January 17, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHA hockey freezes Friars
by TOM UTESCHER

After dropping their first three ice hockey contests of the season, Chestnut Hill Academy closed out 2007 with a win over the Haverford School junior varsity, and the Blue Devils’ momentum carried over into the New Year as they defeated the Malvern Prep JV, 5-2, last Thursday afternoon.

Playing at their home venue, the Old York Road Skating Club, the locals avenged an earlier loss to the Friars which occurred exactly one month earlier and ended with the same score. In the rematch, freshman standout Ben Pulley scored a pair of unassisted goals and senior Joe Breen had a goal and two assists for CHA, which led 4-0 after two periods.

With defensive stalwarts Greg Quillian (a junior) and Zach Baron (a freshman) in front of him, sophomore goalie Bob Petrushansky picked up the win in the face of 38 Malvern shots. Chestnut Hill launched 35 shots on Malvern keeper Ryan Polischuk, who stopped numerous point blank shots by the Devils but still wound up on the losing end. The two penalties in the match were both on CHA, which killed the first one early in the opening period and survived the second in the middle of the final round.

Pulley had a short-handed shot saved by Polischuk in the first period, and when the Friars were back at full strength CHA freshman Quint Frazier put the Devils on the scoreboard with 8:52 left in the frame, receiving an assist from Breen. In the final minute, CHA’s Petrushansky had to sprawl in front of the cage to stop a shot by Malvern’s Mike Marinelli, and the period ended with the count still 1-0.

Just 11 seconds into the next round assists by Pulley and senior Chase Ginsburg set up a strike by Breen, who received the puck to the left of the cage and flicked it up high on the right. Later in the period Petrushansky repulsed a serious threat from the Friars’ Alex Carlisle, and with a little over a minute to go Malvern’s Polischuk denied a promising shot by the Devils’ Baron.

Soon after that, Pulley carried the puck up the left wing with a teammate filling the center lane, and the CHA freshman used his colleague as a decoy and then pulled the trigger himself with 38 seconds remaining. With five seconds left, Pulley steamed straight up the slot and beat Polischuk on the right, sending the hosts into the final round with a 4-0 advantage.

Chestnut Hill was not home free yet, as Malvern (12-4) came out to give its best offensive performance of the day, outshooting the Devils 18-9 in the third period. Tripp Mansfield ended Petrushanky’s shutout with 6:52 on the clock, then CHA successfully killed off a penalty, with Breen narrowly missing a shorthanded shot during the man-down sequence.