PIHL Playoff Recaps for Monday, March 16th

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, March 17, 2015 | 12:24 AM

The Final Four teams from the PIHL’s Class B and Class C went head-to-head Monday in the PIHL Division II Semifinals. in the end, Carrick remained undefeated while 2nd-seed Indiana is title game bound after both the Cougars and Little Indians were on the winning side of 4-2 results. Here are summaries from both games played at the Bladerunners in Warrendale on Monday.

A special thanks to Adam Hoerner and Cory Campano for their help on these recaps.

PIHL DIVISION II Semifinals:

Carrick Cougars 4 – Meadville Bulldogs 2 
Meadville head coach Jamie Plunkett has been there and back again more than once. The nine Penguins Cup championships in his program’s history are testament enough to that. Whereas Harbor Creek may have had the talent to eliminate Carrick in the Division II Quarterfinals (the Huskies fell by a 6-5 count), the Bulldogs had the leadership behind the bench to ensure they would not be intimidated. That they would come prepared to play 100% focused on a defense first game plan. And it almost worked. Things almost went according to plan. Meadville even led for eight minutes of the hockey game in the Division II Semifinals at BladeRunners in Warrendale on Monday night. But Carrick grabbed a lead in the final 2:30, and it was enough to survive for a 4-2 final and a trip the gold medal game on Thursday night at RMU Island Sports Center. The Cougars drew first blood in a tight-checking first period off the stick of Jonathan Deresh, who poked a loose puck through the wickets of goaltender Sam Kineston just over 10 minutes in. It did not take the Bulldogs long to answer, though, as Trevor Johnson powered a backhander off the equipment of Christian Aggazio for a tie score just 44 second later. It stayed that way for the balance of the period, with shots also even at eight apiece. Meadville then pulled off the nearly unthinkable, taking the lead just 3:02 into the second frame courtesy of Steven Shafer. The lead held until the 11:45 mark when Jacob Speicher fired an innocent-looking shot from the left point which snuck over Kineston’s shoulder and into the net for another tie score, which would stand for a good while. Shots at the Zamboni break stood 20-15 Carrick. Just went overtime seemed inevitable, a Carrick power play late in the third period started some puck-clearing problems for Meadville. Those issues continued after the penalty expired, and one of the Cougars’ best players took advantage. Mark Granatire got the puck below the right wing circle, and the lefty shot beat Kineston from a bad angle for the winner with 2:19 to play. Vincent Maccarone would score into an empty net just under two minutes later, and he did it impressively scoring from his own blue line. It was a finesse play on a night when those were in short supply for the most prolific offense in the PIHL, and really for both teams. The penalty killing took center stage with a combined 0-for-7 performance on the power play. Aggazio made 20 saves to earn the win while Kineston turned aside 25 of the 28 shots he faced.

BladeRunners Scoring Summary:
Carrick Cougars  :  1 – 1 – 2 = 4
Meadville Bulldogs  :  1 – 1 – 0 = 2

First Period:
C: Jonathan Deresh (Isaac Eubanks) 10:14
M: Trevor Johnson (Steven Shafer, Barrett Hoffman) 10:58
Second Period:
M: Shafer (Hoffman) 3:02
C: Jacob Speicher (Eubanks, Vincent Maccarone) 11:45
Third Period:
C: Mark Granatire (unassisted) 14:41
C: Maccarone (empty net) (unassisted) 16:36

Shots on Goal:
Carrick: 29
Meadville: 22

Power Play:
Carrick: 0-4
Meadville: 0-3

Management Science Associates Three Stars:
#3: Granatire, Carrick (GWG)
#2: Shafer, Meadville (G, A)
#1: Maccarone (G, A)

Mount Lebanon Ice Arena Play of the Game:
GWG by Granatire late in the third period

Indiana Little Indians 4 – Beaver Bobcats 2
The Indiana Little Indians faced off against the Beaver Bobcats for the third time this season, but this time it was all on the line in the semifinal matchup of Division II.  The teams had each won a game against each other coming into this matchup and were virtually even on paper. Indiana took down Beaver in the rubber match by a final score of 4-2.
The Little Indians seemed to control the entire pace of play in the first period. They outshot their opponent 16-5 after one, yet they found themselves trailing 2-0.  Beaver goaltender Robbie Halvin was remarkable. He stopped all 16 pucks fired at him and seemed to have control of every rebound. Beaver had a hard time generating offense until a bench penalty for too many men on Indiana put them on the powerplay.  It was here that the Bobcats broke the scoring barrier.  Ryan Hartman scored on a beautiful backhand over the blocker of Zane McElheny. As the period died down the Bobcats found life in the form of another backhand beauty.  This one went over the glove side of McElheny by Antoni Chirgott with just 24.6 seconds remaining.  Early in the second period, Beaver had a chance to seemingly grab hold of all momentum possible when Evan Komlenic had a wide open look in the slot. McElheny stood tall and made the big save that allowed Indiana to have life. The Little Indians fueled off of that and finally found a way to get a few past Robbie Halvin.  Patrick O’Neal was the first to do so with a laser from atop the left circle at 11:10.  Exactly three minutes passed and Jacob Clark found a rebound bounce right to him off of an Ethan Boyer shot and he gently flipped it over the outstretched arm of the sprawling Halvin and the game was knotted at two.  The scoreboard showed an even tally in the goal department, however Indiana was outshooting Beaver 32-8 and putting a lot of pressure on Halvin to be spectacular time and time again.  The third period was sluggish and fatigue had set in on both sides.  It felt like the next team to score would be victorious.  That’s exactly what happened. Ethan Boyer made a beautiful move to his backhand and slid one past Halvin.  The goal came 4 minutes into the period and ended up being the game winner.  Jacob Clark later sealed it with an empty netter (his second of the game).  Halvin stood tall the entire game making 41 saves on 44 shots in a losing effort.  Beaver just couldn’t muster enough offense. Zane McElheny had to make just 9 saves on 11 shots to earn the win.
Indiana will move on to face Carrick at Neville Island on Thursday at 6 pm.  MSA Sports will again have the call as The Little Indians will try to spoil their opponents’ impressive season.  The winner of that contest will be crowned as the first ever PIHL Division II Champion.
 

Tags: Carrick, Indiana