After giving up a two-goal lead in the third period, Will Lawrence scored 13 seconds into overtime to lead Landon to a 3-2 victory over St. John's and give the Bears their first MAPHL championship since 2016 and their fifth league title in the last 10 years.

After a scoreless first period, goals by Ryan Giles and JH Lages put Landon up 2-0 at the end of two periods of play. But Tommy Lokken notched a power play goal for St. John's at 4:52 of the third and a frantic finish resulted in Andrew Depoy's game-tying goal with 14.7 remaining in regulation time.

St. John's was playing without MAPHL "Player of the Year" Quinn Kennedy, who missed the entire playoffs due to illness.

High drama was the order of the day in the MAPHL A Division final as Good Counsel's Stephen Oneto proved the hero with a power-play goal in the second overtime period to lead the Falcons to a 2-1 victory.

After two scoreless periods, Kevin Cottrell broke through with a goal at 7:05 of the third period to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead. It almost stood up as the only goal, but O'Connell's Jack Koester knotted the score with only 40 seconds remaining in the game.

Bishop O'Connell goalie Kohl Strom made 40 saves on 42 shots he faced, including 10 in overtime, while Falcons goalie Daniel Crowe stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced.

All MAPHL AA Division First Team Honors

Offense:

Farrell Dinn                      Gonzaga

Dimitri Kebreau               St. John's

Will Lawrence                   Landon
 

Defense:

Patrick Chapman             St. John's

Scott Cremen                   Mt. St. Joseph
 

Goalie:

Collin Berke                      Archbishop Spalding

All MAPHL AA Division Second Team Honors

Offense:

Alex Chaconas                  Georgetown Prep

Matthew Brille                  Landon

Alex Vouras                       Bishop O'Connell

Defense:

Jacob Hookman-Vassa     Landon

Tyler Rose                          St. John's

Goalie:

Jake Williams                     Mt. St. Joseph

Ervin J. Terwilliger AA Division "Coach of the Year"

Mike Marley, Mt. St. Joseph

All MAPHL A Division "Player of the Year"

Jackson Barbieri                Bishop O'Connell

All MAPHL A Division First Team Honors

Offense:

Atticus Beane                    St. Stephen's & St. Agnes

Kevin Cottrell                     Our Lady of Good Counsel

Jack Koester                       Bishop O'Connell

Defense:

Noah Hope                        Our Lady of Good Counsel

J.T. Carpenter                    Gonzaga

Goalie:

Dylan Burcham                 Archbishop Spalding

All MAPHL A Division Second Team Honors

Offense:

Liam Kansler                     Calvert Hall

Luke Richardson               Archbishop Spalding

Sam Oppel                         Gonzaga

Defense:

Jack Delaney                     St. Mary's Ryken

Jack Arulanandam           Archbishop Spalding

Goalie:

Tyrus Pratley                    St. Mary's Ryken

Ervin J. Terwilliger A Division "Coach of the Year"

Derek Arledge, Bishop O'Connell

Having clinched first place in the MAPHL regular season for the first time in program history, the St. John’s Cadets (8-1-1, MAPHL) showed why they finished on top with a come-from-behind, 4-3 victory against Mt. St. Joseph’s ( )on Monday afternoon at Rockville Ice Arena.

Scott Cremen got the Gaels on the board first by depositing the rebound of Chris Robinson’s shot at 10:15 of the first period. Robinson put his team up, 2-0, when he slid the puck under St. John’s goaltender Chase Hornbecker after Nolan Westlake found him alone in front of the net.

Goals from Quinn Kennedy, at 9:19 of the second period, and Dimitry Kebreau, on a power play at 2:28 of the third period, evened the score for St. John’s. But the tie lasted less than 30 seconds when Westlake scored at 2:57 to regain the lead for the Gaels.

Kebreau fed Tommy Lokken for a one-timer from the right circle to tie the game, 3-3, on the power-play at 5:48 of the third period. Kebreau notched the game-winner on a power play when Kennedy found him cruising down the slot for an open shot that he blew past Gaels’ netminder Jake Williams with just 1:36 left in the game.   

St. John’s (5-1, MAPHL), led by Quinn Kennedy’s goal and four assists, struck fast and often to defeat Gonzaga (4-4, MAPHL), 7-4, on Wednesday at Rockville Ice Arena.

