SHSHL Standings/Playoff Update 2-22-17

Hope some of you stayed up to watch the women’s gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada last night…. It was worth it.

The Suburban High School Hockey League concludes its regular season Friday night.

Here’s an overview of how the standings look.

BTW: The Miracle on Ice, the U.S. win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics, occurred 38 years ago today. For the high-school players who may not have done so yet; find this game on You Tube and watch it.

Class 2A W L T Pts

Central Bucks South 10 0 0 20

Council Rock South 8 1 1 17

Pennridge 8 1 1 17

North Penn 8 2 1 17

Council Rock North 6 4 1 13

Central Bucks West 5 5 0 10

Central Bucks East 4 6 1 9

Neshaminy 3 7 1 7

Thursday

Central Bucks South vs. Central Bucks West 8:45 at Rev. Ice Gardens

Friday

Council Rock South vs. Pennridge 7:10 at Hatfield

The eight playoff teams in Class 2A are set.

Central Bucks South will be the top seed. The result of the Council Rock South-Pennridge game

will determine seeds two and three. North Penn is locked into fourth place via the tiebreaker system. Thanks to Kenny Haas for the late update….

Seeds five through eight are set.

Quarterfinal Games

C.B. South vs. 8. Neshaminy
CRS-Pr winner vs. 7. C.B. East
CRS-Pr loser vs 6. CB West
North Penn vs 5. CR North

Class 1A W L T Pts

Wissahickon 13 1 0 26

Lower Moreland 10 4 0 20

Abington 9 3 1 19

Hatboro-Horsham 9 4 0 18

Friday

Abington vs. Hatboro-Horsham 8:50 at Hatfield

The four playoff teams are set. The result of the Hatboro-Horsham-Abington game will determine the final order of finish.

There is also a key Class 3A game set for tomorrow as Holy Ghost Prep faces Malvern Prep at Ice Line (8:45). The Firebirds are in line for the #1 seed in the Class 3A Flyer Cup tournament

Playoffs begin next Monday

Prep Division Standings W L T Its

Holy Ghost Prep 6 1 0 12

St. Joseph’s Prep 5 3 0 10

Malvern Prep 4 3 0 8

LaSalle 3 4 0. 6

Salesianum 0 7 0 0

Teams in bold have completed their regular-season schedules.

Hockey Happenings Update

With one week left in the Suburban High School Hockey League regular season, here’s how the standings look. Standings are based on divisional games only through 2-16-18

SHSHL

Class 2A Standings W L T Pts

C.B. South 10 0 0 20

Council Rock South 8 1 1 17

Pennridge 8 1 1 17

North Penn 7 2 1 15

Council Rock North 6 4 1 13

C.B. West 5 5 0 10

C.B. East 4 6 0 8

Souderton 3 7 0 6

Neshaminy 2 7 1 5

William Tennent 1 7 2 4

Truman 1 7 1 3

Pennsbury 0 8 0 0

Class 2A Scoring G-A Pts

Eric Slater Pr 33-20—53

Zac Herman Crn 22-21—43

Joe DeLaurentis CBS 23-18—41

Matt Stoll CBS 24-16—40

Michael Walker Pr 17-19—36

Andrew Galetta NP 19-14—33

Patrick McGinley Pr 20-12—32

Daniel Guest Crn 15-16—31

Nathan Oh NP 8-20—28

Matt Meli CRS 20-6—26

Collin Kleiser CRS 13-13—26

John Vanni CRN 12-12—24

Reis Braccio CBS 7-17—24

Brandon Smmmonds CRN 7-16—23

Colin Abbonizio CBS 9-14—23

Class 2A Goaltenders (Save Pct)

Oscar Levin CBS .938

Steve Glik Nesh .908

Tim White CBS .903

Luke Stranik Pr .901

Josh Smith Sou .894

Eric Lineman Wt .873

Our thanks to the administration and staff at Holy Ghost Prep for their support.

