PIHL Penguins Cup Playoff Recaps for Monday, March 6th

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, March 7, 2017 | 12:39 AM

The curtain rose and the puck dropped on the 2017 PIHL Penguins Cup Playoffs on Monday night with six high school hockey postseason contests. A pair of 2-A First Round games set the stage for the Quarterfinals while two of six Round One games were played in Class 1-A and two of the four Division II Quarterfinals games are in the books. Here are summaries from the six opening nights playoff matchups.

A special thanks to Rennie Detore, Steve Nagler, Kevin Zielmanski, Josh Rowntree, Bob Orkwis, Lou Rood and Don Rebel for their help on these recaps.

PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS 2-A First Round:

Latrobe Wildcats 5 – Mars Fightin’ Planets 4 
Greater Latrobe and Mars met in the regular season in November last year, and the Wildcats finally got the better of their adversary in what was a back and forth game. The rematch proved to be more of the same, this time in a play in game of the PIHL Penguins Cup playoff first round game Monday at Kirk S. Nevin Arena in Greensburg. The teams traded goals, stiff hits, aggressive play and strong penalty killing until No 4 Greater Latrobe finally pulled ahead to oust No. 5 Mars 5-4 and move on to the first round and a date with Moon. The outcome of this game, much like their first meeting, wasn’t determined until the third period, which saw Latrobe outscore Mars 4-2 thanks to a likely and unlike set of Wildcats’ players. Mars led 2-1 after two periods, including a scoreless second period. As the final period started, Greater Latrobe (10-9-1) tied the game at 2, thanks to the first of two goals from Cory Gates. Mars (7-11-1) quickly answered and took the lead back 3-2 thanks to their leading scorer during the regular season, Noah Raymundo, who finished with the hat trick and an assist. It was Raymundo who gave the Planets a 2-1 lead after the first period with back to back goals after Latrobe jumped out to a very early 1-0 lead. Leading 3-2, Greater Latrobe took what was a goal trading game and scored three unanswered goals to go up 5-3. Much the same way the Planets go as Raymundo goes, the Wildcats’ superstar and leading scorer J.T. Schimizzi, who played a quiet first two periods, scored two goals in the third period, and Gates added his second. Schimizzi finished with four points, two goals and two assists. To Mars credit, they scored a late goal to bring the score to within one, 5-4, with a little under one minute left with goal Tyler Spreng pulled. And despite two scoring opportunities, the Planets couldn’t push the puck past Greater Latrobe starting goalie Ryan Pal. Pal finished with 21 saves on 25 shots, while Spreng was peppered by the tenacious and tough Greater Latrobe offense and faced a total of 42 shots and stopping 37. Latrobe will play Mars on Thursday, March 9 at the Baeirl Complex in Warrendale. Mars defeated Latrobe in the regular season, a 4-3 win.

Shaler Titans 6 – North Hills Indians 5 in Overtime
Zach Sarnowski scored 3:36 into the first overtime, lifting East No. 5 seed Shaler (10-9-1) to a 6-5 Penguins Cup AA Play-In Round victory over East No. 4 seed North Hills (9-11-0) on Monday at the Baierl Ice Complex in Warrendale. Sarnowski’s goal came after the Titans squandered a 5-1 second period lead. Josh Brantner opened the scoring just 1:36 into the game, roofing a puck by North Hills goalie Alec Volz to give Shaler a 1-0 lead. Mitch Fuchs made it 2-0 less than two minutes later, redirecting a slap shot into an open net. Less than two minutes after Fuchs’ goal, Seth Walzer extended the Shaler lead to 3-0 by jamming in a puck at the side of the net. At that point, the Indians had been outshot 8-0. They were able to cure into the lead with just 45 seconds left in the period on a side-of-the-net power play goal by Jeremy Zihmer. Just 1:15 into the second period, Brantner would get his second of the game, stealing the puck and scoring a backhanded goal to extend Shaler’s lead to 4-1. Again, the Titans would add on in less than two minutes after a goal, as Jason Fischerkeller would find the net following a terrific give-and-go with Cameron Wycich to make it 5-1. But then, as they have all year, Shaler would begin to take penalties. The first, a Head Contact penalty on Dylan Vallo, would result in Sam Urbanek picking up his first goal of the game. Jesse Weideman would cut the lead to 5-3 with a rebound goal at 11:25 of the second period. Only 15 seconds in the third, North Hills would draw the game even closer on a breakaway goal by Urbanek, his second. Shaler would have to kill of three more penalties in the period before Urbanek struck again on a breakaway at 13:23 of the period, tying the game at 5-5. But Sarnowski would find the net on a backhanded shot in the overtime, sending the Titans to the Class AA First Round, where they will meet AA’s top team, Plum, on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Ice Arena. Shaler lost to Plum twice in the regular season, by 6-1 and 9-1 margins.

PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS 1-A First Round:

South Fayette Lions 4 – Serra Catholic Eagles 1 
In a game dominated by the #2 South Fayette Lions, the Lions needed two late third period goals to salt away the victory against Serra Catholic at the Ice Castle on Monday night.  The Lions outshot the Eagles by a total of 51-18 and played the bulk of the first period in Serra Catholic’s zone.  However, it was only a Jake Stack power play goal that was the difference after the first 17 minutes.  Daniel Pollock scored in the 2nd period to extend the lead to two goals.  But, the Eagles would fight to stay in the game and played a much better 3rd period.  They got a goal from defenseman Michael Ulishney who scored on an end-to-end rush to beat South Fayette goaltender, Kyle Sharp to cut the lead to 2-1.  But, Daniel Pollock would score into the empty net with 1:25 to play to give the Lions a 2-goal margin once again.  Then, a misplay by Eagles goaltender, Ty Barkley, allowed Jack Evanish to score the fourth goal of the game for the Lions.  Barkley, however, was outstanding in stopping 47 of the 50 shots he faced on the night.  With the win, the Lions (12-5-2) will face the Thomas Jefferson Jaguars in the quarterfinal round of the 1-A PIHL Penguin Cup Playoffs.

Thomas Jefferson Jaguars 8 – Freeport Yellow Jackets 2 
Hayden Hintemeyer and Kevin Koett each scored goals early in the first period to give the Jaguars a 2-0 lead 1:13 into the game and TJ cruised to an 8-2 win in this PIHL 1A first round match-up at the Rostraver Ice Garden. Thomas Jefferson built a 7-0 lead before Freeport’s Tanner Hill spoiled Mitchel Chontos’ shutout bid at the 9:39 mark of the third period. Junior forward Matt Krieger paced the Jaguars attack with a goal and three assists. Senior line mate Danny Harrold added two goals and two assists for TJ while Dominic Tamburi scored a pair of second period goals to help the Jaguars improve to (13-6). Chontos stopped 25 shots in net for Thomas Jefferson to pick up his 13th win of the season. Greg Smith faced 54 Jaguars shots in net for Freeport making 46 saves with many of the stellar variety in the loss for the (9-10) Yellowjackets. Thomas Jefferson moves onto the 1A quarterfinals where the Jaguars will face Western Division rival South Fayette. The Lions defeated the Jaguars twice by scores of 5-2 and 4-3 during the regular season.
OR THIS SECOND RECAP:
Thomas Jefferson defeated Freeport 8-2 in PIHL Class A Penguins Cup action Monday evening at the Rostraver Gardens. It didn’t take TJ long to get started as Hayden Hintmeyer  scored just 40 seconds into the game to give the Jaguars a quick 1-0 lead. Kevin Koett added a second tally just 33 seconds later and TJ never looked back enroute to a dominating offensive performance in the game, racking up 54 shots on Freeport. Joey Oliver scored at the 12:44 mark of the first to make it 3-0 TJ heading into the 2nd Period. The Jaguars started the second period with an early goal by Dominic Tamburi at the 3:17 mark of the period. One was not enough for Tamburi as he added a second goal just over 4 minutes later at 7:22 to give TJ a commanding 5-0 lead. Daniel Harrold added a pair of goals in the 3rd period to up the Jaguar lead to 7-0 before Freeport was finally able to break through TJ goalie Mitchel Chontos on a Tanner Hill goal at 9:39 of the 3rd.  Mathew Krieger scored at the 12:44 mark to make it 8-1 TJ and Robert Reichenbaugh closed out the scoring with a Power Play goal for Freeport with just 59 seconds remaining in the game for an 8-2 final score. Freeport goalie Greg Smith stopped 46 of the 54 shots he faced and made some stellar saves throughout the game in a valiant effort to stave off the TJ attack, but the Jaguars were just too effective in the end. Freeport ends its season at 9-10 while TJ improves to 13-6 and moves on to face South Fayette either Wednesday or Thursday at the Ice Castle.

