WEST GOSHEN—After an up-and-down regular season and a loss in the APAC play-in game, Malvern Prep had an opportunity to make a fresh start Monday night in the quarterfinal round of the Class AAA Flyers Cup. The Friars made the most of the opportunity.
Jimmy and Jeremy Jacobs two goals each as Malvern Prep, the defending Cup champion, turned in a dominant performance in a 6-2 win over Father Judge at Ice Line.
The fourth-seeded Friars (10-7). will face top-seeded La Salle in the semifinals on a date to be announced. The fifth-seeded Crusaders closed the campaign at 15-4-0-1. Three of their losses were to APAC teams.
It’s best to be wary of an unfamiliar opponent at Flyers Cup time, and the Friars and the Crusaders did not meet during the regular season.
Jimmy Jacobs said the Friars focused on what they had to do as versus what the Crusaders might do.
“I think they only thing we could do is just play out game,” he said, “and see how we do from there. You can’t really have a game plan if you’ve never played against them before.”
Jeremy Jacobs said that lack of familiarity helped keep him and his teammates focused.
“It’s the Flyers Cup, it’s one and done,” he said. “It could be over if you lose. You’ve definitely got to treat the game like it’s a championship game, and just go out there and play as hard as you can.”
The Friars did just that, especially in the first period. It took Jimmy Jacobs just 2 minutes, 16 sends to get a puck past Crusader goaltender David Marcellino to give Malvern Prep a 1-0 lead. Jeremy Jacobs extended the Friars’ lead with a shorthand goal at the 8:09 mark. Devon Mallon got father Judge on the scoreboard exactly 12 minutes unto the opening session, but Jack Sharer answered for the Friars with 2:15 remaining in the period.
Jeremy Jacobs spoke to the importance of his team’s fast start.
“Just to get the tempo of the game going,” he said, and show them who we really are, and put pucks in the back of the net quick.
“Quick starts are really the key to games. Momentum off the start is huge.”
Jimmy Jacobs and Gavin Wilson scored goals 1 minute, 47 seconds apart to extend the Friars’ lead to 5-1 2:27 into the second period. The Friar offense was in high gear; by evening’s end they had been credited with 45 shots on goal.
Robert Cattalo scored for Judge 9:48 into the period to cut into the Malvern Prep lead but Jeremy Jacobs scored his second goal of the game 8:38 into the final period to put the exclamation point on the Friars’ win.
Jimmy Jacobs said he and his teammates are focused on the task at hand. “The good thing with the Flyers Cup, and the bad thing, is it’s one and done.” he said.”
Father Judge. 1 1 0—2
Malvern Prep 3 2 1—6
First-period goals: Jimmy Jacobs (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs and Gabe Bedwell, 2:36; Jeremy Jacobs (MP) from Jimmy Jacobs, 8:09 (sh); Devon Mallon (FJ) from Robert Cattalo, 12:00; Jack Sharer (MP) unassisted, 14:45
Second-period goals: Jimmy Jacobs (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, :40; Gavin Wilson (MP) unassisted, 2:27 Carratlo (FJ) from Gavin Moore, 9:48
Third-period goal: Jeremy Jacobs (MP) unassisted, 8:22 (sh)
Shots: Father Judge 29, Malvern Prep 45; Saves: David Marcellino 39, Brandon Novabilski 27
7. Garnet Valley vs. 10. Springfield-Delco 9:00 at Skatium
WC Rustin 10 Wissahickon 0
Class AA First Round
Conestoga 6 Downingtown West 3
Class AAA First Round
Holy Ghost Prep 10 Cardinal O’Hara 1
Malvern Prep 6 Father Judge 2
All Tickets for Flyers Cup games must be purchased online via the Box Office link on the Flyers Cup web site. Make sure you select the correct game. Flyers Cup Programs will also be sold only online. The link for that is at the top of the Box Office. You can pick your program up by showing your Program purchase ticket at any Flyers Cup venue.
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, N.J.—The playoff environment gave The Hun School Raiders a spring in their step. Brendan Marino scored goals as the Raiders kicked off the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference Tuesday afternoon with a 5-2 win over Malvern Prep in a play-in game at Ice Land.
