PIHL Playoff Recaps for Thursday, March 5th

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 10:43 PM

The classification formerly known as the Open Class took the spotlight at the frigid Airport Ice Arena in Moon on Thursday. After the focus on the first three days was First Round and Quarterfinals action in the PIHL Playoffs, Thursday opened up play in the Division II Postseason with a pair of First Round matchups. Here are the recaps of those two contests.

A special thanks to Mike Azadian and Lou Rood for their help on these recaps.

PIHL DIVISION II First Round:

Carrick Cougars 8 – Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights 1
At the Airport Ice Arena in a PIHL Division 2 first round playoff game the Carrick Cougars cruised to an easy victory over the Wheeling Central  Catholic Maroon Knights by a score of 8-1. The Cougars went on the offensive early in the first period and out shot the Knights 16-3 in the first stanza. They came in waves and cycled the puck well, out skated, out checked and out played Wheeling Central in every facet of the game. Carrick scored first at 7:34 as Vincent Maccarone scored to make it 1-0. They would go up 2-0 on another Maccarone goal on the power play at 8:35. At 13:34 the Cougars would score again to make it 3-0 when James Unger a defenseman went on an end to end rush and score a goal that turned out to be the Mount Lebanon Ice Arena play of the game. Up 3-0 and dominating the Cougars would score short handed at 15:25 on a goal by Mark Granatire Jr to go up 4-0 ending period one. The second period was more of the same as Carrick would go up 5-0 on another Maccarone goal, his third of the game at 3:51. Finally  the Maroon Knights dented the scoreboard as Kyle Wensel made it 5-1 on the power play at 10:02. That was all they could muster as Carrick made it 6-1 on the power play to end the period as Brayden Aggazio scored on a shot from the point. In between periods there was a delay as the first zamboni broke down, then the second one ran into the side boards. That would only delay the Carrick onslaught as they would score two more goals, the first a power play goal by Maccarone his 4th of the game at :23 into the third frame. The scoring ended at 14:09 as Vincent Tichon scored at 14:09. Carrick out shot Wheeling Central 51-11. They alternate goalies and tonite it was Christian Aggazio in net to get the win. Carrick will now play the Harborcreek Huskies in a quarterfinal game in Erie on Tuesday March 10th.

Peters Township-B Indians 6 – Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Chargers 1
Peters Twp. B team defeated Our Lady of Sacred Heart 6-1 Thursday in first round action of the PIHL Division 2 Playoffs at the Airport Ice Arena.  Peters scored first at the 15:56 mark of the first period as Conner Gielarowski pushed a rebound past OLSH netminder Jessie Broniuszewski to put the Indians up 1-0.  Assists went to Carl Raymore and Jake Majestic.  Late in the period Peters added a Power Play Goal as Josh Hilzendeger converted a pretty passing sequence from Jack Underwood and John Platt to make it 2-0 Indians. OLSH was called for four penalties in the period and was able to kill off three of the four power play opportunities for Peters.  The 2nd period saw Peters up its lead to 3-0 at the 16:23 mark as Carl Raymore lit up the light on an assist from Matt Michalowski.  OLSH was ab le to get on the board at the 10:06 mark when Taylor Cerenkowski blasted the puck behind Wesley Kaylor for the only Charger goal of the night.  Mark Zukowski got the assist on the goal that came with both sides skating with four players each.  Peters was assessed six penalties for the period but was able to kill all of the Charger power play attempts.  The 3rd period belonged to the Indians again as they put the game away with three goals in the period; Hilzendeger with his second at the 9:41 mark, John Platt w2ith his first at the 7:43 mark, and Raymore with his second at the 2:42 mark to make the final score 6-1 in Peters Twp.’s favor.  Ten penalties were called in the period, six on OLSH and four on Peters Twp. adding up to eleven for OLSH and 10 for Peters for the game, twenty-one in all.  The loss ends OLSH’s season at a record of 10-11.  Peters Twp. B will move on to play Indiana Wednesday March 11 at the S & T Bank arena at 7:00 PM.  The Indians improve their record to 10-11 on the season.