First Round

Downingtown 3 - Hershey 2
Ice Line

Hershey had some trouble getting to the rink due to the untimely bad weather. The extra time on the bus might have affected their legs, but the games must go on!

The Trojans struck first. A goal by Derek Hines gave them the 1-0 lead after the first period. Ian Windle tied things up at 1-1.

Later in the second, Ryan Peiffer fired a shot from the top of the left circle that Hershey goalie Ryan Fenyves was able to handle. The rebound however came back to Peiffer and he was able to bury it to give the Whippets the 2-1 lead.

Downingtown's third goal came from a mad scramble in front of the Hershey crease. Windle emerged from behind the Trojan’s net, got a hold of the puck, and roofed it top shelf for the insurance goal. That goal proved to be needed in the third as Hershey would get close on a goal from Drew Hodge with about five minutes left to play. Hershey applied some late pressure on the PP but they were unable to get the tying goal. Next up for Downingtown is LaSalle.

West Chester East 4 - Father Judge 0
Ice Line

East controlled the game from the opening face-off until the final buzzer. They out-shot the Crusaders 38-18 in route to the 4-0 victory.

Joe Klink got the first goal just 38 seconds into the game. That goal would turn out to be the game winner as Paul Marshall stopped all of Judge’s 18 shots to preserve the shutout.

Justin Thomas scored in the second period and Andrew Lawrie in the third. Dan Incudine would seal things with a PP goal with 12 seconds left to play. The goals by Thomas and Incudine were pleasant surprises for East, as each player scored only once in the regular season for the Vikings. They may have saved their best for the Flyers Cup.

Bob Stewart played well in net for the Crusaders, stopping 34 of 38 shots that he faced.

Class AA Recaps

First Round

Archbishop Carroll 12 - Upper Darby 1
Ice Line

Carroll came out guns-a-blazin’ as they got on the scoreboard just 19 seconds into the game courtesy of a Shane Aldinger goal. The game was never close after that as Carroll opened up with five first-period goals. Tim Lisowski, a call-up from Carroll II, impressed his team mates with a goal and an assist. Lisowski also laid a few people out on some crunching body checks, earning him an early look to the ‘big squad’ next season.

Aldinger added four assists to his goal while March Breakaway! player of the month Greg Manz continued where he left off with a hat trick in this one. Carroll peppered Royals goalie Max Zubriski with 49 shots, while holding Upper Darby to 14. Ryan Fonio got the lone Upper Darby goal on a second period power play. Carroll tallied six PP goals of there own in the contest.

West Chester Henderson 5 - Cherokee 2
Ice Line

These two teams were playing a scoreless game after the first when I went to check out the Downingtown / Hershey game. When I came back it was 5-1 Henderson. I MISSED ALL THE GOALS! Here's a recap of the box score, anyway.

Cherokee got on board first with a second period goal by Dan Altieri. Jeff Burd was credited with an assist. (A symbolic gesture made by his team mates, and a very unselfish one by whoever actually had the assist)

Henderson then opened up with five consecutive goals, led by John Travers with two goals and an assist. The Warriors first three goals were in a span of three and a half minutes. Steve McKenney stopped 20 of 23 before being relieved by Eric Cohen after Henderson’s third goal.

Mike O’Neil would stop 17 of 19 Cherokee shots in victory for the Warriors.

McDevitt 7 - Parkland 1
Twin Ponds East

Things started a little slowly, with both teams feeling each other out and working out the jitters. Eric Hjelm opened the scoring for McDevitt at 9:04 of the first period on an assist from Dominic Santanna. McDevitt closed the period with two more quick goals and never looked back.

In the second period, McDevitt picked up right where they left of in the first period scoring just 34 seconds in and adding another at the 3:34 mark to open the lead to 5. Parkland showed that they weren’t going to go away easily applying some sustained pressure midway through the period. They picked up their only goal of the game at 8:22 when Matt Sterner found the twine. Justin Gombert and Alex Smith had the helpers.

McDevitt regained control of the game late in the period peppering Parkland goalie Karl Berkheimer with eight of their 15 shots in the period coming in the final five minutes. The third period was relatively uneventful. Berkheimer hung tough and was able to blank McDevitt on several quality scoring opportunities throughout the period before allowing the final goal of the night with just 11 seconds to play. Hjelm finished the night with three points.

Neshaminy 4 - Council Rock North 3 (OT)
Grundy Recreation Center
By: Frank Seravalli

After missing game action for almost six months, due to a severe ankle/foot injury, Neshaminy senior Andrew Ducko made his return to the ice. Ducko was the game breaker in Monday night’s duel between his Redskins and the Council Rock North Indians.

The first period was one right out of a typical Council Rock storybook: scoreless. It didn’t take the Indians long to strike in the second period though. Just 59 seconds in, Alex Garashchenko fooled Redskins goalie James Minger on a fairly easy shot from just inside the blue line. Neshaminy answered with three of their own goals, including two with under a minute left in the period, to close out the second.

Council Rock once again opened the scoring in the third. Star senior defenseman Barry Goers finished his ‘Rock playing days with a nifty goal with 13:08 remaining in the third. Trailing 3-2 with three minutes remaining, Council Rock really applied the pressure. With 2:24 remaining, Sean Farrel willed his team to overtime.

After a fairly tame overtime period, Ducko played the hero role. A role that he is vaguely familiar with, just reuniting with his team after six months off. Rudy Klapach and Frank Walther assisted on the goal.

