March 25, 2006 FLYERS CUP AA CHAMPIONSHIP Haverford High earned a return trip to the state scholastic ice hockey championships after winning its second straight Flyers Cup AA championship with a 4-0 win over Central Bucks South last night. Sophomore T.J. Haeberle scored a pair of goals to lead the Fords to victory at Hatfield Ice in Hatfield Township. The Fords, who raised their record to 28-5-2, move on to the state championships against the Penguins Cup champions from Western Pennsylvania, at Robert Morris University Island Sports Center on Neville Island on April 8. Haeberle’s first goal the only one his team would need came with 4 minutes, 50 seconds left in the first period on an assist from senior Ian Finnerty. Finnerty, named the Flyers Cup Class AA MVP, finished as the leading scorer in the four-game series, with three goals and five assists for 10 points. Fords coach […]

March 24, 2006 FLYERS CUP PREVIEW Three champions will be crowned tonight and tomorrow as the 27th annual Flyers Cup championship tournament comes to its grand finale. “We have had good crowds, good competitive action, and it’s been a classy tournament, tournament commissioner Rob Baer said. “The seven hockey leagues keep getting better each season, and it is showing in all the games.” The championship games begin tonight at 8 with top-seeded Haverford High taking on the third-seeded Central Bucks South Titans in the Class AA title game at the Hatfield Ice Arena in Colmar. Tomorrow, top-seeded Penncrest and No. 3 Springfield (Delaware County) will meet in the Class A championship game at noon at Ice Works in Aston. At 3 p.m. at Ice Works, top-seed- ed Cardinal O’Hara takes on third-seeded Germantown Academy in the AAA championship game. That game will be televised live on CN8. Class AAA. The […]

March 14, 2006 O’Hara is the favorite in AAA action, while Cherokee is a formidable contender in AA play. Here is a look at the 27th annual Flyers Cup tournament, which began yesterday: AAA preview. The leader in the division heading into the tournament is Cardinal O’Hara. O’Hara finished 9-0-2, with ties against the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, La Salle and Germantown Academy, respectively. GA and La Salle are longtime rivals and finished with 8-1-1 records. La Salle was awarded the No. 2 seed based on a 6-3 victory on Feb. 14 over GA. Malvern Prep finished the regular season as the No. 4 seed with a 7-2-2 record. A first-round bye is awarded to the first four teams in the division. With the top four teams finishing within four points of one another, the AAA division seems to be wide open. No. 5 Holy Ghost Prep, No. […]

March 24, 2005 Two goals by most valuable player Dave Bixler helped Penncrest rally for a 6-2 ice hockey win over Central Bucks West in the Flyers’ Cup Class A championship last night at the Ice-Works Skating Complex. Bixler’s scores came at a particularly important time for the Lions, as Brian Morgan gave the Bucks a 2-1 lead late in the first period. Brad Ryan’s goal tied things up going into the second period before Bixler scored the Lions’ third and fourth goals. Nick Kusturiss added to the lead with a pair of third-period goals. The win advances the Lions to the state championship game on Saturday (11 a.m.) at the Hersheypark Arena against Bishop McCort, the western Pennsylvania representative. Fran Naselli gave Penncrest a 1-0 lead early before the Bucks tied it on Mike Ward’s goal. Penncrest had 24 shots to Central Bucks West’s 21.

March 18, 2005 Class AAA. Malvern Prep ice hockey coach John Graves has used five different goalies over the last five years and his latest, Josh Fierly helped him and the Friars win their fifth straight Flyers Cup last night. Fierly shut out Inter-Ac league rival Germantown Academy over the first two periods and Malvern held on to beat the Patriots, 4-3, for the Class AAA title at the Wachovia Spectrum. The Friars jumped out to a 4-0 lead on goals by Jim Behe, Kevin Huntington, and a pair of goals from Geoff Mucha. Germantown Academy claimed that Fierly was wearing an illegal mask in the third period and he was forced to remove it. The Patriots then rallied for three goals, but it would not be enough. Haverford Wins Class AA Flyers Cup Class AA. Haverford High’s Bob MacLaughlin broke a 1-1 tie with a goal in the second […]

April 6, 2004 A Malvern Prep goalie stops any doubts by stopping pucks. Bryan Mountain plays at a constant disadvantage as a 5-foot-4 goaltender. But he fights back. He compensates for his lack of size with a quick glove, deft stick work, razor-sharp technique, and superb skating. The diminutive Malvern Prep freshman frequently gets reminded about his lack of size, but he has been a sterling performer this season for the Friars. Malvern Prep made history with its fourth straight Flyers Cup Class AAA championship, beating La Salle, 5-1, at the Wachovia Spectrum on March 29. Mountain made 30 saves to preserve the victory and earn the championship MVP award. The 130-pound Mountain is 16-2-1 this season, with four shutouts and a 1.51 goals- against average. He has a 91.6 save percentage. Mountain’s success over La Salle was another challenge in a series of challenges this season. Goalies today, even […]

March 25, 2004 The Radnor ice hockey team had steamrolled through its first three games in the Flyers Cup Class A tournament by a combined score of 24-3. But early last night in the championship game against Lower Dauphin at the Skatium in Havertown, the Red Raiders received the message that the final would not be as easy as the other games. The Red Raiders swarmed and pressured, and finally out- lasted Lower Dauphin in a 4-1 victory. It wasn’t easy, but Rad- nor became the first team to capture three straight Flyers Cup Class A titles. Radnor, which also is the defending Class A state champion, improved to 22-2 overall. The Red Raiders advance to the state championship game against the Penguins Cup champion on April 10 at the Island Sports Center in Pittsburgh. Lower Dauphin completed its season 20-5. Radnor’s victory required patience. The Red Raiders had a […]

March 26, 2004 Archbishop Carroll ice hockey coach Bill Hammond had the jitters before the Patriots met Archbishop Wood in the Flyers Cup Class AA championship game last night at the Face-Off Circle in Warminster. Next season there will be a new alignment in area high school ice hockey, with all private-school teams playing in a Class AAA Division. So it marked the last time Carroll, the most successful Class AA team in Flyers Cup history, was competing for a title in a division it has dominated. Next year, the Patriots will square off against powerhouse programs such as Malvern Prep, La Salle, and Germantown Academy. After a brief scare, the Pats relieved any tension their coach might have had with a 6-3 victory over Wood. Carroll, which raised its record to 19-8-1, advanced to the state championship game against the winner of the Penguins Cup, either Peters Township or […]

March 17, 2004 La Salle goaltender Ken Wochele is hoping to lead the Explorers back to the Flyers Cup final. Ken Wochele thought it was something cool. He didn’t mind wearing the bulky protective pads or wearing a baseball glove or an ancient waffleboard that had a lingering smell to it. He was a second grader, around 7, and he remembers all of it with a smile. That’s when the La Salle junior began his love affair with hockey and with goaltending. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Wochele is one of the best goaltenders in the area. La Salle will be depending on him to lead the team back to the Flyers Cup Class AAA championship game. La Salle’s road to the cup begins with a game at 6:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of tonight’s first-round matchup between Hershey and Downingtown. Wochele doesn’t mind the pressure. He has a 12-12-1 record […]