PIHL High School Hockey Notebook – 12/05/2011

By: Bruce Markey
Monday, December 5, 2011 | 7:48 PM

Welcome to the first ever regular season edition of “PIHL Notebook,” formerly dubbed “PIHL News and Notes,” your weekly companion to “The PIHL Power Play” on the MSA Sports Network.

For longtime readers used to the old format of this column, we hope you will enjoy the new streamlined look. After five years, we felt it was time to freshen things up a bit, and the launch of our new website this fall seemed like the perfect time to retool things. If you find yourself missing the feature articles of the past, you just may see a few pop up throughout the season, but they will now be the exception rather than the rule.

So, what can you expect in the months ahead? Our goal is to cover more teams each week by focusing on the headline news. We will highlight teams in each classification with current unbeaten streaks or perhaps other trends worth talking about in our weekly hot list, “Melting the Ice.” We will also look back at the previous week’s most scintillating results with our “Scoreboard Watch.” Plus, we will preview upcoming MSA broadcasts for the week ahead.

There will be more as the season progresses, but for now, let’s catch up with what has been going on around the PIHL since the puck dropped on October 24.

PIHL CLASS AAA:

MELTING THE ICE

Canon-McMillan appears to be on a mission for a third straight appearance in the Penguins Cup Final after a perfect 7-0-0 start keyed by an unmatched 46 goals … Class AAA newcomer Peters Township has not lost yet at 4-0-2 and boasts the top defense with just nine goals allowed … A recent loss to the Big Macs aside, Mount Lebanon leads Section 2 with a 5-1-1 mark … Penn-Trafford is perfect through November as well, matching the 7-0-0 mark of Canon-McMillan … State College is right behind the Warriors in Section 4 after ripping off four straight victories to put the Little Lions at 5-1-0.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/1/11 – Non-section: Peters Township 1, Mount Lebanon 1 (OT) … Clay Wyda stopped 19 shots for Lebo, but Brian Baker of Peters doubled him up with 38 stops … Goals went to James Phillips for the Blue Devils and Taylor Cox for the Indians.

12/2/11 – Non-section: State College 2, Upper St. Clair 1 (OT) … Dan Moscone netted the winner on the power play for State College … Sean Allebrand scored for USC in the first period before Derrick May got the equalizer in the third … Mac Ross turned aside 27 shots by the Panthers, but Mike Stein was even busier with 41 saves in the losing effort.

PIHL CLASS AA:

MELTING THE ICE

West Allegheny has won two straight and surged to the top of Section 1 at 4-2-0 … Chartiers Valley clearly wants another trip to Consol Energy Center and is the only perfect team in Class AA at 6-0-0 … Plum has won four straight after dropping its opener and leads the Section 4 race by point percentage … Latrobe has won two straight and trails the Mustangs with a game in hand at 4-2-0.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/1/11 – Non-section: Latrobe 4, Bishop Canevin 3 (OT) … In a rematch of last season’s Penguins Cup Final, the Wildcats got a little revenge thanks to Josh Singley’s power play goal in overtime … Singley also started the game’s scoring with a shorthanded marker in the first while Jacob Koluder notched a goal and two assists … Matt Walsh scored twice for the Crusaders, and Pete Karney tied it with his team down a man late in regulation along with an earlier assist.

12/2/11 – Non-section: Franklin Regional 5, Montour 4 … Nick White recorded a hat trick for the Spartans while Travis Clark collected a goal and two assists … Nick Cecere netted the winner and set up another goal while Lucas Chiala scored twice and picked up a helper … the game featured five ties and three lead changes.