Kennedy opened the scoring just over a minute into the game and Andrew Depoy scored nine seconds later. Tommy Lokken made it 3-0 five minutes after that and Jesse Horaceck finished the 4-0 outburst with his first of the game, both while Gonzaga’s Luca Docking was serving a five-minute major penalty for boarding.

Docking got the Eagles on the board early in the second period, but Dimitry Kebreau scored the first of his two goals to regain the home team’s four-goal lead.

Gonzaga got the next two goals to get to 5-3, but Kebreau and Horaceck each got their second goals in the third period to put the game out of reach.

Georgetown Prep’s come from behind 3-2 victory against Landon (4-1, MAPHL) featured spectacular goaltending, slick scoring plays and a capacity crowd that was thoroughly entertained. The win also solidified the Little Hoyas (7-1, MAPHL) hold of first place in the Mid Atlantic Prep Hockey League.

With 10 minutes left in the game, Walker Johnston capped off the comeback and scored the game winner when he found a loose puck among a pile of bodies in front of the net and chipped it into the open cage. Landon’s Max Weinstein made a save on the initial shot, but couldn’t locate the puck.

Matthew Brille’s unassisted power-play goal at 11:12 of the first period gave Landon a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission. Brille controlled the puck in the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot from the left circle over the glove of Elon Granston.

Prep tied the game at 3:26 of the second period with a power-play goal of their own.  Alex Chiconas fed Patrick Fitzgerald who blasted a slap shot past Weinstein. The Bears regained the lead just over a minute later when Ryan Giles fired a laser from the left circle and past Granston’s glove side.

Peter Roche tied the game again when he skated in from the right side and wristed a shot under Weinstein’s glove with less than four minutes to go in the second period.

The score could have been a lot higher had it not been for a handful of sparkling saves from both goalies. Granston bailed out his team while they were on a power play when he made a glove save of shot on a Landon two-on-one to keep the game scoreless midway through the first period, while Weinstein kept Prep off the board with his own sterling save with a minute and half left in the first period.

Granston made 30 saves on 32 shots he faced in the game, while the Bears’ Weinstein stopped 22 of the 25 shots he faced.      

Bishop O’Connell jumped all over St. John’s, the area's top-ranked team, in a four-goal first period that carried the Knights’ to a 7-4 victory on Wednesday afternoon at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington.

Daniel Koester scored twice and Alex Vouras and Thompson Carter each had a goal in the first 11 minutes of the game for O’Connell. Kareem El-Bashir also had two goals and an assist for the Knights.

With the Knights up, 5-1, early in the third period, and the game seemingly in hand, the Cadets fought back with three consecutive goals from Jesse Horacek, Dimitri and Patrick Chapman. But a goal from Kyler Sun gave O’Connell some breathing room to close out the victory.

Last week, St. John's was ranked #1 in the Washington Post Top Ten ranking for the first time in the program's history.

Energized by a large and boisterous student section for a Friday night game in enemy territory at Ft. Dupont Ice Arena, the Landon Bears jumped all over the short-handed Gonzaga Eagles and cruised to a 7-2 victory.

The game wasn’t a period old before the Bears had built a 5-0 lead. The blistering start included a hat trick by Will Lawrence and goals from Jordan Dinesman and Matt Brille.

Lawrence opened the scoring at 5:53 of the first period when he zipped through the Gonzaga defense and slipped his shot under the pads of sophomore Chris With, who was filling in for two varsity goalies playing in travel tournaments. Just over a minute later, Dinesman capitalized on an odd man rush and scoring on a rebound of a shot by Tommy Kenary.

Lawrence notched his second goal on another spectacular individual effort, skating wide and cutting around the defender to put his shot high over With’s blocker 12:03. He completed his hat trick nearly a minute-and-a-half later with a wrist shot from 15 feet that beat With low on his stick side. Brille completed the onslaught 34 seconds later.

Gonzaga’s Brendan Snocker was able to solve Landon goalie Max Weinstein with a goal in the second period, but two more goals from Landon’s Jacob Hookman-Vassa kept the game out of reach for the Eagles.

After spotting DeMatha a goal midway through the first period, Georgetown Prep scored four unanswered goals on the way to its 6-3 victory over the Stags at Rockville Ice Arena on Wednesday.

Nick Reiniger’s wrister from the point got DeMatha on the board at 8:22 of opening period with the Stags on the power play. Less than four minutes later, Prep’s Peter Roche scored off a rebound of a Alex Chaconas shot. Just over a minute later, Matt Scola drew DeMatha goalie Lincoln Crosby to one side of the net and passed back to Seamus McNally for an easy tap in.

