Holy Ghost Prep 3 Malvern Prep 0

For most of the evening, it was a goaltending dual. But eventually, Holy Ghost Prep found the answers it was looking for. The Firebirds scored three times in the third period to post a 3-0 shutout over Malvern Prep at Ice Line.

Top-seeded and defending APAC champion Holy Ghost Prep (16-4) will host Sr. Joseph’s Prep next Wednesday afternoon at Grundy Arena at 4 p.m. with the Founders Cup at stake. Fifth-seeded Malvern Prep (5-11-2) will find out where it will be seeded for the upcoming Class AAA Flyers Cup tournament.

For most of the evening, Firebird netminder Matt Salita and Ike Matoney, his Malvern Prep counterpart, occupied center stage. Both were tested and for 34 minutes, both were perfect.

“It’s a lot of fun to go back and forth with another good goalie,” Salita said. “I thought he played pretty well.”

After the post-second period ice cut, the Firebirds returned for the third period energized.

“During intermission, Coach {John Ritchie} kind of gave us a wakeup call,” Salita said. ‘We kind of listened and we kind of simplified what we were going to do,

The retooling paid off. Lucas Gonzalez finally solved Matoney with a shot from long range, 3:01 into the final period. Nathan Romer followed at 8:53 and Billy Harmar finished the scoring with a power-play effort at 14:23.

“I thought we started off a little flat,” Salita said, “but we did our jobs in the third and got the job done.”

Ritchie made it clear to his team that despite an unblemished APAC record (9-0 including Wednesdays game) the road will only get tougher for the reigning APAC and Flyers Cup champions and that this is a new year.

“Last year, we took a couple losses at the beginning of the year,” he said, “and I think that helped fuel us.

“We’ve been in tight games, but we’ve come out on top all year {In conference play}. We’re seeing teams for the third and fourth time (Wednesday’s game was the fourth between the Firebirds and the Friars}. Every game is going to be tighter. There are no secrets. Everybody knows what everybody has.

Malvern came out with a games plan and I thought they did really, really well for most of the game.”

Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan echoed those sentiments.

“I thought we came out strong,” he said. “Our message was to match their intensity and match their physicality. I thought we did that for two periods.

The first two periods were tight, they were close. It went back and forth, there was pressure each way. In the third period, they just outmatched us a little bit. They got a goal quick and we couldn’t recover.”

Malvern Prep 0 0 0—0

Holy Ghost Prep 0 0 3—3

Third-period goals: Lucas Gonzalez (HGP) from Anthony Valeriote, 3:01; Nathan Romer (HGP) from John Gavaghan and Brady Flynn, 8:53; Billy Harmar (HGP) from Chris Marshall and Chase Logue. 14:23 (pp) Sots; Saves: Malvern Prep 18, Hoy Ghost Prep 32; Saves: Ike Matoney (MP) 29, Matt Salita (HGP) 18

APAC Founders Cup Playoff Preview

The APAC’s Founders Cup semifinals are set for Wednesday at Ice Line. Second seed Hun School will face third seed St. Joseph’s Prep in the 3:30 opener. Top seed and defending champion Holy Ghost Prep will go against fifth seed Malvern Prep at approximately 5:45.

The Founders Cup championship game is set for next Wednesday, February 25 and will be hosted by the highest-seeded finalist.

Here’s how the teams match up. The statistics listed below are for APAC games only.

Hun School (2)

Coach: N.G. Welsh

Record: 13-12, 4-4 in APAC

Key Players: Jr. Zachary Vallee 8 goals, 2 assists, 10 points; Sr. Luca Jean 3-3-6; Elliot Trottier .917 save %, 2.45 GAA; Blake Echternacht .915 save &, 2.71 GAA

St. Joseph’s Prep (3)

Coach: Charlie Van Kuna

Record: 15-6, 4-4 in APAC

Key Players: Jake Ely 3 goals, 3 assists, 6 points; Jr. Cole Gargon 4-1-5; Sr. Bradan Fisher 1-4-5;. Jr. Declan Geary .908 save &, 2.31 GAA

