Burrell among A-K Valley hockey teams facing tough 1st-round tests

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 3, 2018 | 6:18 PM

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Burrell had already clinched third place in the PIHL Division II standings, and Kennedy Catholic was locked in at No. 6, so when the two teams played in their regular-season finale, it was a playoff preview.

The lesson from the game, a 4-3 loss for the Bucs, was the Eagles are a formidable opponent and will be a tough out this postseason.

Burrell hosts Kennedy Catholic in the first round 9 p.m. Monday at Pittsburgh Ice Arena in New Kensington. Burrell won the first meeting against Kennedy Catholic, 4-2, on Jan. 15, but fell behind by four goals in the first period in the second game.

“The one thing I told our guys before the game was that Kennedy Catholic was going to do everything they could to get us off our game, and that's exactly what they did,” Bucs coach Max Rickard said. “They looked like a completely different team than when we played them the first time. They were firing on all cylinders, and they were taking the body every chance they got.”

Four Alle-Kiski Valley hockey teams made the playoffs. No. 8 Plum will play No. 1 Peters Township in the Class AAA first round at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Printscape Arena at Southpointe. In Class A, No. 9 Fox Chapel will play No. 8 Sewickley Academy at 8:30 p.m. Monday at RMU Island Sports Center, and No. 12 Kiski Area will play No. 5 Indiana at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Indiana's S&T Bank Arena.

Burrell, in the playoffs for the second consecutive season, features the most explosive offense in Division II, racking up 101 goals in 18 games, and the league's scoring champion in Tyler Stewart, who had 44 goals and 67 points. Kennedy Catholic comes in with a minus-1 goal differential, scoring 59 and yielding 60.

Stewart had two goals and an assist in the loss to the Eagles. He and Dylan Zelonka, who ranked third in scoring with 41 points, provide offensive depth for the Bucs.

“(Stewart) can really put the team on his back,” Rickard said. “He's got great speed up and down the ice. He has great hands. He likes to take the puck up into the zone and work the play from there. Other teams like to try to get into his head to get him off the ice. It'll be a fun game on Monday.”

Like Burrell, Plum got a look at its first-round opponent in its regular-season finale. The Mustangs lost, 1-0, against Peters Township last Tuesday.

Plum coach Vinnie Somma said both teams knew nothing was at stake. The Mustangs lost 6-1 to the Indians in the season opener. The Indians are the defending Class AAA champions.

Plum was in last place at the halfway point of the season but won five of its last eight games.

“Our team plays with a chip on their shoulder, and I like that,” Somma said. “Our guys felt that they didn't get a lot of respect from other teams this year, and that's fine, because respect needs to be earned. We had to put our heads down and starting playing some tough and physical hockey. Some teams don't like that, but we're playing hard. “(Tuesday) we played with 13 guys up against a group of 20 in Triple-A division and our guys don't care. They don't make excuses, and instead they go out and work hard for themselves and the guy next to them.”

The Mustangs won the Class AA title last season.

“At this point, we have to go out, play our game and try to shock some people,” Somma said. “The guys in that locker room have to come together as a unit and believe that they can do this. At the beginning of the season, I told the guys that I don't care how we get in, but we have to get in. All we had to do was get a foot in the door, and now we're here.”

Fox Chapel was winless in Class AA last year and started this year 3-6 before winning eight of its last 11 games.

The Foxes defeated Sewickley Academy 7-5 in a back-and-forth game Jan. 15. Fraternal twins Seth and Shane Krhovsky scored 32 seconds apart late in the third period to seal the win. Fox Chapel outshot the Panthers, 52-29.

“Sewickley Academy is good team, and they're well-coached,” Foxes coach Jason Silver said. “They're a disciplined bunch. From our standpoint, we know we have to attack hard and heavy below the dots in the offensive zone. When we find our offensive game, we're very difficult to stop. We have some guys who know how to score and aren't afraid to get dirty goals in front of the net. In that game, we didn't have any 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 goals. The majority of the goals we scored were within four feet of the net.”

Kiski Area was the last team into the Class A bracket and nearly upset Indiana in its regular-season finale Feb. 15.

The Cavaliers, who are in the postseason for the third consecutive year, were tied with the Indians through two periods before losing, 5-4.

Kiski Area's Austin LaPiana tied Meadville's Nick Frantz for the lead league in goals with 39. Tyler Barker led Indiana with 24 goals.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

Tags: Burrell, Fox Chapel, Kiski School, Plum