Burrell’s Stewart, Kiski Area’s LaPiana lead way in PIHL scoring race
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Sunday, December 17, 2017 | 10:51 PM
When Austin LaPiana and Tyler Stewart were in elementary school, they played on the same dek hockey team in North Hills.
Neither can recall much about that time, but one thing stood out.
“I remember we scored a lot of goals,” Stewart said.
Once they put on skates and hit the ice, their hockey paths drifted apart — Stewart at Burrell and LaPiana at Kiski Area — but each one's ability to fill the net remained a constant.
Stewart, a sophomore, and LaPiana, a senior, are the top two point-scorers in the PIHL.
Stewart has 34 goals and 52 points for the Bucs (8-3) in Division II. LaPiana has 24 goals and 36 points in Class A for the Cavaliers (6-4).
Their eye-popping numbers have helped their teams achieve winning records through the first half. Burrell is in second place in Division II, and Kiski Area is in a tie for ninth in Class A.
Stewart already has matched his goal total from last season with seven games remaining in the season. He's had a pair of five-goal games, two four-goal games and four hat tricks. Stewart credits several areas that have helped him: dedication to working on his shot, linemates Logan Schoepf and Cole Vassana and studying goalies.
“In the offseason and even in season, I try to better my shot as much as I can,” Stewart said. “I think about where better shots would be while I'm on the ice. I wouldn't get as many chances as I do without my teammates drawing people away from me or giving me the puck to be able to shoot and score. I've also watched some of the goalies I've played over and over throughout the years and tried to learn where their weak spots are.”
LaPiana is six goals and nine points shy of matching his totals from last season. He had a six-goal game against Wheeling Park in a 10-7 win, scored five times in a 13-4 win over Beaver and has three hat tricks. He's two points ahead of Meadville's Nicholas Frantz in the Class A scoring race.
Like Stewart, working on shooting is at the top of LaPiana's list.
Kiski Area lost forwards Nick Hurley, Brandon Stephens and Nick Wallace and goalie Alex Ferraro to graduation, but LaPiana meshed with linemate James Ayres, which has helped keep Kiski Area in playoff contention. Ayres has nine goals and 13 assists.
“We lost a lot of top players, but it hasn't changed too much for me because I'm still playing with Jimmy Ayres a lot and we basically rotate someone with us,” LaPiana said. “Losing our goalie (Alexander Ferraro) was huge because he was a key part of our team. Some of our lines have been impacted a little bit because we lost a few of our top scorers, but other than that it hasn't impacted us too much.”
With the amount of points Stewart and LaPiana have put up, it's natural for other teams to focus on them. LaPiana regularly has an opponent or sometimes two opponents tracking him every time he comes off the bench for a shift.
LaPiana is one of the smaller players on the ice in every game, but he doesn't let the way teams play him affect the way he approaches the game.
“I get shadowed most of the game, so it's a little bit harder to find space, but we find a way to work around it,” LaPiana said. “I use my speed to get away from them. I don't think it is too much of a disadvantage that someone shadows me. I can normally beat them or it leaves space for me to get the puck to other people on my line.”
Stewart has felt smothering pressure from opponents all season. He said it usually doesn't bother him, but in a 3-0 loss to Ringgold, frustration boiled over, and he committed a slashing major and received a game misconduct. The game misconduct means he will serve a one-game suspension when Burrell plays Moon on Monday.
“All the years I've played, I've had people slash me and say stuff to me and I usually don't let it get to my head, but we were losing and no one was doing their jobs, including me,” Stewart said. “I let it get to my head, and I lashed out. I made a mistake, and I have to learn from it.”
Several other players from the Alle-Kiski Valley are playing well.
Deer Lakes' Ryan Murdock has 15 goals for a Lancers team that is back from a two-year varsity hiatus. Fox Chapel's Chase Villani and Shane Krhovsky form a potent duo with Villani scoring 10 goals and Krhovsky scoring 22 points. Freeport's Kyle Hazelett has 11 goals and three two-goal games.
Burrell's Dylan Zelonka is second behind Stewart on the Division II scoring list with 29 points. Stewart and Zelonka play on separate lines, so Stewart has a good look from the bench at what makes Zelonka a scoring threat.
“Dylan knows where to be on the ice and he knows how to use his speed,” Stewart said. “He lets his teammates get open, so he can get the puck to them and then can get open himself so they can get it back to him. He's a very good team player.”
Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.
Tags: Burrell, Kiski School
