The Season Is Over

With a 9-1 score against a previously undefeated western team to become state champs La Salle College High School is being whispered by some as the best high school team ever assembled in Pennsylvania. During the Flyers Cup at the Spectrum, La Salle 4 Holy Ghost Prep 1, there was a lot of chatter in the stands. One Flyers Cup official was in fact overheard saying this was the best high school team he had ever seen from Philadelphia. Rumors moved around in the stands like stray pucks shot high; Holy Ghost Prep was going to play a trap; La Salle's players were being heavily recruited by other prep schools; there were college scouts in the stands. Holy Ghost Prep did not play a trap, in fact they played an up-tempo contest with no one player really standing out. They played as a fast paced team. If they did have a special game plan it was to keep a man high in the neutral zone for long passes out of the defensive zone. This did in fact create a number of odd man rushes. But La Salle goalie Dan Pyne was a brick wall and Holy Ghost Prep was caught in a back and forth rushing style game more suited for La Salle than Ghost. An observer near the Holy Ghost Prep goal noted after the first period that Holy Ghost Prep goalie Steven Berardi would have to stand on his head all game to keep it close. In the end La Salle continued to play "their game" and slowly chipped away at Berardi's armour. The Explorers continued that mindset in becoming state champs. La Salle has been under pressure to perform, as a fan favorite, and while they have been continuing a winning tradition year after year championships have eluded them. Often it is said that the only thing that matters is winning a championship. However, even if their roster does change, building a program that will continue this winning tradition is just as, if not more, important. This team is a link in a chain that is now crossing decades. It is what enables La Salle to draw the players it draws and is the product of extreme forethought and management by the school and coaching staff culminating into the fantastic athletic feats of its players. Congratulations, and keep it going.

Flyers Cup Game Plans

Holy Ghost Prep Head Coach Steve Ivcic came right out and said it. "We don't have the depth they have...And they'll want to play up-tempo. But we have things we're going to try." This was in todays Inquirer. The phrase "things we're going to try" sounds like a secret game plan. The trap or some sort of left-wing lock come to mind when trying to slow a game down. But with most of your scoring coming from a single player, winger Nick Seravalli, you would want him free to play his game. How do you allow that? Long passes, Man high, using the Swedish torpedo offense. Or perhaps it is all a mental strategy to calm and focus his players. Conestoga is going to rely on their defense in the AA game. "We told our players that if we’re the best defensive team, we would win the Flyers Cup" said Pioneers Head Coach Mike Graves on dailylocal.com. And West Chester East Head Coach Drew Cox feels that momentum will carry them forward, "we are coming together the way championship teams come together in the playoffs.” The Class A championship game between Bayard Rustin and West Chester East is scheduled for 11 a.m. The Class AA championship game between Conestoga and Pennridge is set for 1:30 p.m.; the Class AAA title game between Holy Ghost Prep and La Salle is scheduled for 4 and will be shown live on CN8.

ICSHL Schowcase

The ICSHL Season-End Showcases are a confusing affair. Just look at one of its multiple charts. With teams playing across levels you end up with Malvern Prep AAA playing against La Salle AA and losing 8-1. For more on these games look here. Salesianum, while playing a AAA regular season, with a final record of 1-8-1, was one win away from the ICSHL President's Cup playing against AA teams. Honestly, the ICSHL Season-End Showcases are a confusing affair.

HGP Vs La Salle

Is the story here Holy Ghost Prep rebounding from a bad start to make it all the way again? Or is the story La Salle College High School and their constant grab for the AAA crown? La Salle has to be the favorite to win. With handy wins against HGP 5-0 and 8-3 the Explorers know they have an edge. They have steamrolled through a season to a 25-1-2 record losing only to a strong Christian Brothers Academy squad. La Salle has a history of always making it to the Flyers Cup, even an off year is a strong year in their program, but despite 15 straight years of winning seasons and tournament appearances they have only claimed the Flyers Cup twice. As the Evening Bulletin noted, La Salle's story might be one of revenge. Holy Ghost Prep defeated them last tournament on the way to a Flyers Cup championship. They want the repeat. They have been dominating the LBCSHL for years now. They have built a leading program that is, with strong leadership, going to be a leader for years to come. Both programs are strong and both are proverbial perennial contenders. This should be a good game.

