La Salle skates past Malvern Prep in Flyers Cup 3A semifinals
HATFIELD TWP. >> In what started out as a battle of goaltenders, La Salle eventually penetrated the wall created by Malvern Prep keeper Brandon Novabilski and skated away to a satisfying 3-0 victory in the Flyers Cup 3A Semifinals at packed Hatfield Ice Tuesday night.
“He played lights out tonight,” Explorers net minder Aries Carangi said of his pal at the other end. “The team played really well and helped me get the shutout. I just kinda cleaned up in front but they got it done up in our (offensive) zone.”
Carangi made 28 saves for the Explorers, who advance to Tuesday’s 3A Final against Holy Ghost, back at Hatfield Ice at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night’s semifinal battle was a scoreless deadlock until midway through the second period.
“I think their goaltender played well and I think our goaltender made some really key saves as well, gave us some good momentum,” said La Salle coach Walter Muehlbronner. “And the goals were goals that we’ve been scoring – just getting pucks to the net and keeping it simple.”
La Salle dented the scoreboard with 7 minutes, 13 seconds left in the second period when Evan Golato put one away, set up by passes from Ryan Desmond and Will Gregorio. The Explorers struck on the power play less than four minutes later, strengthening their lead to 2-0 on a goal by James Carpenter.
Dean Carvalho and Michael Zarzycki helped set things up on the insurance goal.
Charlie Kennedy’s third-period tally put it away for La Salle.
“We really grinded it out,” Kennedy said. “Our team chemistry is really good. The boys are getting along good – we’re a tight group. We’re getting our momentum going.”
La Salle kept the pressure on, out-shooting Malvern by a 43-28 margin.
The Explorers were generating scoring chances and Carangi was poised in net.
“I think (experience) is huge. Every time you’re on the ice, you just get better and better,” he said. “Seeing playoff games before has definitely helped – I feel comfortable in this environment. I’m ready to go every game.”
Said Carangi of the 3A Final: “The rink’s gonna be packed. They’re gonna come out strong – we know they will. We know we have the tools to beat them and we’re excited to go do that.”
A fine season came to a close for Malvern.
“We knew it was gonna be a fight coming into this game,” said Friars coach Bill Keenan. “Both games we played against La Salle this year were tough. La Salle’s a great team. They’re deep – they have four lines they can turn. For us, I thought this was one of the most hard-fought games we played all year.”
Novabilski made 40 saves in the contest.
“He’s been great. He stepped in last year as a transfer with us, didn’t see much time as a junior, and then this year stepped up and was a big part of our team,” Keenan said. “There were some games he came up big. He plays a solid game.
“Looking back on the season, we had a lot of one-goal games, which is tough. That shows me that we compete. And we’re right in this every game. You never wanna look ahead but we have a lot of guys returning. Hopefully they can step up and continue this culture that we’ve built here with our program. And hopefully we’ll be back here next year.”
La Salle 3, Malvern Prep 0
Malvern Prep 0 0 0 – 0
La Salle 0 2 1 – 3
Second Period
L-Evan Golato (Ryan Desmond, Will Gregorio), 7:13; L-James Carpenter (Dean Carvalho, Michael Zarzycki), 3:17 (power play).
Third Period
L-Charlie Kennedy, 7:00.
Shots
Malvern Prep 9 8 11 – 28
La Salle 12 18 13 – 43
Saves: Brandon Novabilski (M) 40; Aries Carangi (L) 28.
