Tag: ICSHL

SHSHL-ICSHL Challenge

 Friday 11-7

Council Rock South 7 Father Judge 6 OT

Jake Weiner’s goal 17 seconds into overtime gave the Golden Hawks the win over the Crusaders Friday night at Flyers Skate Zone Northeast. South overcame deficits of 3-0 and 4-2 to take a 5-4 lead in the third period before Nolan Rauch and Jake Ruppert scored goals 35 seconds apart to put Father Judge in front 5-4 with 4:01 left in regulation.

Aidan Guinter tied the game for South with 38 seconds left in regulation on a feed from Weiner to force overtime.

Thursday, 11-6

Lower Merion 6 Neshaminy 2

Brody Navrodnick score two goals in each of the last two periods as Lower Merion overcame an early 1-0 deficit to beat Neshaminy Thursday night in the opening game of the second annual SHSHL-ICSHL Challenge.

Jacob Topoleski scored both Neshaminy goals.

Pennsbury 2 Perkiomen Valley 0

Championhip Thursday 2-27

      SHSHL

American Division Final

Hatboro-Horsham 5 Plymouth Whitemrash 2

National Division Final

Council Rock South 4vs. Central Bucks South 3

ICSHL

Prep/Catholic Final

Salesianum 6 Devon Prep 2—The Sallies overcame a 2-1 second-period deficit with five straight goals over the last period and a half. Connor Davis scored twice foe Salesianum with both goals coming in the third period.

Ches-Mont Final

Kennett 2 West Chester Henderson 1—Luke Ganley scored the winning goal with 5:11 left in the third period. Lucas Mott also scored for Kennett. Nick Denrdi’s goal gave Henderson a 1-0 lead late in the first period.

Central Final

Garnet Valley 10 Haverford High 0—A.J. Tenhuisen scored three goals and Dylan Orr added two more as Garnet Valley rolled to the Central League title at Ice Works. jake Morrow and Jake Robinson each recorded three assists.

Flyers Cup Field Revealed

Forty-one teams in four divisions will comprise the field for the 2025 Flyers Cup tournament. The field was announced during the Flyers Cup Selection Show Sunday night.

First-round games will get underway on Monday, March 3 and action will continue through the middle of the following week.

The Class A field, with 14 teams, will be the largest in the tournament. The Class AA field will include 12 teams, the Class AAA bracket 8, and the girls’ bracket 7.

In years past, the Class A and AA fields have consisted of as many as 16 teams each but with just 37 Cup-eligible teams between the two divisions this season, the committee took a different approach.

Eric Tye is the President of the Flyers Cup Committee.

“We’re not putting everyone in just so everyone can be in,” he said. “There needs to be a cutoff. We came up with 12 (for Class AA). Do we feel bad for teams 13 and 14? I gues so. We feel bad for teams 15 and 16 in {Class A} and 9 and 10 in {Class AAA}.

“People aren’t going to agree with what we did, we know that, but we did what we think’s best.”

Brackets are listed below.

Class AAA (8 teams)

Quarterfinals, March 4 and 6

1 Holy Ghost Prep vs 8 Owen J. Roberts. 3-4; 6:15 at Hatfield Blue

4 Malvern Prep vs 5 Salesianum. 3-6; 6:30 at Ice Line 1

2 La Salle vs 7 Devon Prep. 3-4 6:00; at Hatfield Gray

3 St. Joseph’s Prep vs 6 Father Judge. 3-6; 8:30 at Skatium

Semifinals, Thursday March 13

Monday, March 17 or Wednesday, March 19

Class AA (12 teams)

First Round, March 3 and 4

8 Conestoga vs 9 Boyertown 3-4; 8:30 at Ice Line 1

4 Central Bucks South vs 12 Spring Ford 3-4; 8:30 at Hatfield Blue

7 Pennridge vs 10 Avon Grove 3-4; 8:10 at Hatfield Gray

6 Downingtown West vs 11 Central Bucks East 3-4; 6:15 at Ice Line AAA

Quarterfinals, Thursday, March 6

1 Council Rock South vs Conestoga or Boyertown 6:15 at Hatfield Gray

4 Haverford vs Central Bucks South or Spring Ford 6:30 at Skatium

2 North Penn vs Pennridge or Avon Grove 8:10 at Hatfield Gray

3 Downingtown East vs Downingtown West or C.B. East TBD

Semifinals

March 17 or 19

Finals TBD

Class A (14 teams)

Play In

Monday, Match 3

Play In

12 Moorsetown vs 13 Strath Haven 8:10 at Hatfield Blue

11 Radnor vs 14 Hatboro-Horsham 6:30 at Ice Line 1

First Round

Monday, Match 3

8 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs 9 Springield-Delco 6:00 at Hatfield Blue

