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, who is debating whether to attend college or play in the United States Hockey League next. “They do all of the work. This surprises me because it’s the first year that we’re together as a line.” If Holy Ghost survives the first two games of the Flyers Cup playoffs later this month, the Firebirds could meet powerful Malvern Prep in the semifinals.
Senior territory. Nine seniors play key roles for Springfield-Delco (13-5), which finished two games behind defending Class A state champion Radnor in the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League Central Division. Springfield and Radnor were given first-round byes in the league playoffs, which begin tomorrow. Radnor enters the Flyers Cup Class A playoffs as the No. 1 seed; Springfield is the No. 2 seed. Radnor beat Springfield during the regular season, 3-2, and 3-1. In the teams’ first meeting, Springfield led, 2-1, in the third period before Rad- nor rallied. The defense has been key for the Cougars. In 15 league games, senior goaltender Chuck Masciantonio posted a 1.93 goals-against average with three shutouts. Seniors Brian Falzone and Mike Cassidy did a solid job in front of Masciantonio; junior Jeff Moore and sophomore Mike Byrne added depth. Öffensively, senior Kevin Brawley leads the team with 15 goals and 20 assists; senior Dave Lucey has 12 goals (four on the power play) and seven assists. “We’ve come together a little bit, and we have some potent lines,” Cougars coach Jack Burke said. “Defensively, we have four guys we can lean on heavily as we go deeper and deeper into the playoffs. “We have senior goaltending, and Jeff Moore is a junior who has been playing for three years. If there is a team in the draw that can beat Radnor, it can be us.”
Where’s the goalie? Radnor had a dilemma in its game against Archbishop Carroll on Jan. 16. Both of the Red Raiders’ goaltenders were ineligible to play for violating school policy, so coach Ed Ritti decided to play the game with six skaters, leaving the net empty for the entire game. It was an interesting experiment, and it nearly worked. Radnor, the defending Class A state champion, led, 7-4, with six minutes to play. But Carroll scored four unanswered goals for an 8-7 win. “I never played in a game like that,” said Chris Brennan, Radnor’s leading scorer with 24 goals and 18 assists. “We had possession of the puck most of the game, but we played more defense and worked harder. It’s not something I’d want to do again, though.”
By Joe Santoliquito
The Philadelphia Inquirer
