close

Upper St. Clair unable to power past Pine-Richland

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 2 min read
1 / 8

Colton Shiry manages to control the puck while being heavily pressured by Pine-Richland defenders Brandon Will, Joe Folmer and Brandon Kashur during PIHL Class AA championship action.

2 / 8

Andrew Woomer, Quinn Giacobbe and Joseph Pulit congratulate Devin Rohrich after he scores Upper St. Clair's third goal against Pine-Richland in the PIHL Class AA championship game.

3 / 8

Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Danny Stauffer (30) makes the glove save on Andrew Woomer (40) who slipped while being pushed into the net during PIHL championship action. Stauffer made 34 saves to help Pine-Richland to victory, 7-5, against Upper St. Clair in the Penguins Cup Class AA final.

4 / 8

Kyle Rohrich keeps his eye on the man with the puck as Brandon Will attempts to slip in front of the Upper St. Clair netminder during PIHL championship action. Despite 38 saves by Rohrich, the Panthers succumber to the Rams, 7-5, and captured the Penguins Cup in Class AA.

5 / 8

Anthony Carone skates around Nick Monaco on his way to a goal. Carone's two-goal, three-assist effort was not enough as Upper St. Clair succumbed to Pine-Richland, 7-5, in the PIHL Class AA championship game.

6 / 8

Devin Rohrich (No. 19) does a balancing action to stay on his feet and control the puck against Nick Monaco (81) during PIHL championship action.

7 / 8

Colton Shiry (55) reaches ahead of Nick Monaco (81) to control the puck during PIHL Class AA championship action. Despite a goal from Shiry, Upper St. Clair dropped a 7-5 decision to Pine-Richland in the final.

8 / 8

Anthony Carone maneuvers into scoring position. Carone's two-goal, three-assist effort was not enough as Upper St. Clair succumbed to Pine-Richland, 7-5, in the PIHL Class AA championship game.

Upper St. Clair took advantage of 5-of-6 power plays but when it came to man-to-man hockey Pine-Richland one-upped the Panthers and captured the Penguins Cup in the Class AA division of the PIHL.

By virtue of their 7-5 triumph against USC, the Rams (21-0-1) advanced to the Pennsylvania Cup finals set for 1:30 p.m. March 23 against Downingtown East (17-5-0) at the RMU Island Sports Center on Neville Island.

“Upper St. Clair has a really good power play,” P-R senior captain Will Studt said. “We knew what they were doing, and we still couldn’t stop them. They’re tough.”

In the final 10 minutes of action and at even strength, Studt and the Rams were tougher. In fact, the nip-and-tuck contest swung on three unanswered, 5-on-5 strikes, ignited by Studt. He knotted the contest at 6:18. Jared Eggert and Joseph Folmer followed with the game-winning and insurance tallies at the 7:27 and 9:39 marks of the third period.

Meanwhile, the Panthers came out of intermission on the attack, scoring within the first minutes of action in the final period to forge ahead, 5-4. On the power play, Anthony Carone scored at 1:28. Twenty-seven seconds later, Carone then assisted on Quinn Giacobbe’s goal. Devin Rohrich and Joseph Pulit assisted on Carone’s tally.

USC initiated the scoring at 13:35 to take a 1-0 advantage in the first frame. Again on the power play, Carone scored with Pulit and Rohrich picking up the assists.

Folmer knotted it before the period end but Colton Shiry opened up another USC lead at the 3:28 mark in the second stanza. Carone and Rohrich assisted.

After a pair of Ram goals from Eggert and Studt, Rohrich tied the game, 3-3, with his tally at 8:26. Carone and Pulit picked up assists. But, Brandon Kashur closed the second-period scoring giving P-R the edge, 4-3, heading into the locker room.

While the Panthers put 39 shots on goal against Daniel Stauffer, Kyle Rohrich was bombarded by 45 Ram shots.

With the loss, USC finished the season at 16-4-2 overall.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today