Tag: Thomas Jefferson

Pennridge 7 Thomas Jefferson 5

HAVERFORD TMomentum TOWNSHIP—Momentum in a hockey game is often fleeting, and can shift at a moment’s notice. There are occasions however, when momentum shits can prove decisive. So it was for Pennridge on Saturday afternoon.

On two occasions, the flow of the game shifted in the Rams’ favor, allowing them to prevail 7-5 over Thomas Jefferson in the Pennsylvania Cup Class AA championship game at the Skatium.

It’s the second time in three seasons the Rams (23-2-2) have claimed a state title. They bested the Jaguars in overtime two years ago.

Kevin Pico finished his final high-school game with a goal and three assists.

“I’m happy now,” he said. “I’m sad it’s my last high-school game, but I’m happy we got it done, especially with this group and how much we had to fight through to get here, everything we had to play through, and all the adversity we had to go through to get here. It feels great right now.”

Saturday’s Rams-Jaguars rematch required that Pennridge play from behind at the start. Jake Strock beat Jacob Winston with the first shot of the game 27 seconds in. Scotty Allan made it a 2-0 game with a power-play goal at the 6:03 mark and Pennridge goaltender Jacob Winton seemed off his game.

At that point, Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna used his timeout. He said he was confident his team would rebound.
“We knew with the firepower we throw out there, we were going to be fine,” he said. “Jacob was off the first couple shots and we knew he would settle down.

The Ram were looking for a momentum shift. It got one when Colin Dachowki scored his team’s first goal 10:59 into the period.

“The goal Colin scored changed the whole game,” Montagna said.

Andrew Savona and Pico scored goals to give Pennridge a 3-2 lead 4:32 into the second period. But the Jaguars responded with goals from Lucas Blose and Nathan Weiss to take a 4-3 lead at the 7:26 mark.

Just over a minute later there was another momentum shift in Pennridge’s favor, with repercussions that reverberated the rest of the afternoon.

With 8:26 left in the period, Winton collected a centering pass from Thomas Jefferson’s Andrew Oliver and froze the puck. Strock, arriving late to the scene, took a poke at Winton with his stick and was accessed a five-minute major penalty for spearing plus a game misconduct, leaving the Jaguars to go the rest of the way minus their leading regular-season scorer.

It took Savona just 12 seconds to tie the game. James Rush put Pennridge in front for good with 5:29 left in the period and scored his second goal of the game 4:09 into the third frame, Pennridge’s third goal in a span of 12:23 of playing time.

Liam Mahoney made it a one-goal game once more with 10:24 still remaining, but Shane Dachowski scored his second goal of the game with 8:04 left.

Savona noted the impact the spearing call on Strock had on the game.

“It was difficult,” he said, “but it was just huge for us. It gave us a lot of momentum. We were able to get two goals.

Thomas Jefferson  2 2 1—5

Pennridge 1 4 2—7

First-period goals: Jake Strock (TJ) from Ryder McGuirk and Andrew Oliver, :27; Scotty Allan (TJ) unassisted, 6:03 (pp); Colin Dachowski (P) from Andrew Savona and Kevin Pico, 10:59

Second-period goals: Shane Dachowski (P) from Kevin Pico and James Rush, 1:45 (pp); Pico (P) from Nick Young, 4:32; Lucas Blose (TJ) from Nathan Weiss, 5:39; Weiss (TJ) from Allan, 7:26; Savona (P) from Colin Dachowski, 8:46 (pp); Rush (P) from Savona, 11:31(pp)

Third-period goals: James Rush (P) from Josh Kelly 4:09; Liam Mahoney (TJ) 6:36; Shane Dachowski (P) from Pico, 8:56

Shots: Thomas Jefferson 48, Pennridge 33 Saves: Ronald Porupsky (P) 26, Jacob Winton (P 43

State Championship Preview

This marks the 48th year that Pennsylvania has crowned a scholastic ice hockey champion. In 1975 the first state tournament brought together six teams from across the Commonwealth.  Baldwin defeated Churchill in the first state championship game. Richland, Erie McDowell, Springfield-Delco and Bishop Neumann were also in the field.

The Flyers Cup tournament was launched in 1980; a year later, Archbishop Carroll became the first Flyers Cup champion to win a Pennsylvania Class AAA state title. While the Flyers Cup was a single-class tournament at the time, the state tournament crowned Class AAA and Class AA champions from 1976-88 (There was no state tournament in 1978, nor in 2020).

In 1989, the state tournament added a third classification (Class A).

Two years later, the Flyers Cup adopted a three-class format and the state championship became a matchup of the Flyers Cup and Penguins Cup champions in each classification.

 Saturday’s schedule at the Skatium in Haverford Township is as follows:

All three games will be streamed on the Flyers Cup YouTube Channel

Class A

11:00     Hershey (20-3-1) vs. Chartiers Valley (23-0)

The Trojans, who are competing in their first final. are paced by Blake Umberger who has scored 17 goals and added 25 assists for 42 points. Kyle Kloss has scored 17 goals if his own and added 19 assists for 36 points.

Chartiers Valley is trying for its second state title. The first came in 1986 as a Class AA team. Noah Callander leads the Colts in scoring with 30 regular-season goals and 14 assists for 44 points. Brady Narin has contributed 15 goals and 17 assists for 32 points

Class AA

2:00   Pennridge (22-2-2) vs. Thomas Jefferson (20-2)

This game is a rematch of the 2022 title game, which saw the Rams prevail 4-3 in overtime.