This season:

12-10 Hun School 2 St. Joseph’s Prep 1

12-29 St. Joseph’s Prep 3 Hun School 2 (Purple Puck final)

1-13 Hun School 4 St. Joseph’s Prep 3

Holy Ghost Prep (1)

Coach: John Ritchie

Record: 16-4, 8-0 in APAC

Key Players: Sr. Lucas Gonalez 4 goals, 6 assists, 10 points; Jr. Chase Logue 9-1-10; Sr. Anthony Valeriote 1-7-8; Jr. Matt Salita .971 save &, 0.67 GAA

Malvern Prep (5)

Coach: Bill Keenan

Record: 5-10-2, 2-6 in APAC

Key Players: Sr. Pax Hoishik 5 goals, 7 assists, 12 points: So. Jake Weingartner 4-7-11; Sr. Ryan Caterino .921 Save %, 2.34 GAA

This season

11-19 Holy Ghost Prep 4 Malvern Prep 1

12-3 Holy Ghost Prep 2 Malvern Prep 0

Past APAC Champions

2025 Holy Ghost Prep 6 La Salle 4

2024 La Salle 7 St. Joseph’s Prep 0

2023 La Salle 7 Holy Ghost Prep 3

2022 Malvern Prep 4 La Salle 1

2021 La Salle and Malvern Prep declared co-champions

2020 La Salle 4 HGP 1

2019 La Salle 6 Holy Ghost Prep 3

Malvern Prep 2 La Salle 0

The pieces all fit for Malvern Prep Wednesday afternoon. And once connected, they formed a route to a very big win.

House Young scored a power-play goal midway through the second period and Andrew Starck added an empty-netter in the final minute as the Friars bested La Salle 2-0 in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference play-in game at Hatfield Ice.

Fifth-seeded Malvern Prep (5-10-2), which had lost eight straight games, will advance to next Wednesday’ APAC semifinals where it will face top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep (5:30 at Ice Line). Fourth seed La Salle (6-13) will now sit until the Class AAA Flyers Cup Tournament begins in approximately three weeks.

Senior defenseman Logan Love said he and his Friar teammates came into Wednesday’s game in need of a lift.

“We’ve been really down in the dumps the past couple games,” he said. “We had a good practice Monday and that really helped going into this game.”

Senior forward Pax Hoishik, who assisted on Starck’s goal, said the key to the win was he and his teammates working hard for a full 51 minutes.

“Especially in the games we lost, we always played on or two periods,” he said, “and obviously, it showed that that’s not enough.

“We came out tonight and everyone was ready before the game which was another thing we needed to work on; we got it done and played a full three.

Young’s goal came off large scrum in front of La Salle goaltender Anthony Foster. Young delivered his shot from the inside edge of the left circle and put the puck in the left side of the net. Foster was hampered by the traffic in front and had little if any chance to deny him.

“A big thing for our team is getting one,’ Hoishik said, “and then hemming them in. Obviously, that’s what we did. We were able to keep them in their zone for a majority of the game.”

At the other end of the ice, Ike Matoney was perfect, making 26 saves in the Friar net. The sophomore has played sparingly this but came up big on this occasion.

“He hasn’t had many games this year,” Hoishik said, “but we wanted to give him a test and he performed the way we were hoping. It was good to see that.”

For La Salle, it was another blow in what has been a disappointing season.

“We were outplayed for the first two periods,” said Explorer head coach Wally Muehlbronner. “We didn’t have a whole lot of jump. It certainly wasn’t the way we’ve been playing of late. We’ve been playing a lot better with a lot more tempo and a lot more consistency throughout the lineup.

“We just didn’t have any sustained pressure, not a lot of great opportunities.”

• The win was Malvern Prep’s first since December 17…Next Wednesday’s other semifinal will match second seed Hun School and third seed St. Joseph’s Prep at 3:30 at Ice Line.

