Trib HSSN PIHL player of the week: Montour’s Ritchy Froehlich Jr.
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Sunday, January 13, 2019 | 9:12 PM
During the second period of Montour’s 13-1 win Monday against North Hills, Class A’s third-leading scorer, Michael Felsing, was on the bench, sitting next to another sophomore, Anthony Migliozzi.
The pair watched their captain, senior Ritchy Froehlich Jr., score a goal to make it 9-1 and secure a hat trick. That’s when Felsing and Migliozzi looked at each other and laughed.
“It’s just his night,” Felsing said.
Said Montour coach Clay Shell: “That’s when Migliozzi just turned back to him and said something back to him like, ‘No kidding, Sherlock.’ It was like man amongst boys.”
Froehlich scored three goals and had five assists in the win for the Spartans against the fourth-place team in the North Division.
For his effort, Froehlich becomes the only two-time TribLIVE High School Sports Network PIHL Player of the Week.
It was an effort that moved him into second in points in Class A, two points behind Meadville’s Nick Frantz for the lead.
Froehlich scored once in the first period and twice in the second period and assisted on three first-period goals and one each in the second and third periods.
“My teammates just keep making me look good,” Froehlich said. “It’s such an honor to play with such great players like I do. The guys on my line have such great playmaking ability.”
Shell gave a lot of credit to Froehlich, too.
“Both he and Ryan Eisel were just so much faster and thinking so much ahead,” he said. “We started the game a little slow, and I said some stuff on the bench about it and those two guys just put it into another gear.”
Froehlich’s 20 goals would be tied for the Class AAA lead in points , and his 27 assists would give him the points lead in that class. His assists alone also would be the fourth-best points total in Class AA and the sixth-best total in Division 2.
The 27 assists are the most for a player in all of the PIHL this season.
“He enjoys setting up his teammates more than scoring,” Shell said. “He’s just a great leader and a great player.”
Froehlich is also one of five Spartans headed to the PIHL Class A All-Star Game.
“I think we had a ton of guys that deserved it. Having five selected is a great honor for our team,” Froehlich said. “For me, it’s such an unbelievable honor. I’m so honored (Shell) nominated me.”
Froehlich will be on the roster for that game Jan. 27, but his focus — and Montour’s — is on a game Thursday against Beaver at 6:45 p.m.
PIHL Honorable Mentions (Week Of Jan. 7):
Bradley Weaver stopped 56 of the 58 shots he faced between two Mt. Lebanon wins. Monday against Connellsville, Weaver recorded a 25-save shutout, then stopped 31 of 33 shots Thursday in a shootout against Peters Township.
Nick Frantz scored five goals and had an assist in Meadville’s 7-3 win over Fox Chapel.
Hempfield’s Jared Gerger scored six goals in the Spartans’ 12-2 win over Plum.
For Penn-Trafford, Gavin Patrick and Jack Hughes scored two goals and had four assists each in the Warriors’ 9-2 win against Armstrong. Teammate Jack Hughes added a hat trick and three assists in the same game.
Butler’s Ronan Miller scored a goal and had four assists in a win over Cathedral Prep.
Peters Township’s Alex Willbert stopped 37 shots in a 3-1 win over North Allegheny.
Connellsville’s Ryan Brown scored four goals and had two helpers in a 7-0 shutout over McDowell.
Kyle Dawson is a freelance writer.
Tags: Butler, Connellsville, Hempfield, Montour, Mt. lebanon, Penn-Trafford, Peters Township
