Frantz lifts Meadville past South Fayette in PIHL semifinals

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, March 13, 2018 | 11:21 PM

Meadville is looking to make it two titles in two years.

One season after capturing the PIHL Division 2 championship, the Bulldogs will play for the Penguins Cup Class A crown after beating South Fayette, 3-1, Tuesday night in a semifinal at the RMU Island Sports Center.

Meadville (19-3) plays Bishop McCort (22-0) for the Penguins Cup championship at 8:30 p.m. Monday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. The Bulldogs, who have won nine Penguins Cup titles, are seeking their first since 2003.

“It feels pretty good to win this, especially being on the road beating teams that already beat you in the regular season,” Meadville's Nick Frantz said. “A lot of getting back to a championship game is hard work. We lost five of our top six leading scorers. I think everyone has played a real big part in this journey. Everyone is hustling and doing their part.”

Frantz, who led Meadville with 39 goals in the regular season, has done his part. He scored all four goals in the team's 4-2 win over Westmont Hilltop in the quarterfinals. He collected the team's first two against South Fayette (16-8) and assisted on the third.

“Ever since he came into the program, he's been nothing but a natural goal scorer,” Meadville coach Jamie Plunkett said. “He has a knack of finding open space, and he's one of those kids where the puck seems to follow him.”

South Fayette's John Trinkala opened the scoring 7 minutes, 23 seconds into the game with an unassisted goal.

However, Meadville evened it with 2:27 left in the period on Frantz's tally.

“South Fayette is a tough team to play against. It's funny how some teams match up well with others. They beat us 4-0 in Meadville. It was a game of special teams. We were 0 for 6, and three of their four goals came on the power play. Our penalty killing was poor, and we had no answer for their goaltender,” Plunkett said. “As the first period was winding down, I was thinking, ‘Oh man, here's four periods without a goal.' So, I think getting that goal late in the first period was a big help for us. It kind of relaxed us a bit.”

Frantz gave Meadville a 2-1 lead late in the second. Frantz, skating in the South Fayette zone, gloved down a stretch pass in the slot. All alone, he waited for a second or two and fired a wrister inside the near post with 2:59 left on the clock.

“I saw it coming right to me. I play baseball, so I just threw my hand up, caught it and tossed it on the ice,” Frantz said. “I shot it as hard as I could into the top right corner.”

The Bulldogs added some insurance 7:29 into the third with an Alec Gizzie power-play goal. Frantz fired a shot from the near circle and Gizzie stuffed in the rebound for a 3-1 lead.

“That felt really good,” Frantz said. “After the second period, I knew they were going to come back out as hard as they were in the first. They played hard, but I think that goal built a lot of confidence for us.”

Meadville's Eddie Kaufman shut the door in the third period to seal the win. He finished with 29 saves.

“That's probably one of the best games I've seen him play,” Frantz said.

Joe Sager is a freelance writer.