HOCKEY: Flyers Cup Committee Sets Tournament Dates, Winner Advances to Penguins Cup

By JJ MICHALSKI - Photos Kathy Leister, 02/26/21, 1:30PM EST

While the onset of COVID-19 cancelled the 2020 Flyers Cup, the committee remains hopeful this year’s tournament will go to distance with shortened schedule.

By: JJ MICHALSKI

VIDEOS/PHOTOS: Kathy Leister & John Knebels

PHILADELPHIA – The 2021 Flyers Cup dates are set, the committee announced via Twitter last Thursday.

The tournament is slated to start on April 5, 2021 with championship Saturday on April 20. The winners of the Flyers Cup will take on the winners of the Penguins Cup in western Pennsylvania, to determine a PA State Champion. The Pennsylvania State Championship will be played on April 24.

This year’s Flyers Cup brackets will feature teams from the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference (APAC), Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League (ICSHL), Suburban High School Hockey League (SHSHL), and Lehigh Valley Scholastic Hockey League (LVSHL). Philadelphia Catholic league teams in the APAC and ICSHL will participate in the AAA bracket. President of the Flyers Cup Committee, Eric Tye, is excited to get teams on the ice.

The La Salle College High School Explorer's were the last team to win the Flyers Cup in 2019, defeating St. Joseph's Prep 5-2 - PSD Photo by Kathy Leister

“I’m excited to see the winners, and to see good hockey games,” Tye said. “Usually, the tournament takes three weeks, we're gonna try to do it in two weeks.”

This year’s tournament will end earlier than usual due to the requirement of Flyers Cup champions travelling west for the state championship. With the 2020 Pennsylvania State Championship cancelled, both committees agreed to continue with the previous agreement: the Flyers Cup hosts the state championship in even years while the Penguins Cup hosts in odd years.

Last years tournament was brought to a halt on March 12, with the official cancellation notice coming on April 15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a strong push to keep the tournament going such as a petition on chang.org which received over 600 signatures, but ultimately government regulations prohibited the resumption of spring sports. Tye and the rest of the Flyers Cup Committee knew they were close to wrapping things up in 2020.

“We want this year’s tournament to end,” Tye said. “I don't think it bothered anyone as much as it bothered the committee last year that we didn't get that finished. We needed 48 more hours to have it done.”

This year’s Flyers Cup has been put together faster than any previous tournament. Dates for the tournament were in question until January 15, when Governor Tom Wolf approved the resumption of winter sports.

The committee looked over the next few months of 2021 and picked an ultimate end date of April 20, working the schedule backwards from there.

“Once we realized it was a go, like for real was two weeks ago,” Tye said. “We're five weeks away from this thing starting, and there’s a lot of behind the scenes meetings and organization taking place.”

2019 FLYERS CUP CHAMPIONSHIP (video highlights by John Knebels) LA SALLE 5 - ST. JOE'S PREP 2

Per the Flyers Cup rules, the A and AA divisions can take up to 16 teams, with AAA and girls divisions filled with up to eight teams. There is no rule that each bracket is required to be filled to maximum capacity each year.

Participation in 2021 may be lower due to fewer eligible teams playing. Both the SJHL (South Jersey Hockey League) and CPIHL (Central Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League) elected to remove their leagues from Flyers Cup eligibility in 2021. Selected teams from the APAC, ICSHL, SHSHL, and LVSHL will be announced on March 28 during the Flyers Cup selection show.

With the SJHL electing not to play, there will be no DE/NJ bracket in 2021. With the loss of a bracket, St. Marks-Tower Hill, Salesianum, and DMA-Tatnall are all playing normal regular season schedules for an invite to the AAA bracket.

Attendance for games is still in question and will be dependent on Pennsylvania’s COVID guidelines near the beginning of April. Currently each rink in the Philadelphia region has varying guidelines and attendance for parents is on a game-by-game basis.

Game broadcasts are expected to be carried on the Flyers Cup YouTube channel, with Temple University’s Club Ice Hockey media team returning for a second year of games. The selection show and most of this year’s games will be available to watch online regardless of in person attendance guidelines.

Fans can follow along with APAC and ICSHL coverage every Monday here on Philadelphia Sports Digest. PSD can also be reached on Twitter (@PhSportsDigest) for live updates of games throughout the week. Fans should also follow the Flyers Cup on Twitter (@TheFlyersCup) for updates on this year’s tournament.