Cathedral Prep Rambles to AA Pens Cup Crown
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Saturday, March 14, 2015 | 7:16 PM
A lot has happened in 17 years. 1997 was the second year of the second term for President Clinton, the movie Titanic won 11 Oscars, a gallon of gas was $1.22 and the price of a movie ticket was $4.59. 1997 was also the last time Erie Cathedral Prep won a Penguins Cup high school hockey championship, until Saturday.
{Left: Erie Cathedral Prep goalie Jacob Kucharski keeps the puck out despite heavy traffic in front in leading Ramblers to 2015 Penguins Cup Class AA crown}
The Ramblers got clutch goaltending from Jacob Kucharski and a pair of goals from Trevor Faulkner to beat the Armstrong RiverHawks 3-1 Saturday at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh to win the 2015 PIHL Class AA Penguins Cup Championship.
Armstrong got a taste of what kind of evening they were in store for early on when Christian Miller was robbed on the doorstep by a big save by Kucharski. Later in the period, Kucharski stoned Josh Oliver who broke in down the left wing side to keep the game scoreless. After a penalty to Erie Cathedral Prep’s Joe Kelly and Armstrong’s Jacob Gross left the action on the ice to a 4-on-4, the puck deflected off the side of the cage and between the skates of a RiverHawks defender, who could not clear but could not allow Armstrong goalie Taylor Smouse to cover up, instead Faulkner reached in and backhanded his own rebound under the crossbar to give the Ramblers a 1-0 lead.
It was another rebound that gave ECP a 2-0 lead 3 and a half minutes later. The Ramblers Ben Eliason fed a sweet pass into the slot for a shot by Faulkner, which Smouse stopped, only to watch Faulkner follow his shot and dive to whack the rebound into the net.
The first period ended with Cathedral Prep leading 2-0 despite being outshot by Armstrong 13-9.
The RiverHawks came close 3 minutes into the second period when an innocent shot from the near boards was stopped by Kucharski, who then bobbled the puck after teammate Brett Cox bumped into him, but Armstrong could not take advantage of the Ramblers miscue. A minute late, the ‘Hawks did crack the scoreboard on a faceoff win Oliver back to the center point where Donovan Wichowski took a long shot that deflected off Bill Kelly’s stick in the slot and caromed past Kucharski to pull the ‘Hawks to within one.
Cathedral Prep regained a two goal cushion though late in the second period when Joe Sala broke in down the left wing wide, cut across the goal mouth and delivered a backhand shot that somehow just squeezed between the pads of Smouse to make it 3-1 Ramblers.
The third period was more defensive minded until the RiverHawks scored with five and a half minutes left to make it 3-2. A Ramblers turnover deep in their own end led to a perfect pass in front by Armstrong’s Gross to an open Miller who made a move and dumped the puck pass Kucharski and the RiverHawks had life.
But after a couple of good scoring chances with the extra attacker, Richard Vicary broke free from the pack and scored a breakaway empty net goal to seal the deal for Cathedral Prep, as they celebrate their third Penguins Cup high school hockey title (1984, 1997 and 2015).
In only their second year of existence, Armstrong ends up with a final mark 16-5-1. Erie Cathedral Prep improves to 20-2-0 and have now won 14 straight and will now play for the 2015 Pennsylvania Cup Championship on Saturday, March 21st at Penn State University when they battle Flyers Cup champion Downingtown East.
Final GOal and Celebration: Erie Cathedral Prep https://youtu.be/HBxehREnGmA
Class AA Award Presentation: https://youtu.be/ulvzmkJihtY
SCORING SUMMARY:
Score by Period:
Armstrong RiverHawks : 0 – 1 – 1 = 2
Erie Cathedral Prep Ramblers : 2 – 1 – 1 = 4
Bladerunners Scoring:
1st Period:
ECP – Trevor Faulkner (Ben Eliason) 3:44
ECP – Trevor Faulkner (Ben Eliason, Mitch Slubowski) 7:10
2nd Period:
Arm – Donovan Wichowski (Joshua Oliver) 4:37
ECP – Joe Sala (Trevor Faulkner, Jack Kelly) 15:38
3rd Period:
Arm – Christian Miller (Jacob Gross) 11:24
ECP – Ricahrd Vicary (Jack Kelly) 16:47 (en)
Power Play:
Armstrong 0-5
Erie Cathedral Prep 0-4
Goalies:
Armstrong – Taylor Smouse: 32 shots, 29 saves
Erie Cathedral Prep – Jacob Kucharski: 26 shots, 24 saves
Mount Lebanon Ice Arena Play of the Game:
Third goal of the game on a goal by Erie Cathedral Preps Joe Sala late in the second period that made it 3-1 Ramblers.
Management Science Associates Three Stars:
#3 – Christian Miller from Armstrong
#2 – Jacob Kucharski from Erie Cathedral Prep
#1 – Trevor Faulkner from Erie Cathedral Prep
Tags: Armstrong, Erie Cathedral Prep