The win advances the fourth-seeded Raiders (10-12 overall) to the APAC semifinals; They’ll oppose La Salle on February 22 at 4:00 at Hatfield Ice. Fifth-seeded Malvern Prep (8-7) will be idle until the Class AAA Flyers Cup tournament next month.
The Raiders’ aggressive style worked to their advantage as they physically dominated the Friars from the outset.
“I think we’ve got an older team” Marino said, “a big, strong team and I think it helped us early in the game, because we’re able to get physical, get pucks in, get pucks out, and play together as a team.”
Hun School coach Ian McNally noted the referees were tolerant of physical play early on. There were no penalties called in the first period. There were seven whistled in the second period and 10 in the third.
“The first two periods there weren’t many penalties being called,” McNally said. “That let us kind of set the tone.”
Malvern Prep was laboring under the additional burden of being shorthanded; offensive catalysts Jimmy and Jeremy Jacobs were away on club duty.
By the time the first period ended, the Friars were in a 2-0 hole.
Hun School’s Justin LaPlante and Malvern Prep’s Pax Hoshik barrel in front of the Malvern Prep net. (photo: Robert Barnes)
Josh Sosner got things started for the Raiders 10:30 into the opening period off an offensive zone faceoff. Marino made it 2-0 with 32 seconds left in the period when he topped in Aidan Shine’s shot from the right point.
Gavin Wilson got Malvern Prep on the board 3:08 into the second frame when he beat Stephen Chen in the Hun School net.
The Raiders answered back almost six minutes later with one of the most picturesque goals of the APAC season. Charles Etienne-Jeffe played the puck the puck up the center of the ice from the midway point on his own defensive zone and caught Ryan Levesque in full stride. Levesque beat the Friar defense and goaltender Brandon Novabilski to make it a 3-1 game at the 9:04 mark.
Just 31seconds later, Elian Estulin gave the hosts a 4-1 lead.
Aidan Kelly cut onto that lead when he scored for the Friars with 4:09 left in the period.
Going into the third frame, Jared Ingersol, who filled in for Bill Keenan behind the Malvern Prep bench (Keenan was absent due to a family issue) thought his team still had a shot as it started the third period with a 72-second power play; Marino was serving a high-sticking sentence.
“We thought we were right there coming out of the second period,” Ingersol said. “Hopefully we could get a power-play goal and get us back in the game.”
Alas for the Malvern Prep faithful, it wasn’t to be. The Raiders killed the remaining penalty time and Marino scored his second goal of the game and what turned out to be the only goal of the third period, just nine seconds after his penalty expired.
McNally saw the win as a season’s worth of effort paying off.
“We’ve had a lot of games where we work hard,” he said. “We shoot the puck, I think we’re playing physical, but we don’t score the clutch goals when we need them.
“And today was back-to-back breakaways and a guy coming out of the box for a breakaway goal. Those goals are clutch goals at the right time.”
Ice Chips—Hun School and La Salle will open the semifinal doubleheader next Wednesday at 4:00. The second semifinal matching second seed Holy Ghost Prep and third seed St. Joseph’s Prep will follow at 6:15. The Founders Cup title game is set for March 1. It will be hosted by the highest seeded finalist.
Malvern Prep 0 2 0—2
Hun School 2 2 1—5
First-period goals: Josh Sosner (HS) from Aidan Shine and Justin LaPlante, 10:30; Brendan Marino (HS) from Shine and Ryan Levesque 16:28
Second-period goals: Gavin Wilson (MP) from Matt Barbacane and Teague Murray, 3:08; Ryan Levesque (HS) from Charles Etienne-Jeffe, 9:04; Elian Estulin (HS) from Levesque and Charles Guida,9:35; Aidan Kelly (MP) from Murray and Jack Sharer, 11:51 (pp)
Third-period goals: Brendan Marino (HS) from Vincent Gregoire, 1:23
Shots: Malvern Prep 24, Hun School 52; Saves: Brandon Novabilski (MP) 47, Stephen Chen (HS) 22
What happened on the ice at Ice Line Thursday evening paled in comparison to what happened off the ice.
The Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game between Malvern Prep and St. Joseph’s Prep, a 4-1 win for the Friars, was preceded by a dine-and benefit event which raised funds to support the fight against Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome, or RTS, a genetic disorder that causes intellectual and developmental disabilities that affects one in 125,000 children.
Connor Keenan, the 3-year old soon of Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan is afflicted with the syndrome.
The dine- donate event, which included a 50-50 drawing, was held at Ice World’s Goal Line Pub prior to game time; a portion of the evening’s receipts will be donated to a foundation that is focused on treating and finding a cure for RTS.
During the pregame warmup, both teams wore specially designed jerseys highlighting the fight against RTS and Keenan and his family, including his wife Sarah and Connor, and, along with 6-year old Olivia and 8-year old J.J. took part in a ceremonial puck drop just prior to game time.
Keenan expressed her appreciation for the hockey community’s support of her family.
“It’s very humbling,” she said. “We really feel the love from the whole community, and it just goes to show what a great community the hockey world really is.”
Sarah Keenan spoke of the challenges the family has faced since Connor was diagnosed with RTS last year.
“It’s been overwhelming,” she said, “but we’ve made a lot of progress in the last year. Connor has shown us a lot and taught us a lot too.
Keenan noted the importance of educating the public about 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 Keenan expressed his thanks for the support he and his family have received.
“The community has been great,” he said. “It’s all new. It’s rare. So, to have a night like this is good and hopefully we can do it in years to come.”
The Keenan family; J.J. Olivia, Bill, Sarah, and Connor join Malvern Prep’s Steven Getsie (left) and St. Joseph’s Prep’s Jeffrey Hammond for the opening faceoff.
• The game—Four different players scored goals for the Friars, who closed the regular season at 8-6 (2-5-0-1 in the APAC. Caiden Canale, Gavin Wilson, Ryan Clark, and Brady Doyle all found the back of the net. Doyle also added two assists. Caiden Kelly scored for the Hawks (14-5-2, 3-4-1-0)
St. Joseph’s Prep 0 0 1—1
Malvern Prep 1 2 1—4
First-period goal: Caiden Canale (MP) from Brady Doyle, 10:05
Second-period goals: Gavin Wilson (MP) from Aidan Kelly and Canale,: 15 (pp); Ryan Clark (MP) from Doyle, 1:00 (pp)
Third-period goals: Caiden Kelly (SJP) from Jeffrey Hammond, 1:59; Doyle (MP) from Kelly, 16:43 (en)
Shots: St. Joseph’s Prep 25, Malvern Prep 33; Saves: Ajay White (SJP) 29, Brandon Novabilski (MP) 24
HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP —All the pieces fit together for St. Joseph’s Prep Friday night.
Joe Samango scored three goals and assisted on three others and Jeffrey Hammond added two goals and two assists as the Hawks, with the heart of their roster on hand, celebrated Senior Night with a 7-1 win over The Hun School 7-1 in an Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference game at the Skatium.
The win assured St. Joseph’s Prep (14-4-2 overall, 3-3-1-0 in the APAC) of a third-place finish in the conference regular-season standings; the Hawks will conclude conference play against Malvern Prep on Thursday.
The Raiders to 8-12 overall and 2-5 in the APAC.
It was a night when the Hawks had their big guns on hand. That hasn’t always happened this season; there have been multiple occasions on which they were shorthanded because of key players being away on club duty.
After witnessing his team’s effort Friday night, it was impossible for Coach David Giacomin not to speculate on what they might have achieved, and might accomplish going forward.
“I know we’re a really good team when we have everybody here and healthy,” he said.
The Hawks were shorthanded when they absorbed a 7-0 loss to the Raiders on December 7 and Giacomin said that result motivated his team Friday night.
“This was basically all the seniors having that will and desire,” he said. “They didn’t want to lose on Senior Night. That’s what it came down to.
Goals from Samango and Shane O’Neill, sandwiched around a goal from Hun School’s Brendan Marino, gave the hosts a 2-1 lead after one period before they broke the game open with four goals in the second frame, two from Hammond and one each from Samango and Tristan Winata, the Hawks’ number-one line.
Samango completed his hat trick in the third period. The trio accounted for 14 points.
