While regular season play is nearing a close, there is still a lot more hockey left to be played. With the APAC and ICSHL playoffs on the horizon and the 2025 Flyers Cup selection show slated for February 23rd, let’s take a look at current rankings and recent rivalry match-ups.

The La Salle Explorers currently sit in second place at 5-2, with one more game left to play against The Hun School tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Ice Land. St. Joseph’s Prep (3-3 APAC) is close behind in third with two league games remaining against Malvern Prep on Jan. 30 and against The Hun School on Feb. 7. Malvern Prep (2-4 APAC) and The Hun School (0-5 APAC) round out the pack, each with two league games left to play.

Moving over to the ICSHL Prep/Catholic Conference, Salesianum, the 2023 ICSHL champions, sit at the top of standings with a 12-2 ICSHL record. The Sallies have four games remaining and will end their season playing the Haverford School on Friday, Feb. 21 at 4:15 p.m. at Ice Line. Sitting in second at 9-4 are the reigning 2024 ICSHL-PCL champions, the Father Judge Crusaders. Last year, the Crusaders defeated Salesianum 6-2 in the league title game. A rematch seems to be on the horizon. Father Judge has five games left to play, with their season culminating on April 1 against Boyertown. The Crusaders have a break in schedule from Feb. 21-April 1 for ICSHL playoffs and a possible Flyers Cup berth. A feisty Devon Prep team also boasts a 9-4 record. The Tide has two massive recent victories against Salesianum (5-2) on Jan. 24 and against Father Judge (5-3) on Jan. 27. Devon Prep forward Kieran Crossan leads the Prep/Catholic conference with 45 points, tallying 19 goals and 26 assists. Needless to say, the ICSHL Prep/Catholic division is up for grabs. The Haverford School (2-3 ICSHL) and the combined team of Shanahan-Coatesville (1-12) round out the standings.

There are a handful of additional Philadelphia Catholic League teams that compete in the D2 ICSHL conference. A combined team of Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Carroll leads the D2 division at 9-2-1, followed by: Roman Catholic (8-4-3), Cardinal O’Hara (8-4-1),

Saint Mark’s (7-6-1), Archbishop Ryan-Conwell Egan (5-7), William Tennent-Upper Moreland (4-9) and Bux-Mont Catholic, the merged team of Lansdale Catholic and Archbishop Wood, sitting at 2-11. Cardinal O’Hara’s Andrew Graney leads D2 with 41 points off 32 goals and 9 assists.

By: Morgan Killian-Moseley

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA- The Roman Catholic Cahillites had played a lot of games in the days before their January 20th matchup at the Northeast Skate Zone against the Archbishop Ryan Raiders, whose squad has been reinforced by the Conwell-Egan Eagles this season. In fact, some of the players for Roman were pulling double duty; having already played in the Cahillites’ junior varsity team’s 8-4 victory against the Methacton-Perkiomen Valley combined JV team which finished half an hour before the varsity tilt.

Though Roman gutted it out and fought with all the energy they had, their exhaustion showed at points as the “Raid-Eagles” came away with a 2-0 win. Ryan goalie Cole Boothman stopped all 32 shots that came his way for his second shutout of the season.

The teams continued to trade chances, but Boothman and Zampirri would continue to have the answers until with just over three minutes remaining in the opening stanza, Ryan’s leading scorer, Logan Perate, would bury a rebound past Zampirri to give the Raiders the 1-0 lead. Freeman and Sheridan picked up the assists.

Ryan got a power play chance in the first minute of the 2nd period when Roman’s Ethan Hillanbrand was sent off for a cross-check. The Raiders couldn’t take advantage, though; in fact, the Cahillite defense seemed to play stronger a man down, getting multiple shorthanded scoring opportunities. But Boothman was able to come up with some big stops when those opportunities arose. Meanwhile Zampirri would match his opposite number save for save when the Raiders would sustain pressure in the Roman zone, resulting in a stalemate in the middle stanza.

In the 3rd, Roman’s forecheck stepped up, trying to turn the game around. The Purple and Gold had multiple chances at an equalizer, but Boothman was able to make the stops each time. Near the halfway point of the final stanza, on a defensive draw, the Raiders’ Ryan Leight was able to clear the puck off the boards to a streaking Sean Schubert, who surged into the offensive zone and snapped a shot on Zampirri. Zampirri looked to have the right angle for the stop, but the puck slipped under his arm and into the net to give Ryan the insurance goal they’d been looking for.

“We moved the puck fast tonight and our forecheck was steady all night,” said Ryan head coach Mike Schubert. “We had some stuff to learn and I think tonight some of it came to fruition.”

“We’re a young team, we’ve had our struggles, our forechecks been our most inconsistent thing of the season by a mile,” coach Schubert added. “We’ve been working on it in practice regularly and some of [the techniques are] starting to register. Hopefully in these last few games we have it’ll hopefully keep getting better.”

“{Ryan} played great, I think they out-hustled us a little bit,” said Roman head coach Mike Koval. “Some of our guys were tired, so they outworked us. We need to improve our passing, not take stupid penalties, and play more like a team.”

