Norwin comes alive in 3rd period to beat Fox Chapel, reach PIHL 2A semifinals

By: Michael Love
Monday, March 4, 2024 | 10:17 PM

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The Norwin and Fox Chapel hockey teams have gotten to know each other pretty well over the past three years, both in the regular season and in the Penguin Cup playoffs.

On Monday at Palmer Imaging Arena in Delmont, the Knights and Foxes met for the third straight year in the postseason and for the third time this season.

Fox Chapel hoped to turn the tables on Norwin after losing the two meetings in the regular season while the Knights had a season sweep on their minds.

The Foxes grabbed a one-goal lead early in the third, but Norwin struck for three in a span of 2 minutes, 4 seconds in the latter stages of regulation. An empty netter sealed a 5-2 Knights victory.

“That is how this team works,” Norwin coach Mike Robinson said. “When we get one, we get the confidence. I know my team, and I know how we play. I knew we weren’t done there in the third. They came out to play, and I couldn’t be more proud of those guys.

“Games against Fox Chapel are always really good. The boys really get up for games like these. I am glad we’re on the winning side of those games this year.”

Norwin, the 2022 Penguins Cup champion in Class A, reached the semifinals for the third year in a row. The No. 4 seed Knights will take on No. 8 Penn-Trafford in the semifinals March 12 at the RMU Island Sports Center.

The Warriors upset defending Class 2A Pennsylvania Cup champion and No. 1 seed South Fayette, 4-3, Monday at Mt. Lebanon Rec Center.

Fox Chapel, with nine seniors, finished 11-9-0-1 overall. The Foxes had hoped to make another run after reaching the Penguins Cup Class A finals last year.

“I’ve been with these seniors all four years of varsity,” Foxes coach Cam Raidna said. “I am so proud of what they’ve accomplished and what they’ve given to the program. Those nine seniors and that whole team in there, you couldn’t ask for a better group of kids.

“I told them that they need to walk out of here with their heads up. They did everything they needed to do to win that game. Sometimes, the way it went tonight is the way it goes. They have nothing to hang their heads about. It just didn’t go our way tonight.”

Norwin started the third period on the power play for 1:29. But Fox Chapel struck with 28 seconds left in the Knights’ man advantage.

Junior Liam Wiseman scored short-handed to put the Foxes up 2-1.

Fox Chapel looked to go up two goals on the power play as Norwin’s Mason Hohman went to the box for roughing with 9:04 left in the period.

The Foxes got off one shot, but nothing else materialized.

Norwin then picked up its fourth power play of the game with 5:39 left as Fox Chapel’s Hayden Ferra was whistled for interference. Thirty-eight seconds into the advantage, Aaron Varrati scored to tie the game off assists form Dom Costantino and Dom Cerilli.

Costantino and Cerilli then helped on what turned out to be the game-winner, a goal from Zach Singleton less than a minute later.

Zayn Zeravica gave the Knights some insurance with 2:57 left as he scored off of assists from Costantino and Colin Czekaj.

Alex Thomas, who led Class 2A in both goals and points in the regular season, finished off the win with an empty netter.

“We knew we could come back,” Singleton said. “We’ve done it before. We just didn’t back down. We had the intermission and we talked about what we could do in the third period. We just had to grind and do what we knew we could do, and things would work out for us.”

“It wasn’t how we wanted to start the third period with giving up that (short-handed) goal, but our response to it was the important thing,” Robinson said. “We put the pedal to the metal and kept going.”

Fox Chapel finished the game with a 35-33 shot advantage, but Norwin (12-7-0-2) owned the third period, 15-13.

The Foxes grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first period as Grady Cullen scored with 6:45 left on the clock off assists from Nate Sarra and Tyler Goldstein.

The score remained 1-0 through the first five minutes of the second period. That’s when Norwin got the equalizer.

Costantino beat a Fox Chapel defender to a loose puck just inside the offensive blue line. He skated in and beat Foxes netminder Joe Rattner for the goal with 11:53 on the clock.

Fox Chapel almost got the lead back a minute later, but Dom Casile unleashed a shot that rang off the right post.

Norwin had a solid chance to break the tie with a power play at the 6:56 mark. It became a five-on-three chance a little over a minute later.

The Knights got off one shot on the two-man advantage and didn’t have a shot on the remaining five-on-four.

Fox Chapel then went on the power play for 1:36 and picked up two shots, but neither found the back of the net.

“We came in here knowing that we had to stay positive all three periods, and we did that,” Singleton said. “We didn’t let anything stop us.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Norwin