First Flyers Cup

Archbishop Carroll won the first Flyers Cup and repeated in 1981 for two titles in a row. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that it took considerable effort on the part of the Flyers and that after a year of negotiations it lead to the creation of the state championships. The importance of the Flyers Cup is supported by its history. It has shaped how leagues are structured. It has shaped how the game is played in Philadelphia. It literally created the programs we have today.

Flyers Cup Vs League Championship

Parkland defeated Northampton 6-2 en route to a two game sweep of the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Hockey League title. This is Parkland's third league title in five years which qualifies the Trojans as a true Lehigh Valley Scholastic Hockey League powerhouse. The Morning Call noted, that the night before Parkland's sweep Northampton had just won their first Flyers Cup tournament game. In fact it was the first time a Lehigh Valley team ever won a game in the Flyers Cup. The league championship game was Northampton's third game in four nights, and the league was unable to reschedule the games. Parkland had lost to Boyertown 9-3 in the opening round of the Flyers Cup and thus were fresh. Northampton was not. Northampton Head Coach Brian Ruff was quoted in The Morning Call saying the Flyers Cup victory was worth it. ''We did end up kind of paying for [the Flyers Cup win],'' Ruff said. ''But that's something the kids won't forget.'' The vagaries of hockey scheduling are always a factor, and the two teams could easily have ended up in the others situation. As it stands both teams made history.

New Jersey

With top-notch squads like St Augustine Prep battling it out with Christian Brothers Academy the New Jersey post-season has been an intense affair. The New Jersey State High School Hockey Championships will be played the same date and time as the Flyers Cup. Tickets are for sale on the internet. One of the best things about going other than the game would be to see the high school ice hockey jersey display at the Prudential Center. The Devils have a section of their website where you can preview it located here. But if you can not make it to the arena the match-up will be shown live on Comcast. It will be on channel 990 on 3/22 at 2pm.

There Can Be Only One

It ends. This weekend. Champions all around. And then the march to the War Memorial. Oddly Flyers Cup coverage is dying off. Not much to report but here, here, and here. The flurry winds down as the field narrows and AAA, AA, A champions will be found on Saturday. AAA, no surprises there. La Salle had no option and no excuse not to make the finals, and HGP and Malvern are too strong a set of programs to not cowboy up. Those three teams are going to be the Philadelphia High School hockey leadership for the long term future. In AA Pennsbury losing to Washington Township was a bit of a surprise. In A East's defeat of Henderson was not as surprising as reports would have you believe, if you have been following them through the season or looked at the numbers. Although it is always interesting to see how previews match-up against reviews.

The Future of Philadelphia Amateur Hockey

The only thing that matters in Philadelphia hockey is the Flyers Cup. It is the most important hockey event in Philadelphia right now. Thing is amateur hockey is poised to explode in Philly. If you think it already has...then you need to start thinking about the future. Philly has the potential to get more NCAA college hockey, if it wants to, Philly has the potential to create more youth hockey national champions, if it wants to, Philly can become the Atlantic coast hockey mecca, if it wants to. But here is the rub. The hockey explosions of the 70s, 80s, and 90s worked because everyone got better. It was a rising tide that raised all ships. The hockey community became more skilled and better prepared as a whole. The next hockey explosion is not going to be a few youth AAA teams destroying, and eventually abandoning the rest of the Philadelphia hockey community. It needs to be an explosion where the least skilled members of the hockey community are still pretty good. It should be an explosion where hockey is something everyone plays, and not just a few kids in every town. It would be an explosion that makes Philadelphia a year round hockey town above all other sports. Right now Philadelphia is a town for hockey, but it is not a hockey town. Yet it can be. And for one simple reason. The level of hockey in this region has gotten exponentially better over the past ten years alone. The level is there and that will feed the numbers. Making ice hockey a number one sport in a region requires quality, not quantity, as the birth seed. And tournaments like the Flyers Cup are what has lifted Philadelphia hockey to this new level we see today. And tournaments like the Flyers Cup are what will lift Philadelphia to the next level.

