Announcement
This time it’s Latrobe’s turn in overtime & on to the Penguins Cup over West A
2008 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals AA
Latrobe 3 West Allegheny 2 (OT)
PITTSBURGH –
West Allegheny (17-5-0) knocked Latrobe out of the playoffs a year ago in overtime on a Ryan Kumpfmiller goal to help the Indians advance to the Penguins Cup Semis before losing to eventual State Champions Pine Richland. Latrobe (19-3-0) returned the favor earlier in the regular season 5-4 in overtime. Coaches Ron Makoski of Latrobe and Norm Cook of West Allegheny had to figure these two teams would reconvene at some point of the playoffs and it just turns out that after opening victories in the playoffs that these two teams would vie for a spot in the Penguins Cup final. While West Allegheny advanced in Class A in 1996 before losing to Bishop McCort, Latrobe has never advanced past the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals, although they have been many people’s team of choice to do so in 2007 – 08.
The first period was a series of power plays as Latrobe got the first one at 13:31 and West Allegheny got the 2nd one at 11:37 and the Indians capitalized as Ryan Kumpfmiller on a nice passing play finished it off with a wrist shot to the far side of Nick Loyacona at 11:02 to give West A a 1-0 lead. Jeff Cupelli had a nice opportunity after a nice maneuver around the Latrobe defense, but Nick Loyacona made a better save. Latrobe had a chance to tie the game on a power play then 5 on 3 at 4:12 of the opening period and they did it as Alex Stahl took a nice cross-ice pass from Brody Aukerman and beat Kyle Mortimer through the 5-hole to tie the score at one apiece with 3:28 to play. Ryan Kumpfmiller had a shorthanded breakaway but Nick Loyacona made a real nice save at 2:36 as the period and the shots [5-5] were a deadlock.
The second period was a little slower pace than the opening period and did not heat up until Michael McCurdy had a breakaway which was stopped by Kyle Mortimer. West A went on the power play at 8:20, but JeffJoe Regula had a chance shorthanded and missed high over the crossbar. The Indians could not capitalize on the power play at 5:01 and the Wildcats were next on the man advantage at 1:57 and they would take the lead as JeffJoe Regula found a wide open Alex Stahl for his 2nd power play goal with 1:33 to play and gave Latrobe a 2-1 lead. With 51 seconds to play Latrobe went on the power play again and Brody Aukerman’s chance with :05 to go was stopped by Mortimer. Shots were 6-6 in the second as the Wildcats head to the locker room with the lead 2-1.
The third period was back and forth early on as the Wildcats clung to a 2-1 lead. Latrobe’s Andrew Ong set up Jason Angus who hit the post at 10:29 and with 8:18 to play Kyle Mortimer stopped Michael McCurdy after a 3 on 2. Latrobe dug in on the penalty kill at 7:22 and successfully killed off a West A power play. The Indians would take advantage of an errant clearing attempt by Latrobe as a rebound caromed to the stick of Tyler Fitzgerald with 4:40 to play, who slide the puck under Nick Loyacona and the game was tied again at two apiece. The Indians almost took the lead with 4:10 to go as Ryan Kumpfmiller set up Justin DiSanti who narrowly missed a chance for West A to gio ahead. On the next trip up the ice Jeff Rossi’s shot from the slot was blocked by West Allegheny at 3:50. A West Allegheny power play with 3:00 to go but a great penalty kill by Latrobe ensued and JeffJoe Regula almosted ended the game in overtime with :49 to go but his shot sailed high and wide.
On to overtime we went and after penalty was called on West Allegheny, Latrobe went on the power play and after a great keep in the zone by Brody Aukerman, a rebound shot found its way to the stick of Michael McCurdy, who made no mistake burying West Allegheny with a shot on the ice into the open net with 7:43 remaining in overtime sending the Latrobe Wildcats to their first Penguins Cup in school history with a heartstopping 3-2 overtime victory at Mellon Arena.