7 Marple Newtown vs 10 Palmyra 6:30 at Skatium

Tuesday, March 4

First Round

Moorsetown or Strath Haven vs 5 Kennett

Radnor or Hatboro-Horsham vs 6 Hershey 8:30 at Skatium

Quarterfinals

Thursday, March 6

Plymouth Whitemrsh or Springfield-Delco vs 1 Garnet Valley 6:30 at Ice Works

Moorsetown, Strath-Haven, or Kennet vs 4 WC East at Ice Line

Marple Newtown or Palmyra vs 2 WC Henderson at Ice Line

Radnor, H-H or Hershey at Penncrest 8:30 at Ice Works

Semifinals March 11

Finals March 17

Girls (7 teams)

Monday March 3

Play in

6 West Chester East vs 7 Pennridge 8:30 at Ice Line

Wednesday, Match 5

Quarterfinals

4 West Chester Henderson vs 5 Radnor 7:45 at PNY

West Chester East or Pennridge vs 3 Conestoga 6:00 at PNY

Wednesday March 12

Semifinals

WC Henderson or Radnor vs 1 Avon Grove 6:00 at PNY

WC East, Pennridge, or Conestoga vs 2 Downingtown West 7:45 at PNY

Tuesday, March 18

Finals

6:00 ay PNY

Eric Tye and Rick Woelfel will discuss the tournament on the Hockey Happenings podcast which will drop on Monday, February 24

Salesianum 7 Haverford School 1

LaBuono, Braeden Graham, and Sean Melican each scored two goals as Salesianum concluded its regular season with a 7-1 win over The Haverford School Friday afternoon at Ice Line.

The Sallies closed the regular season 15-3 against ICSHL competition closed the regular season with three consecutive conference win.

Liam Bell also scored for the Sallies. Melican added two assists.

After a scoreless first period, LaBuono started the scoring four minutes into the second period. Harry Neilly tied the game for the Fords (2-6 in the division) just 19 seconds later but Salesianum broke the game open when Bell, Melican Graham, and LaBuono scored goals in a four-and-a-half minute span.

Melican and Graham added goals in the third period.

Salesianum 0 5 2—7

Haverford School 0 1 0—1

Second-period goals: Nick LaBuono (S) unassisted, 4:00; Harry Neilly (HS) from Michael DiPalma and Henry Cagliuso, 4:19; Liam Bell (S) from Sean Melican 5:08; Melican (S) from Michael Flaherty and Jerry Distefano, 6:46; Braeden Graham (S) from LaBuono (S) and Grayson Betterly, 7:53; LaBuono (S) from Melican and Jerry Distefano, 9:48

Third-period goals: Melican (S) from Blake D’Italia and Sean Albert 5:29; Graham (S) from Park Stipa, 9:12

Shots: Salesianum 38, Haverford School 6 Saves: Gavin Needs (S) 6, Ike Matoney (HS) 31

Flyers Cup Rankings 2-10-25

Class AAA

  1. Holy Ghost Prep
  2. La Salle
  3. St. Joseph’s Prep
  4. Malvern Prep
  5. Salesianum

     Class AA

  1. Council Rock South
  2. North Penn
  3. Downingtown East
  4. Haverford High
  5. Central Bucks South

      Class A

  1. Garnet Valley
  2. Kennett
  3. West Chester Henderson
  4. Penncrest
  5. West Chester East

Girls

  1. Avon Grove
  2. Downingtown West
  3. Conestoga
  4. West Chester Henderson
  5. Radnor

This marks the final set of Flyers Cup rankings prior to the Flyers Cup Selection Show on Sunday, February 23. The show will air at 8 PM that evening on the Flyers Cup You Tube Channel.

Crossover Countdown

Eleven of the 12 scheduled crossover games between SHSHL and ICSHL teams have been completed. Scores are listed below; the ICSHL leads the series six victiories to five.

Friday 11-8 Strath Haven 3 Wissahickon 1

Friday 11-8 Downingtown East 6  C.B. South 1

Wednesday 11-13 Pennridge 6 Boyertown 3

Thursday 11-14 Marple-Newtown 7 Hatboro-Horsham 4

Thursday 11-14 Neshaminy 2 Conestoga 0

Friday 11-15 North Penn 6 Downingtown West 2

Friday 11-15  Spring-Ford 8 Pennsbury 7

Friday 11-15 Avon Grove 7 C.B. East 0

Wednesday 11-20 Lower Merion 5 Souderton 4

Thursday 11-21 Plymouth Whitemarsh 4 Radnor 2

Thursday 11-21 C.R. South 2 Haverford 1 OT

Thursday 12-5   Abington at Harriton    8:00 at Skatium

 Hockey Happenings is looking for interested individuals to assist with our coverage of scholastic ice hockey in the Greater Philadelphia area. Interested individuals should have writing experience, be knowledgeable about ice hockey, and be capable of meeting deadlines.

