Announcement
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 3rd period to smash Serra Catholic (20-3-0). After Zack Bartos opened the scoring for McCort in the 1st, 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 3rd 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 3rd 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 2nd and the Panthers took a 3-2 lead to the third period. Seneca Valley outshot USC in the 3rd 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.
