Flyers Cup Field Revealed

Forty-one teams in four divisions will comprise the field for the 2025 Flyers Cup tournament. The field was announced during the Flyers Cup Selection Show Sunday night.

First-round games will get underway on Monday, March 3 and action will continue through the middle of the following week.

The Class A field, with 14 teams, will be the largest in the tournament. The Class AA field will include 12 teams, the Class AAA bracket 8, and the girls’ bracket 7.

In years past, the Class A and AA fields have consisted of as many as 16 teams each but with just 37 Cup-eligible teams between the two divisions this season, the committee took a different approach.

Eric Tye is the President of the Flyers Cup Committee.

“We’re not putting everyone in just so everyone can be in,” he said. “There needs to be a cutoff. We came up with 12 (for Class AA). Do we feel bad for teams 13 and 14? I gues so. We feel bad for teams 15 and 16 in {Class A} and 9 and 10 in {Class AAA}.

“People aren’t going to agree with what we did, we know that, but we did what we think’s best.”

Brackets are listed below.

Class AAA (8 teams)

Quarterfinals, March 4 and 6

1 Holy Ghost Prep vs 8 Owen J. Roberts. 3-4; 6:15 at Hatfield Blue

4 Malvern Prep vs 5 Salesianum. 3-6; 6:30 at Ice Line 1

2 La Salle vs 7 Devon Prep. 3-4 6:00; at Hatfield Gray

3 St. Joseph’s Prep vs 6 Father Judge. 3-6; 8:30 at Skatium

Semifinals, Thursday March 13

Monday, March 17 or Wednesday, March 19

Class AA (12 teams)

First Round, March 3 and 4

8 Conestoga vs 9 Boyertown 3-4; 8:30 at Ice Line 1

4 Central Bucks South vs 12 Spring Ford 3-4; 8:30 at Hatfield Blue

7 Pennridge vs 10 Avon Grove 3-4; 8:10 at Hatfield Gray

6 Downingtown West vs 11 Central Bucks East 3-4; 6:15 at Ice Line AAA

Quarterfinals, Thursday, March 6

1 Council Rock South vs Conestoga or Boyertown 6:15 at Hatfield Gray

4 Haverford vs Central Bucks South or Spring Ford 6:30 at Skatium

2 North Penn vs Pennridge or Avon Grove 8:10 at Hatfield Gray

3 Downingtown East vs Downingtown West or C.B. East TBD

Semifinals

March 17 or 19

Finals TBD

Class A (14 teams)

Play In

Monday, Match 3

Play In

12 Moorsetown vs 13 Strath Haven 8:10 at Hatfield Blue

11 Radnor vs 14 Hatboro-Horsham 6:30 at Ice Line 1

First Round

Monday, Match 3

8 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs 9 Springield-Delco 6:00 at Hatfield Blue

7 Marple Newtown vs 10 Palmyra 6:30 at Skatium

Tuesday, March 4

First Round

Moorsetown or Strath Haven vs 5 Kennett

Radnor or Hatboro-Horsham vs 6 Hershey 8:30 at Skatium

Quarterfinals

Thursday, March 6

Plymouth Whitemrsh or Springfield-Delco vs 1 Garnet Valley 6:30 at Ice Works

Moorsetown, Strath-Haven, or Kennet vs 4 WC East at Ice Line

Marple Newtown or Palmyra vs 2 WC Henderson at Ice Line

Radnor, H-H or Hershey at Penncrest 8:30 at Ice Works

Semifinals March 11

Finals March 17

Girls (7 teams)

Monday March 3

Play in

6 West Chester East vs 7 Pennridge 8:30 at Ice Line

Wednesday, Match 5

Quarterfinals

4 West Chester Henderson vs 5 Radnor 7:45 at PNY

West Chester East or Pennridge vs 3 Conestoga 6:00 at PNY

Wednesday March 12

Semifinals

WC Henderson or Radnor vs 1 Avon Grove 6:00 at PNY

WC East, Pennridge, or Conestoga vs 2 Downingtown West 7:45 at PNY

Tuesday, March 18

Finals

6:00 ay PNY

Eric Tye and Rick Woelfel will discuss the tournament on the Hockey Happenings podcast which will drop on Monday, February 24

SHSHL Sets Playoff Schedule

The SHSHL has announced its playoff schedule. Postseason play will begin on Monday, February 24 and continue through Thursday, February 27.

Playoff results will have no impact on selections and seedings for the Flyers Cup tournament, which will be announced on Sunday, February 23, eight days before the start of the tournament.

