Peters Township advances to hockey finals
Three seems to be Peters Township’s lucky number this hockey season. For the Indians are back in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League for the first time in three years after whipping North Allegheny in the team’s third meeting of the season.
Peters Township last won the PIHL Class AAA title in 2014. The Indians also won a state title that season.
After going 0-1-1 against the Tigers during the regular season, the Indians blanked NA, 7-0, to advance to the PIHL Class AAA championship game set for 8:30 p.m. March 22 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.
Alex Wilbert had the hot hand in the nets, turning away 27 shots on goal. During the regular season, he maintained a save percentage of 0.903 and allowed 2.67 goals per game.
Offensively, the Indians struck twice in the first frame and second stanza and tacked on three goals in the third period.
Cal Raymore initiated the scoring barrage. He scored off a power play seven minutes into the game. Conner Gielarowski and William Barnes dished up assists. Less than two minutes later, Rex expanded the margin to two, scoring an unassisted, short-handed goal.
The Indians tacked on two more scores in the final 48 seconds of the second stanza. Jeremy Anthos and Gielarowski accounted for the goals. Rex, Matthew Michalowski and Raymore registered assists.
The Indians buried the Tigers with three goals coming between 10:28 and 7:29 to play in the game. In the three-minute span, Anthos, Barnes and Gielarowski put the puck in the net. Torrey Schwartz, Michalowski, Jake Majestic, Brett LeJeune and Raymore picked up assists.
With the win, the Indians improved to 12-8-2 on the season and prepared to face the top-seed in the tournament as Central Catholic the semifinal round with a double-overtime victory, 5-4, against Central Catholic. Ryan Kingerski scored the tying and winning goals for the Vikings, who won the regular season with a 16-4 record. Back on Feb. 7, they topped the Indians, 5-3.
While Kingerski is the team’s playmaker with 19 assists and points leader with 37, Ryan Haag led the Vikings in scoring during the regular season with 19 tallies.
Barnes and Michalowski have proved the one-two punch, scoring 11 goals and chalking up 14 assists, respectively, Gielarowski was the Indians’ leading point scorer (22) during the regular season.
The PIHL champion advances to the Pennsylvania state championships to be held March 25 at a site and time to be determined.