PIHL Penguins Cup Hockey Playoff Recaps for Monday, March 4th

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 | 12:48 AM

While the puck was dropped to start the 2013 PIHL Penguins Cup Playoffs, the PIHL Open Class season came to an end with a battle between the Nailers Cup champion and the Chiefs Cup winner. Here are the recaps from the opening night of postseason and the playoff conclusion…all on the same night.

A special thanks to Mark Schaas, Don Rebel, Bob Orkwis, Mike Azadian, Josh Rowntree and Sam Hall for their help on these recaps.

PIHL OPEN CLASS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:

Ford City Sabers 9 – Wheeling Park Patriots 4
It was the Ford City Sabers claiming the PIHL Open Cup Championship with their 11^th straight win, a 9-4 victory over the Wheeling Park Patriots at the RMU Island Sports Center on Monday night. The Sabers got a pair of goals each from Jesse Valasek, Josh Oliver, Luke Gross and Eric LIndey. The Chiefs Cup Champions finished the season at 21-2-1 overall and outscored the opposition 31-12 during the post-season.  Josh Oliver got the Sabers on the board first, knocking home a rebound that Patriots net minder Noah Clune thought he had stopped, Valasek added to the lead on a setup by Bobby Kinsey, the Sabers also had two goals disallowed in the period. Michael Grove put Wheeling Park on the board with an unassisted goal, making it 2-1 after one.  Valasek set up Eric Lindey 81 seconds into the second for a 3-1 lead. Wheeling Park fought back, Grove scoring his second of the game to make it 3-2, but the backbreaker came with 29 seconds remaining in the period, Valasek getting his second of the game to make it 4-2 after two. If that wasn’t the straw, the next goal was, Oliver notching his second of the game 40 seconds into the third to make it 5-2. Lindey and Gross added goals, pushing the margin to five, but Wheeling Park wasn’t done, Ian McArdle scored with 6:23 remaining, then Grove got the hat trick 64 seconds later, to cut the deficit to three. But Gross notched his second and Kinsey scored on the power play to start the celebration from the large gathering of Ford City fans. Gross, just a freshman, ends with two goals and three assists, as did Valasek. Grove ended with three goals and an assist for Wheeling Park, who fell to 19-5 overall and saw a four game winning streak come to an end.

Scoring Summary
Ford City Sabers               2 – 2 – 5 = 9
Wheeling Park Patriots  1 – 1 – 2 = 4

(1^st Period)
FC:  Josh Oliver (4) (unassisted)  4:57
FC:  Jesse Valasek (6) (Bobby Kinsey)  7:49
WP:  Michael Grove (4)  (unassisted)  10:42
(2^nd Period)
FC:  Eric Lindey (4) (Valasek)  1:21
WP:  Grove  (5)  (Tyler Landis)  12:58
FC:  Valasek (7)  (Luke Gross/Lindey)  16:31
(3^rd Period)
FC:  Oliver (5)  (Valasek/Gross)  :40
FC:  Lindey (5)  (Gross)  3:16
FC:  Gross (5) PPG (Kinsey)  9:45
WP:  Ian McArdle (5)  (Grove)  10:37
WP:  Grove (6)  (Derek Smith)  11:41
FC:  Gross (6)  (Joey Cippel) 12:21
FC:  Kinsey (2) PPG (Valasek/Oliver) 15:14

PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AAA FIRST ROUND:

State College Little Lions 6 – Mount Lebanon Blue Devils 1
Stefan Horgas scored the game’s first goal three and a half minutes in, then scored the games final goal with three and a half minutes left, plus added a pair of assists in between as State College cruised past Mount Lebanon in a PIHL Class AAA First Round game Monday night at Penn State. Through a period and a half, the underdog Blue Devils kept it close, trailing 2-1 before the Little Lions Zachary Woytowich and Dalton Brown scored back-to-back goals 53 second apart mid-way through the second period to put the fifth-seed Little Lions in control. Brown added a second goal early in the third period for State College, which outshot Mount Lebanon 39-25. While the Blue Devils season comes to an end with a 5-17-0 record, the Little Lions improve to 15-7-0 and move on to play the 4^th-seed Seneca Valley Raiders in a PIHL Class AAA Quarterfinals clash on Thursday night at the Bladerunners in Warrendale at 8:00pm here on the MSA Sports Network.

Canon-McMillan Big Macs 3 – Butler Golden Tornado 0
The Canon-McMillan Big Macs blanked the Butler Golden Tornadoes 3-0 in opening round action of the PIHL AAA playoffs Monday night at the Ice-o-plex at Southpointe. The Big Macs got a quick start as Austin Tonkovich scored just 16 seconds into the contest. Tonkovich skated through traffic after the Big Macs had won the opening face-off and beat Butler net minder Logan Rothbauer to the far post and just like that the Big Macs had all the goals they would need to advance to the quarterfinals. Tonkovich was assisted on the goal by his brother Anthony. Canon-Mac added a goal in the firs minute of the second period to extend the lead to 2-0 as James Oddi, who worked so hard all night scored just 59 seconds into the second. Colman Slain rounded out the scoring with a power play goal at 9:16 of the third to seal the deal for Guntown. Ryan Christian made 20 saves to get the shutout between the pipes for Canon-Mac. Christian's counterpart Rothbauer was absolutely fantastic in net for Butler stopping 45 of 48 shots on the night as Canon-Mac controlled play from the outset. Many of Rothbauer's saves were of the spectacular variety, but it was not enough to stop the Big Macs from moving on. Canon-Mac will find out who they play in the quarterfinals tonight as the opening round concludes here on the MSA Sports Network.

PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AA FIRST ROUND:

Hampton Talbots 4 – Gateway Gators 3
In PIHL AA first round action At the Ice Connection in Valencia the Hampton Talbots come from behind to win over the Gateway Gators 4-3. The first period saw Hampton come out flying and score early at the 5:49 mark. Joe Vita scored on a wrist shot from between the circles to make it 1-0 Talbots. They would get on the board again at 11:59 as Zach Kosick made it 2-0. Before the period would end the Gators came alive and  would score on the power play at 14:31. Jake Dehass made it 2-1 and the Gators were back in the game. Into the second period Gateway would continue their pressure and score two straight strange goals. Camden Cacolice scored at :35 as a shot deflected up over Talbot goalie Cam Raidna, hit his glove, then his mask and dropped at his feet before Cacolice pounced on it to tie the game at 2-2. Just less than 3:00 minutes later, a puck would come off the end boards behind Raidna out to Cacolice and he score again and Gateway led 3-2. Now Gateway was outplaying the Talbots but could not get a puck past Raidna. Hampton would tie it at 3-3 on a goal by Kostick. Ethan Homitz came down the right side and Kostick headed to the net, the pass was there and he chipped in a pretty goal. The third period was hard fought and Gateway killed a 5 on 3 power play by the Talbots,but took another penalty late in the period. Homitz would score his second at 14:26 on the power play to give Hampton the 4-3  win.Homitz ended with a goal and 2 assists, Kostick with 2 goals and an assist to pace Hampton. They improve to 11-7-2 and as the number 7 seed will play the second seeded Latrobe Wildcats at Kirk Nevin Arena in Greensburg at 7:15 Thursday March 7th. Gateway ends their season at 8-12. Cacolice had two goals, and Brandon Dusch, and Talylor Siwik both had 2 assists to lead the Gators.

Plum Mustangs 6 – North Hills Indians 3
For the second straight year the Mustangs and the Indians matched up in the first round of the PIHL Class Playoffs. For the second straight year Plum ended the Indians season at the Valley Sports Complex in New Kensington. The first half of this game was up and down and the back and forth score reflected the play. Jeremy Warhold scored the game’s first goal for North Hills at (4:27) of the first period. Joey Randazzo tied the game for Plum with a strong wrist shot from the top of the left circle at (15:15). Andrew Walters notched a power play goal for the Mustangs just: 48 into the second period for a 2-1 Plum lead. Only: 46 later, Ryan Kuchnicki answered for the Indians and the game was tied at 2. Dave Stonebraker (4:03) gave Plum the lead back, but Brett Berner off a face-off win answered at (6:32) for a 3-3 tie. The backbreaking goal for Plum came from an unlikely source and from an innocent looking shot from the left wing boards. Defensemen Zach Nolan scored his first ever varsity goal by throwing a 50-foot wrist shot past Indians goaltender Max Sikorski at the (15:39) mark of the second period to give Plum the lead for good. Andrew Pagano scored the Mustangs second power play goal of the game but jamming home a rebound (5:59) into the third period. The 5-3 Plum lead looked precarious as North Hills skated with a two-man advantage for over three minutes, but the Indians could not beat Plum net-minder Taylor Cestra or the Mustangs three-man defense during the power play. Randazzo would seal the deal beating Sikorski on a breakaway with (2:09) remaining to give Plum the 6-3 win. Randazzo nabbed MSA Player-of-the Game honors with 2 goals and 3 assists. Cestra was a close second for the Mustangs, as she finished the game with 45 saves. Plum was 2-fo-2 with the man advantage while the Mustangs killed all 5 North Hills power play attempts. The 8^th seeded Mustangs are now (9-10-1) on the season and Plum advances into the PIHL AA Quarterfinals to face top seeded Bishop Canevin (16-1-2) on Wednesday night at the Mt. Lebanon Ice Arena. The Indians finished the year with a record of (8-12).

PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS A FIRST ROUND:

Serra Catholic Eagles 9 – South Park Eagles 2
Serra Catholic has been a considerably young hockey team with tremendous verteran leadership sprinkled in all season long. On Monday, No. 7 Serra (12-11) showed the Rostraver Ice Garden crowd exactly that in a 9-2 blowout of No. 10 South Park (5-18-0). The Eagles received tremendous play from all three of their Freshmen in the lineup. Chen Pesecreta started in net and stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced and picked up an assist, Thomas Werner scored 2 goals and Roman Kraemer had 3 goals and an assist in the win. Pesecreta started in place of normal Serra starter Ian Ritchie for the fourth game in a row. Tyler Speis had a goal and 4 assists, Jonathan Henschel had 2 goals and an assist and Nick Vacsulka had 4 assists for Serra, who snapped a 3-game losing streak. Werner scored the game's first goal just 5:18 into the contest, but South Park goaltender Shane Walker would make a number of terrific saves, ending the 1st period at 1-0. Kraemer and Henschel would then score early in the 2nd period just 26 seconds apart, extending the Serra lead to 3-0. Just when it looked like Serra was going to run away with the game, South Park answered. Chris Eisengart and Cam Sabatini would score just 31 seconds apart, cutting the Serra lead to 3-2. But that's when Speis would score the game's biggest goal; Off a pass from Pesecreta, Speis would go coast to coast and beat Walker, making it 4-2. Werner and Kraemer would both then tack on their second goals of the game, making it 6-2 after two periods. Kraemer would get his hat trick goal late in the 3rd, while Gian Oliver and Henschel would add two more, giving Serra three goals in a 1:10 span. Walker stopped 37 of 46 shots he faced. The game was most likely the last at the Ice Garden for Serra coach Brian Boehm, who plans to retire after the season. However, his Eagles do move into the PIHL Class A Penguins Cup Quarterfinals, where they will meet No. 2 Mars (17-3-1) on Wednesday at 8:30pm at Bladerunners in Warrendale.

MSA Sports 3 Stars 
1. Tyler Speis, Serra (G, 4A)
2. Roman Kraemer, Serra (3G, A)
3. Chen Pesecreta (22 of 24 saves, A)

Mt. Lebanon Ice Arena Play of the Game
Speis' goal off of a pass from Pesecreta, which he took coast to coat and broke a 2-0 run by South Park, making it 4-2 and swinging momentum back to Serra Catholic.

Deer Lakes Lancers 8 – South Fayette Lions 1
In a first round PIHL game at the Ice Connection in Valencia, the Deer Lakes Lancers had an easy time dispatching the South Fayette Lions by an 8-1 score. The Lancers came out flying in the first period scoring 4 goals to take a commanding lead. Zach Luniewski opened the scoring at 3:13 and was followed by three straight goals in 5 minutes and 22 seconds by Mitchell Ruprecht. The hats came on the ice, as well as shoes and other items as the Lancer fans celebrated. They would take the lead to 6-0 in the second period on goals by Curtis Szewczyk and Luniewski's  second of  the game. In the third the mercy rule was enacted as they would make it 7-0  on Thomas Lisowski's goal. The Lions would make it 7-1 on an Alex Orlandini goal, but with :11 seconds remaining Charles Dombrowski of the Lancers ended the scoring making it 8-1.  For the Lancers, Luniewski had 2 goals and an assist, Rupprect had 3 goals and 2 assists, Vincent Casale had 2 assists, Szewczyk had a goal and an assist, Dombrowski a goal and an assist,  Lisowski a goal and 2 assists, and Jake Scherer with 2 assists. All of them  had more than 2 points to pace the Lancers.Deer Lakes improves to 9-13-1 and will face the number one seeded Quaker Valley Quakers at 8:30 on Thursday March 7th at the Airport Ice Arena. South Fayette ends their season at 5-17-1