Flyers Cup

It started. No doubt if you have been reading the papers regularly you have stumbled over the insidious phrase "cup running over" by now. Coverage of this years Flyers Cup has been good and plentiful. You can read up on it here. And here. And here. And here. And also here. Then here. Over here. Now here. Plus here. Here, here, and here. Back here. Here too. Look here. Five more with these here. And here again. If you have been following the season the scores so far should not surprise you. No major upsets. The perennial heavy hitters have slogged through at AAA with recent hot hands peppering the mainstays in the AA and A tournaments. This Friday March 14th the AAA tournament narrows down to the inevitable face off for the AAA Flyers Cup crown with the Malvern Prep, Holy Ghost Prep, Father Judge High School, and La Salle College High School programs playing it out once again.

Great Outdoors II

Well it happened. But it happened out west. And the Mt. Lebanon Blue Devils won it. The Blue Devils won the "Ice Bowl" 2-0. Although the match received good press in the mainstream media via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the best article about the event comes from the Pennsylvania hockey resource www.pahockey.net offering not only facts about the outdoor game but a real picture of what hockey should be all about. The www.pahockey.net entry Mt Lebanon scores first and wins over Bethel in a 'Great Night for Hockey'! can be found here.

Holy Ghost Prep Sets Goals

In a recent article celebrating Holy Ghost Prep's fifth league championship in six years the Firebirds Head Coach Steve Ivcic stated clearly what has set their team apart and enabled them to dominate in the LBCSHL. Setting goals. The setting of goals gives his team benchmarks but also incentives, it gives them another reason to work hard. It seems simple but when your expectations are to win it all, or as Head Coach Ivcic put it, "Our goal every year is to win the Commissioner’s Cup...then the Flyers Cup and then the states,” it puts an added pressure on to perform. It gives focus, intensity, and a sense of urgency. Moreover, when a program reaches a level when you can say your goal is to win championships and truly mean it year after year, you know that program is on the right track.

Flyers Cup Tournament Pool

Did you know you can do a Flyers Cup tournament pool? It has been going on for years and is available online here.

The Great Outdoors

Well it happened. But it happened out west. The Bethel Park Blackhawks and Mt. Lebanon Blue Devils will face off tonight Thursday, Feb. 28, at the South Park Ice Rink in what is being billed as an "Ice Bowl." Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League Commissioner Ed Sam was quoted on wpxi.com as saying "The PIHL is excited about the opportunity and support we've received from everyone at the County...This will be great for the high school players, and it allows the PIHL and its associations to highlight our community involvement as we donate the profits from the game to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation." Admission to the Charity Outdoor Classic is free for children under twelve, $5 for spectators thirteen and above. Proceeds will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

To Recap

Holy Ghost Prep drowned Roman Catholic 13 goals to 5 over two games to take their third LBCSHL championship in three years. The HGP dynasty proved itself again but with playmaker Nicholas Seravalli a senior will it continue? One has to think that a winning tradition will continue with their program with careful planning, good coaching, and a commitment from the school. For more information click here. Malvern Prep losses a shocker to Kennett High School 3-2 in the first round of the ICSHL playoffs before squeaking by Springfield High School 5-4. For more information click here. The big end of the year match-up between Malvern Prep and La Salle College High School was canceled due to snow and the Explorers finished their undefeated AAA season against Germantown Academy. And to bring it full circle Germantown Academy will start their 2008 Flyers Cup against defending champion Holy Ghost Prep.