Less than two minutes into the second period, Chaconas broke in alone and scored to increase Prep’s lead to 3-1. Connor McMahon completed the four-goal run, sweeping the puck across the goal line after Walker Johnston’s shot trickled behind Crosby.

DeMatha got within two on a nice passing play with Luke Leydig dishing off to Jay Harwood for a goal at 4:27 of the third period, but Prep’s McNally tallied his second of the game less than three minutes later to regain the lead that the Little Hoyas would never relinquish.

Both goaltenders made several quality saves during the game, with Crosby stopping 20 of 26 shots on goal, while Prep’s Elon Granston made 20 saves on 23 shots.

Gonzaga is #1 in The Washington Post's first Top 10 ranking of area ice hockey teams in the 2019-20 season.  The Eagles are gunning for an unprecedented fourth consecutive MAPHL championship.

Three other MAPHL teams made the Top 10, including DeMatha at #2, St. John's at #5 and Georgetown Prep at #6.

NHL.com today featured a story about John Cotten, the tournament director for the Purple Puck, the Washington region's premiere holiday high school hockey tournament hosted by Gonzaga and held annually in late December at Ft. Dupont Ice Arena in DC.

Cotten discusses his involvement with the tournament and how its profile has risen in recent years, including attracting top teams from around the country and Canada. He got involved in the tournament after his son began playing hockey at Gonzaga and participating in the Purple Puck beginning as a freshman in 2007/08. 

Mt. St. Joseph’s, picked 9th in the MAPHL preseason coaches Top 10, came from behind to beat top-ranked Gonzaga, 3-2, on a power play goal from Nolan Westlake with 23 seconds left in the game at The Gardens Ice House in Laurel.

The Eagles (0-1, MAPHL) opened the scoring at 7:15 of the first period when Jack Martino fed Jake Garner for a blast over the shoulder of Gaels’ goaltender Jake Williams from the top of the right face-off circle. Nolan Burns tied the score for Mt. St. Joseph’s (2-0, MAPHL) with a goal at 12:26 of the first. Matt Adams and Chris Robinson picked up assists on the play.

Gonzaga outshot the home team, 15 to 5 in the opening period.

Sean Kilcullen regained the lead for Gonzaga at 4:25 of the second when his point drive found the back of the net through a screen while the Eagles were on the power play. Luca Docking and Farrell Dinn notched assists on the goal.

With time winding down in a face-paced, evenly played third period, Gonzaga’s Sean Kilcullen took a roughing penalty with just under 30 seconds left in the game. On the ensuing face-off, Chris Robinson got the puck to Westlake to set up his last-minute heroics and the Gaels’ improbable victory.

Williams faced 30 shots in the game, making 28 saves, while Eagles goaltender, Peter Pirone, gave up three goals on 16 shots.

Bishop O’Connell’s Lex Smith led the Knights (1-0 in MAPHL) with a goal and an assist, including the game winner in the second period, in the Knights’ 3-1 victory over Calvert Hall (0-2 in MAPHL) on Friday night at the Medstar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va.

O’Connell rewarded a raucous home crowd by jumping on the Cardinals with a goal by Kareem Al-Bashir just under two minutes into the game. Smith picked up the primary assist, with Cooper Corbett recording the secondary helper.

Smith’s eventual game winner came at 2:45 of the second period, giving O’Connell a 2-0 lead and control of the game. Al-Bashir and Corbett picked up assists on the play. However, Calvert Hall Freshman Robbie Thompson’s fore-checking paid off when he scored unassisted and the Cardinals shorthanded at 10:46 of the middle stanza.

Junior Jake Hill regained the two-goal lead less than three minutes later when he took a pass from Carter Thompson and beat Calvert Hall goaltender Ben Algatt.

The contest saw the teams take a combined 21 penalties.  

Georgetown Prep assistant coach Duante Abercrombie, an alumnus of the NHL's Hockey is for Everyone program, is featured in the league's Color of Hockey blog on nhl.com, as he climbs the coaching ladder. In addition to his duties at Prep, Abercrombie was recently hired as an assistant at NCAA Division III Stevenson University, located outside of Baltimore.

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According to the story, Abercrombie started playing hockey at the age of six when he laced them up for Washington's storied Ft. Dupont Ice Hockey Club and later starred in high school for Gonzaga, where he led the Eagles to four Maryland Student Hockey League/MAPHL championships.