Playoff dates, sites, and times are as follows

National Division (Class AA)

Monday 2-24 First Round

Seed 4 vs Seed 5 6:10

Seed 3 vs Seed 6 8:00

Both games at Hatfield Ice

Wednesday 2-26

American Division (Class A) Semifinal

Seed 2 vs Seed 3 6:10 at Hatfield Ice

National Division Semifinals

At Hatfield Ice 8:00

At Grundy Arena 7:10

Thursday, 2-27

American Division Final

Plymouth Whitemarsh vs TBD 6:00 at Hatfield Ice

National Division Final

Hosted by Highest-Seeded Finalist

8:10 at Hatfield Ice or 7:00 at Grundy

Montagna Announces Retirement

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna announced Thursday night that he will step down at the end of the season.

Montagna is in his seventh season behind the Rams’ bench.

His teams won Class AA Flyers Cup and state championships in 2022 and again last season. They also claimed SHSHL National Division titles in 2019 and ’22.

Montagna, who also coaches at the club level, said he needed a break from high-school hockey.

“I’m burnt out,” he said. “I can’t do this if I can’t give what needs to be given to it. I’m taking a step back and dealing with club hockey next year.

“I want to continue coaching high school but I need a little bit of a breather. Whether it’s a year, two years, whatever it is, it’s time.”

C.R. South 5 Pennridge 2

Jake Weiner changed the course of a hockey game Thursday night. With he and his Council Rock South teammates trailing Pennridge 2-0 almost in the blink of an eye, Weiner stepped up and grabbed hold of the affair.

The junior set up Jordan Sarne for his team’s first goal and scored two others before the first period ended. He capped off his night’s work with an empty-net goal as the Golden left Grundy Arena with a 5-2 win that puts South back in first place the SHSHL National Division race, one point in front of North Penn and in control of its destiny in the division title chase.

If South (17-2, 16-1 in the division) scores a regulation win in its regular-season finale against Neshaminy next Wednesday it will be the top seed for the divisional playoffs regardless of how North Penn fares against Council Rock North the same evening.

Weiner, who now has 39 goals and 16 goals for 55 points this season, reached the 100-goal plateau for his South career Thursday night and his contributions were sorely needed.

Nathan McKean gave Pennridge (12-6, 11-6 in the division) a 1-0 lead with a rocket directly off an offensive right-circle faceoff just 47 seconds into the game. Landon Bishop made it a 2-0 game at the 1:21 mark off a spurt down the left wing.

The Hawks took some big punches early on but got off the canvas.

“We just had the mindset we had to come back,” Weiner said. “We got kicked in the teeth early but just came back and worked.”

Sarne’s goal came off a shot from the top of the left circle to make it a 2-1 game just 2:41 into the period. Weiner tied the game with five minutes left in the opening session scored what was officially the game-winning goal when Jacob Winton in the Pennridge net lost control a rebound with 2:12 remaining the period.

The pace of the game slowed somewhat from there. Both teams had some holes in the lineup for an assortment of reasons but Rams in particular were hurt by the absence of leading scorer Shane Dachowski who was serving a suspension. They also lost James Rush to injury in the second period

Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna found himself working with just two lines and the situation took its toll on his players, who exhausted their energy reserves.

“We played without our top three scorers,” he said. “We tolled two lines to the end of the game and they played their [tails] off.

“They did exactly what I sked and they scratched and clawed for every inch of ice out there.”

Jagger Smith extended South’s led to two goals when he scored in the midst of a goal-mouth scramble with one second left in the second period. Weiner completed his hat trick with 31 seconds left in the game.

Senior defenseman Peter Pereborow said the Hawks’ comeback was due to the player embracing a team-first mentality.

“We turned it around it around with a ‘We’ mentality,” he said. “Like {Coach Joe Houk} said in the locker room like the Eagles’ offensive line, our job is just play as a team. Not ‘I.’ Work, just keep grinding.”

