In sudden-death overtime, Pine Richland toppled No. 1 seed Bishop Canevin, 3-2, and advanced to the PIHL Class AA hockey championship game to be played March 20 at the Consol Energy Center.

At the 2:40 mark in the extra 10-minute period, Dillon Kessy scored the decisive goal and crushed the Crusaders’ dreams of playing for the Penguins Cup. Bishop Canevin finished the season at 17-2-2.

With 7:34 to play in regulation, Matthew Cole’s unassisted goal tied the game.

Early on in the contest, the Adams-Large-Reda line proved big for Canevin as the trio teamed up for a pair of goals and staked the Crusaders to a 2-1 advantage after two periods.

The Crusaders scored first when Brennen Adams took the puck from Patrick Large and Christopher Reda and deposited it into the net past Pine Richland netminder Brendan Bagnato at 12:11 of the first frame.

Though the Rams responded with the equalizer less than a minute later on a power play goal from Ryan Cole, the Crusaders forged ahead in the second period. On a power play at 5:38, Adams tallied his second score. Reda and Large assisted.

Canevin outshot the Rams, 12-9, over the first two frames, but the game ended even with each team racking up 30 shots on goal.

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