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 […]

March 15, 2004 ICE HOCKEY NOTEBOOK Abington ice hockey coach Earl Saurman and his team would like to prove a point when the Flyers Cup Class AA playoffs open. For the first time, the Ghosts are the No. 1 AA seed; defending Class A champion Radnor and Class AAA winner Malvern Prep both return as top seeds in their respective tournaments. Abington opens against Bishop Shanahan tomorrow night at 8:30 at the Face-Off Circle in Warminster. The point Saurman and the Ghosts want to make is that a public school team can be just as good as a non-public school. “We’re fighting for the respect of the public school teams, against the open-enrollment schools,” Saurman said. “We don’t have the ability to draw players in a program and constantly have to go against the teams that can recruit kids. “We deal with what we have, and that’s not meant to […]

March 2, 2004 The Lower Bucks County Scholastic Hockey League playoffs start this week, and Holy Ghost Prep’s Paul Worthington should receive a lot of attention in them. Worthington, a center, is Holy Ghost’s career goal-scoring leader with 130. He has achieved many things as a four-year starter for the Firebirds, including a Flyers Cup Class AA title last year. This season, Holy Ghost will be going for a Flyers Cup Class AAA title, trying to break the three-year streak of Malvern Prep. (The move to AAA is due to increased enrollment and quality of play.) Worthington is expected to play a key role in the Firebirds’ quest. This season, the 5-foot-8, 150-pound senior, who regularly draws added defensive attention, has 45 goals and 23 assists. He credits linemates Shawn Dorsey and Buddy Lawall, both seniors, for much of his success. “Without them, I wouldn’t be doing anything,” said Worthington, […]