Ice chips—The Golden Hawks drew 14 penalties so Houk will sit out the regular-season finale.SSF

Pennridge 2 0 0

C. R. South 3 1 1—5

First-period goals: Nathan McKean (P) from Ryan Burke, :47; Landon Bishop (P) from Burke and Dean Venner, 1:21; Jordan Sarne (CRS) from Jake Weiner, 2:41; Weiner (CRS) from Jeremy Rahyer and Jackson Mosley, 12:00; Weiner (CRS) from Mosley and Jagger Smith, 14:48;

Second-period goal: Smith (CRS) from Jacob Cohen, 16:59;

Third-period goal: Weiner (CRS) unassisted, 16:29

Shots: Pennridge 30m C.R. South 39; Saves: Jacob Winton (P) 34. Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 28

SHSHL Standings as of 2-13-25

National Division W L T PTS OTW OTL

X North Penn (16-2) 15 2 0 60 1 1

X C.R. South (16-2) 15 1 0 57 3 0

X C.B. South (13-5) 13 3 0 49 3 0

X Pennridge (12-5) 11 5 0 47 0 3

X C.B. East (8-8-1) 8 7 1 34 0 0

Pennsbury (6-12) 6 11 0 26 0 2

Neshaminy (6-11-1) 5 11 1 23 0 1

Souderton (5-12) 5 11 0 21 0 0

C.R. North (3-12) 3 14 0 12 0 0

C.B. West (0-14) 0 16 0 0 0 0

American Division W L T PTS OTW OTL

X@ P-W (14-0) 13 0 0 56 0 0

Hatboro-Horsham (6-7) 7 6 0 29 1 2

Springfield (5-8) 7 8 0 28 1 1

Wissahickon (7-8) 7 7 0 27 1 0

Abington (0-13) 0 13 0 0 0 0

X—assured playoff berth

@—assured regular-season title

Flyers Cup Rankings 2-10-25

Class AAA

Holy Ghost Prep
La Salle
St. Joseph’s Prep
Malvern Prep
Salesianum

Class AA

Council Rock South
North Penn
Downingtown East
Haverford High
Central Bucks South

Class A

Garnet Valley
Kennett
West Chester Henderson
Penncrest
West Chester East

Girls

Avon Grove
Downingtown West
Conestoga
West Chester Henderson
Radnor

This marks the final set of Flyers Cup rankings prior to the Flyers Cup Selection Show on Sunday, February 23. The show will air at 8 PM that evening on the Flyers Cup You Tube Channel.

SHSHL Update 1-4-25

National Division W L T PTS OTW OTL

X C.R. South (15-1) 14 0 0 53 3 0

X North Penn (14-2) 13 2 0 52 0 1

X C.B. South (11-4) 11 3 0 41 3 0

X Pennridge (10-5) 9 5 0 39 0 3

C.B. East (8-8) 8 7 0 24 0 0

Pennsbury (5-10) 5 9 0 22 0 2

Neshaminy (5-10) 4 10 0 15 0 1

Souderton (4-10) 4 9 0 12 0 0

C.R. North (3-12) 3 12 0 12 0 0

C.B. West (0-14) 0 14 0 0 0 0

X-Clinched playoff spot

American Division W L T PTS OTW OTL

X@ Plymouth Whitemarsh (14-0) 13 0 0 52 0 0

Wissahickon (7-4) 7 5 0 27 1 0

Hatboro-Horsham (6-7) 6 6 0 25 1 2

Springfield (5-8) 5 8 0 20 1 1

Abington (0-12) 0 12 0 0 0 0

National Division Scoring G A Pts

Shane Dachwski Pr 29 23 52

Jeremy Rayher 26 26 52

Cole Pluck NP 19 26 45

Samuel Norton NP 19 22 41

James Rush Pr 19 21 40

Jackson Accardi CRN 23 15 38

Jake Weiner CRS 25 11 36

Nolan Shingle NP 19 14 33

Jordan Sarne CRS 13 19 32

Matthew Cross Soud 19 11 30

American Division Scoring G A Pts

Dan Guller PW 16 20 46

Vincent Graziani HH 15 19 34

Nathan Nemchinov HH 19 13 32

Blake Ambler PW 16 12 28

Cooper Kanze PW 14 14 28

Owen Quinn Spr. 11 15 26

Ben Raebiger Wiss 19 6 25

Victor Wilkins HH 16 7 23

Darius Graziani HH 9 14 23

Logan Honeycutt Wiss. 13 7 20

Luke Smith PW 7 13 20

Podcasts for a Purpose—Utilize our podcasting services to promote your business, event, or organization. Contact us here or at rwoelfel2013@gmail.com

SHSHL Sets Playoff Dates

The ‘second season’ in the Suburban High School Hockey League will commence on Monday, February 24. Six teams will qualify for the playoffs in the National Division (all are Class AA) and three more in the American Division (Class A).

Two National Division first-round games are set for Opening Night, with the third seed taking on the sixth seed and the fourth seed facing the fifth seed. The winners will advance to the semifinals on Wednesday, February 26 to join the top two seeds who will receive first-round byes.

