Pennsylvania High School Hockey Champions

2009 Penguins Cup AA Championship

Latrobe 3 Montour 0

PITTSBURGH –

2009 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals

PITTSBURGH -

Class A – Bishop McCort 9 Serra Catholic 3

         In a see-saw affair over the opening two periods, Bishop McCort (17-4-2) broke open a 4-3 contest with five goals in the 3^rd period to smash Serra Catholic (20-3-0). After Zack Bartos opened the scoring for McCort in the 1^st, in a six goal second period the Crushers and Eagles were 4-3 in favor of McCort at the end of two periods. Nick Pappas, Kurtis Straw and  Dane Domonkos scored for Bishop McCort and Jay Leppo, Erik Manetta and Corey Beam scored for the Eagles. Todd Thomas of Bishop McCort broke the game wide open with two goals 1:47 apart early in the third period and Domonkos added his second and Zack Bartos completed the hat trick with two goals late in the final stanza. The Crimson Crushers outshot Serra 29-20.    

 Class AA – Montour 2 Canevin 1  

     Goaltending is sometimes a great equalizer in the playoffs and Montour (17-7-1) has a great one in Matt Skoff, who turned aside 34 of 35 shots against Canevin (15-7-2). The Crusaders threw 15 shots at the Montour goaltender in the 3^rd period and rung a couple off the post and crossbar to no avail. After a scoreless first period, freshman Domennic Martinelli scored on the backhand at 11:39 of the second period. Zach Milnarcik extended the lead to 2-1 on a nifty backhand through the 5 hole of Julian DeFilippo to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead at 9:46. Canevin finally scored with 7:11 to go in the second as Vince Nicolella found a loose puck and shoved it past Skoff to make it 2-1. The Crusaders pressed in the 3^rd period and could not beat Skoff and Andy Beck scored into an empty net from 120 feet with 35 seconds to go giving the Montour Spartans their first ever trip to the Penguins Cup finals. Canevin outshot Montour 35-14. 

      Class AAA – Seneca Valley 4 Upper St Clair 3 (OT)   

      Upper St Clair (16-5-4) came out smoking in the opening minutes and seized the lead as Zach Feldman went five hole past Ryan Schutte at 13:22 of the opening period. Seneca rallied to take the lead as Sean Sokolowski scored at 6:22 and then Kaleb Schwab scored on the power play with 5:10 to go in the first period. The Panthers had a strong second period thanks to good pressure and several power play opportunities as Theo Schneiders scored on a backhand at 7:41 and then Justin Selep lifted a rebound over Schutte with 1:40 to play in the 2^nd and the Panthers took a 3-2 lead to the third period. Seneca Valley outshot USC in the 3^rd period 13-8 and 45-27 on the evening and finally solved Matt Wreggett as Erik Larson blocked a USC clearing attempt and slid the puck past the USC goalie to tie the score with 7:31 to go in regulation. This contest headed to overtime and would be decided on a broken 3 on 2 as Logan Pfeffer and Brandon Platt got the puck to the net where Mike Rohm found a loose puck and fired it past Wreggett with 2:41 to go in overtime to give the Raiders their first ever trip to the Penguins Cup final 4-3.

2009 Penguins Cup Semi-Finals

PITTSBURGH -

Class A – Mars 4 Quaker Valley 0

    Mars (23-1-0) completely dominated this contest from start to finish defeating Quaker Valley (15-7-1) 4-0. Jake Robasch opened the scoring at 10:06 of the 2^nd period following his own rebound off the post and beating Zach Taylor to give the Planets a 1-0 lead. Tyler Whiteford scored from in close on the power play with 5:02 remaining in the 2^nd period to make it 2-0. Derek Sitterly and Steven Tracy added goals in the final period as Mars outshot the Quakers 40-7 as Tyler Stepke earned a shutout.  

