PIHL High School Hockey Notebook – 12/12/2011

By: Bruce Markey
Monday, December 12, 2011 | 2:29 PM

Welcome to another edition of “PIHL Notebook,” your weekly companion to “The PIHL Power Play” on the MSA Sports Network. This week, Shaler, Plum, Quaker Valley and Ford City are among the teams “Melting the Ice” while the “Scoreboard Watch” includes some divisional upsets. We also add a new feature called “They Said It,” featuring the most interesting quotes from our interview guests on last week’s “PIHL Power Play.” Will Mars ever move up into a higher classification after years of dominance in Class A? Read on to find out from head coach Steve Meyers.

PIHL CLASS AAA:

MELTING THE ICE

Canon-McMillan and Penn-Trafford remain perfect at 8-0-0 … Mount Lebanon and North Allegheny have each won two straight in Section 2, with the Tigers putting together consecutive victories for the first time … Shaler has gotten to .500 and grabbed first place in Section 3 with back-to-back wins.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/5/11 – Section 3: Fox Chapel 5, Pittsburgh Central Catholic 1 … The Foxes snapped a seven-game skid to grab their first win of the season over the Vikings … Christian Wirginis scored three even strength goals to key the victory … Anthony Parucci netted the lone tally for Pittsburgh Central … Fox Chapel only registered 13 shots on goal while Scott Trellis made 42 saves at the other end.

12/5/11 – Non-section: Mount Lebanon 4, Bethel Park 2 … The lone regular season meeting between these former Section 1 rivals was a dandy … Thomas Horn scored the winner for Lebo early in the third period … Thomas Kang and James Phillips each set up two goals for the Blue Devils … Derek Lesnak led the Black Hawks with a goal and an assist … Each team registered 21 shots, but Clay Wyda outdueled Austin McGinty by making 19 saves.
PIHL CLASS AA:

MELTING THE ICE

Not many streaks to speak of in this classification at the moment, but West Allegheny has pushed itself to a four-point edge in Section 1 with three straight wins … Erie Cathedral Prep has won two straight to keep the Section 2 race interesting … Plum has rebounded from a 1-2-0 start with a hat trick of victories to take over first place in Section 4.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/8/11 – Section 2: Bishop Canevin 8, Chartiers Valley 7 … Two of the favorites to win the 2012 Penguins Cup in Class AA put on quite a show on Thursday night as the Crusaders handed the Colts their first loss of the season … Canevin built a 3-0 lead in the first before CV scored four unanswered in the second, but the 4-3 lead lasted all of 1:24 and we were tied when the Zamboni hit the ice … the Crusaders netted two goals early in the third, but the Colts answered right back with three more and led 7-6 with 3:06 to play before Pete Karney and Randy Unger scored a minute apart to clinch the victory … the winner came with just 27 seconds left in regulation … Justin Sabilla led all scorers with four goals and two assists in the losing effort … the Colts also got a goal and three assists from Anthony Franks … Pete Karney paced Canevin with two goals and three helpers … Matt Walsh brought the hats out of the stands while Randy Unger lit the lamp once and set up three others.

12/8/11 – Non-section: West Allegheny 2, Latrobe 1 … The Indians got goals early in the first period from Jared Disanti and Matt Grebosky … The Wildcats were nearly held scoreless, but Jacob Koluder spoiled the shutout bid at 14:53 of the third … Shane Brudnok stopped 20 shots for Latrobe while Jason Kumpfmiller made 23 saves to earn the win.
PIHL CLASS A:

MELTING THE ICE

Serra Catholic is unbeaten in three straight and has built a four-point edge atop Section 1 … Mars and Quaker Valley continue to make noise as the only occupants of Section 2 with the Planets off to a perfect 7-0-0 start and the Quakers riding a four-game winning streak … Westmont Hilltop is unbeaten in six straight since losing its opener and currently leads Section 3 … Hampton has earned a point in its last four and is looking to run away with the Section 4 title.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/5/11 – Non-section: Westmont Hilltop 2, Hampton 2 (OT) … Westmont built a 2-0 lead on goals from Steve Demarco in the first and Josh Cavrak in the second, but Hampton battled back as Luke Leya cut the deficit in the half lass than a minute after Cavrak’s goal … Zach Kosick tied it for the Talbots at 10:35 of the third … Adam Ayre was solid with 22 saves for the Hilltoppers, but counterpart Cam Radna outshined him with 30 stops.

