Peters Township captures state hockey title
William Tomko (28) maneuvers his way down the ice while controlling the puck during PIHL Class AAA action. Tomko assisted on the tying tally and scored the decisive goal in Peters Township's 5-4 win against Malvern Prep during the state championship contest played March 26 at the Ice Line Arena in West Chester.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
William Tomko (28) maneuvers his way down the ice while controlling the puck during PIHL Class AAA action. Tomko assisted on the tying tally and scored the decisive goal in Peters Township’s 5-4 win against Malvern Prep during the state championship contest played March 26 at the Ice Line Arena in West Chester.
Peters Township captured its sixth state hockey championship when the Indians edged Malvern Prep, 5-4, in the Class 3A title game played March 26 at the Ice Line Arena in West Chester.
Malvern Prep was the defending state champion while the Indians had not secured a title since 2017.
Freshman William Tomko was the hero. He scored the game-winning goal with 3:11 remaining in the second period. He also set up the tying goal by Austin Malley nearly three minutes earlier.
Nolan Hilbert and the PT defense took over in the third period. Hilbert stopped all 10 shots he faced in the final frame. He made 35 saves in the game.
In a back-and-forth game that featured four lead changes, Malvern Prep struck first when Hayden Campbell scored 95 seconds into the game. Koby Ringwald netted the equalizer for the Indians at 6:21.
The Friars forged back into the lead on a tally from Quinn Daugherty but Camden Martin knotted the score again, 2-2, at 7:56. He finished with a goal and an assist.
Caleb Kovac propelled Peters to its first lead with a goal at 12:31 but the Friars wrested the advantage from the Indians on a pair of goals by Jimmy Jacobs at the 14:15 mark in the first frame and 26 seconds into the second period.
Colin Kimberling registered three assists in the victory.
With the win, the Indians finished the year at 18-5-1 overall. They improved to 6-1 in state competition and 3-0 at the Class 3A level.
Peters Township was the Penguins Cup champion after beating Franklin Regional, 6-2, in the PIHL final played March 21 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.
The Indians are coached by Rick Tingle and his assistants Clif Bumford and Chris Clackson.
In addition to Tomko, Ringwald, Kovac, Malley, Martin, Hilbert and Kimberling, the PT roster included Jacob Palmieri, Maxwell Kness, Zachary Palmieri, Jacob Smiga, Ben Kovac, Ryder Martens, Cooper Slavin, Luke Casciola, Luca Marietta, Kyle Thomas, Chase Stauffer, Connor Murphy, Jack Bosic, Andrew Alexander, Caden Kaczorowski, Richard Woods, Ryan McKenna, Lucas Deemer, Ryan Williams, Michael Bametzrieder, Nicholas Eddy, Andrew Massucci and Carson Alexander.
To watch a broadcast of the state championship game visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACzzuweNhwQ