2012 PIHL Penguins Cup High School Hockey CLASS AA Blog

By: Bruce Markey
Saturday, March 24, 2012 | 3:12 PM

It's championship time, so that means it's MSA Sports blog time! Sure, we are the only place to listen to all three PIHL Penguins Cup Championship Games live (and archived), but if you don't have the time and want a quick update on the happenings of the high school hockey finals all day long from the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh.

CLASS AA CHAMPIONSHIP: #1 WEST ALLEGHENY INDIANS vs #4 ERIE CATHEDRAL PREP RAMBLERS

CLASS AA CHAMPIONSHIP: #1 WEST ALLEGHENY INDIANS vs #4 ERIE CATHEDRAL PREP RAMBLERS

West Allegheny 4 – Erie Cathedral Prep 3  Final-OT.  Keep it here for the Bethel Park/Peters Township Class AAA tilt on the MSA Sports Network!  We will have the call, the blog and the article as well as all of the State Championship games on the network tomorrow. 

GOAL!  West Allegheny's sustained pressure in OT ends in a Matt Grebowski goal 5:58 into the extra period. Grebowski places a shot perfectly on the far, stick-side of Trey Brown and West Allegheny wins PIHL gold in capturing the Penguin Cup Championship.  Hard working Jonathan Levitt picks up the assist.  Congratulations to both teams. 

Levitt again…best player in this overtime period as he picks off an errant Prep exit pass which forces Brown to make a great save again.

2:30 into overtime.  Trey Brown just made a great save on West Allegheny's Jonathan Levitt.  He just robbed Levitt again as I type this.  Two great saves.

Both teams have registered 20 shots on goal through regulation time.

45 minutes?  Not enough to settle the Class AA Penguin Cup Finals.  There will be a 10 minute sudden death period.  Will that decide it?  Do I get paid overtime?

1:00 to play…still tied 3-3.

Penalty killed…Matthew Callaghan is wiping the sweat off of his brow as his teammates were able to kill his holding penalty and keep this a 3-3 game.  West Allegheny was able to register one shot on the man-advantage.

Keep in mind…2/3 Prep goals have come shorthanded here this afternoon.

Brown once again comes up large against the Indians Lisenbigler.  However, in the scrum following the play, the Ramblers take a penalty which will give West Allegheny a huge power play with 3:16 left in the game.  Can the Ramblers kill this huge penalty?

Great save by Trey Brown as he stood tall against Josh Lisenbigler in a mad scramble around the net.  4:20 to go…3-3.

Nearing the 10:00 mark of the third period.  Still tied 3-3.  Very entertaining hockey game.  The Indians have seemed to fix their defensive issues that caused numerous odd-man opportunities for Prep in the 2nd period.

West A with a clutch kill of the Hayes penalty.  Prep logs one shot on goal against Kumpfmiller on the power play.

Prep takes to the PP as Zachary Hayes goes to the box for interference at the 6:39 mark. 

Just under 9:00 to go in third period…should be an excellent finish.  Stay tuned!

GOAL!  The Ramblers get the equalizer as Mitch Campbell scores from the left wing as he pulls the puck to his forehand and buries it between the legs of Kumpfmiller.  Game is tied 3-3.  Assist goes to Peter Zaphiris.

Trey Brown stones West A's Matt Grebowski with a stellar glove save at the 4:00 mark.  Two teams battling on pretty even terms in the last few minutes.

Indians forward Patrick Coburn rattled one off the crossbar at the 3:27 mark of this 3rd period.  He would love to have that one back!  Still 3-2 West Allegeny.

Kumpfmiller robs Jimmy Buffalino on the doorstep just 2:00 into this 3rd period.  Prep again controlling play.

Both teams are back on the ice and the ice is spic-n-span after great work by the Zamboni driver.  Great crowds and atmosphere for the Class AA tilt.  Fifteen more minutes to play…can West Allegheny hold on to win the Penguin Cup Championship or does Erie Cathedral Prep have enough to come from this one-goal deficit?  The puck is dropped in the third period…

Just saw another replay of Ervin's goal.  Trey Brown was definitely leaning toward his glove side which left the short side free for Ervin to capitalize.  And, he did!  Cathedral Prep very easily could be winning this game with as many chances as they had in that second period.  They had 4 breakaways.

2nd period is history…both teams get goals in the stanza.  West Allegheny outshoots Prep 7-4 in the second period but still trails in shots 16-12.  West Allegheny is 1-5 on the power play but has given up two shorthanded goals to Prep.  Prep is 0-2 with the man-advantange.  We clean the ice and look forward to what is sure to be a very exciting third period of play.

GOAL!  West Allegheny's Mason Ervin scores with :53.8 seconds left in the second period as he and Jared DiSanti came in on a 2-on-1.  A great pass by DiSanti set up Ervin who beat Brown on the stick-side.  3-2 West Allegheny.

Another breakaway given up by the Indians as Jimmy Buffalino skated in and shot wide on the backhand against Kumpfmiller.  West Allegheny better get their defense in order if they hope to win PIHL gold here today.

GOAL!  Prep's Zachary Faulkner scores a shorthanded goal at the 10:58 mark of the second period.  There was a delayed penalty coming to West Allegheny.  2-2.  When Z. Faulkner scored, he skated right towards the West Allegheny student section and gave them all a mock-wave.

Geez…another crunching body check coming this time from West A's Taran Beckett on Trevor Faulkner.  This game is not for the faint of heart.  Don Alexander (Prep) then takes a penalty for interference with just under 5:00 to go in the second period.

Indians defensemen Zachary Hayes just leveled Cam Zbrzeznj on a clean check just inside of West Allegheny's blue line.  Zbrzeznj is up and on his skates and gets a round of applause from the crowd as he skates to the bench.

Preps Jimmy Buffalino came in another breakaway as both teams skated 4-4 and actually beat Kumpfmiller but Buffalino hit the post keeping the score 2-1, West Allegheny.

Wow…Cam Zbrzeznj was again robbed on a short-handed break-away as he tried to stuff a backhand past the pads of Kumpfmiller.  He just got too deep to be able to complete the move and tie the score.  On the play, Indian's Chris Allison takes a penalty which cancels the remaining time on their power play.

Prep takes a penalty at the 5:21 mark of the 2nd period.  Zach Faulkner goes to the box for tripping.  We'll see if the Indians can add to their 2-1 lead with the man-advantage.

Man…I wish I was as technologically savvy as MSA stud Josh Rountree.  No photos in game two, folks.  Sorry!

The first few minutes of period 2 seem to be pretty even although West Allegheny have registered the only two shots to this point.

GOAL!  Indians top goal-getter, Jonathan Levitt scores at the 14:39 mark on a nice feed from Jared DiSanti as we head to the first intermission with West Allegheny holding a 2-1 lead over Erie Cathedral Prep. Tough ending to what was a decent first period for Prep as they thoroughly outplayed West Allegheny, outshooting them 12-5.

West A goaltender Jason Kumpfmiller just robbed Cam Zbrzeznj on the doorstep after a bad turnover in their own zone.  1:00 left in the first period.

GOAL!  West Allegheny ties it up on the power play as Jared DiSanti bangs one home on the backhand.  The goal was assisted by Chris Allison at the 10:16 mark of this first period.  The goal has given West Allegheny some life here as the ice seems to have leveled a bit.  

CORRECTION:  Ordos' goal came short-handed as it was West Allegheny that was on the man-advantange.  West A looks befuddled early on.

Prep's Chris Coombs just rattled one off the post and now goes on the PP as the Indian's Brent Torchio goes to the box.  GOAL…Joshua Ordos scores the PP goal for Erie Cathedral Prep and they go up 1-0 at the 8:12 mark of the 1st period.

Prep has carried the play for the first 6:30 of this game…they are currently out-shooting West Allegheny 5-0.

Both teams are now 0-1 on the power play as the Indians kill the Prep man-advantange.  Prep had much more sustained offensive zone presence on their power play, however.

West A's Patrick Coburn takes a penalty for Illegal Head Contact at the 3:12 mark.

Trey Brown is in between the pipes for Prep and didn't face a shot on the Indian's initial power play.  Jason Kumpfmiller is in net for West Allegheny this afternoon.

The puck has been dropped and the game is underway!  :38 into the first period and Prep takes the first penalty.  Chris Coombs goes in for boarding.  We'll see if West A can capitalize on their first chance on the PP.

Prep defeated Latrobe 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the PIHL Penguin Cup playoffs and then beat Chartiers Valley 6-4 in the semis.  West Allegheny's road to the finals included a 5-2 win vs. Moon in the quarters and a 5-3 win against Pine-Richland in the semis.  Jonathan Levitt has led the way with 4 goals in the post-season for the Indians while the Ramblers have been led by Jimmy Buffalino who had a hat trick in the victory against the Colts.

Hello from Consol Energy where I will be blogging all of the action in the Class AA Penguin Cup Championship game.  West Allegheny, the top seed, were winners of Section 1 and scored 107 goals in the regular season while only giving up 35 goals on the year.  Conversely, the Ramblers of Erie Cathedral Prep finished tied for 2nd in Section 2 and scored exactly twice as many goals as they rendered (128 GF, 64 GA).  However, the Ramblers are white-hot, winners of their last 7 games, including a dominant 5-0 win against these same Indians back on February 27th.  West Allegheny won the first contest between these two teams, 3-1, on Halloween.  Should be a good one this afternoon!

Tags: Erie Cathedral Prep, West Allegheny