Holy Ghost Prep is a private, Catholic, all-boys school located in Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Located adjacent to the busy I-95 corridor in metropolitan Philadelphia, Holy Ghost Prep attracts students from more than 100 elementary feeder schools from throughout metropolitan Philadelphia counties and New Jersey

Today is a vibrant community of nearly 500 young men preparing for college and adult life through a challenging program which stresses the cultivation of students’ unique gifts and talents, academic excellence, and generous service to the poor. We continue to be mindful of our founding history as a seminary as we seek to form young men morally, intellectually, and spiritually in the Spiritan tradition.

Class 1A Standings W-L-T Pts

Wissahickon 13 0 0—26

Abington 9 3 0—18

Lower Moreland 9 4 0—18

Hatboro-Horsham 8 4 0—16

Upper Dublin 7 6 0—14

New Hope Solebury 2 11 0—4

Plymouth Whitemarsh 2 11 0—4

Upper Moreland 0 11 0—0

Teams in bold have clinched a playoff spot

Teams in italic in contention for a playoff spot

Hockey Happenings Update 1-14-18

The Game of the Year?

The much-anticipated matchup between Central Bucks South and Pennridge is on tap for Wednesday night. Faceoff is scheduled for 8:40 at Revolution Ice Gardens.

The Titans and the Rams have been the class of the Suburban High School Hockey League’s Class 2A sector all season and this will be their only regular-season meeting. South comes in 10-1 overall and a perfect 6-0 in league play. Pennridge is 9-1 overall, and 5-0 in the league.

As if this game needed any additional buildup (and it doesn’t), Tom Coyne is now behind the bench at Pennridge, having replaced Ken Doak earlier this season. He’ll be coaching against the team he led to two Flyers Cup and state championships.

The winner of this game will likely have the inside lane to the top seed out of the SHSHL for the Flyers Cup tournament. It should also be noted that this game will feature four of the league’s top six Class 2A scorers.

Check back here later tonight for a recap of this game.

Our thanks to the administration at Holy Ghost Prep for their support of this site.

Here are the SHSHL’s leading scorers. Totals include games reported through Friday, January 12.

Class 2A Goals Assists Points

Eric Slater (Pennridge) 19 14 33

Zac Herman (C.R. North) 15 13 28

Matt Stoll (C.B. South) 15 10 25

Matt Meli (C.R. South) 18 5 23

Joe DeLaurentis (C.B. South) 16 5 21

Reis Bracio (C.B. South) 6 13 19

Daniel Guest (C.R. North) 10 8 18

Logan Hurwitz (C.R. North) 5 11 16

Brandon Simmonds (C.R. North) 4 12 16

Class A Goals Assists Points

Bryan Gary (Wiss.) 35 19 54

Sean Gary (Wiss) 25 19 44

Ari Nordinger (U.D.) 22 8 30

Dean Keller (PW) 23 6 29

Perry Carpenter (Ab.) 15 12 27

Jacob Mueller (HH) 13 12 25

Colin Franzoni (PW) 8 15 23

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Hatboro-Horsham 7, Upper Moreland 2

1-12-18

Hatboro-Horsham was primed for Senior Night. And it showed early on. The Hatters scored goals on the first three shots of the game and went on to a 7-2 win over Upper Moreland in Suburban High School Hockey League action at Revolution Ice Gardens.

The Hatters (7-2 overall and in the SHSHL’s Class A Division) recognized the five seniors on their roster prior to the opening faceoff and their level of energy remained high after the puck was dropped. Jacob Mueller one of the five, scored just 12 seconds into the game when a puck deflected past Upper Moreland goaltender Michael Denardo.

Dylan McClure another senior, followed with two quick goals of his own to put Hatboro-Horsham up 3-0 after just 69 seconds of playing time. “I think we played pretty good,” he said. ”We came in and did what we needed to do.”

The possibility of blowout loomed at that point but Denardo stepped up and kept the Hatters at bay for the balance of the period.

The Golden Bears (0-8, 0-7 in the division got on the scoreboard at the 7:01 mark of the middle period when Noah Goodson, one of eight freshmen on the Upper Moreland roster, scored a power-play goal. Kyle Mullen and Aidan Esack scored goals for the Hatters to extend their lead; Aiden’s goal came with 1:04 left in the period.

