Weekend Roundup - January 25-26

Greetings, JBH families!

Before we get to the recap of the weekend happenings, we'd like to share that our hockey community suffered an unimaginable tragedy this past week. Local hockey coach Dave Funk Sr. and his son, Dave Jr., were hit when a suspected drunk driver ran a red light last Tuesday evening, killing Dave Sr. and wounding Dave Jr. The Funk family are former members of the Jr. Blue Hens and always a part of our hockey family. Dave was a devoted husband, loving father, and passionate ice hockey coach. Dave touched the lives of so many, both on and off the ice, throughout our community. His unwavering dedication to his family, his players, and his community was a testament to the incredible man he was.

The loss of Dave leaves a void that words cannot fill, but his legacy of kindness, leadership, and love will forever live on. Please keep Dave’s wife, five children, extended family, friends, and all who knew him in your thoughts during this heartbreaking time.

A link to a GoFundMe is below if you would like to contribute, the driver responsible for the accident was both unlicensed and uninsured so the family could use all the help we’re able to offer.

We stand in solidarity with the hockey community to lift the Funk Family as they navigate the days, weeks and months to come. 

Funk Family GoFundMe

16U A National

The 16U A National team participated in the EJEPL (Eastern Junior Elite Prospects League) Championship this past weekend within the Futures 2 division. Their semifinal game on Saturday was played against the New York Stars. Stakes were high with this being a single elimination championship, and they came away with a 3-2 win, sending them to the finals. Goals were scored by Evan Finnicum, Brennan Austin, and Enrique Boyd edging out the only two goals that Dylan Morrison allowed past for the win. The championship final on Sunday against the Peconic Wildcats found Ryne Dominick in the net where he allowed only two goals past the entire game. The impressive five goals scored by Gavin Mellon, Enrique Boyd, James Austin and 2 by Evan Finnicum means our boys brought home the first ever EJEPL Championship Banner for our Jr. Blue Hens club. A huge congratulations to the entire 16U A National team and coaching staff for an impressive weekend performance. Way to go!!

16U A American

Before we get to the weekend performance update, we’d like to share that the 16U A American team observed a moment of silence prior to their game against the Hershey Jr Bears on Saturday, honoring David Funk Sr. following his tragic passing.



Now, on to the game. From Coach Jesse:

16U A American had a home game against the second place Hershey Jr Bears.  Having already clinched a playoff berth, the boys next goal was to clinch the number one seed.   All they needed was 4 points over the next 4 games.  Well they did it in one game in resounding fashion, beating the Bears 4-1 in a game that was not as close as the final score.  Wyatt Bolin started the scoring on a beautiful pass from Tanner Kinkus. TK would get the next three goals to make it a 4-1 final.  Quinn Kelley was outstanding in net stopping 12 of 13 shots faced.  Our defense shut them down for almost the entire game.  There was no sustained offense from the Bears.  Considering they have two top 5 goal scorers on their team and we held them pointless, was a great accomplishment.  

I couldn’t be more proud of this team.  They are resilient, humble, and play for each other.  We have three more games left and then the DVHL playoffs Presidents’ Day weekend.  Next up we play Central Penn at home Saturday the first.

14U AA

14U AA had an EJEPL game against the Loudon Knights where they came away with a 2-1 win. Luke Johnson stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced and goals were scored by Shane Slaw and Jackson McNutt assisted by David Lavieri and Hudson Simon.

14U A American

The 14U A American team had a 3 game weekend. Kicking off a double header on Saturday, the boys faced the Hershey Jr Bears at their home rink. Coming away with a 7-1 loss was tough, but they had to rally for an evening game at the Flyers Training Center against Flyers Youth. Back on the road Sunday morning the team headed up to Power Play in Exton, coming away with a 2-3 loss against the Exton Kings. Next weekend they face the Central Penn Panthers at home.

12U A had two games this weekend. Saturday found the team at home against the Central Penn Panthers where they came away with a 9-3 win. Sunday they had the opportunity to participate in an outdoor game at Spring Mountain against the Chester County Cougars.

12U B
 

The 12U B team participated in two games this weekend. The first game on Saturday up in Wilkes-Barre facing the Jr Pens was a much tighter game than the score would lead you to believe. Despite an 8-2 loss the kids played extremely well and really worked as a team. Sunday found the team back in PA for a match against the Hatfield Ice Hawks in the unbelievably cold Green Rink. This was a very even match up with both teams being very comparable in skill level. Feeling a bit link ping pong, the score bounced back and forth with our team answering any of their goals with one of our own. The kids played exceptionally well, setting up plays and completing passes like magic. Unfortunately the Ice Hawks edged us out for a 5-4 win, but considering 4 of their 5 goals were scored by a single skater tells us we held our own and had a very good shot at winning. Next up we play the Delco Phantoms at home.

10U A American

10U A had the weekend off. Next week they head up to Wilkes Barre to face the Jr Pens.

10U B

From Coach Ben: The 10U B started the weekend with their last home game of the season.  This game was against the Chester County Cougars.  This was a very hard fought game by the entire team.  You could tell that both teams were not going to let up on this.  The game went back and forth the whole game.  Two goals were scored by Logan Fraundorfer and additional goals were scored one each by Kirk Cashaback, Finn Litwin, and Gabe Brown.  Andrew Kulp stopped 13 of 19 shots on net with the help of his defense they all played a hard game.  However with no time left on the clock the ref awarded a goal to the Cougars to give them the one point advantage in the game.  It was a hard loss on a very hard fought game. Sunday the team drove up to Voorhees to face the Flyers Youth at the Flyers practice facility.  The outcome of this game does not speak to how hard the team played.  Unfortunately we lost 0-6 however the team kept it close going into the 3rd period only down 2.  The team played well as a unit and looking for passes out of our zone and all the small things that we have been working on all season.  Sadly this was the last game for one of our players who is returning to Korea.  Alex will be missed on this team.  We look forward to an early game Saturday at the Quakers to end the regular season with only one additional tournament left after that.

8U 

From Coach Chris: 8U played the Central Penn Panthers at home on Sunday morning. Overall, the team played well, but we are still struggling to aggressively attack the puck in the offensive end. There were a few shifts where we executed well on offense, and those shifts generated good scoring chances, but we need more consistency in this area of our game to disrupt our opponent and create opportunities. The game was back and forth, with the Panthers always a goal or so ahead. In the end, the Panthers took the game 8-5, with our goals scored by Carter, Nick, and Stone.

We face the Delmarva Raptors at home this Sunday.