3/17 vs Hershey

3/23 vs LaSalle

Malvern came out flying from the drop of the puck, and controlled the entire game outshooting them 66-12 enroute to an easy 8-1 victory. Joe Testa and Chris Mavromates were both in the line up, and played a great game paired up together on defense. The newly formed Freshman line of McMullen, Wochok & Gehring looked great and accounted for 4 of Malvern's 8 goals, including a Mike McMullen hat trick! You can bet you'll see that line together against LaSalle Tuesday night! Seniors Joe Hooker, Jack Gardner, and Chris Mavromates each had goals for Malvern, and Sophomore Chase Watson also had a goal. Jeff Caruso played 30 minutes in net allowing just 1 Hershey goal on a tip in front, and Sophomore Nick Nudy played outstanding shutting out Hershey in period 3 while making 6 saves.

LaSalle defeated Bonner 3-0 in their Flyers Cup game setting up Malvern vs LaSalle Tuesday night 3/23/99 at 8:45pm at Ice Line. The winner of that game advances in the Flyers Cup to play Thursday. The loser goes home for the summer. Let's have a huge crowd Tuesday night to help our boys overcome the LaSalle drought.

What a night for Malvern hockey, and what a great hockey game it was! Playing in front of a packed house of more than a thousand screaming fans, Malvern defeated last year's AAA State Champions in one of the most exciting games in years. Here is the complete game recap by period:

PERIOD 1 - The pace was ferocious from the opening face off as both teams had great passes, hits, shots, and defense. Joe Hooker was serving a carry over 10 minute penalty from the Hershey game, and Joe Testa overslept, eventually arriving in time for period 2. Rumor has it that the police are still trying to identify the driver of a car speeding down Rt.3 towards Ice Line at around 9:30 Tuesday night!
PERIOD 2 - The second period opened with LaSalle's Pat Salvitti scoring just 14 seconds into the period to put LaSalle up 1-0. Three minutes later, Malvern exploded with the veteran line of Chase Watson, Joe Hooker, and Chris Lawrence scoring 3 goals in 21 seconds! Chase Watson fed the puck to Joe Hooker who scored Malvern's first goal, tying the score at 1-1 on a beautiful move around the LaSalle defenseman to go in all alone against the LaSalle goalie. Just 14 seconds later, the same line scored again when Chase Watson, who was assisted by Joe Sheridan, netted a goal. Malvern switched lines, and the hot freshman line of Tim Wochok, Mike McMullen, and Jim Gehring connected just 7 seconds later when Wochok and McMullen broke in off the center ice face off, and Timmy banged it home. The stunned LaSalle squad was now down 3-1 after they were leading in the game only 22 seconds earlier. LaSalle called a time out, but failed to regroup as Malvern continued to dominate the second period. Chris Lawrence scored 2 1/2 minutes later to give Malvern a 4-1 lead on an assist by defensive star Mike Illgas. LaSalle showed why they are the defending state champions and cut Malvern's lead to 4-2 when Pete Naticchione scored with 1:36 remaining in period two, and gave LaSalle a much needed lift. Malvern switched back to their big line to try and get that goal back, and take away LaSalle's momentum before the end of the period. Sure enough, Chase Watson came through with only 35 seconds left in the period to put Malvern up 5-2 with the help of Brett Landrum and Joe Hooker who both assisted on the play.
PERIOD 3 - To protect a 3 goal lead, Malvern played a little more defensive in the third period, using a 1-1-3 forcheck to reduce the threat of odd man rushes by LaSalle. The strategy worked as Malvern held LaSalle to just 6 shots for the period, with 3 of them coming with the LaSalle goalie pulled in the last minute of the game. The period was scoreless until R. Ciolli scored for LaSalle with 5:14 remaining in the period, closing the gap to 5-3. It looked like Malvern was home free until Naticchione scored his second of the night for LaSalle with their goalie pulled and a 6th LaSalle attacker on the ice. Naticchione's goal made it 5-4 with 35 seconds left, and with the goalie still pulled, LaSalle had 35 seconds to tie the game and send the match into overtime. Senior captain Joe Hooker sealed the victory for Malvern when he scored an open net goal with just 7 seconds left on a nice interception by Chase Watson and Joe Testa - final score Malvern 6, LaSalle 4.

TUNE IN! The Scholastic High School Sports Show was at the game filming for their show to air Sunday morning 3/28 at 10:30 am on FOX 29. Tune in to see Malvern highlites!