Prior to the ensuing faceoff Upper Moreland lost Goodson with a minor penalty plus a misconduct for a mouthpiece violation and by the third period the Golden Bears, who have just 13 players on their roster, were running low on energy reserves. Ben Heywood scored for the Hatters at the 10:50 mark at the final frame before Hatboro-Horsham’s Nathan Reilly and Goodson traded goals in the final minute.

Through it all, Denardo continued to excel in the Upper Moreland net. He finished with 50 saves. Hatboro-Horsham had a 57-15 edge in shots.

For Upper Moreland coach Mike Denardo, Friday’s game was another step in the process of building a program. “Three of them had never played hockey before,” he said, “so that was parents and friends asking kids to come out and give it a try.”

Denardo notes his newcomers work to get ice time to improve their skating skills. “They go out and skate on their own,” he said, “which is a plus because we only have one split practice a week. So they go out and play open hockey, they skate on the ponds. They’re trying. They’re putting the work in.”

Hatboro-Horsham 3 2 2—7

Upper Moreland 0 1 1—2

First-period goals: Jacob Mueller (HH) unassisted, :12; Dylan McClure (HH) from Mueller, :32; McClure (HH) from Nathan Reilly, 1:09.

Second-period goals: Noah Goodson (UM) from Brad Helsinger, 7:01 (pp); Kyle Mullen (HH) from McClure and Mueller, 13:30; Aidan Esack (HH) unassisted, 14:56.

Third period goals: Ben Heywood (HH) from Mullen and McClure, 10:50; Reilly (HH) from Shane Mergen, 15:07; Noah Goodson (UM) unassisted, 15:18.

Shots: Hatboro-Horsham 57, Upper Moreland 15; Saves: Ryan Bell (HH) 13, Michael Denardo (UM) 50.

Records: Hatboro-Horsham (7-2 overall and in SHSHL Class A Division); Upper Moreland (0-8, 0-7 in the division)

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SHSHL Class 2A Standings Update

If all 12 Class 2A teams in the Suburban High School Hockey League were in one division, here is what the standings would look like. Records include divisional games only through results reported through Thursday. January 11.

It is still to be determined whether the SHSHL playoffs will be seeded by division or on points.

Won Lost Tied Points
Central Bucks South 6 0 0 12

Council Rock South 5 0 1 11

Pennridge 5 0 0 10

Council Rock North 3 3 1 7

North Penn 3 1 0 6

Central Bucks West 3 2 0 6

Souderton 2 3 0 4

Central Bucks East 2 4 0 4

William Tennent 1 5 2 4

Neshaminy 1 4 1 3

Truman 0 2 1 1

Pennsbury 0 7 0 0
The Class 2A league season consists of 11 games.

Coming later tonight, a recap of the Hatboro-Horsham-Upper Moreland Class A game.

The countdown is continuing to 23rd Olympic Winter Games. Check out how some of the top female athletes are preparing for the Games and catch up on other women’s sports news by checking out the Women’s Sports and Entertainment Network.

The site can be accessed HERE

New Hope-Solebury Hockey Team Making History

Wins have been tough to come by for the New Hope-Solebury hockey team this season. The Lions took the ice against Plymouth Whitemarsh Wednesday night having won just twice in six starts (1-4 in the SHSHL’s Class A Division).

They had just 10 skaters in uniform plus goaltender Devin Brock. And once again they came out on the short end. Dean Keller’s hat trick propelled the Colonials to an 8-6 win at Hatfield Ice.

“The challenge for us is that we’re a small school,” says New Hope-Solebury coach Jeff Garvin. “We have a limited amount of players, a small roster. In my mind, for us to really compete you need three full lines and in a lot of games we’re playing with 10 players. By the third period, our team usually runs out of gas.

But our kids always put in a good effort and play hard, and at the end of the day, I’m glad they’re having fun.”