Kevin  Pico has scored  40 goals for the Rams this season under the SHSHL umbrella and added 56 assists for 96 points. Andrew Savona has collected 42 goals and added 41 assists for 83 points. Shane Dachowski has provided 37 goal and 42 assists for 79 points.

The Jaguars, who won three consecutive state titles from 1998-2000 are paced by Jake Stock who scored 19 regular-season goals and added 26 assists for 45 points. Andrew Oliver added 20 goals and 23 assists for 43 points.

Class AAA

5:00     La Salle (23-3) vs. Pine-Richland 18-5

The Explorers are trying to become the first team to successfully defend a Class AAA state title since they themselves did so in 2009. They’ve won eight state title, seven of them at the AAA level. Dean Caravalho has scored 20 goals and added 11 assists for 31 points. Patrick Brace has added 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points.

Pine-Richland won back-to-back AA state titles in 2006-07. The Rams are led by Zachary Howard who scored 17 regular-season goals and added 14 assists for 31 points. Cullin Campbell is next with 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points.

The Skatium itself is celebrating its history. One of the oldest high-school hockey facilities in Pennsylvania, it is marking its 50th anniversary this year.

Pennridge 4 Thomas Jefferson 3 2OT

WEST GOSHEN TOWNSHIP—Pennridge and Thomas Jefferson matched each other stride for stride and shift for shift Saturday afternoon. At day’s end, it was the Rams who prevailed.

Kevin Pico’s goal 12:01 into the second overtime gave his team a 4-3 win over the Jaguars in the Pennsylvania Class AA state championship game in front of a full house at Ice Line.

The victory was well earned.

“That was a fabulous hockey game,” said Pennridge coach Montagna. “It was just a great game.”

Andrew Savona, Jack Lowery, and Tyler Manto scored regulation goals for Pennridge, which completed its season at 22-0-1.

The Rams enjoyed a 2-1 lead going into the third period but soon found themselves back on their heels.  Colby Bilski scored his second goal of the game off a turnover 3:43 into the period to draw Thomas Jefferson (21-2) even before setting up Nick Stock during a power play to put the Jaguars up 3-2 at 7:31.

Lowery noted and his teammates stayed on an emotional even keel at that point, despite being behind.

“There was not an ounce of panic on our bench,” he said. “We were calm. “We knew that we’ve come back in multiple games before. Every championship game we’ve been in (In the SHSHL and Flyers Cup finals) we’ve been down and come back and won. And there wasn’t a doubt in our minds that we were going to come out in this game on top.”

Indeed, the Rams responded. Tyler Manto tied the game with 5:22 left in the regulation to leave the two teams searching for whatever they might have left for overtime.

“We did not have a lot left in overtime,” Montagna said. 

In the end Pico scored the most significant goal of his career, after Manto and Savona worked the pick down low. The goal came off a rebound of Savona’s original shot

“That’s probably the biggest goal I’m ever going to score my whole hockey career,” Pico said.

Had it not been for Ryan Pico’s work in the Pennridge net, the drama might have ended differently. The senior goaltender faced 65 shots and turned 62 of them aside against an opponent Montagna called the best his team faced all season (the Rams were outshot 62-49).

“He was unbelievable,” Kevin Pico said of his brother. I’ve never seen him play that good in my whole life.”

Montagna echoed those sentiments. “Ryan Pico was absolutely incredible,” he said. “He kept us in there”

The postgame awards pentation and celebration was an emotional time for Lowery, one of the Pennridge captains.

“I feel like I’m top of the world right now,” he said. “No one can take me from that. We said all year, ‘Until this game is over, the job is not finished.’ And it feels great. The job is finally finished for us. 

“That’s a hell of a hockey team we played today. It really could have gone either way. But we came out, played our game and came out on top. That’s just all we could do.”

Thomas Jefferson 0 1 2 0 0—3

Pennridge 2 0 1 0 1—4

First-period goals: Andrew Savona (P) from Tyler Manto, 1:13; Jack Lowery from Aeryk Lehrhaupt, 9:41 (pp)

Second-period goal: Colby Biski (TJ) from Lance Smith, 10:10 (pp)

Third-period goals: Bilski (TJ) from Brett Smith, 3:43; Lance Smith (TJ) from Nick Stock and Bilski, 7:31 (pp); Manto (P) from Colin Dachowski, 11:38

Second-overtime goal: Kevin Pico (P) from Manto and Savona, 12:01

Shots: Thomas Jefferson 65, Pennridge 49; Saves: Billy Siemon (TJ) 45, Ryan Pico (P) 62

PA State Hockey Rankings

compiled by Jeff Mauro

 Class AAA

  1. Malvern Prep 7-2
  2. Holly Ghost Prep 9-3
  3. North Allegheny   10-1
  4. Pine Richland     9-2
  5. Peters Township 9-4-1
  6. Baldwin 6-2-3
  7. La Salle 3-4
  8. Seneca Valley 6-4

Class AA

  1. Thomas Jefferson 10-0
  2. Haverford 8-2
  3. Pennridge 8-0
  4. Downingtown West 7-1
  5. Franklin Regional 10-1-1
  6. Armstrong 9-1-2
  7. Penn Trafford 7-2
  8. Meadville 9-2 and Council Rock South 5 -1-1

         Class A

  1. West Chester East 10-0
  2. Quaker Valley 9-0
  3. Springfield Delco 6-1
  4. Fox Chapel 11-0
  5. Norwin 9-2-1
  6. Hershey 5-1
  7. North Catholic 8-2-1
  8. West Chester Rustin 7-5