Peters Township Upsets Top-Seed PCC for 3-A Pens Cup

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 | 11:18 PM

The 6th-seeded Peters Township Indians finished their Cinderella run through the 3-A Penguins Cup Championships by beating top-seeded Pittsburgh Central Catholic, 5-2, at the UMPC Lemieux Sports Complex on Wednesday night.  The underdog run by the Indians including them beating #3 Canon McMiillan in the opening round (2-1), #2 North Allegheny in the semi-final round (7-0) and the Vikings in the championship game.

Central Catholic would score the first goal of the game at the 10:34 mark of the first period as Jacob Kingerski would blast a shot past the Indian’s freshman goalie, Alex Wilbert.  Wilbert made the save initially but couldn’t control the puck from trickling over the goal line and the Vikings took a 1-0 lead.  That would be the only goal scored in the initial period.

The Indians would get the next two tallies, both from Conrad Deemer, in the 2nd period.  Deemer would tie the game at 1-1 as he deflected a shot from Ryan Luppe at the left point past Nate Cava at 4:26 of the 2nd period.  Deemer would score again less than nine minutes later to give the Indians their first lead of the night.  Luppe and Jace Cochrane would get the assists on Deemer’s second goal.  It looked as if the Indians would take that 2-1 lead into the 2nd intermission but the Viking’s Ryan Haag would score on the power-play with 0:51 left in the 2nd period to knot the score at two.

The Indians would be the only team to score in the decisive third period as they got three goals when it mattered most.  Cal Raymore would score his first of two third period goals less than two minutes into the third period.  Raymore picked off a pass and scored past Cava from a sharp angle, getting the puck between Cava’s body and the post, allowing the Indians to regain the lead, 3-2.  They then got a power-play goal from Ryan Luppe and a second goal from Cal Raymore later in the period to salt away the victory.

Indians goaltender Alex Wilbert played his third extraordinary game of the post season, stopping 23 of 25 shots to get the win.  Wilbert stopped 71 of the 74 shots he faced in the playoffs, which equates to a .959 save percentage. 

With the win, the Peters Township Indians will face the Holy Ghost Prep in the 3-A Penguins Cup Championship at the RMU Island Sports Complex on Saturday.  Indians coach Rick Tingle said after the game, “I’m already done celebrating (this Penguins Cup Championship win).  We have plenty of time to celebrate in the summer”. 

Score By Period;
Peters Township Indians  0 – 2 – 3 = 5
Central Catholic Vikings  1 – 1 – 0 = 2

Shots By Period:
Peters Township Indians 9 – 14 – 11 = 34
Central Catholic Vikings  7 – 9 – 9 = 25

Scoring Summary:
1st Period
Central Catholic – Jacob Kingerski (Dayne Martin) 10:34

2nd Period
Peters Township – Conrad Deemer (Ryan Luppe, Matt Michalowski) 4:26
Peters Township – Conrad Deemer (2) (Ryan Luppe, Jace Cochrane) 13:22
Central Catholic – Ryan Haag (PP) (Jacob Kingerski, Ryan Tepe) 16:09

3rd Period
Peters Township – Cal Raymore (Will Barnes) 1:55
Peters Township – Ryan Luppe (PP) (unassisted) 5:03
Peters Township – Cal Raymore (2) (Will Barnes) 14:30

Chatham University Three Stars:
3 – Alex Wilbert (23 saves)
2 – Conrad Deemer (2 goals)
1 – Cal Raymore (2 goals including the GWG)