks and social distancing will be required.

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Flyers Cup Continues

The 41st Flyers Cup tournament continues Wednesday night with four Class A quarterfinal games. All four games will be played ar Ice Line in West Goshen Township

West Chester East 5 Lower Dauphin 3

Hershey 4, Strath Haven 0

West Chester Bayard Rustin 4 Unionville 1

Palmyra 4 Springfield Delco 1

Semifinals on Monday at Ice Line

1 West Chester East vs 5 Hershey 6:15

2 Pamyra vs 3 Bayard Rustin 8:15

The Class AA quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday

1 Central Bucks South vs 8 Boyertown 6:20 at Hatfield Ice

4 North Penn vs 5 Downingtown West 8:30 at Hatfield Ice

3 Perkionen Valley vs 6 Council Rock South 6:15 at ice Line

10 Pennridge vs 2 Haverford 6:30 at Skatium

Winners to semifinals on March 11 or 12

The Class AAA quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday

1 Holy Ghost Prep vs 8 Bishop Shanahan 6:30 at Grundy Arena

4 Malvern Prep vs 5 Father Judge 8:15 at Ice Line

3 St. Joseph’s Prep vs 6 Cardinal O’Hara 8:45 at Skatium

2 La Salle vs 7 Roman Catholic 7:30 at Hatfield Ice

Winners to semifinals on March 11 or 12

Volunteers Needed for Learn to Skate Program

The Andrew L. Hicks Jr. Foundation is seeking volunteers for its 10^thannual Learn to Skate event, which will be held on Sunday, March 29 from 4:00-7:00 at the Ice Line rink on Lawrence Road in West Chester. It is an opportunity for youngers from Chester in grades 3-5 to learn what ice skating is all about.

If you’re interested in helping out at the event, go to:
http://www.andrewlhicksjrfoundation.org/open-events/learn-skate-volunteer-registration/

Or contact Event Coordinator Julie Bernard at julie@alhjr.org or at:

1-866-ALHJR10 Ext #3 or at 215-823-9726 – cell

Princeton Day School 3, Malvern Prep 2

WEST GOSHEN— Coaches talk a lot as out staying out of the penalty box. Malvern Prep was unable to do that Monday afternoon and that proved to be its undoing.
John Oliver’s power-play goal with 2:16 left in the third period gave Princeton Day school a 3-2 win over the Friars in a non-league matchup Ice Line.

Oliver’s game winner was the second power play goal of the game for the Panthers (6-6) who compete in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League. Malvern Prep (6-7) was accessed all five penalties that were called in the game, all of them minors. Two of them came back-to-back late in the third period. As a result, the Friars’ Jack Constabile found himself in the box for four minutes over the final 5:29 of the game.

Princeton Day School’s Drew McConaughy (in gray) and Malvern Prep’s Caimin Hayes battle for the puck. (Photo by Gracie Cleveland)

Constabile opened the scoring when he got the Friars on the board 12:02 into the first period of a setup from Ryan Sambuco. Malvern Prep extended its lead 57 seconds into the second frame when Sambuco beat Panther goaltender Timothy Miller on a shot from the left circle.

The Panthers responded at the 5::03 mark when Luke Austinacci scored a power-play goal and tied the game at the 13:13 mark when Drew McConaughy found the back of the net.

Both teams had opportunities in the third period but Miller and the Friars’ Anthony Perti were up to the task of protecting their nets. Constabile was sent to the box for a check from behind with 5:29 left in the third period. Just 10 seconds after stepping back on the ice he was boxed again, this time for tripping; the second infraction led to Oliver’s game-winning goal.

“Anytime you go down and take penalties, it’s hard to get a rhythm going,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “We started to click well there at the beginning of the third period, but two late penalties hurt us.”

With an eye toward the end of the season, the Friars will now regroup and refocus, Three regular season games remain, including the APAC finale against La Salle next Monday night.

“The couple games we’ve taken some shifts off,” Keenan said, “but I think we’re headed in the right direction,”

Keenan points out that the conference race has been a wide open one so far this season; he does not expect that to change. “(The league) had four strong teams and we know we very time we go up against one of those teams it’s going to be a battle,” he said. “We’re just hoping that e can start clicking at the right time and hopefully go far.”

Princeton Day School 0 2 1—3
Malvern Prep 1 1 0—2
First-period goals: Jack Constabile (MP) from Ryan Sambuco, 12:02
Second-period goals: Sambuco (MP) from Chris Blango, :57; Luke Austinacci (PDS) from David Sherman, 5:03 (pp); Drew McConaughy (PDS) from Stephan Gorelenkov and Oliver Hall, 13:13
Third-period goals: John Oliver (PS) from Gibson Linnehan and Birch Gorman, 13:44 (pp).
Shots; Princeton Day School 32, Malvern Prep 22; Saves: Timothy Miller (PDS) 20, Anthony Perti (MP) 29

Intercounty League Sets All-Star Games

The InterCounty Scholastic Hockey League has the schedule for its traditional All-Star games. All four games will be played at Ice Line in West Goshen Township on New Year’s Day

The varsity all-star games schedule is:

Game 1: 1pm Girls
Game 2: 3pm Liberty North vs Liberty South
Game 3: 5pm Chesmont vs Central
Game 4: 7pm PCL

All four games will be streamed live via HockeyTV.