The American Division semifinal, matching the second and third seeds, is also set for Wednesday, February 26^th; the finals in both classes are set for the following evening, Thursday, February 27^th.

SHSHL Playoff results will not impact the seedings and selections for the Flyers Cup tournament, which will be announced on Sunday, February 23, eight days before the start of the tournament.

C.B. East 5 Pennsbury 3

Jaden Young made a big impression Wednesday night. He scored three goals and assisted on a fourth, as Central Bucks East downed Pennsbury 5-3 at Hatfield Ice in a SHSHL National Division matchup with significant postseason implications.

The win moved the Patriots past the Falcons into fifth place in the division standings. It also gave them a sweep of the two-game season series.

Young spoke to the significance of the occasion.

“This game was especially important,” the senior said. “We need to get as many wins as as we can. We need to win the games we need to win.

“In reality, we need to play our game every game regardless of who the competition is.”

Ethan Cenci gave East (7-9, 7-8 in the division) the lead with 2:43 left in the first period when he won a race for a loose puck on the right wing and went on to put a backhander past Falcon goaltender Brendan Millikan. Ben Dempsey made a 2-0 game with 29 seconds left when a rebound of Young’s shot squirted free.

Kevin DeRosa scored for Pennsbury (5-11, 5-10) 2:19 into the second frame but then Young stepped up, scoring two goals 20 seconds apart to give his team a 4-1 lead 3:22 into the period.

Jacob Sarver scored a power play goal for the Falcons with 2:39 left in the period but Pennsbury could get no closer. Young completed his hat trick 1:21 into the third period. Shane Hicks closed out the scoring for Pennsbury with 10:17 left in the game.

East coach Jeff Mitchell said his team’s quick start was huge in light of later stumbles.

“We got great momentum to start the first period,” he said. “We started taking a couple of penalties a let them back into the game; teams make us pay when we go down a man.”

Mitchell noted that Young’s back-to-back goals swung momentum in the Patriots’ direction.

“We doubled up on him within one shift,” he said. “That just goes to show just how big a difference maker {Young} can be.”

Cole Breen got the win in goal, stopping 15 shots along the way. Pennsbury coach Ryan Daley said Breen’s impact on the game was huge.

“We had a lot of great chances in the first period,” he said. “Their goalie had a great night. You just hope you score on some of the chances you worked so hard for. We just couldn’t get them to go in.

Pennsbury 0 2 1—3

C.B. East 2 2 1—5

First-period goals: Ethan Cenci (CBE) from David Brown, 14:17; Ben Dempsey (CBE) from Jaden Young and Brown, 16:31 (pp)

Second-period goals: Kevin DeRosa (P) from Chris Sarver, 2:19; Young (CBE) from Gavin Wilmer, 3:02; Young (CBE) from Cenci, 3:22; Jacob Sarver (P) from Chris Sarver, 14:21(pp)

Third-period goals: Young (CBE) unassisted, 1:21; Shane Hicks (P) from DeRosa, 6:43

Shots: Pennsbury 18, C.B. East 28; Saves: Brendan Millikan (CBE) 23, Cole Breen (CBE) 15

North Penn 4 Pennridge 3 OT

James Boyle score a power-play goal 1:45 into overtime to give North Penn a come-from behind 4-3 win over Pennridge Wednesday night at Hatfield Ice.

The win lifted North Penn to 14-2 overall and 13-2 in divisional play. The Knights trail Council Rock South by one point in the division standings with three games remaining although South has a game in hand.

What’s there to say about Mr. Boyle,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “One of the top players in the league, one of the top if not maybe the top defensemen in the league the guy brings it every game He lives for these games.”

The winning goal came North Penn enjoying a four-skaters-to-three advantage after the Rams’ Nick Young received a double-minor penalty 62 seconds into the extra session. There were 18 penalties called in the game, 11 against the Rams

Declan Laehy tied the game for North Penn with 1:33 left in regulation after the Rams’ Nathan McKean gave Pennridge (10-5, 9-5) a 3-2 lead with four seconds left in the middle period.
Daniel Cabrales and Samuel Norton added goals for North Penn. Shane Dachowki and Nolan Shaw scored for Pennridge.

Andrew Norton got the win in goal, stopping 38 shots en route.

The loss was Pennridge’s fourth one-goal setback of the season.

“We deserved better,” said Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna. “I just told these guys we’re four plays away from being a [one-loss hockey team].’

North Penn 1 1 1 1—4

Pennridge 2 1 0 0—3