“It felt good to be out there again, I skated for four weeks in practice but this was my first time in game action. With that last goal, most of the other guys did all of the work, I just put the puck in the net!” a very humble Ducko added after the game. “I feel we have a great shot at the Flyers Cup if we keep this up,” he later added.

Council Rock hung tough, but Neshaminy got the best of them. Neshaminy will now take on the winner of the St. Joe’s Prep/Archbishop Wood game on Friday at Grundy at 8:30 PM.

Central Bucks West 3 - Washington Twp. 2
Flyers Skate Zone - Vorhees

The Bucks traveled to Voorhees to take on the Minutemen of Washington Township. The puck was controlled by C.B. West for the better part of the game. Midway through the first period the Bucks hard work would payoff as P.J. Bizon would give his squad the lead. Just 30 seconds later Fred Brewer would score for the Minutemen, tying the game at 1-1. Andrew Reuter would tally for West in the first to give them the 2-1 lead heading into the second period. The teams would then trade second period goals, Nick Saviano for West and Marco Jordan for Township each found the twine in the second tilt. Derek Anderson and Mark Schacker would both keep the opposition scoreless in the third. Anderson was the busier of the two goalies, facing 31 shots, but Schacker’s 14 saves on 16 shots were good enough to preserve the 3-2 victory for West.

Class A Recaps

First Round Action

Hatboro-Horsham 8 - Truman 4
Grundy Recreation Center
By: Frank Seravalli

After being down 1-0 to start the game, the Hatboro-Horsham Hatters countered on a shot by forward Brad Matje. They never looked back. Both goalies made huge saves in a game that was full of excitement. Julian Paglione stood tall for Truman between the pipes, making 33 saves on 41 shots. Alex Cohen and Brian Williams both notched hat tricks for HH. The Hatters also got some help from Tricia Silvestri, who became what is believed to be the first female to ever score a Flyers Cup goal. Miles Winter and Danny Buggy also had two assists in the contest for Hatboro. Kirk Llwellyn of Truman had a big night, having a hand in each of the of the Tigers’ four goals. The sophomore picked up a goal and three assists. Sean Slack played a hard nosed game, and he added 2 goals as well.

This was Hatboro-Horsham’s first victory in Flyers Cup play in the program’s history. Horsham coach Dean Winter admits it was a big win, but leaves a lot of room for improvement.

“Yeah it was a huge win for our program, and not to down play [Truman], but we can play better than this, and we have in the past. There were definitely a lot of nerves in our play tonight, you could tell in our defensive zone. It was a big win for us, it might’ve been ugly, but a win is a win.”

Hatboro will take on Methacton in the Quarterfinals on Wednesday at Face-Off Circle at 7:20 PM.

Lower Merion 3 - Clearview 2
Flyers Skate Zone - Vorhees

The Aces came out Flying, controlling the game from the opening face-off, for much of the first period. Lower Merion out shot Clearview 15-7 in the first period alone. It was Clearview however that would come away with the 2-0 lead after the first period. Mike Sullivan and Jimmy Sprinkle worked the give and go to perfection just over the blue line to take the 1-0 lead with under two minutes to play in the first, Sprinkle got the goal. Just 40 seconds later, Bill Dunbar would spring Wyatt Fox with a beautiful pass at the blue line, Fox made no mistakes and buried it for the 2-0 lead.

The second period was all Lower Merion. They out shot Clearview again, but more importantly they scored three goals in a two minute span to claim the lead at 3-2. Freshman Mike Lundy would steal the show with two goals and an assist. The game winner came from a scrum out in front of the Clearview net. Josh Townley, while laying flat on his stomach was able to come up with the puck and slide it to a wide open Lundy on the door step for the tap in goal. LM was able to fend off two third period power plays by Clearview and a six-on-four advantage when the goalie was pulled. Bobby Kovarovic faced 36 LM shots and turned away 33 of them, while Will Neifeld stopped 22 of 24 Clearview shots.

Methacton 5 - Rancocas Valley 2
Flyers Skate Zone - Vorhees

I must admit, when I heard of the injury to Methacton’s star player George Stevens, I didn’t give the Warriors much of a chance in the Flyers Cup. Boy did they prove me wrong!

The Warriors did find themselves in the hole 1-0 before Matt Rist scored his first of two goals on the evening.

Things got bad for RV, star defenseman Ray Mellon was on the receiving end of a big check and ended up with what appeared to be a broken ankle. (Hopefully the injury wasn’t that bad).

Anyway you look at it RV needed to mount a comeback with their top puck rushing defenseman out for the rest of the game.

Midway through the third period, Steve Hamaday cranked a slapshot from just over the blue line that found a home in the back of the net, giving Methacton the 3-1 lead. Aaron Smith would get the goal back for RV just 30 seconds later. Adam Smith of Methacton would put the nail in the coffin with 2:45 remaining in the game. Hamaday’s game winner was his first goal of the regular season and playoffs combined. C.J. Falco stopped 29 of 31 shots in victory for the Warriors.

Springfield (D) 10 - Central York 0
Ice Works of Aston

Von Mondevergine would score the first goal of the game for Springfield, which was all that they needed as Central York was unable to find the net. In all Springfield had more goals, 10, then York had shots, eight.

Kevin Brawley had two goals and Mike Kelly had a hat trick in the lop-sided first round match-up.

Central York goalie Chris Hersh played admirably stopping 31 of the 41 shots that he was bomb barded with.