March 2, 1987
The regular season is over in area scholastic ice hockey, and playoff action in quest of the coveted Flyers Cup has begun. Malvern Prep ended its regular season in the Eastern High School Hockey League with a 17-0 record to capture first place. The Friars ended the regular season with an 8-5 win over Monsignor Bonner Thursday to finish with 34 total points. The Friars were propelled to the come from behind victory by Steve Kinsley, Mike Acerba and Al Tedesco, who each netted 2 goals in the game. Haverford High School, meanwhile, took second place in the league with its 12-5-1 slate, ending up 9 points behind the Friars. The two teams earned byes in the first round of the playoffs with their top finishes and will not play until second-round action begins. The Fords, who were tied with Haverford School at the beginning of last week, pushed into second place with a pivotal 7-1 win over Episcopal Academy Friday night. The Fords were led by Craig Walton, who scored 3 goals and 2 assists. Team scoring leader Dave Peruto added a goal and 3 assists, and Sam Scuderi, Derek Amoroso and freshman Vinny Grosso also contributed goals.
“It was an important win because it ensured us of second place and a rest,” said Fords coach Scott Mason. “A bye sometimes hurts you, but at this point it’s beneficial for us because we have some players who are either sick or injured.” Episcopal, which was knocked out of a playoff berth as a result of the loss, ended its season in seventh place with a 4-13-1 record. Haverford High School will play the winner of fourth-place Bonner (10-5-2) and fifth-place Cardinal O’Hara (6-10-1). Malvern will await the winner of the first-round series between third place Haverford School (11-6-1) and sixth place Marple Newtown (3-9-5). In the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League, Downingtown vaulted past Conestoga last week to take first place. Despite the Pioneers’ 8-0 shutout last Monday over West Chester Henderson, Downingtown glided to a pair of victories and improved its record to 17-1, a point better than Conestoga, which is 16-1-1. The two teams will sit out the first round of the playoffs with byes. The one-game elimination in the first round of playoffs began Friday, when sixth-place Lower Merion was ousted by third-place West Chester East in a 6-0 shutout. The Aces were overpowered by East, the league’s highest-scoring team with 190 goals but did considerably better than in their last outing against the Vikings, a regular-season game that Lower Merion lost 16-6. “We held them pretty well, considering they’re such a high-scoring team,” said Stowe Milhous, Lower Merion’s top scorer. “We played much better against them than we had earlier in the season, but we just didn’t score when we had the chances.” The Vikings outshot Lower Merion 38-12 in the contest, while East goaltender Dean Munro recorded his fifth shutout of the year. Despite the outcome of the game, Lower Merion coach Robert Norton was pleased with his team’s performance. “We probably played our best game of the season,” Norton said. “We gave it our best effort, but there just wasn’t enough there. But we ended the season on a positive note.”
With the win for East, the Vikings will face Conestoga in a best-of three series in second round action to begin next week. Radnor, which finished in fourth place at 13-5, will face fifth-place West Chester Henderson tonight in the elimination series. The winner of that game will advance to the second round of the playoffs and go against first place Downingtown. Radnor finished its regular season play with a 9-1 win last Monday against Methacton. The Raiders were led offensively by Mike Brand, John Stewart and Jay von Czoernig, who were credited with 2 goals apiece. Brand finished the year third in the Inter-County league scoring race with 33 goals and 32 assists for 55 points. East’s John Schierbaum won the title with 97 total points, while Downingtown’s Mike Torrance came in second with 77 points. In other ICSHL action, Archbishop Carroll lost its final game of the season last Monday with a 17-0 shut out by East. The Patriots finished the season at 2-13-3 and in a tie for eighth place.
CREDIT: The Philadelphia Inquirer
By David T. Shaw
