Motivated Haverford gets its Central League championship in rout
ASTON – The mantra “CLC,” as in Central League championship, has played on repeat in the minds of Haverford High’s hockey team for the last year.
Wednesday night, it got a considerably more enjoyable rendition: As a chant shared with the student section as captain Jacob Orazi skated around IceWorks Rink 3 with the championship trophy.
Twelve months of frustration went into 11 goals as the top-seeded Fords left no doubt, avenging last year’s overtime loss to Springfield with an 11-1 win.
“It’s been the driving force,” said Orazio, who contributed goal No. 8 to the onslaught. “It’s been in the back of our minds all year. It’s been our biggest motivator.”
The game ended at 8:15 of the third, Quinn Carson’s fourth goal of the game triggering the mercy rule and setting off the celebration.
For all the talk of vengeance, Colin Hannigan’s OT goal giving Springfield the upset over the top-seeded Fords a year ago, it was someone not involved in that game in Carson who played a starring role Wednesday. The junior winger returned to the ice after taking a break from hockey following eighth grade. Primarily a lacrosse player, who is in an overlap between seasons, Carson played with the core of the current Fords in youth hockey and rejoined the team this year.
He’s slotted in beautifully on a wing next to Dan Quartapella, never more obvious than when the pair executed a picture-perfect 2-on-1 at 2:50 of the second period, the centerman saucering a sublime pass to Carson to fire home.
“He’s great. He takes a lot of the pressure off of me and Alex (Gattone),” Carson said of Quartapella, who had a goal and three helpers. “The attention gravitates toward him when he’s on the ice.”
The goal came at a precarious time. Haverford had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, Carson opening the scoring 70 seconds in. But Springfield threatened to tip the momentum back, with Devin DeStefano jamming a puck off the back of the pad of goalie Jai Jani and in with 7.4 seconds left in the period to make it 3-1.
“It was a great goal,” Springfield center Zach Crain said. “He just put it on net; that’s what we’re supposed to do as a power play. We just didn’t keep continuing that momentum. They bounced back right away.”
The scales easily could’ve shifted toward the third-seeded Cougars at the intermission. But Carson’s second goal was the first of two straight mirror-image breakaways 62 seconds apart, the second orchestrated by Mike McGeoch finding Jagur McClelland to roof one home.
McClelland finished his hat trick two minutes later with a point drive on the power play. It was one of five man-up goals for the Fords, Springfield gifting 10 power plays to augment three misconducts as the game grew chippy. That came a day after two second-period power-play goals allowed Ridley back into the semifinal before Springfield surged late.
“It’s been a constant problem for us,” Crain said. “We live in the box and when we’re in the box the rest of the game, it just takes us out of the game. It doesn’t give us a chance.”
Quartapella made the rout official by pilfering a puck on the penalty kill and beating a marooned Tyler Philiposian at 6:35 of the second to make it 7-1. Orazi’s goal, a back-door feed from Nate Rabadam at the point on the man-advantage, was perhaps the prettiest of the night to make it 8-1. Jani recovered to make 17 saves, including a double denial of Danny White on a breakaway in the third.
The third period was all about the grinders, McGeoch and Carson, who’ve carved out niches that make the Fords go.
“I like doing that,” Carson said. “And it’s easier to do that since it’s my first year back and I might not have all the skill yet and I’m still developing it. I try to work hard and get goals that way.”
McGeoch scored 12 seconds into the period, and Carson set up in his office on the power play five minutes later to sweep home a rebound. When he roared into the zone down the wing and ripped a shot high past Philiposian (26 saves), the title was officially theirs.
So was an official exorcising of last year’s demons.
“I think the score speaks for itself,” Orazi said. “We definitely used the motivation from last year’s loss and used it for energy.”
In the Ches-Mont American final:
Interboro 5, Sun Valley 3 >> Frankie Jirak scored three times as the Bucs lifted the title.
Jirak got Interboro on the board in the first period, five seconds after Ian Finley opened the scoring for Sun Valley. Jirak finished his hat trick at 4:12 of the third to put the game away at 5-2.
Ian Birney and John Lynch also scored for the Bucs. Hunter Chubb made 13 saves in goal.
Hayden McGinnis scored twice for the Vanguards, who got 14 saves from Will Newnom.
In the PCL final:
Salesianum 5, Cardinal O’Hara 4 >> Logan Downs had a goal and an assist as the fourth-seeded Sallies scored three times in the third period to beath the No. 4 Lions in a battle of underdogs.
Luke Melito scored twice for O’Hara, including a goal with 1:27 to play to cut it to a one-goal deficit. Steve Graney and Kevin Roney added tallies, and Ronan Marley stopped 29 shots for the Lions.
Salesianum’s Aiden Kikut made 39 saves.
