Peters Township Claims 5th PA Cup State 3-A Title
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Saturday, March 25, 2017 | 10:35 PM
The front of the net is space reserved only for the courageous as goaltenders and their defensemen are not a very welcoming group when they have to share that space around the goal crease. But if you want to score goals in tight playoff hockey games, then you have to have the courage and willingness to venture into that area, and maybe, just maybe you can slam home a rebound for the decisive State Championship winning goal.
Peters Township Senior Captain William Barnes accepted that responsibility on the Indians’ fifth power play at the 12:58 mark of the third period in a game tied 1-1, and it was his third goal of the playoffs, and 14th goal of the season that gave Peters Township its 5th State Championship – second at the AAA level – with a 2-1 victory over the Flyers’ Cup Champions Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds at the RMU Island Sports Center on Saturday evening.
“One of our Assistant Coaches told me to get in front of the net when we went out there on the power play,” said Barnes, “and I went over to Jeremy Anthos and told him I don’t do well on the perimeter, I’m going to the front of the net.”
It was there that Barnes positioned himself facing the left-wing boards, keeping the Firebirds’ defenseman behind him. Anthos took a shot from that direction on the half wall and Barnes used a wide base and a very good pivot turn to move his stick from one side of the crease to the other, and the right-shot forward found the loose puck and slammed it home on the forehand to give the Indians’ the 2-1lead at 13:34 of the third period.
Special teams and goaltender play were the reasons that Peters Township defeated a very talented opponent in Holy Ghost Prep, who outshot the Indians 38-28 in the game. Freshman goaltender Alex Wilbert continued his sublime playoff run making 37 saves to conclude the playoffs playing 204 minutes, allowing only 4 goals for a GAA of 1.00, and making 108 saves for a ridiculous save percentage of 96.4%. Wilbert, one of four quadruplets, backstopped the Indians to quadruple upsets in the playoffs.
Coach Rick Tingle made the difficult decision to go with Wilbert later in the season when the team was not firing on all cylinders as they did in the playoffs. When asked about the play of his Freshman goaltender, Barnes said “we knew that we would have to ban together in front of him and make sure that we got pucks out.” Switching a goalie during a game or during a season is one lever a coach can pull to get a response from his team and it seems this decision by Tingle was a master stroke.
Peters Township defeated the #3 seeded Canon-McMillan Big Macs 2-1, the #2 seeded North Allegheny Tigers 7-0, and the #1 seeded Central Catholic Vikings to win their 6th Penguin Cup Wednesday night, and then defeated the #2 seeded Flyers’ Cup Champion Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds. This run of four games was equally unexpected and impressive.
The Indians were stellar on special teams as they successfully killed off 4 power play opportunities for the Firebirds while converting on 2 of their 5 opportunities on the power play, the only goals that they scored.
The first goal of the game was scored at the 8:05 mark of the first period when Ryan Luppe got the puck at the bottom of the left circle and was able to beat Firebirds’ goaltender Tristan Devine on the far side high. The game remained 1-0 at the intermission.
Forward Byron Hartley tied the game at 1 at the 4:45 mark of the third period when he got a step on the Indians’ defenseman coming out of the corner to the right of Wilbert. The shot appeared to hit Wilbert and then kept bouncing into the far side of the net. At that point in the game, Holy Ghost Prep had titled the ice in their favor, playing the last six minutes of the second period and the first four minutes of the third period in the Indians’ end of the ice and were justly rewarded.
Sensing his team on their heels, Coach Tingle called a time out just 6:20 into the third period. A maneuver that once again paid dividends as his team started to push the play once again, including a breakaway opportunity for Indian Forward Cal Raymore that was stopped by Devine.
That missed opportunity only set the stage for the heroics of Barnes after Firebirds’ Forward Bob Ovecka was called for holding at the 12:58 mark.
Often when a team not seeded very highly makes a championship run they are identified as the Cinderella team, but we all know what happens to her at the stroke of midnight. The Peters Township Indians got a late invitation to the PIHL playoffs and refused to leave the party early.
Holy Ghost Prep 0-0-1 = 1 Shots on Goal 16-11-11 = 38
Peters Township 1-0-1 = 2 Shots on Goal 10-9-9 = 28
Three Stars
3 – Byron Hartley, Holy Ghost Prep
2 – Alex Wilbert, Peters Township
1 – William Barnes, Peters Township
