By: JJ Michalski
BRISTOL, PA – On Monday night, the third annual APAC playoffs got underway with a contest between La Salle College High School and St. Joseph’s Prep. The Explorers came into the game winning six straight APAC league contests. The Hawks entered the playoffs with one win in 2021 APAC play. La Salle defeated St. Joe’s last Friday by a score of 5-1 to close APAC regular season play.
The game began with both teams having equal opportunities to possess the puck but the Hawks and Explorers averaged a low overall shot total. La Salle capitalized first in the game after a turnover in the offensive zone by St. Joe’s Prep.
Max Maddalo received the puck in the neutral zone and carried it into the Explorers offensive end of the ice. After receiving Maddalo’s pass, Christopher Wnek moved the puck to Keenan Schneider in front of the net. Schneider buried the puck over the shoulder of the Hawk’s goal keeper Rocco Bruno to open the scoring for the evening.
Bruno played a strong game overall but was beat four times in net after facing 35 overall shots. The sophomore goaltender was overshadowed by La Salle keeper, Liam Gross, who pitched his second shutout of 2021.
Following the opening goal of the game, St. Joe’s Prep responded in taking a pair of rouging penalties at the seven-minute mark. Christian Short and Matthew Moresco were guilty of the penalties after things became rough in front of Bruno’s cage on an offensive possession for the Explorers.
La Salle closed out the first period with a goal off the stick of David Kimmel, assisted by Daniel Whittock and Michael Casey. The goal came with just under five minutes to play in the first period, after St. Joe’s killed off both penalties. Kimmel got a fortunate bounce off of the boards and beat Bruno on a wide open left side of the goal. The Explorers outshot the Hawks 13-9 in the first period.
The Hawks opened the second period down 2-0, but had a powerplay following an interference penalty assessed to Ryan Warner. About 34 seconds into the second period, La Salle added another man to the box as Maddalo took a holding penalty. After a successful five on three penalty kill for the Explorers, Wnek took the final penalty of the game with 13 minutes left to play in the second. Once again, La Salle was successful in killing off the penalty, shutting down the Hawks offense.
Prior to the second intermission and an ice cut, La Salle added its third goal of the game. Casey carried the puck into the zone and centered the puck in front of the Hawks goal. He completed the pass to Whittock who buried the wrist shot in the top left corner with under two minutes to play in the second. Shots were even in the period as each team worked 11 pucks on net.
In the third period, St. Joe’s was unable to connect on 10 shots in the period. The lone goal of the period came for La Salle with seven minutes to play.
Post Game Interview with La Salle head Coach Wally Muehlbronner - video by JJ Michalski
Post Game Interview with La Salle Goal Tender Liam Gross - video by JJ Michalski
Kimmel broke the play out moving the puck to Casey. Casey went coast to coast and flipped the puck over the shoulder of Bruno. The senior forward led the Explorers with 13 goals in the regular season.
The Founders Cup Championship will be played on Wednesday night as Malvern Prep hosts La Salle. The Explorers will play for their third consecutive APAC Championship and look to remain as the only team to ever clinch the Founders Cup. La Salle was the only team to pin a loss on the Friars in 2021 with a 5-2 victory on March 3. Malvern leads the season series two games to one and has outscored La Salle 10-6.
ICSHL PCL Update:
In the ICSHL, Salesianum earned a forfeit win against DMA-Tatnall in Monday night’s PCL play-in game. Roman Catholic will host Salesianum on Tuesday night in the PCL semi-finals.
APAC Updated Bracket - JJ Michalski