Salesianum had a bit too much for Malvern Prep Thursday night. Too much in terms of physicality and firepower. Liam Bell scored two goals set the pace as the Sallies downed the Friars 4-2 Thursday night in a Class AAA Flyers Cup quarterfinal at Ice Line.
Fifth-seeded Salesianum (18-3) will move to the semifinals next Thursday against top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep. Fourth-seeded Malvern Prep closes the season at 5-11.
Salesianum coach Brian LeBlanc said his team took care of the small details.
“Our game is forecheck hard and backcheck hard,” he said. “Every shift we have 110 percent in that 45-second shift and every person on all three lines did that. That’s what gets you success.”
Senior Braeden Graham, the Sallies’ captain, said he and his teammates were comfortable with the game’s physics tone.
“We knew they were going to come out hitting,” he said. “We knew they were a team that hit. we knew from watching film on them that we had to match that so playing the body tonight was really important to us to keep their skill payers contained.”
Bell have his team a 1-0 lead 10:33 into the first period off a setup from Jerry DiStefano who played the puck across the goal mouth from the right wing. Bell was perfectly positioned to tuck the disk inside the left post.
The Friars suffered a huge loss with 10:54 left in the second period when they lost senior forward Teague Murray, one of their primary offensive threats. Murray checked the Sallies’ Connor Davis into the boards near the Salesianum bench and was assessed a five-minute major penalty for a check from behind plus a game misconduct.
“You don’t want to see a kid get kicked out of the game,” said Malvern Prep coach Bill Keenan. “I think the call was a little borderline but you can’t control the {referees}.
“Obviously, we needed somebody to put the puck in the net for us and that was a back breaker but you have got to find a way to step up and fill the void.”
Sean Melican extended Salesianum’s lead with 49 seconds left in the second period when he found his target from between the faceoff circles. Bell scored his second goal of the night 2:49 into the third period. From that moment on Malvern Prep was playing against the clock as much as the Sallies.
James Young got the Friars on the scoreboard 7:31 into the final session with a shot from just inside the blue line during a power play.
Salesianum’s Sean Albert and Malvern Prep’s Luke Johnson traded goals down the stretch.
Keenan credited the Sallies for their effort
“They’re a really good team,” he said. “They’re well coached. I’ve known {LeBlanc} for a few seasons now. They play fast, they play physical. Our boys I think matched the intensity, we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Graham says he and his Salesianum teammates aren’t finished yet. “We’re very proud of ourselves,” he said, “but we know this isn’t the end.
“A lot of the teams in the APAC have disrespected us. They don’t think we’re on the same level as they are because we play in a different league (the Prep/Catholic Division of the ICSHL).”
Ice chips—Salesianum won three Flyers Cup titles in the now-defunct New Jersey/Delaware Division, including the last one two years ago.
Salesianum 1 1 2—4
Malvern Prep 0 0 2—2
First-period goal: Liam Bell (MP) from Jerry DiStefano and Connor Davis, 10:33
Second period goal: Sean Melican (S) from Davis and Justin Celestino, 16:11
Third-period goals: Bell (S) unassisted, 2:49; James Young (MP) unassisted, 7:31 (pp); Sean Albert (S) from Braedon Graham, 9:53; Luke Johnson (MP) from Gabe Bedwell and Matt Barbacane, 13:56 (pp)
Shots: Salesianum 33, Malvern Prep 23; Saves: Gavin Needs. (S) 21; Matt Crawford (MP) 29
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