For further information contact Hockey Happenings at rwoelfel2013@gmail.com or text at 215-260-9575.

North Penn 6 Downingtown West 2

EAST GOSHEN TOWNSHIP—It was the sort of game one would expect to see during the second week of March as opposed to the third week of November. North Penn and Downingtown West demonstrated why they expect to be taken seriously in the weeks and months to come.

For the record, the Knights prevailed 6-2 in the SHSHL-ICSHL crossover matchup Friday night at Ice Line but the affair was much more closely contested than the score would indicate; it was a one-goal game until the closing minutes of the third period.

It was an evening the Knights celebrated their fourth consecutive victory of the young season, but North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis was quick to point out it was most of all an occasion to celebrate high-school hockey.

“I’m so glad we started doing the crossover games this year,” he said. “Downingtown East and C.B. South played last week, Boyertown-Pennridge and us and Downingtown West tonight.

“Heretofore, you don’t see these teams until March. It gives you an opportunity to play them and build high-school hockey in this area.”

Downingtown West coach Brett Mackel, who saw his team drop to 2-2 on the season, echoed those sentiments.

“I like that they added the crossover games this year,” he said. “Especially teams that we usually wouldn’t see until the Flyers Cup. It’s great having different teams come in, especially teams we’re not used to seeing.”

Sam Norton scored two goals for North Penn. Nolan Shingle was also credited with two goals while James Boyle produced a goal and an assist.

Goals from Bryce Schuler and Ryder Jones gave the Whippets a 2-1 lead 7:54 into the second period. Norton tied the game for North Penn with 2:18 left in the period and Boyle’s power-play goal 77 seconds later gave his team the lead for good at 3-2.

“I thought we came out a little flat,” Boyle said, “but then we picked it right back up. Then we got back on them.”

Shingle extended North Penn’s lead on a shot from the deep right wing with 6:29 left in regulation. His second goal was a power-play effort with 4:46 left after the Whippets were accessed a bench minor.

Norton added his second goal of the evening with two minutes to play when he lofted the puck from his own blue line into an empty net.

Aidan Quigley earned the win in goal with 26 saves, many of them achieved with heavy traffic in his field of view.

Mackel felt his team performed well in some areas but was lacking in others.

“We had a lot of penalty kills that we ended up killing off,” he said. We gave up two power-play goals, but other than that our kill was good.

Our goaltender [Justin Adams] gave up two power-play goals but he played pretty well.

“Negatives. We didn’t shoot the puck as much as we needed to tonight. Our defensive zone was pretty sloppy.”

North Penn 1 2 3—6

D-Town West 0 2 0—2

First-period goal: Gabriel Dunn (NP) from Aidan Quigley, 2:48

Second-period goals: Bryce Schuler (DW) from Ryder Jones, :44; Jones (DW) from Reed Surak, 7:54; Sam Norton (NP) from Chase Kelly Del Ricci, 14:42; James Boyle (NP) from Norton and Luke Haftel. 15:59

Third-period goals: Nolan Shingle (MP) from Cole Pluck, 10:31; Shingle (NP) from Boyle and Pluck, 12:16 (pp); Norton (NP) unassisted, 15:00 (en)

Shots: North Penn 35, Downingtown West 28; Saves: Aidan Quigley (NP) 26, Justin Adams (DW) 29

SHSHL and ICSHL to Stage Interleague Series

Tonight marks the start of a new partnership between the Suburban High Hockey League and the Inter County Scholastic Hockey League; the first two in a series of 12 interleague games between the two leagues as part of the regular-season schedule that will be played between tonight and December 5.

Tonight, Wissahickon from the SHSHL will face Strath-Haven from the ICSHL at Ice Works in Aston and Downingtown West from the ICSHL will host Central Bucks South from the SHSHL at Ice Line (the full schedule is listed below).

The two leagues square off against each other annually in the Flyers Cup tournament and regular-season interleague games are not new. This year’s series of games however, have more significance because the results will be considered by the Flyers Cup Committee when evaluating potential invitees.

Beyond the Flyers Cup tournament however, the series shines a spotlight on high-school hockey. Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna is looking forward to the crossover games.

“We go into the Flyers Cup every year blind [against the Inter County League teams] and how we match up,” he said. I know they’ve talked about it for a couple years and the coaches were all on board. It’s something I think is long overdue.

“I think for both leagues, to get a chance to see teams from the other league and it breaks up the monotony of the season and it gives you a different look altogether. It’s really cool thing they’re doing.”

