Announcement
Pine Richland gets the bounces this time over Plum 2-1
GAME OF THE WEEK - Week 9
NEW KENSINGTON –
Pine Richland (13-1-1) is the defending Penguins Cup AAA champions and hopes to defend their title in March, which could set up a meeting with LaSalle, who pummeled the Rams 9-1 in last years State Final. You’d think a program that has won three straight Penguins Cup including two consecutive State Championships in Class AA in 2006 and 2007 would be hungry to prove themselves against the best and keep the streak of Penguins Cup going. The truth is that many of the players who could return didn’t and some opted to move on and play for less than stellar AAA and Junior Programs where the likelihood of advancing their hockey careers is not the greatest. So hard core are some of these Rams that two of them had a mandatory practice in Youngstown for a AAA team with a handful of wins against a couple dozen losses. This Pine Richland team that COULD have returned over a dozen starters returns around a half dozen, but still is good enough to be ranked # 1 in the Post Gazette and the favorite to win the Penguins Cup for another crack at LaSalle, who appears to be the Flyers Cup favorite.
The mediocrity of Class AAA has been quite a discussion amongst the hockey ranks in 2008-2009 and I don’t know if that is the case or maybe some of the perennial front runners have come back to the pack. The Plum Mustangs (7-3-4) had an abysmal 2007-2008 and our old friends Stu ‘the Pizza Pub is no More’ Rulnick and Jerry ‘Dr Evil Vigilante’ Bass were on hand to see if the Mustangs could knock off the Rams and keep pace with division front runner Shaler Titans. The Mustangs have a mix of good looking underclassmen along with some veteran players and have competed well in Class AAA this season winning some key games and dropping a couple of games to the Homeless Foxes of Fox Chapel, who now call Valley Sports Center home, since their deportation and exile from Harmarville BladeRunners. Plum, also moved to Valley, which helps the home crowd as a nice turnout of ‘Concerned Mustang Citizens’ was on hand.
The opening period was pretty mundane as the teams traded shots from the perimeter and the Mustangs had the period’s best chances at 7:21 but did not score. Plum goaltender Shane Leonzio stopped freshman Nolan Trombetta at 4:31 to keep the game scoreless. The game appeared head to the intermission when the Rams Eric Febert whipped a forehand from behind the net that glanced off Leonzio and spun like the eight ball headed for the wrong pocket in billiards for the Mustangs and behind him to give Pine Richland a 1-0 lead with just 4 seconds left in the opening period as the Rams outshot Plum 11-9.
On to the 2nd period and the Mustangs had several power play opportunities and 19 shots but the Rams goaltender Dan Szymanski was spectacular stopping them all. The PR keeper stopped Ben Hanus at 14:39, David Smith at 10:53, the Freshman Hunter Brett at 7:33 to provide solid goaltending and keep Plum off the board. Pine Richland’s Eric Febert scored his second goal of the game from the slot on a nice pass from Luke Wagner from behind the net to make it 2-0 with11:20 remaining in the 2nd period.
The third period was mostly Pine Richland mounting more shots with 13, but Shane Leonzio kept his team in the game. The Mustangs would have a golden opportunity on a 5 on 3 with 12:33 to play, but could not beat Dan Szymanski. The telltale of the hockey game may have occurred at 3:27 as a Plum centering pass from David Smith hit a Pine Richland defenseman and caromed to the net by Szymanski was sharp enough that he just got his pad on a puck headed into the net and a great break for the Rams. Plum finally broke the ice just 22 seconds later as Cody Brenner tapped home a beautiful pass from Ben Hanus to make it 2-1. Plum never really threatened the rest of the way as the bounces and puck slid the way of the Rams for a 2-1 final.