PIHL CLASS A:

MELTING THE ICE

Serra Catholic has won two straight to gain a four-point edge on first place in Section 1 at 4-1-0 … Mars is pacing the class with 47 goals and is its only perfect squad at 6-0-0 … Quaker Valley is keeping the two-team Section 2 race interesting with a three-game winning streak for a 4-1-0 mark … Westmont Hilltop has collected four straight victories after dropping its opener to pace Section 3 at 4-1-0 … Hampton is setting the defensive standard thus far with just six goals allowed helping the program to three straight wins, good for first place in Section 4 at 4-1-0.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

12/1/11 – Non-section: Quaker Valley 6, Freeport 2 … No stats available at press time, but this one jumps out because both teams have been off to good starts … the Quakers have scored at least six goals in each of their four victories … After scoring an impressive 32 goals in their first four contests, the Yellowjackets now have just three in their last two.

12/2/11 – Section 1: South Park 9, Thomas Jefferson 5 … The offensive fireworks were plentiful in this divisional contest highlighted by a hat trick from South Park’s Jordan Dean … Also starring for the Eagles were Josh Smith with three assists plus a goal and helper each for Billy Walker and Ross Guidotti … Kyle Miller did his part for the Jaguars with two goals and two assists … Thomas Kimmic also lit the lamp twice for TJ while Robert Deliman and Nick Tamburi each set up a pair.

PIHL OPEN CLASS:

MELTING THE ICE

In the Nailers Cup bracket, John Marshall has upped its record to 4-3-0 after back-to-back wins, pulling within two points of first-place Wheeling Park in Section 1 … Quigley and Harbor Creek have each registered consecutive victories, but the Spartans remain two points ahead of the Huskies at 6-1-0 compared to 5-3-0 … As for the Chiefs Cup side of the standings, Indiana has knocked off four straight opponents for a 5-1-0 mark atop Section 3, but Ford City is just one point back after two wins in a row have improved the Sabers to 4-2-1 … Section 4 leader Greensburg Salem is pacing the class with 58 goals and is the only perfect team in the Open Class at 8-0-0.

SCOREBOARD WATCH

11/30/11 – Section 3: Indiana 2, Hollidaysburg 1 … After a scoreless first, Alex Satkunas put the Golden Tigers on top early in the second … Zach Metzler tied it for the Little Indians early in the third before Camden Lydick netted the winner with just 1:15 left in regulation … Austin Moody turned aside 24 shots in the win while Matt Gregory fought valiantly with 43 saves himself.

12/2/11 – Section 1: Morgantown 4, Wheeling Park 1 … The Mohawks snapped a three-game winning streak for the Patriots on the strength of two goals and one assist from Kienan Battin … Blake Karolcik and Cullen Gookin each collected two assists for Morgantown … Nicco Catalano scored the lone goal for Wheeling Park … The goalies were not very busy as the teams combined for 27 shots.

MSA GAME OF THE WEEK:

12/5/11 – Class A – Non-section: Westmont Hilltop @ Hampton … The Hilltoppers have outscored the opposition 38-12 thus far with 16 different goal scorers … Noah McQuillan leads the team with 12 points (5 G, 7 A) … Adam Ayre is off to a 3-0-0 start with a 1.80 GAA … The Talbots have gotten 23 combined goals from 10 players … Luke Leya is pacing the squad with 11 points (3 G, 8 A) … Cam Raidna has burst onto the scene with a 3-1-0 start, 1.22 GAA and 0.942 save percentage … The puck drops at 7:10 PM with Steve Nagler and Mike Azadian on the call.

We hope you enjoyed the first edition of “PIHL Notebook” and invite you back every Monday for a new edition from now through March. First, though, be sure to mark you calendars for the seventh season premiere of “The PIHL Power Play” this Wednesday night at 8:00! Adam Hoerner and Josh Rowntree are back with a guest slate representing all three defending Penguins and Pennsylvania Cup champions. Plus, we debut a new segment called “Five Minute Major,” debating some of the most burning questions around the league. On the docket for our debut edition – should the PIHL institute shootouts to decide regular season contests? The exclusive home for the 2012 Penguins Cup Playoffs is the MSA Sports Network!

Tags: Canon-McMillan, Chartiers Valley, Ford City, Greensburg Salem, Hampton, Harbor Creek, John Marshall (WV), Latrobe, West Allegheny, Westmont Hilltop