Hun School 3 La Salle 2 OT

The ending came in the blink of an eye. Devin Espana’s shot off a left circle faceoff exactly halfway through overtime gave The Hun School a come-from-behind 3-2 win over La Salle Wednesday afternoon in an APAC matchup at Hatfield Ice.

The goal came just seven seconds after La Salle’s William Podulka was swept to the penalty box for roughing, giving the Raiders a four-skaters-to-three advantage for the finish.

The Raiders overcame a 2-0 second-period deficit to lift their record to 10-4 overall and 2-1 in the APAC. They’ve won seven of their last eight starts. But it took them the entirety of the first two periods to get their skates under them.

“We’ve got to find a way to decide We’ve want to play from the first drop of the puck,” said Hun School coach Nathaniel Welsh. “But when they decide they want to turn it on, it’s a good hockey team.”

The Explorers (3-11, 0-5) took a 1-0 lead 4:50 into green second frame when Andrew Frantz delivered a power-play goal on a shot from the left point. River Carangi made it 2-0 with 7:04 left in the period on a setup from Nick Mantellino on a play that built up from behind the Hun School net.

At that point, the Explorers seemed to have the upper hand. But the Zachary Vallee scored for the Raiders off a La Salle breakdown with 1.9 seconds left in the period and the complexion of the game changed at that point; following the break for the post-second period ice cut Hun School returned for the third period riding a fresh wave of energy.

“It really feel like can beat anybody,” said veteran defenseman Andrew Darst, “and the key right now is figuring out how to get a good start on the road. Coming off the bus after an hour-long bus ride. Just getting a good start and getting ahead in the beginning.”

In a very real sense, the start of the third frame was a new beginning for the Raiders. Zachary Vallee tied the game with 4:19 left in the regulation to set the stage for the finale.

“Our first two operations weren’t great,” Welsh said. “Getting off the bus ride we weren’t really ready to play, but in the third period, we hit our stride a little bit.”

The Explorers seemingly had the better of things at the start of the extra period but Podulka’s penalty set up the visitors with an offensive zone faceoff and the Raiders took advantage of what La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner indicated was one in a series of critical errors.

“It’s definitely a disappointing loss,” he said. “We lost that game the way I look at it. All three goals directly resulted from us not doing something or doing something we shouldn’t have done.

“The penalty {that set up the winning goal} was not a smart penalty. And we didn’t pick up on the backcheck on the other two goals.”

Hun School 0 1 1 1—3

La Salle 0 2 0 0—2

Second-period goals: Andrew Frantz (L) from Liam Greenwalt and Nick Mantellino,4:50 (pp); River Carangi (L) from Mantellino, 9:56; Jimmy Dolan (HS) from Devin Espana, 16:59

Third-period goal: Zachary Vallee (HS) from Jacoby Kelly-LePage and Luca Jean, 12;41

Overtime goal: Espana (HS) from Andrew Darst and Vallee, 2:30 (pp)

Shots: Hun School 25, La Salle 28; Saves: Elliot Trottier (HS) 23, Daniel Trainor (L) 22

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

A New Chapter is Unfolding at The Hun School

With the arrival of the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference season, a new era of Hun School hockey has begun.

Nathaniel Welsh is now the man behind the Raiders’ bench, having taken over for Eric Szeker last week. His team hadn’t played a game since until it defeated St. Joseph’s Prep 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday at the University of Pennsylvania’s historic Class of 1923 Rink.

Welsh, who played midget hockey for former Hun School coach Ian McNally and was later an assistant coach there, says the transition has been a smooth one.

“Eric Szeker was a phenomenal coach,” he said, “and had, very, very close personal ties with a lot of them. He recruited a lot of those player and coached a lot of those players as the JV assistant and the varsity head coach (Szeker was beginning his third season as head coach when he resigned).

“It’s a tough thing to change a coach at any point and it’s a very tough thing to change a coach a week or two into a season but there hasn’t been a missed beat, there hasn’t been a missed practice, there hasn’t been a slowdown. I give all of the athletes credit for continuing to show up and continuing work just as hard for each other, and for the common goal of winning some games.

In terms of Xs and Os, Welsh is making only minor tweaks.

“Eric and I have a very similar philosophy on how the game of hockey is played and on how we approach coaching it,” he said. “We’ll make a minor tweak or two to our forecheck, but as to the philosophy of how we run practice and how we run the team, it’s pretty much the same and that was one of the great things about coaching with him.

“We had the same values and the same core ethos we were trying to impart to the players so that doesn’t change.”

Due to a combination of school policy and NJSIAA regulations, the Raiders take to the ice later than the four other APAC schools. But they are making up for lost time. They’ll be on the ice five days a week between now and the holiday break and will be participating in the 31st Purple Puck Tournament in Springfield, Virginia between Christmas and New Year’s.

“I think the first couple of games is always a tough thing because we’re playing schools that have practiced and played for a month or two ahead of us,” Welsh said, “so I think it’s a disadvantage for the first game or two, having three weeks of practice vs. two months and five games. But, once we get going, it’s an easier thing to do because it’s a routine that all the players get into. We play three times a week, we practice twice a week. We’re on the ice five times a week and it’s easier to keep the momentum once you get going.

“So we’ve got to find our footing but then I think it’s easier to continue with it in that rapid-shot fashion we do for three months.”

Nathaniel Welsh Takes Over at Hun School

The Hun School has a new head coach. Nathaniel Welsh has been named the Raiders’ interim head coach, replacing Eric Szeker,

Welsh has served as an assistant at The Hun School and also has an extensive history with the Princeton Tigers youth program.

The Raiders have played just one game this season, a 3-1 loss to Devon Prep on November 20. They are scheduled to host The Pingry School on Monday before opening their APAC schedule on Wednesday at St. Joseph’s Prep.