Tag: Pat Slook

Holy Ghost Prep 5 Hun School 2

Holy Ghost Prep started fast on Tuesday and kept on going. A pair of first-period goals gave the Firebirds a 2-0 lead and propelled them to a 5-2 win over Hun School in the APAC play in game at Grundy Arena.

Fourth-seeded Holy Ghost Prep (11-12) earned a date with top seed and defending champion La Salle Wednesday at 4:00 at the Class of 1923 Arena at the University of Pennsylvania. Fifth-seeded Hun School closed its season at 4-11.

Having twice defeated the Raiders during the regular season, the hosts took the ice on Tuesday looking to set a tone. Pat Slook’s goal 3:12 into the opening period did just that.  Jack Gavaghan made it a 2-0 on a shot from the right point with 2:34 left in the period.

“We knew that if we just jumped on them, it we got one early, we could keep rolling through them,” Slook said. “The plan was to get pucks deep and go at them, work in the corners and just grind out. Getting that first goal was a big one early.”

Nathan Romer and Caine Bickel added power-play goals for the Firebirds in the second frame, just over five minutes apart.

Special teams were impactful for much of a game that featured 12 minor penalties, six to each side.

A.J. Prete made it a 5-0 game 2:20 into the third period and the Firebirds seemed to have things well in hand.

At that point the Raiders, who had just 14 skaters dressed, seemed to be running low on energy. Following Prete’s goal, P.J. Angotti replaced Julien Arseneault in the Hun School net

  But the visitors never stopped working and their effort paid off when Charles-Etienne Jette got the puck past Firebird netminder Jack Unger 5:35 into the final session. Joachim Neverdahl added a shorthanded goal just shy of four minutes later.

Hun School coach Eric Szeker celebrated his young team’s work ethic.

“My guys gave it everything they had,” he said. “Fatigue, whatever it might be, they made no excuses.

“We came out in the third when everything was against us and we still put a great effort out. That tells you about the [team] more than the score will.”

Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie notes there is still work left to do as his team evolves.

“We gave up a couple breakaways late in the second period,” he said. “A young team starts to cheat a little bit when they have some success offensively and I thought we did that. It ended up hurting us.”

With the ‘second season’ now underway, Slook is encouraged by the progress he and his teammates have made over the course of the campaign.

“We grew as a team,” he said. “I think we hit a few speed bumps along the way but I think we just stayed together as a team and worked through it, and I think we’re in pretty good shape for the playoffs.”

Ice chips: Nine Hun School players concluded their high-school careers this season … The Holy Ghost Prep-La Salle game will be the first game of an APAC semifinal doubleheader matching Malvern Prep and St. Joseph’s Prep. is scheduled for a 6:15 start.

The results of the playoffs will not impact Flyers Cup tournament seedings.

Hun School 0 0 2—2

HGP      2 2 1—5

First-period goals: Patrick Slook (HGP) from Jake McCaw, 3:12; Jack Gavaghan (HGP) from Andrew Morgan and A.J. Prete, 14:26

Second-period goals: Nathan Romer (HGP) from Caine Bickel, 2:30 (pp); Bickel (HGP) from Colin Bara, 7:41 (pp);

Third-period goals; Prete (HGP) from Joseph Kaufmann, 2:20; Charles-Etienne Jette from Andrew Darst, 5:35; Joachim Neverdahl (HS) from Justin Laplante and P.J. Angotti, 9:25 (sh);

Shots: Hun School 21 Holy Ghost Prep 39; Saves: Julien Arseneault (HS) and P.J. Angotti (HS) 34, Jack Unger (HGP) 19

For more about Holy Ghost Prep CLICK HERE

For more about The Hun School CLICK HERE

Firebirds Using Hockey to Serve

The Holy Ghost Prep hockey team returned home from its post-New Year’s trip to Pittsburgh with a sense of accomplishment that went far beyond the two victories they achieved on the ice.

The Firebirds spent time with the students at the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech, a school for speech and hearing impaired students in grades K-8. The institution focuses on teaching its students, among other things, how to use Cochlear implants.

The Firebirds made the trip as part of the Spiritan Immersion Program a community service initiative that is at the core of Holy Ghost Prep’s educational and spiritual mission.

The Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds

The hockey players spent time in the classroom and on the ice with the DePaul students. Senior Pat Slook talked about the experience.

“We got to walk around the school and meet some of the kids,” he said. “It’s a very small school, I believe there are less than 100 students.

“We were able to take them across street to the Hunt Armory where we played both our games and take them ice skating, which was a really cool experience for all the players.”

Slook embraces using his passion for hockey to give back.

“There’s a bunch of Spiritan programs that we do at Ghost but I think this is really cool one,” he said. “From the hockey aspect, as hockey players, we get to take them ice skating and we get to use the game as a connection because if you had been there you’d see how much fun the kids had going ice skating. It’s cool for everybody, it’s really fun for everybody and I really loved it.”

Holy Ghost Prep coach John Ritchie credited Ryan Abramson, the school’s director of admissions, for arranging the details of the trip.

“Our players really walked into a situation where they could kind of get the most out of it,” he said, “because all the other stuff has been taken care of for them.”

Ritchie marveled at how his student-athletes bonded with the DePaul students.

“Sometimes it can be uncomfortable, being around people that have disabilities,” he said, “and watching our guys interact with these young kids blew me away.

“These guys were skating with students at the school for 60 straight minutes and had smile on their faces. And the kids were getting to experience something that otherwise they might not get a chance to the fact that we kind of blend our sport while providing an opportunity for these students, and also a great learning opportunity for our guys. It was just overall a really, really great trip.”

For Ritchie, a special-education teacher himself, the trip hit close to home.”

“Absolutely,” he said. “I’ve been working in special education for the last 15 years.

 “I’ve worked with special Olympics and the opportunity for Ghost to again blend these types of trips with the school mission is an opportunity that I’m glad these guys get a chance to do when their adolescents, where a lot of adults might not even have that opportunity. So, the fact they’re getting this experience now as high school students is super important for them as they continue to grow and develop as young men.”