12/6/11 – Section 1: Serra Catholic 4, South Fayette 4 (OT) … Hard to say how many people expected a close one here with the mediocre start the Lions are off to, but no doubt this was a great game … South Fayette struck at 5:31 of the first, and we alternated goals from there until the Eagles grabbed a 4-3 lead after Garner Kraemer scored twice just 1:37 apart early in the third … Nick Schultz tied it for the Lions at 10:57 of the final period and set up the other three goals … Ryan Schultz (2 G, 1 A) and Joe Testa (1 G, 2 A) also starred for South Fayette … Kraemer added one helper to lead Serra while Jesse Anzelone and Tyler Speis contributed a goal and an assist each.
PIHL OPEN CLASS:

MELTING THE ICE

Quigley has won two straight while Harbor Creek did one better, tying the two in points atop Section 2 with 12 each … Indiana currently owns the hottest streak in the class with five straight victories to lead Section 3 while Ford City is just a point behind after taking three in a row … Keystone Oaks has gotten to .500 with back-to-back wins and owns second place in Section 4.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/8/11 – Section 1: Morgantown 5, John Marshall 4 … The Mohawks have themselves tied with Wheeling Park for first place in Section 1 while the Monarchs get bumped to second after this one … It was 1-1 after one before Morgantown broke the game open with a 4-1 second … John Marshall scored twice in the third, but failed to get the equalizer … Blake Karolcik (1 G, 2 A) and Ryan Patrick (3 A) paced the Mohawks while Tyler Rice netted the winner … Isaac Fitzpatrick led the Monarchs with two goals and one assist … Keegan Fall made 23 saves to earn the win.

12/9/11 – Section 4: Carrick 4, Greensburg Salem 2 … The Cougars ended a perfect 8-0-0 start for the Golden Lions thanks to the power play and great goaltending … It was 1-1 after one, but Mark Granatire and Joe Brinton scored with the man advantage for Carrick early in the second to take control … Nick Garner pulled Greensburg within a goal midway through the hockey game with a power play tally himself, but it stayed that way until a late insurance goal from Vinnie Maccarone in the third … Nobody recorded multiple points with 14 players notching one … Josh Brown made a sparkling 34 saves for the Cougars.
MSA GAME OF THE WEEK:

12/12/11 – Class AAA – Section 1: Peters Township @ Canon-McMillan … A quick look at the standings is all you need to explain how big this game is between two of the remaining three undefeated teams in the class … The Big Macs remain top dog in goals scored with 50 while the Indians rank first defensively having allowed just 11 so far … Anthony Tonkovich leads the Canon-McMillan attack with 11 goals and 17 points in just seven contests … Goaltender Brian Baker is on fire for Peters with a 1.31 GAA and 0.955 save percentage in six starts … The puck drops at 6:30 PM with Matt Vandriak and Josh Rowntree on the call.

THEY SAID IT:

“I take great pride in being a senior on this team and being one of the leaders. I feel it is my responsibility to lead the younger kids and give them something to play for, which is hopefully a two-time state championship.” – Bishop Canevin forward Matt Walsh on his role

“I know it’s come up in years past. I don’t know why we don’t, but I don’t have any control over that. I really never get asked whether I have an opinion on that or not. I don’t know how that gets handled. I think the team could definitely have competed in higher levels these past few years. I think our program after this season is going to go into a bit of a dip just looking at the numbers in our program right now. I think in the past few years we definitely could have competed, but we’re happy to be in Class A.” – Mars head coach Steve Meyers on keeping the program where it is

That wraps up this edition of “PIHL Notebook,” but check back every Monday from now through March for the most current news from around the league. First, though, Adam Hoerner and Josh Rowntree host another episode of “The PIHL Power Play” on Wednesday night at 8:00. Joining us this week will be John Marshall head coach Anthony Evick to discuss how the Monarchs plan to defend the Nailers Cup this winter, plus Quigley forward Doug Simon will tell us how he keeps piling up the points. We also debate the pros and cons of adding more outdoor games to the PIHL schedule in our “Five Minute Major.” The exclusive home for the 2012 Penguins Cup Playoffs is the MSA Sports Network!