Shaler Titans

MONROEVILLE - Penn Hills and Hempfield have been a rivalry in Class AAA over the past five plus years and when they meet you are almost guaranteed a hard fought game. There seem to be less at stake in this one with the Spartans off to a 1-5 start and Penn Hills off to a 1-4 start with Plum, Gateway and Franklin Regional already battling for the East AAA Division crown in November, but for certain Hempfield's Ron Grapin and Penn Hill's Lou Biancanello probably looked at their schedule and each marked this game in the "we can win that one" column. Penn Hills Brad Bruckner [8:46] and Hempfield's Dan Margonari [6:00] traded goals in the opening period for a 1-1 deadlock. Then early in the second, Spartan captain Chris Owens snuck a backhander by Kyle Bolte at 14:24 from behind the net to give Hempfield a 2-1 lead. Jay Gilardo tied the game on a wrist shot from between the circles at 6:00 to knot the game at 2-2. On to the third period and the pace an intensity picked up as both squads had power play opportunities early on. Hempfield took advantage of sloppy play by the Penn Hills power play unit, as Chris Owens picked the pocket of the defense and walked in alone and beat Bolte to give the Spartans a 3-2 lead at 13:08. Penn Hills then went on a 5 on 3 power play at 12:08 and Hempfield executed execellent penalty killing, which resulted in a Margonari breakaway stopped by Bolte. Hempfield went on the 5 on 3 power play but could not score in the middle of the final period. Then at 5:37, it was Owens, who completed the hat trick on the power play with a wrist shot, which beat Bolte on the stick side to give Hempfield a 4-2 lead. Jay Gilardo scored with 1:58 left to cut the lead to 4-3, but Hempfield's netminder Brian Houghtalen shut the door with a couple of nice saves to preserve the Spartan victory.