Malvern Prep. 0 1 1—2

La Salle 0 0 0—0

Second-period goal: House Young (MP) from Jake Weingartner, 9:38 (pp)

Third period goal: Andrew Starck (MP) from Pax Hoishik, 16:11

Shots; Malvern Prep 30, La Salle 26; Saves: Ike Matoney (MP) 26, Anthony Foster (L) 28

APAC Playoffs at Hand

The APAC Founders Cup playoffs begin Wednesday afternoon with a play-in game featuring fourth-seeded La Salle hosted fifth-seeded Malvern Prep. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at Hatfield Ice.

Here’s a look at how the Friars and the Explorers got to this point.

Malvern Prep

Coach: Bill Keenan

Record: 4-10-2, 2-6 in the APAC

Key players: Sr. Jake Weingartner 7 goals, 11 assists 18 points; Sr. Pax Hoishik 6-9-15; Sr. Ryan Caterino 2.66 GAA, .912 save %

La Salle

Coach: Wally Muehlbronner

Record: 6-12, 3-5 in APAC

Key players: Fr. Thomas Leonards 11 goals, 2 assists, 13 points: Patrick Lunsford 4-8-12; So. Andrew Frantz, 4-7-11; Jr. Anthony Foster 2.94 GAA, .913 save pct.; So. Danny Trainor 1.59, .920

This season:

11-26 Malvern Prep 2 La Salle 0

1-14 La Salle 3 Malvern Prep 2

Wednesday’s winner will face top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep next Wednesday in one half of a semifinal doubleheader at Ice Line. The other half of that doubleheader will match second-seeded Hub School and third seed Joseph’s Prep.

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

St. Joseph’s Prep 1 Malvern Prep 0 (shootout)

St. Joseph’s Prep 1 Malvern Prep 0 (Shootout)

Bradan Fisher scored the only goal of a shootout and that was the difference between St. Joseph’s Prep and Malvern Prep Thursday night in an APAC game at Ice Line

The Hawks’ Declan Geary and the Friars’ Ryan Caterino were perfect in regulation, stopping 52 shots between them.

St. Joseph’s Prep improved to 13-5 overall and 3-3 in the APAC.

“It was a big win for us coming don the stretch of APAC play,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach Charlie Van Kula. I thought we played better than we did against Malvern a couple weeks ago but we still haven’t quite found our groove.”

Malvern Prep stands at 4-9-2 overall and 2-5 in conference.

St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 0 0 (1)—1

Malvern Prep 0 0 0 0 (0)—0

Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 28, Malvern Prep 24

Saves: Declan Geary (SJP) 24, Ryan Caterino (MP) 28

La Salle 3 Malvern Prep 2

It’s been a tough season for the La Salle Explorers in some respects as a young team tries to find its way. But months of toil and sweat came to fruition Wednesday evening. Andrew Frantz’s power-play goal with 1:52 left in the third period gave La Salle a 3-2 win over Malvern Prep at Hatfield Ice.

It was the first APAC victory for the Explorers (4-11, 1-5 in conference) who had suffered two one-goal losses in APAC play prior to Wednesday when their efforts were at last rewarded.

Senior forward Matt Martin assisted on two of La Salle’s goals, including the game winner.

“{The win} means a lot,” he said. “It feels good to finally get a win after all the work we’ve been putting in at practice.”

The winning goal came off an offensive zone draw after the Friars’ Andrew Starck was called for tripping with 1:57 remaining in regulation. The Explorers won the ensuing faceoff and Frantz found the puck on his stick at the point- before launching a shot past Malvern Prep goaltender Ryan Caterino.

The third period did not lack for drama. La Salle’s Quinn Leonards and Starck traded second-period goals to send the game into the final stanza deadlocked at 1-1. Pax Hoishik put Malvern Prep (4-8-2, 2-4 in conference) with 7:11 left in regulation but Leonards answered for the Explorers with 4:55 left to set up the stretch run.

La Salle junior Patrick Lunsford savored the thrill of victory.