“We still worked hard,” said Zampirri, noting the grueling schedule the Cahillites had faced in the previous weekend. “It was one fluky goal, and a bad goal on my part, but other than that [Ryan] played good; and if we see them in the playoffs, I think we’ve got them then.”

Zampirri noted that the Roman offense was good at generating scoring opportunities in the zone pressure game, but could improve on clearing the puck in the defensive zone.

Despite the fluky goal Zampirri otherwise looked strong in net, stopping 33 of the 35 shots that came his way. Neither team was able to take advantage on the power play, with Ryan going 0-4 with the man advantage and Roman failing on their lone opportunity.

By: Morgan Killian-Moseley

Photos/Videos: Kyle Heckler & David Wagstaff

PHILADELPHIA - On January 22nd at The University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 Arena, the defending Flyers Cup Champion La Salle College High Explorers were able to withstand a 3rd period surge from the St. Joseph’s Prep Hawks to take the game to overtime. La Salle center Julian Tarsi took advantage of a turnover by Prep goalie Declan Geary to bury a game-winning goal with 0.9 seconds remaining in the 3-on-3 to give La Salle a 3-2 victory.

SJP thought they had the first goal early on, as senior forward Tristan Winata was able to slip a rebound home about five and a half minutes into the contest. However, the officials waved off the goal, ruling that La Salle senior goalie Jake Rossi had accidentally knocked the net off its moorings prior to the puck crossing the goal line.

St. Joe’s looked to turn things around by stepping up on the forecheck, and with just under six minutes left in the period, the Hawks would force a neutral zone turnover that sprung Winata for a breakaway. But much to Winata’s chagrin, he would be denied yet again- this time by the crossbar.

La Salle would hold the lead going into the 3rd period, but the Crimson and Gray would increase the forecheck and the physicality. Whatever adjustments the Prep coaching staff made in the locker room worked, as the Hawks looked like a team re-energized; and SJP would finally break through 73 seconds into the final stanza as Patrick Sweeney would scoop up a misplayed clear and beat Rossi for his first marker of the season to cut the Prep deficit in half.

Prep would start crashing the net on offense and nearly tied the game a few minutes later, but Rossi was able to make a sprawling save and eventually corral the rebound. But 30 seconds later, the traffic in front of Rossi would pay dividends as Noah Stuhl would pounce on a rebound off the stick of Adam Charrafi for the equalizer; the first goal of the season for Stuhl.

300 seconds were added to the clock, and it took 68 for a game-changing turn of events to occur as Prep’s Frankie Ely was called for tripping in the neutral zone, giving La Salle the overtime bonus man. The Explorer 4-on-3 had the puck in the offensive zone for nearly the entirety of the penalty, but Geary was up to the task.

St. Joe’s successfully killed off the minor, which would have led to a 4-on-4 until the next whistle. Just as Ely was released, though, a Donohue shot from the left slot looked to have delivered the game-winning goal. But in what could have been seen as poetic justice by Prep fans, Geary’s efforts to make the sliding save- you guessed it- dislodged the net. The goal was disallowed, and the OT went back to 3-on-3.

The final 110 seconds saw SJP trying desperately to stem the tide and send the game to a shootout. In the final seconds, Geary looked to at least get the puck out of the defensive end. But he couldn’t get the paddle on the puck clean, and Tarsi cut off Geary’s diving clear attempt and swept it away into the wide-open net for his 3rd goal of the year to end it with nine tenths of a second left.   

“I don’t think it was our best game, I don’t think it was St. Joe’s best game,” said La Salle head coach Wally Muehlbronner. “It was a sloppy game with a lot of turnovers. It came down to who was going to get the bounce at the end. Tonight wasn’t an easy one, but the guys stuck together and managed to get a win.”

“I think we’ve grown as a team over the course of the season,” Muehlbronner continued. “We’ve had a lot of new guys this year and I feel like we’ve really started to come together. If we’re consistent at playing a simple game, not trying to do too much individually we’re a good, strong team.”

“Shooting the puck a lot more,” coach Giacomin said. “We just don’t get enough shots. We like to make plays, but we don’t get enough shots.”

“I think we were moving the puck really well and getting a lot of nice, open shots,” said Stuhl. “We were cycling the puck well.”

Stuhl went on to note that he believed the Hawks could improve at alleviating pressure in the defensive zone.

La Salle outshot the Prep 38-28, including 4-1 in the extra session; but St. Joe’s did outshoot La Salle 13-9 in the 3rd to help force overtime. Rossi made 26 saves in the Explorer victory. Geary made 35 saves in the losing effort for the Hawks, but the misplay at the tail end of OT is something Prep hopes he learns from.

It was a hard-hitting but relatively clean game with only three total penalties, and the last of those was a taunting minor on senior Explorer forward Grant LaGreca after the final goal had been scored. Both teams went 0-1 on the power play.

(For stat updates or corrections, please email: phillysportsdigest@gmail.com)