Westtown, Pa. — Less than 24 hours after being handed their first loss of the season, the DVHL-leading Quakers bounced back at their new home barn on Sunday morning (Dec. 23) to secure a split in their weekend home-and-home with the Delaware Ducks 18AA team with a 5-1 victory. Lain Singer (Tatnall) and Kyle Washkalavitch (Malvern Prep) led the way for the Quakers with two goals each while goalie Dan McGill backstopped the Quakers with a 36-save outing.
The Quakers established a fast pace from the outset, peppering Ducks goalie Troy Stefano with 23 first-period shots and crashing the net for a pair of close-range goals to take the early lead. Washkalavitch walked the puck in up the middle for a net-front chip-in 9:07 into the game, and Singer redirected a Dan Stankiewicz wrist shot from the left point past Stefano to double the Quakers’ lead with 32 seconds left in the first period.
Singer demonstrated his sniping ability 1:52 into the second period, when he fired a cross-slot feed from Nick Ferraro past Stefano to extend the Quakers’ lead to 3-0. A slashing minor assessed to Singer at 6:20 opened the door for Delaware to regroup, but beyond an Aidan Smith net-front put-back off a Mike Irey shot on the ensuing power play, the Ducks remained overpowered. Washkalavitch earned his second goal of the game and lifted the Quakers to a 4-1 advantage with a top-shelf wrist shot off Ferraro’s third assist of the game at 14:02 in the middle frame before assisting Nick Higgins’s wrist shot from the right half boards at 9:34 in the third period.
The Quakers were 1-for-2 on the power play, while Delaware was 1-for-3. Stefano saved 40 of 45 shots in what was just his fourth defeat of the year in DVHL and EJEPL play combined.
The Ducks return to action with four games the weekend of Jan. 5-6, 2019. Delaware Hockey Night Radio will present full coverage of their Jan. 5 doubleheader at the Patriot Ice Center, featuring matchups against the Ashburn Xtreme of the EJEPL at 10:55 a.m. and the Haverford Hawks of the DVHL at 4:50 p.m.