Citizen’s Bank Park has been the home to many historic sporting events since it’s opening in 2004. Recently the stadium has been transformed into an outdoor hockey rink for the NHL’s Winter Classic. The Flyers will square off against the Rangers on Monday evening, but the real treat for local hockey fans will come on Wednesday. Around five o’clock, as the sun goes down, the stadium will be filled with magic as the Malvern Prep Friars take the ice against the LaSalle College High School Explorers. The rematch of last year’s Winter Classic Final will pit a young Friars squad against the undefeated Explorers.
LaSalle will be a fierce opponent and is led by sophomore goalie Nick DeSimone, who played a stellar Flyer’s Cup game last year and has established himself as an elite goalie. Hopefully senior captain Cameron Donovan, and his assistant captains Tony Nichols and Eric Robinson can help lead the Friars to victory. Malvern and LaSalle both participate in the highly competitive Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League, which includes other schools, like O’Hara, Roman, Holy Ghost, Father Judge, and St. Joe’s Prep. Malvern is struggling in the league standings and needs to beat the first place Explorers. A win on Wednesday could help turn around the Malvern season. The team is very young and has only three seniors who all take a leadership role on the ice. Because of the team’s extreme youth, there are some games where they have not played as good as they can and have resulted in pivotal losses. In a very important game like the High School Holiday Classic, Malvern needs to play its best three periods of the season. When asked about his thoughts on the game sophomore forward Kevin McGeary said, “In order to beat a team like LaSalle, every player has to play their part for us to come out with the win.” When our Friars take the ice in the same arena where Phillies’ fans have gone from seeing the team’s 10,000th loss to a historic World Series win in 2008, maybe some of that magic will linger over the Friar bench. The Bank is known as a place where anything can happen. Maybe with the help of the same magic that Phillies experienced in ‘08, the Friars can bring home an important win on the biggest stage imaginable.