Plum Pounds Latrobe For First Pens Cup in 28 Years
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Tuesday, March 21, 2017 | 11:39 PM
In two previous meetings against Latrobe during the regular season in PIHL Class AA, Plum lead early, blew a lead, rallied and won, and in the second game trailed early, rallied, trailed again and rallied to win again.
This time, in the PIHL Class 2-A Penguins Cup Finals on Tuesday night at the UPMC Mario Lemieux Sports Complex in Wexford, Plum didn’t leave anything to chance.
The Mustangs, the highest scoring team in Class AA with 117 regular season goals, struck early and left little doubt in claiming the AA title with a 6-1 win over the Wildcats, a team that got hot at the tail end of the regular season and surged to its fifth Penguins Cup final since 2008.
For Plum, it was only their second Penguins Cup appearance, last going to the finals 28 years ago when they won the Cup in 1989 over Greensburg. The Mustangs won the PIHL Class A East title with a 16-2-1 record in the regular season, before dispatching Shaler and Hempfield 5-2 in each game en route to their Cup victory.
The Mustangs jumped out to an early 2-0 first period lead behind goals from Anthony Borriello and Noah Puhala, the leading goal scorer for Plum in the regular season with 39. Puhala notched just his second goal of the postseason but it put Plum in the driver’s seat after one period.
Anthony Borriello would finish the game with a hat trick and a four point night for Plum. His line delivered 13 points all told in the game.
“This win shows how far we’ve come,” Borriello said. “We’ve been in and out of the playoffs and this one stuck.”
Greater Latrobe lost Jared (J.T.) Schimizzi early in that first period when he was struck by a puck on the back of the neck and laid motionless for a few minutes on his belly before he got back to his feat. Schimizzi was the leader in goals (25) and points (46) for Greater Latrobe in the regular season, but he did not return to the game and left the building for further evaluation.
“When you lose one of your best players, not making excuses, but it changes your entire game plan,” said Latrobe head coach Joshua Werner.
Plum struck again quickly at the onset of the second period and made it 3-0 with Domenic Borriello’s first postseason goal, a quick shot off a face off.
Greater Latrobe looked out of position for most of the first period, with players watching passes go past them, and starting goalie Ryan Pal was shaky at best, having real trouble controlling the puck on initial Plum shots. On Plum’s first goal, with plenty of traffic in front of the net, he made two saves but a third rebound was too much for him to handle as Borriello slipped the puck past him.
Plum’s second goal was more of the same with Pal having a hard time finding the puck.
Despite the shots on goal being fairly close, Plum wreaked more havoc around Pal and created opportunities, something Latrobe had a hard time doing, with most of their shots turned away or covered quickly by Plum’s goalie Sergio Benitez.
“It started in our D zone, stuck to cycling and getting shots (on Pal),” Anthony Borriello said. “We were fast, and we knew we could get pucks by this kid (Pal).”
Benitez was cool and competent, not leaving much in the way of scraps in front of the net. Greater Latrobe solved Benitez with 24 seconds remained in the second period when Paxton Knupp beat him on a nifty wrist shot as part of a Wildcats power play to pull Latrobe to within 3-1.
Benitez, a junior, finished with 26 saves on 27 shots, on par with his stellar regular season. Benitez still has a year left, and his head coach is quick to point out that, and his performance Tuesday against Latrobe.
“He’s a great goalie,” said Vincent Somma, Plum head coach. “Nothing else needs to be said.”
Once again the early part of a period proved poignant for Plum, making it 4-1 with Anthony Borriello scoring his second goal of the game at 3:36. Pal initially made a save with Plum racing down on a 2 on 1 advantage but he couldn’t contain the rebound as Borriello pushed it past his left pad. Before Latrobe could digest Plum’s fourth goal, they scored its fifth to make it 5-1 as Puhala notched his second of the game at 5:10.
The frustration of the game got to Greater Latrobe in the third period, leading to a multitude of penalties and a power play goal from Anthony Borriello, securing a hat track and extending Plum’s lead to 6-1.
In four previous Penguins Cup final appearances for Latrobe, it was 4-0 with three straight titles from 2008-2010 and again in 2013. Latrobe, a .500 team in the regular season and a squad on the playoff bubble won its final game of the regular season and won three straight playoff games against Mars, Moon and Quaker Valley to reach the Penguins Cup AA Final.
“It was a great run,” Werner said. “We knew we could compete with everyone and anyone, and no one expected us to be here but every person in that locker room.”
For Plum, it now turns its attention to the Pennsylvania Cup Finals and Downington East, the 2017 Flyers Cup AA Champions. Plum plays Downington East on Saturday, March 25 at 2:30 p.m. At the RMU Island Sports Complex on Neville Island. Downington East won the Flyers Cup previously in 2010 and 2015, but lost both PA finals and defeated William Tennent 8-3 on March 15 to claim the 2017 crown.
Mustangs’ coach Somma isn’t thinking about that game.
Yet.
“I’m going to let them celebrate.”
“We don’t change our system or how we play based on our opponent,” Somma said. “We play our game, and that’s it.”
SCORE BY PERIODS:
1 2 3 F
Plum 2 1 3 6
Latrobe 0 1 0 1
Scoring Summary:
1st period:
Plum – Anthony Borriello (Nolan Puhala, Dillon Joyce) , 6:10
Plum – Nolan Puhala (power play) (Dillon Joyce, Anthony Borriello) , 7:25
2nd period:
Plum – Domenic Borriello (Anthony Adamski) , 1:37
Greater Latrobe – Paxton Knupp (power play) (Gregory Ferri, Jack Schultheis) , 16:36
3rd period:
Plum – Anthony Borriello (Nolan Puhala, Dillon Joyce) , 3:36
Plum – Nolan Puhala (unassisted) , 5:10
Plum – Anthony Borriello (power play) (Dillon Joyce, Nolan Puhala) , 8:55
CHATHAM UNIVERSITY 3 STARS:
1. Nolan Puhala (Plum) 2G, 3A
2. Anthony Borriello (Plum) 3G, A
3. Dillon Joyce (Plum) 4A
Tags: Latrobe
