Explorers skate past Roman to semifinals
Explorers blow past Roman in quarters
They have the same type of chemistry when they’re in school, Keenan Schneider says, and it surely shows up on the ice.
The Schneider-David Kimmel-Jake Hannon line continues to resemble a pinball machine for the Explorers, and it kickstarted a lopsided victory over Roman Catholic in the quarterfinal round of the Flyers Cup 3A Playoffs Thursday night at packed Hatfield Ice.
“Once we get one (goal), we go and get a lot more,” Schneider said.
The Explorers skated away to an 8-1 win over Roman, advancing them to next week’s semifinals against St. Joe’s Prep.
“We just bonded together as a team, especially after our Providence Tournament, and we just melded it together,” Schneider said of the stretch run. “And now we’re starting to get it and we just wanna keep rolling.”
BIG NIGHT » After a goal by Kimmel broke the 0-0 deadlock six minutes in, Schneider scored four consecutive goals for La Salle. It was 1-0 after one period, 4-0 after two, and Schneider’s fourth tally made it a 5-1 gap early in the third.
“Thankfully, the Kimmel-Schneider-Hannon line played pretty well out of the gate,” Explorers coach Wally Muehlbronner said. “The other ones, it took
a little while for them to get going. But (that KimmelSchneider-Hannon) line was really strong tonight, I thought.
“The second half of the season, that line has had really good chemistry. We kind of stumbled into that line, by default almost. But they’ve really clicked nicely.”
Hannon, Max Maddallo and Daniel Dolan added goals for La Salle. Roman got its one tally from Brandon Finnimore.
La Salle had a long layoff coming in, but it didn’t show.
“We had a good practice on Monday,” Muehlbronner said. “The guys are playing so much hockey with club this time of year. We’ll have another good practice on Monday and get ready for whoever we have next.”
The way the Explorers and their explosive first line played Thursday, they may just be getting started.
“We are focused on the task at hand,” Schneider said. “We just have to keep
it simple. Right now, we have this win under our belt and the butterflies are gone.”
DOWNINGTOWN WEST 3,
NORTH PENN 2 » The Knights fell by a goal in the nightcap on Thursday at Hatfield Ice, as comeback hopes fell just short in AA action.
Downingtown broke a scoreless tie with a goal by Anthony Florkowski, who provided a 1-0 edge after one period.
Things heated up in the second, with the Whippets increasing their lead to 2-0 when Reece Martosella set up Matthew Flinn.
North Penn got on the board, as D.J. Zeiger found Tommy Boyle to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Whippets widened the gap to 3-1 on a goal by Zakari Spero, who was assisted by Tyler DeTreux.
With 13 minutes to play, North Penn got within 3-2 when Quinn Holt and Chase Mueller assisted Jeromy Porubski.
But Anthony Cuba stopped 20 of 22 shots to help the Whippets hold on and advance.
Nich Ebbinghaus stopped 19 of 22 shots for North Penn.