Garvin’s coaching background includes a stint as an assistant at LaSalle High. About half his players play club hockey. Brock is a virtual novice and had never played in goal prior to this fall.

“Without him, we wouldn’t have a team,” Garvin says.

Brock played a bit of hockey when he was in elementary school but essentially gave up the game at age 10. Today his primary sport is lacrosse; he’s an attackman.

But he grew up idolizing Hall of Famer goaltender3 Martin Brodeur and one thing led to another.

“I loved (Brodeur),” Brock says. “I loved the Devils and watching him growing up was really awesome.”
When he stepped on the ice for the Lions this season, Brock found that his expectations of what his job entailed didn’t always match reality. “(Playing in goal) is so much harder than I thought,” he says “It’s really hard to get used to moving around, but I’m not scared of the puck. It’s not as scary as you think. A lot of people are scared. But it’s a really difficult position to play.”

New Hope-Solebury’s future on the ice is uncertain. There are five seniors on this year’s squad, including Brock and while at one time there was a middle-school team, there were no replacements available when the middle schoolers (who are now freshmen and sophomores) stepped up to the varsity level.

But the players on this year’s roster, 14 in all, have made history.

“I don’t know if we’re going to have enough guys to replace them,” Garvin says. “I’d love to see us have a team next year, but it might be one and done for now.”

The Colonials scored three times on their first six shots and led 4-1 after the first period. Chris Braun and Michael Janora scored twice each for the Lions.

Keller has scored 23 goals for the Colonials this season. He was tied for third in the Class A Division in goals heading into Wednesday night.

Plymouth Whitemarsh is now 2-8 and 2-7 in the division.

New Hope-Solebury 1 2 3—6

Plymouth Whitemarsh 4 2 2—8

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Two Hockey Players With Local Ties Headed To Olympic Games

Two players with connections to the Suburban High School Hockey League will be part of the American team that will skate in the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Yardley, Pa. native and Germantown Academy graduate Brian O’ Neill, a forward will be joined by defenseman Ryan Gunderson, a Bensalem native and a Holy Ghost Prep graduate.

This will mark the first time since 1994 that NHL players will not be competing in the Olympics. The bulk of the American squad is playing professionally in Europe.

The 32-year old Gunderson is skating for Brynäs IF in the Swedish Hockey League, the top professional league in Sweden. He played college hockey at Vermont and set a school record by appearing in 148 games for the Catamounts.

He played professionally with the Trenton Devils in in the East Coast Hockey League before moving on to Sweden, where he helped Brynäs IF win a league title in 2012.

The 29-year old O’Neill is playing for Jokerit in the Kontinental Hockey League, which is based in Russia but has teams in Western Europe as well; Jonjerit is based in Helsinki, Finland.

O’Neill played college hockey at Yale where he tied a record for games played (138) and left with the second highest point total in school history. He was named the Ivy League player of the year in 2012 before signing with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and helping their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs, win the Calder Cup three years later.

A total of 706 NHL players have competed over the course of the last five Olympiads. League officials and club owners felt that participating in the upcoming Games would not be in the league’s best interests, citing the break in the schedule among other things.

This year’s Games get underway on February 9. The U.S. hockey team, which being coached by former NHL standout Tony Granato will play its first preliminary game in the 12-team tournament on February 14 against Slovenia before playing additional games against Slovakia on February 16 and Russia on the 17^th.

Hockey Happenings 12-30-17

It’s Almost Time for Hockey

It’s almost time for the Suburban High School Hockey League to awaken from its holiday slumber. The league season is set to resume on Wednesday. Here’s how the standings would look if the 12 Class 2A teams were all in one division.

W-L-T Pts

C.B. South 5-0-0 10

C.R. South 4-0-1 9

Pennridge 4-0-0 8

North Penn 3-1-0 6

CR North 2-3-1 5

Souderton 2-2-0 4

Wm. Tennent 1-3-2 4

CB East 2-3-0 4

Neshaminy 1-3-1 3

CB West 1-2-0 2

Truman 0-2-1 1

Pennsbury 0-6-0 0

Keep in mind, the official league season in Class 2A this season consists of 11 games; each team will play the others once.

