PIHL High School Hockey Notebook – 12/19/2011

By: Bruce Markey
Monday, December 19, 2011 | 2:03 PM

Welcome to another edition of “PIHL Notebook,” your weekly companion to “The PIHL Power Play” on the MSA Sports Network. This week, Fox Chapel, Erie Cathedral Prep, Kittanning and Morgantown are among the teams “Melting the Ice” while the “Scoreboard Watch” includes plenty of overtime action. And why is Quigley’s offense so good? Doug Simon has the answer in “They Said It.”

PIHL CLASS AAA:

MELTING THE ICE

Canon-McMillan and Penn-Trafford remain perfect at 10-0-0 … Upper St. Clair is unbeaten in its last three contests … North Allegheny has won four straight to pull within two points of Mount Lebanon in Section 2 … Fox Chapel has rebounded from its 0-7-0 start with back-to-back victories.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/16/11 – Non-section: North Allegheny 7, State College 5 … The Tigers held a 1-0 lead after one period before the Little Lions took a 2-1 lead early in the second, but it lasted all of 48 seconds … A crazy second left the score 4-3 NA at intermission, and the lead held from there … Connor Cash netted his second goal and the winner midway through the third … Matt Fantaski (3 G), Charles Johnson (1 G, 2 A) and Joe Griffin (3 A) also starred in the winning effort … Dan Moscone led all scorers with two goals and three assists for SC … He got help from Lucas Michael (2 G), Dalton Bown (1 G, 2 A) and Stefan Horgas (3 A).

12/16/11 – Non-section: Upper St. Clair 1, Norwin 1 (OT) … Norwin got its goal from Dan Merz at 5:07 of the second period … It seemed this one would end in a victory for the Knights until Connor Ackerman tied it for the Panthers on the power play with 14 seconds left in regulation … Scott Cromling turned aside 35 shots in the loss while Michael Stein registered 27 saves for USC.

PIHL CLASS AA:

MELTING THE ICE

West Allegheny and Moon are heating up Section 1 with winning streaks of four and two games respectively … Erie Cathedral Prep and Bishop Canevin have mirrored that in Section 2, creating a three-way tie for first place with Chartiers Valley.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/15/11 – Non-section: Moon 7, Plum 5 … The Tigers drew first blood just 1:53 into the contest, but the Mustangs led 2-1 after one … It was all Moon in the second, though, building a 5-2 lead … Alec Coleman netted the winner and completed the hat trick 37 seconds into the third on the power play … Plum took the final period 3-2, but it was not enough … Trevor Handlovitch led the winning effort with three goals himself and one assists while Jake Coleman (1 G, 2 A) and Austin Seifert (3 A) played key roles as well … Andrew Walters starred for the Mustangs with two goals and two helpers.

12/16/11 – Non-section: Pine-Richland 3, Gateway 3 (OT) … Despite being outshot 44-14 and giving up the first goal, the Gators actually built a 3-1 lead at 2:03 of the third period … The Rams cut it to 3-2 at 5:17 before Scott McAliney tied it on the power play with 2:27 remaining … John Casper scored twice for Gateway while Tyler Perhac made 41 saves … Dillon Kessy and Ryan Cole each set up two goals for Pine-Richland.

PIHL CLASS A:

MELTING THE ICE

South Fayette has righted the ship with points in two straight contests to stay within two points of Serra Catholic in Section 1 … Mars and Quaker Valley continue to heat things up in Section 2 with a perfect 8-0-0 mark for the Planets while the Quakers have put together five consecutive victories … Westmont Hilltop continues to lead Section 3 with points in its last seven games … Kittanning is back on track after winning two in a row … Freeport has points in its last two to keep Section 3 a three-horse race … Hampton maintains its comfortable lead in Section 4 with points in four straight games.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/12/11 – Non-section: Knoch 4, South Park 2 … This turned out to be a good game between two struggling teams … The Knights broke the scoreless tie at 10:28 of the first and led 2-0 early in the second, but the Eagles made it 2-1 just 1:34 later … There the score stayed until Mike Rykaczewski scored the winner at 13:08 of the third … He would add an empty netter for his third point at 14:50 just 27 seconds after Chris Eisengart scored for South Park … Nicholas Brubach (1 G, 1 A), Ty Honzo (1 G, 1 A) and Zach Naples (2 A) all notched multiple points for Knoch … Grant Donnelly made 19 saves in the winning effort while Joey Recktenwald turned aside 18 of the 21 shots he faced.