“When we play together as one unit, we score a lot of goals,” Hammond said. “But when we don’t, we break apart.
“Games where we find each other and play s one unit we (do well).
The Raiders outshot the Hawks 31-29 but only Marino could solve Rocco Bruno in the Hawk net. The visitors’ frustrations boiled over on occasion; they were whistled for nine of the game’s 14 penalties.
“Obviously (St. Joseph’s Prep) they flipped the script here today,” said Hun School coach Ian McNally. “That’s kind of been the storyline for two weeks now. “It’s like, we’re trying really hard, we outshoot them, but we basically have very few actual scoring chances. And, every five minutes we let a team rush to the other end and score.”
Hun School 1 0 0—1
St. Joseph’s Prep 2 4 1—7
First-period goals: Joe Samango (SJP) from Patrick Sweeney and Shane O’Neill, 1;53; Brendan Marino (HS) from Justin LaPlante, 11:24; O’Neill (SJP) from Jeffrey Hammond and Samango, 14:04 (pp)
Second-period goals: Hammond (SJP) from Tristan Winata and Samango: 23; Samango (SJP) 5:33 (pp) Winata (SJP) from Hammond, 7:46; Hammond (SJP) from Samango, 14:21;
Third-period goal: Samango (SJP) from Winata and Hammond, 14:33
Shots: Hun School 31, St. Joseph’s Prep 29; Saves: Julian Arsenault (HS) 22; Rocco Bruno (SJP) 30
When Malvern Prep hosts St. Joseph’s Prep in an APAC game on Thursday, February 9 at Ice Line, the evening will be about more than just hockey.
The game itself will be the centerpiece of a dine-and-donate event to raise funds for the effort to find a cure forRubinstein-Taybi Syndrome, or RTS, a rare genetic syndrome.
RTS is a genetic syndrome which is typically a mutation of the CREBBP or EP300 gene. Those with RTS have an intellectual disability along with both developmental and growth delays. Some have other medical issues as well.
Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan’s 3-year old son Connor is afflicted with RTS, which occurs in one of every 125,000 children. “It’s a spectrum,” Kenan said, “so some kids have more impediments than others.
“My son was diagnosed last year, so, we’re trying to bring awareness to it for a good cause. We’ve met some other families with the syndrome and we want to do our part in raising awareness and giving back.”
The dine-and-donate event will begin at 7 p.m. and continue until 10:30. The game between the Friars and the Hawks will begin at 8:30.
Keenan’s entire family will join him in a ceremonial pick drop including his wife Sarah, Connor, and Connor’s siblings. 8-year old J.J. and 6-year old Olivia.
Keenan is grateful for the support he and his family have received from the Malvern Prep community and the area hockey community.
“We’re lucky to have such a great community from Malvern Prep and the hockey community that wants to help us raise awareness,” he said, “and we’re looking forward to a good night. This is our first year obviously having something like this and we’ll build onto it. Maybe have some other families come out in the future, and overall we’re just looking for it to be a fun night where everybody can learn and bring awareness.”
Keenan feels an obligation to be a voice for families dealing with RTS.
“As most people know, I don’t like to be in the spotlight,” he said, “and my family does not like to be in the spotlight. At the end of the day this event isn’t just about Connor. It is for all those with RTS and being able to educate others is a big part of what me and my family are trying to do.”
Jimmy Jacobs scored a goal 46 seconds into overtime to give the host Friars a 3-2 over St. Augustine Prep Monday afternoon at Ice Line in a non-league encounter.
Gabe Bedwell and Jonathan Holt also scored for Malvern Prep, which improved to 7-5 on the season.
St. Augustine Prep 1 1 0 0—2
Malvern Prep 0 2 0 1—3
First-period goal: Caleb Capecci (SA) from Ty Simonet, 10:16 (pp)
Second-period goals: Gabe Bedwell (MP) from Aidan Kelly and Jonathan Holt, 6:25; Grayson Esposito (SA) from Dom Riccardi, 6:59; Holt (MP) from Bedwell and Kelly, 10:29
Overtime goal: Jimmy Jacobs (MP) from Jeremy Jacobs, :46
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