Wissahickon continues to lead the Class A Division with a perfect 8-0-0 league mark. Hatboro-Horsham is next at 6-1-0 followed by Abington at 4-2-0 and Upper Dublin at 4-4-0.

Winter Classic

While the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres are squaring off in the Winter Classic on Monday, two local teams will also be taking the ice. Archbishop Wood and Lansdale Catholic will face off at Junge Pavilion at The Academy of the New Church in what has become a New Year’s Day tradition. Game time will be 2 p.m. weather permitting.

It Starts With a Handshake

I’ve heard criticism of the new SHSHL protocol which mandates teams shake hands before the opening faceoff than after the game, but I personally like the idea. It sends the right message and gets the evening off to a positive start.

The custom is not unique to hockey. It’s common in professional soccer re; the Premier League and in the World Cup. We also saw that protocol on display recently at a college basketball game; the teams shook hands after the national anthem prior to player introductions.

Safety First Part I

In years past it was rare for SHSHL games to be postponed because of bad weather and games would often be played when other high-school events were called off. But coaches now have a protocol to request a postponement from the league in the wake of unfavorable road/travel conditions.

Several games were called off earlier this month in the wake of storm. They will be made up at some point, inserted into the designated home team’s practice ice slot.

Safety Part II

A scary moment occurred in the second period of the North-Penn-C.B. South game on December when the Knights’ George Boyle was taken into the boards from behind by the Titans’ Reis Braccio, who received a major penalty plus a game misconduct on the play and deservedly so. Boyle was down on the ice for the better part of three minutes.

Some would consider hockey a dangerous game. The view from here is that it is a game that has certain inherent risks. Every player, regardless of age, experience, or level of play, has an inherent responsibility to play the game safely.

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SHSHL Scoring Leaders as of 12-30-17

Class 2A

G-A PTS

Zac Herman, CRN 13-11—24

Eric Slater, PR 12-12—24

Michael Walker, PR 12-11—23

Matt Stoll, CBS 12-7—19

Matt Melli, CRS 14-3—17

Daniel Guest, CRN 9-8—17

Reis Braccio, CBS 4-12—16

Nathan Oh, NP 5-10—15

Brandon Simmonds, CRN 4-11—15

Joe DeLaurentis, CBS 13-1—14

Andrew Galetta, NP 9-5—14

Jared Albano, NP 5-9—14

Class A G-A PTS

Brian Gary, Wiss 30-18—48

Sean Gary, Wiss 23-16—39

Ari Nordinger, UD 20-7—27

Dean Keller, PW 20-5—25

Perry Carpenter, Ab. 12-10—22

C.B. South 9, North Penn 5 12-20-17

WARWICK— It took Central Bucks South some time to get going against North Penn Wednesday night. The Titans made up for lost time however, by scoring five goals in the second period to post a 9-5 win over the nights in a Suburban High School Hockey League matchup at Revolution Ice Gardens.

It was the second victory for South over North Penn in just under a month; the Titans scored a 7-0 shutout on Thanksgiving Eve, but this one counted in the Continental Division standings. South improved to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the division while the Knights slipped to 4-3 and 3-1.

Matt Stoll paced the Titans with four goals and an assist. “We beat North Penn 7-0 the last game we played them,” he said. “We came into this game ‘Okay, maybe this should be an easy game but you never really should think that.”

The Knights jumped in front just 36 seconds the first period when John Kaufhold scored on a. forehanded from theft circle on the first shot of the game. When Jared Alebano scored on the Knights’ fourth shot at the 7:13 mark, South goaltender Tim White departed in favor of Oscar Levin.

South coach Shaun McGinty was perplexed with his team’s slow start. “We can’t do it,” he said. “We had a slow start tonight and gave them an opportunity to put in two on us. But it’s good for these boys to have the adversity and push through and come together as a team.”

The Titans finally erupted in the second frame when Evan King, Reis Braccio, Colin Abbonizio, and Tyler Boylan scored goals in a span of 7 minutes, 27 seconds to give their side a 4-2 advantage.