Montagna likes playing interleague games as a change of pace,

“We maybe go down to Ice Line and whoever we’re playing brings a lot of fans in for a regular-season game,” he said. “It’s a playoff atmosphere you don’t always get when we’re playing teams two or three times a year.”

Haverford High coach John Povey says the series will be a boost for the high-school version of the sport.

“It’s something we’ve been trying to do for some time now,” he said. We just think it’s great for high-school hockey. When you get teams from each league, you’re going to get good hockey games and all that does promote the league promote the sport.

“It’s something we’ve been trying to do for a while and being able to make it happen this year is really good and it’s good for high-school hockey.”

Povey is no stranger to interleague games.
“We’ve been doing preseason games with each other for the last 10-plus years,” he says. “This is just a little bit different because it’s going to have a lot more meaning to it.”

When Shaun McGinty was playing high-school hockey at Council Rock High in the mid-1990s under legendary coach Paul Gilligan the Indians competed regularly against teams from throughout the area, including Delaware and Chester Counties.

McGinty notes that Gilligan wanted his teams to face the strongest opposition available.

“His mindset was to compete with the best to be the best.” McGinty said. “He always pushed his program and us as players.”

As a head coach himself, McGinty has regularly sought out top-flight non-league opposition.

“I’ve done it here from the time I was here with [former coach Tom Coyne},” said, “and since Tom’s left I’ve kept it going with Haverford and Father Judge. I’ve played Ghost and La Salle and those teams are great.

We’ve played Haverford and we’ve played Conestoga. It’s good that the leagues are doing it again. It’s great for the kids and good for the coaches to see what others leagues have.”

McGinty notes that games like the one his team will play Friday night against Downingtown East are tutorials of sorts for younger players who aspire to compete at the school varsity level.

“We try to sell our middle school here,” he said. When we’re in playoffs, we try to get the middle school kids come out to see the big boys play and promote the idea that ‘This is where I’ve got to get too, this is where I have to work to to get to this level of play. You’re going to see some talent. It’s a great way to promote the game and I think it’s huge.”

Crossover Schedule

Friday 11-8 Strath Haven 3 Wissahickon 1 at Ice Works

Friday 11-8 Downingtown East 6 C.B. South 1 at Ice Line

Wednesday 11-13 Prnnridge 6 Boyertown 3 at Hatfield

Thursday 11-14 Marple-Newtown at Hatboro-Horsham 7:10 at Hatfield

Thursday 11-14 Conestoga at Neshaminy   7:20 at Grundy

Friday 11-15 North Penn at Downingtown West 7:50 at Ice Line

Friday 11-15 Pennsbury at Spring-Ford 7:15 at Oaks

Friday 11-15 Central Bucks East at Avon Grove 8:00 at Ice Line

Wednesday 11-20 Lower Merion at Souderton 7:20 at Hatfield

Thursday 11-21 Radnor at Plymouth Whitemarsh 7:10 at Hatfield

Thursday 11-21 Haverford at Council Rock South 7:20 at Grundy

Thursday 12-5   Abington at Harriton    8:00 at Skatium

Flyers Cup Schedule Thursday 3-14

Thursday, March 14

Class AAA Semifinals

La Salle 5 Holy Ghost Prep 2

 Malvern Prep 3 St. Joseph’s Prep 1—Teague Murray and James Young scored first-period goals and the second-seeded Friars went on to beat the third-seeded Hawks Thursday night in a Class AAA Flyers Cup semifinal at Ice Line.

Henry Tesoriero also scored for Malvern Prep (11-8) which will meet La Salle in the final.

Tristan Winata scored for St. Joseph’ Prep (16-7)

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 1—1

Malvern Prep 2 0 1—3

First-period goals: Teague Murray (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs and Jonathan Holt, 12:11 (pp); James Young (MP) from Logan Love, 13:47

Third-period goals: Henry Tesoriero (MP) unassisted, 15:25 (en); Tristan Winata (SJP) unassisted. 16:09

Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 36, Malvern Prep 35; Saves: Jacob Aranda (SJP) 32; Matt Crawford (MP) 35

Class AA Semifinals

Penneidge 10, Downingtown West 1—

The top-seeded Rams scored six goals in the first period and rolled to the win over the fourth-seeded Whippets in a Class AA semifinal Thursday night at Hatfield Ice.

Shane Dachowswki scored four goals for Pennridge (21-2-2) and added an assist. Nolan Shaw provided two goals. Kevin Pico, Josh Kelly, Tyler Manto, and Andrew Savona all scored goals.

Joseph Butter scored for Downingtown West (18-5)

Downingtown West 0 1 0

Pennridge 6 2 2

Council Rock South 3 Boyertown 1

Championship games will be played Tuesday, and Wednesday, March 19, and 20.