“It feels so good,” he said. “We’ve put in so much work all year. We’ve come up just short in so many games, it feels so great to {get the win}.”

Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan observed that APAC games offer little margin for error.

“We know APAC games are going to be tight,” he said. “We outshot them in the game (43-33). “The late penalty in the third hurt us. They got a good offensive draw out to their point for a shot on net; they got a bounce.”

It was the second consecutive one-goal loss for the Friars; they fell to St. Joseph’s Prep 3-2 last Friday.

“When we have leads in the game we’ve got to find a way to hold the lead,” Keenan said. “And when we’re down in games, we’ve got to find a way to put on pressure and get pucks to the net,”

Malvern Prep 0 1 1—2

La Salle 0 1 2—3

Second-period goals: Quinn Leonards (L) from Matthew Jones, 6:21; Andrew Starck (MP) from Jake Weingartner, 16:38

Third-period goals: Pax Hoishik (MP) from Weingartner, 9:49; Leonards (L) from Greenwalt and Matthew Martin, 12:05; Andrew Frantz (L) from Martin and Greenawalt, 15:08 (pp)

Shots: Malvern Prep 43, La Salle 33 Saves: Ryan Caterino (MP) 30, Anthony Foster (L) 41

St. Joseph’s Prep 3 Malvern Prep 2

Adam Charraffi’s goal 4:31 into the third period gave St. Joseph’s Prep a 3-2 win over Malvern Prep Friday at the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 Rink.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hawks, who improved to 12-4 overall and 2-2 in the APAC.

Michael Waslick and Joseph McGonigal gave St. Joseph’s Prep a 2-0 first-period lead before Jake Weingartner scored for the Friars (4-6-2, 2-3).

Pax Hoishik tied the game for Malvern Prep with a power-play goal 7:01 into the second period, which set the stage for Charrafi’s game winner.

Malvern Prep 12 1 0—2

St. Joseph’s Prep 2 0 1—3

First-period goals: Michael Washlick (SJP) from Jake Ely and Adam Charrafi, 1:18; Joseph McGonigal (SJP) from Joseph Darragh and Connor Martin, 3:47; Jake Weingartner (MP) from Paxton Hoishik, 5:16

Second-period goal: Hoishik (MP) from Weingartner and Cole Scabrinsky, 7:01 (pp)

Third-period goal: Charaffi (SJP) from Frank Ely and Bradan Fisher

Shots: Malvern Prep 31, St. Joseph’s Prep 27; Saves: Ryan Caterino (M, 4:31P) 24, Declan Geary (SJP) 29

Malvern Prep to Host Friar Faceoff

Malvern Prep will be hosting a four-team holiday tournament at Ice Line the weekend after Christmas. The inaugural Friar Faceoff will involve host Calvert Hall from Towson, Md. Devon Prep, and Holy Ghost, which is stepping on place of DeMatha, which was scheduled to participate but had to step away.

The round-robin format will see each team play once on Saturday night. December 27 and twice the following day with the championship game set for Monday afternoon, December 29.

“We’ve been trying to get a tournament off the ground for a couple years now,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “We were able to get four team this year, hopefully we’ll build on to to it, but it’s an opportunity for us to keep the boys on the ice.

“Devon, Holy Ghost, and Calvert Hall are quality schools, so it’s going to be good competition and we’re looking forward to seeing what it’s like.”

Saturday, December 27

Rink 1 – Back-to-Back Games

4:00 PM – 5:45 PM: Malvern Prep vs. Devon Prep
6:00 PM – 7:45 PM: Calvert Hall vs. Holy Ghost Prep

Sunday, December 28

10:00 AM – 11:45 AM (Rink 1): Malvern Prep vs. Holy Ghost Prep
10:15 AM – 12:00 PM (Rink 3): Devon Prep vs. Calvert Hall

Rink 1 – Back-to-Back Games

4:00 PM – 5:45 PM: Malvern Prep vs. Calvert Hall
6:00 PM – 7:45 PM: Devon Prep vs. Holy Ghost Prep

Monday, December 29

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