We came out and played the way we wanted to in the first period,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “But it’s tough to keep that team off the scoreboard.

Brian Leinheiser scored for North Penn to make it a one-goal game again with 3:19 left in the middle period With 1:18 left in the period, the Titans lost Braccio, who drew a five-minute penalty for a check from behind plus a game misconduct for taking the Knights’ George Boyle into the boards directly in front of the North Penn bench. Boyle lay face down on the ice for more than two minutes before being helped to the dressing room.

“There’s no place in the game for a hit like that,” Vaitis said. “I thought it was not needed.”

Vaitis indicated that Boyle was not seriously injured on the play.

South extended its lead when Stoll scored his first goal, a shorthanded effort that came with 36 seconds left in the period.

Jared Albano scored fro North Penn 2:53 into the third period to bring his team within a goal at 5-4 but Alex Glushek answered for the Titans 59 seconds later. North Penn’s last goal came off the stick of Jake Nelson at the 5:08 mark but Stoll scored three consecutive goals to finish the scoring.

The Titans outshot the Knights 35-34. Levin finished with 25 saves in 40:43 of action.

North Penn 2 1 2—5

C.B. South 0 5 4—9

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Holy Ghost Prep 9, CR South 1 12-13-17

Two of the most respected figured in Philadelphia area scholastic hockey circles were behind the benches Wednesday night when Holy Ghost Prep and Council Rock South squared off at Grundy Arena.

The Firebirds’ Gump Whiteside and the Golden Hawks’ Joe Houk have seen an abundance of high-quality hockey over the years and the teams they’ve coached have had considerable success; including collecting four Flyers Cup titles between them.

On this night, the Firebirds, the defending Class 3A Flyers Cup champions, dominated, scoring six goals in the second period and going on to a 9-1 win over a depleted South squad in a Suburban High School Hockey League non-league matchup. Max Massari scored twice for the winners (7-3) while seven other players scored one goal each.

Houk was without six of his regulars, including Dylan Feoli and Matt Owens, who have been out all season with injuries, and Matt Meli, who is leading the team in scoring.

“We’re a short bench to begin with,” Houk said. “we’ve only got 11 rostered guys, we bring up five guys from (the junior varsity) every game).”

The Firebirds led just 1-0 after the first period on a goal by Shane Stevens at the 10:53 mark. South goaltender Mason Procz kept his team in the game by making 15 saves in the opening period.

It was a 3-0 game with five minutes left in the session when the Firebirds broke the game open by exploding for four goals, including two by Massari, in a span of 3:37.

South avoided the shutout when Jared Wagenmann scored with 56 seconds left in the game off Sean Joyce, the Firebirds’ backup goaltender who came on in the third period to spell Tristan Devine who had little to do; his team outshot the Golden Hawks (4-2-1) 57-10.

Whiteside was concerned about his team’s slow start. “We had a really slow start,” he said, “just a lack of focus. We responded really well in the second and third periods.

“We still have a lot of work to do. This is a veteran team but we still have lot of work to do. I wasn’t happy with their focus in the first period at all.”

Council Rock South 0 0 1 —1

Holy Ghost Prep 1 6 2—9

First-period goal: Shane Stevens (HGP) from Andrew Serafin, 10:53.

Second-period goals: Evan Midrick (HGP) from Eric Pohl and Beau Brusius 1:15; Luke Aquaro (HGP) from Byran Hartley, 6:34; Max Massari (HGP) from Thomas McNulty, 10:53; Colin Costello (HGP) assist unavailable, 13:18; Massari (HGP) from Casey Buck, 13;53 (sh); Alex D’Angelo (HGP) unassisted, 14:30 (sh).

Third-period goals: Serafin (HGP) from Hartley, 8:47; Pohl (HGP) from D’Angelo, 11;59; Jared Wagenmann (CRS) unassisted, 15:04.

Shots: Council Rock South 10, Holy Ghost Prep 57.

Records: Council Rock South (4-2-1); Holy Ghost Prep (7-3)