March 14, 1994
Germantown Academy earned a berth in the Flyers Cup Tournament by reaching the Suburban High School Hockey League Class AAA finals against regular-season champion Council Rock. The Patriots were swept by William Tennent in the semifinals last week at the Face-Off Circle in Warminster with a 6-0 win on Tuesday and a 7-6 victory on Thursday. The berth in the Flyers Cup is secure, but coach John Ioia and his club desperately want to capture the league title.
“We reached the Flyers Cup finals last year, but we really didn’t win anything,” Ioia said. “We lost the league championship to Tennent last year, and we lost to Bonner in the Flyers Cup finals. These kids deserve to be called champions.” The road to the finals was an unexpectedly easy one. The Patriots finished the season in third place in the league, and second-place Tennent entered the semifinal series as the hottest team in the league. “We played fantastic hockey against a Tennent team that had been playing very well at the end of the season,” Ioia said. “It’s always a big deal when we play either Tennent or Rock and when we play them in the playoffs it’s even more intense.”
The Patriots’ intensity was showing from the opening face-off in the first game all the way through the final horn of the second game. “I thought we set the tone for the series the way we
played in the first game,” Ioia said. “We put them in a big hole after that game, and that’s exactly what I had hoped we would do.” The Germantown Academy offense was sparked in the first game by the superlative junior line of Ryan Kilstein, Rich Podulka, and Rob Shaner. Kilstein led the surge as he tallied a hat trick, while Podulka scored a pair of goals and Shaner chipped in with a single goal. Kilstein and Shaner remained on fire in the second game as each had a hat trick, while sophomore Tony Mauriello scored a single goal. “Our number-one line of Kilstein, Podulka, and Shaner played very big in a big series,” Ioia said. “We’re going to need them to step up and play well again in the finals against Rock.” The league’s best-of-three final series will begin tomorrow with an 8:30 p.m. start at Face-Off. The second game will be Thursday, with the third game, if needed, on March 22.
Panthers reach finals
Cheltenham will square off with Eastern, of Voorhees, N.J., for the SHSHL Class AA championship. The Panthers defeated Central Bucks West, 6-5, last Tuesday, in five over-times to earn the berth in the best-of-three final series.
“I’ve never been involved in a hockey game that went five over-times, and that’s going back to when I was playing hockey as a kid in Concord,
New Hampshire,” said Cheltenham coach Tom Coyne. “Stephan Halper played the best game of his career. Some of his saves were unbelievable.”
Halper, the Panthers’ senior goaltender, came up with a staggering total of 40 saves on the night. In- included were clutch saves in each of the five overtime periods. The winning goal for the Panthers was scored by senior Mark Payes as he capped a brilliant four-goal effort. The other goal scorers for the Panthers were senior Ryan Wilt and sophomore Dan Swift. “We have a lot of seniors on this team, and this was a one-and-done game for us,” Payes said. “We wanted to win and go on to the next round. I think that if we can stay aggressive, we can stay in the series with Eastern.”
Cheltenham was 1-1-1 against Eastern during the regular season. “We’re excited about playing Eastern, but the kids will remember the C. B. West game for the rest of their lives,” Coyne said. “Everyone was exhausted at the end of the game. The kids could barely move, and I was all out of pep talks.”
By Scott Huff
The Philadelphia Inquirer
La Salle set to skate like the dickens
This is the season of great expectations for the La Salle ice hockey program. The Explorers entered the 1993-94 season with an extremely talented, senior-dominated squad that claimed Inter-County Hockey League regular season championships the last three seasons. Another league title came this season, and with it, an automatic berth in the Flyers Cup Tournament. La Salle went 16-0 in the ICHL and was easily the class of the league. The Explorers managed to fashion a gaudy 39-3-1 overall record against some of the best non-league competition in the area. However, the ICHL crown isn’t the only headgear the veteran Explorers are after this time around. The final goals for this team include the Flyers Cup crown and a state championship crown.
“This is the best team that La Salle has ever had, and everybody on this team is going to give it all that we have for the rest of the year,” said senior wing Frank Petka. “The fact that we have a lot of seniors on this team really plays into it. “This is our last chance when we’re done, we’re done.” Petka has played alongside senior wing John Eriksen during the Explorers’ ICHL championship runs. And Eriksen is equally eager to get into Flyers Cup play. “This is the time of year we’re been waiting for all year,” Eriksen said. “Actually, we’ve been getting ready to play well in the playoffs for the last four years. “March 28th is the start of it all, and regardless of who we end up playing, I’m confident that we will be the better team.” In the opening round Flyers Cup game, La Salle will be the No. 1 seed from the ICHL and will face the No. 2 team from the Eastern League, either Haverford or Monsignor Bonner.
The Explorers have faced both Haverford and Bonner during the season in nonleague action. La Salle beat Haverford, 5-3, but lost both games to Bonner, 5-4 and 7-4. “We’re 0-0 going into the Flyers Cup, but I really think that this year is going to be the year,” said senior center Don Quinn. “We’re going into the playoffs this year very confident – not overconfident, but confident,” he said. “Last year I don’t think we played with much confidence in the Flyers Cup, and we lost in the first round.” The confidence is also felt by Explorer senior defenseman Tom Fullerton. “I like our chances if we can play under control and keep our cool,” Fullerton said. “This is the best team that I’ve ever played on. “And we have an excellent chance of winning some important games this year.” The second season, the final second season for the seniors, will begin on March 28 in the opening round of the Flyers Cup. Only when the season is over will it be known if those preseason great expectations will have been realized.
