March 23, 1982
Vinnie Craven scrambled the Lower Bucks County League playoffs last week. Then he stood the Flyers Cup on its head last night.
Archbishop Ryan’s sophomore goaltender won his third straight pressure game as the Raiders blew away heralded Germantown Academy, 7-3, on the opening night of the regional hockey tournament at Penn’s Class of ’23 Rink. In the night’s opening game, West Chester got four goals from sopho- more Doug Bowman and defeated Haverford High, 10-2. Ryan’s victory broke Germantown Academy’s area-record, 25-game winning streak and legitimized a team that is making a habit of am- bushing more heralded opponents. Ryan had been an underdog to high-scoring Bishop Egan in the Lower Bucks playoffs, but Craven carried the Raiders through. Now he is helping make them an area power. Ryan meets West Chester at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Class of ’23 rink, and Germantown Academy will face Haverford at 9 p.m.
The loser of the second game is eliminated from the tournament. The first-game winner gets a bye to the March 31 final, and the first-game loser will play, the GA-Haverford game’s survivor on Monday. The Raiders were heavy underdogs in last night’s game. GA had gone 25-0 in the Suburban League season, plus playoffs, and it was No. 1 in The Inquirer’s poll for 10 straight weeks.
“To tell you the truth.” said Ryan coach Chris Harrington, “these kids don’t consider themselves under- dogs. To us, the whole thing all year was beating Egan and winning the Lower Bucks League. This is just icing on the cake.” Ryan wasted no time. The Raiders took a 3-1 lead in the first period. They expanded it to 4-1 in the second. as it dawned on the crowd of 1,210 that it was seeing not just an upset, but the emergence of a genuine con- tender. Ryan had an opportunity to fold when GA, a team with a lot of fire- power even without injured forward J. J. Reydell, scored twice in the last period to cut the lead to 5-3. But Dan Palmer scored on a pretty assist from Mike Roshico, and John Hunter sealed the victory with a goal 1 min- ute later. After that, it was up to Craven to hold the lead, and he has been the hottest goaltender in the area in the last two weeks. “He’s an emotional kid,” Harring ton said, “and his attitude seems to be passed on to the other kids.” For GA, the only team in the Flyers Cup all three years, it was the third straight opening-round disappointment.
Coach Bruce Craig used two senior goaltenders, Greg Hinkson and Joe Richter, to no avail. He said he would use talented freshman Michael Rich. ter tomorrow. “If he comes up big.” Craig said, “we’ll stick with him.” In the opener, Bowman came up big for West Chester, champion of the Inter-County League. “We told the kids they were no longer just representing the West Chester community,” said coach Jim Ford. “Now they’re representing the whole league. These guys will respond positively to that.”
Scoreboard
Archbishop Ryan vs Germantown Academy
First penod: 1, Ryan Valecce (Palmer, Chec chal, 1:21. 2, GA MacGregor (Brody), 4:24. 3. Ryan, Checchia (Palmer, Usewicz), 11:42 4 Ryan, Hunter (Matz), 13:06.
Second period: Hunter), 13.03.
Third period: 5. Ryan, D’Amore (Matz) 6 Ryan, D’Amore (unassisted). 4:00 7, GA, Brody (Schlegel), 6:51. 8, GA. Brody (MacGregor, Wurts) 7.28. 9. Ryan. Palmer (Roshkol, 8:50. 10. Ryan, Hunter (Matz. D’A- more), 9:57.
Shots on goal: Ryan 6 10 7-23. GA 14 8 13-35.
Goalies: Ryan, Vince Craven, GA. Greg Hinkson and Joe Richter.
Officials: Brad Murphy and Ken Caplin.
Haverford vs West Chester
First period: 1. West Chester, Maloney (Kraft) 2:03. 2. West Chester, Kraft (Wheeler, Lassocyl, 7:08. 3. Haverford, McKay (McGhee). 8:21.
Second period: 4, West Chester, Bowman (Mund. 0:45 5. West Chester. Bowman (Mund), 6:27. 6, Haverford. Vashades (McGhee, McKay, 6:39. 7. West Chester, Mundt (Bow- man, Lawrie), 7:11. 8. West Chester, Maloney, (Kraft), 11:14.
Third period: 9, West Chester, Kraft (Knoll. 1:13. 10, West Chester, Lawrie (Mundt, Rhodes), 9:42 11, West Chester, Bowman (unassisted). 12:24, 12, West Chester. Bowman (Cornelus seni, 14:11.
Shots on goal: West Chester 7 14 8-29 Haverford 9 10 2-21.
Goales: Haverford, Leen and Pines West Chester, Rock.
Officials: Rick Greenleaf, John Schetzline
CREDIT: The Philadelphia Inquirer