12/15/11 – Section 3: Westmont Hilltop 1, Freeport 1 (OT) … The section race remains tight after this one … Brian Yost finally broke the scoreless tie for the Hilltoppers at 8:02 of the third, and things looked good until Cole Hepler tied it for the Yellowjackets with a mere 12 seconds on the clock … Cody Lee had to stop 22 shots for Freeport while Adam Ayre recorded just 10 saves for Westmont Hilltop.

PIHL OPEN CLASS:

MELTING THE ICE

Morgantown is clinging to first place in Section 1 thanks to a hat trick of victories, but John Marshall will not go away with two straight wins keeping the Monarchs just two points back … Quigley as built a four-point edge in Section 2 with four consecutive wins … Ford City has won four in a row and could knock Indiana out of first place in Section 3 at any moment … Greensburg Salem, Baldwin and Carrick have all won their last two contests.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/12/11 – Section 1: John Marshall 5, Wheeling Park 4 … The close games continue in this section … Four lead changes were in the cards on this night, starting with 1-0 for the Patriots through one period … The Monarchs made it 2-1 at 9:50 of the second, but two late goals put it back to 3-2 in favor of Wheeling Park when the Zamboni went to work … Two early markers gave Johns Marshall the lead back, and Benjamin Cole added the winner on the power play at 7:48 … The Pats did score again with about five minutes remaining but could not get the equalizer … Isaac Fitzpatrick led all scorers with two goals and three assists … Josh Merriman (1 G, 2 A) and Alan Games (3 A) also starred for the Mohawks … Ian McArdle (1 G, 2 A), Nicco Catalano (1 G, 1 A) and Porter Knollinger (1 G, 1 A) led the way for Wheeling Park … Drew Balcar stopped 29 pucks to earn the victory.

12/14/11 – Section 3: Ford City 5, Indiana 2 … This would be the big one that has the Sabers primed to potentially take over this section … The Indians built a 2-0 lead midway through the first on two power play goals, but Ford City made it 2-1 on the man advantage at 9:25 … The special teams fireworks continued at 6:52 of the second for a 2-2 tie before Jesse Valasek notched the eventual winner shorthanded at 8:36 … the Sabers would add two late third period goals to ice the victory … Jesse Valasek also set up two goals while Eric Lindley (1 G, 2 A) and Josh Oliver (1 G, 1 A) recorded multiple points … Indiana got single points from five different players.

MSA GAME OF THE WEEK:

12/22/11 – Class AA – Non-section: West Allegheny @ Chartiers Valley … A win for the Indians creates a four-way tie for the number one seed in the class … West Allegheny remains the top defense with 16 goals allowed while Jonathan Levitt counts six shorthanded tallies among his 16 goals … Justin Sabilla of Chartiers Valley will see that and raise you his class-leading 22 goals and 33 points … The puck drops at 9:10 PM with Bob Orkwis and Brandon Rebel on the call.

THEY SAID IT:

“It’s just all about speed. Everyone on the team has speed, and we all use it to our advantage. If we all use it then somebody is going to be open.” – Quigley forward Doug Simon on the key to his team’s offense

“I think the biggest thing is we have to get Drew Balcar back to that championship level. He pretty much won us the Nailers Cup and the Open Cup by his play in the first period in both games. If he doesn’t keep us in the game then we don’t stand a chance to make the comeback in the second and third periods. And then Isaac Fitzpatrick and Alan Games have to continue their play offensively. They’re both seniors. They’re expected to do that.” – Johns Marshall head coach Anthony Evick on how the Monarchs can repeat as Nailers and Open Cup champions

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 Penn-Trafford forward Dan Maier and Canon-McMillan head coach Yuri Krivokhija to discuss their currently perfect records. We also discuss proper decorum at PIHL events in our “Five Minute Major.” The exclusive home for the 2012 Penguins Cup Playoffs is the MSA Sports Network!

Tags: Baldwin, Bishop Canevin, Canon-McMillan, Carrick, Chartiers Valley, Erie Cathedral Prep, Ford City, Fox Chapel, Freeport, Gateway, Greensburg Salem, Hampton, John Marshall (WV), Kittanning, Knoch, Upper St. Clair, West Allegheny, Westmont Hilltop