PIHL DIVISION II Quarterfinals:

Meadville Bulldogs 9 – Burrell Buccaneers 0
The onslaught started early and never stopped as host Meadville rolled past Burrell. The Bulldogs led 4-0 after one and 7-0 after two periods before adding two more in the third. Dillon Steiner led the way for Meadville with a pair of goals and an assist. The balanced scoring was a sign of depth for the Bulldogs as Luke Triola, Jeffrey Millin, Luke English, Barrett Hoffman, Cole Potase, Brandon Gregg and Cody Passillia also added tallies for Meadville. Between the pipes, Bulldogs goaltender Edward Kaufman IV stopped all 20 Buccaneers shots for the shutout. Burrell ends a successful season in which they finished a point behind Kennedy Catholic in Class C of Division II with a final record of 13-3-3 while Class B regular season champ Meadville improves to 20-0-1 and skates to the Semifinals on Tuesday, March 14th against the winner of the Ringgold vs Our Lady of the Sacred heart game. 

Carrick Cougars 5 – Kennedy Catholic Golden Eagles 2
Carrick defeated Kennedy Catholic 5-2 in the #2 versus #7 D2 Quarterfinal matchup in a highly entertaining affair at the Ice Castle in Castle Shannon. Despite both teams averaging well over 5 goals a game, it was the goaltenders that shined throughout the first period as the action flowed back and forth with many great scoring opportunities denied by better saves. The game was scoreless at the end of the first period. Kennedy Catholic would strike first a couple minutes into the second period when leading scorer William Piacitelli converted a pass from Darrin Smith for his 30th goal of the season. Carrick tied the game at the 13:02 mark of the second period when Olivia Cindrich scored her second goal of the season after a nice pass from below the goal line, assists to Caleb Smith and Ethan Wright. The turning point of the game occurred late in the second period while Carrick was killing a penalty. Tyler Wolf was lurking out high near the blue line and pounced on a pass across the blue line, he knocked it out of the air and went on a breakaway, his shot appeared to bank off the post and then off the left pad of goalie Carsen Burkhart and across the goalie line. The shorthanded goal was the 31st of the season for Wolf. Carrick led 2-1 at the intermission. The flood gates opened late in the third period when Carrick scored 3 goals in 2:36 seconds. Liam Rubright, Caleb Tichon, and Aiden Barker were the goal scorers. Kennedy Catholic scored on a set play with 26 seconds remaining in the game when Max Hamilton scored his 22nd goal of the season after Piacitelli pushed the puck forward on a faceoff. Nathan Norkevicus made 32 saves to earn the win for Carrick. The Cougars advance to the D2 semifinals next Tuesday at the Alpha Ice Complex where they will face the winner of the Central Valley and Elizabeth Forward game played tomorrow night.
Kennedy Catholic : 0-1-1 = 2   Shots = 34
Carrick : 0-2-3 = 5     Shots = 37