Class AA – Latrobe 5 Franklin Regional 3   

  Latrobe (23-0-0) was ripe for the taking in this contest as Franklin scored first on a Pete Ellis goal at 8:43 of the opening period to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Latrobe got a huge goal late in the period as Tyler Berger got a rebound on the backhand to knot the score at one apiece. Latrobe took advantage of sloppy FR play in the 2^nd and mounted a big attack outshooting the Panthers 17-5 and scoring three goals to take a 3-1 lead. Cody Ray tapped in a Chris Karnes pass at 12:44 after a bad clearing attempt, Tyler Baloh tapped in a Cody Ray rebound after James Orr juggled the puck and the backbreaker was JeffJoe Regula’s terrific effort to find a loose puck amongst two Panthers and slam in home with just ten seconds remaining in the period. Matt Batis converted a Regula pass to make it 5-1 early in the 3^rd period. Franklin mounted a comeback that was too little too late as Eugene Mack scored a pair of goals in the second half of the third period to make the final 5-3 in favor of Latrobe.

 Class AAA – Shaler 6 Mt Lebanon 1  

     Shaler (21-2-0) showed why it was the number one seed in the playoffs with a convincing 6-1 shredding of Mt Lebanon (12-8-5). Zac Lynch and Sean McCue scored in the opening period to give the Titans a 2-0 lead, but Brooks Behling scored on a long slapshot from just inside the blue line with 44 seconds to play. The turning point of the hockey game was when with 12:17 to go in the 2^nd period, Billy Dobson intercepted a Travis Lisowski clearing attempt and had a gimme goal to make it 3-1 in favor of Shaler. Patrick Schaefer, Brian Stein and a 2^nd goal by Zac Lynch sealed Shaler’s first ever trip to the Penguins Cup in 34 years with a 6-1 victory. Steven Weilersbacher was terrific in goal for the Titans stopping 24 of 25 shots as the Blue Devils outshot Shaler 25-22.  

Moon 6 Greensburg CC 4

Highlights: Moon scores an upset over the Centurians as Nigel Crichton, Andrew Ruxton, Beau Danforth, A.J. Coleman, Chris Wagner and Randy Warn score for the Tigers. Nick Persechetti scores twice for GCC and Bobby Sokol and Patrick Claybaugh add goals.  

Canevin 5 Elizabeth Forward 1

Highlights: Matt Lison scores twice and Frankie Vance, Vince Nicolella and Hillenbrand score for the Crusaders  

Franklin Regional 9 Kittanning 2

Highlights: Panthers race to a 7-0 lead thru two periods and waltz to a 9-2 win. Eugene Mack scores a hat trick, Patrick Coyne and Steve Shirk add a pair each and freshman Luke Stickel and Chad White add goals. FR outshoots the Wildcats 33-20. Kittanning goals from Dieter Koster and Jake Enders.  

Montour 4, Baldwin 1

Highlights: Zach Milnarick scored twice and Josh Castelvetter and Kurt Kurelis each scored once to lead Montour over Baldwin 4-1.

Latrobe 9 Moon 1

Highlights: Wildcats spread the scoring throughout the lineup and score an easy 9-1 victory over the Moon Tigers.

Franklin Regional 5 Meadville 4

Highlights: Meadville builds a 3-0 lead after the opening period on goals by Zach Bogardus, Jared Kilbourn, and Chip Ray. Franklin's Michael Adams scores in the 2nd, but the Bulldogs extend the lead again to 4-1 early in the 3rd period on a goal by Clayton Stockton. The Panthers rally as Peter Ellis scores with 5:53 to play and then Steve Shirk scores a pair of shorthanded goals to tie the game in under a minute. Patrick Coyne completes a cinderella comeback for Franklin Regional with a little over a minute to play to give FR a heartstopping 5-4 win at the House of Chills.  

Canevin 3 West Allegheny 2 (OT)

Highlights: Canevin's Matt Lison scores his second goal of the game a little over three minutes into overtime to send the Crusaders to Mellon Arena for the 2nd straight year. John Facchiano adds a goal and Julian DeFillippo plays well in goal for the Crusaders. Tyler Fitzgerald and Taylor Carlisle scores for West A before a pack house at the Airport.   

Montour 3 Peters Twp 2

Highlights: Montour scores two first period goals from Michael Harrington and Andy Beck [power play] to lead 2-0. Harrington scores in the 3rd period to make it 3-0. Peters Township finally solves Matt Skoff with 3:16 to play as Kevin Hough and Dave Rigatti score 45 seconds apart to make it 3-2. Montour's Michael Zagari takes a five minute major with 1:16 to go and Peters pulls the goalie on a 6 on4 and never gets a shot in the final minute as the Spartans hold on and advance to the Penguins Cup Semi-Finals for the first time in their history.