PIHL Penguin Cup Playoff Recaps for Tuesday, March 8th

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 | 12:00 AM

Three games, one in each classification, helped put a nice fancy bow on the opening round of the high school hockey playoffs. Here are recaps from all three games as we put the First Round to bed and quickly get ready for the one day Quarterfinals 24 hours later in the 2011 PIHL Penguins Cup Playoffs.

Thanks to Randy Gore, Josh Rowntree and Adam Hoerner for their help on these recaps.

PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AAA FIRST ROUND:

North Allegheny Tigers 3 – Plum Mustangs 1
Sophomore Joe Griffin sparked North Allegheny with two goals to help the Tigers to a 3-1 win over the Plum Mustangs in the first round of the Penguins Cup PIHL playoffs. Griffin tallied the first goal on a backhand shot just over three minutes into the game to give North Allegheny a 1-0 lead. With only a minute left in the opening stanza, Griffin scored again on a shot that was deflected on its way in by a Plum defender to increase the Tigers advantage to 2-0. Early in the second period, junior Jake Hubert gave NA a 3-0 lead by pushing the puck past Plum goalie Taylor Cestra with 12:15 on the clock. Behind back-up goaltender Tyler Kuhn, who got the start on this game, the Tigers kept the Mustangs off the board until under a minute to go. With 43 seconds left in the game, Plum scored their lone goal on a power play slapper by Jason Pastucha to bring the final score to 3-1. While the Mustangs were able to use their power play to great success in a preliminary round win over Mt. Lebanon and a previous victory over North Allegheny on March 1, this time the Tigers avoided any careless penalties and prevented Plum's thoroughbred scorers from tickling the back of the net. Plum ends the season with a 8-12-2 record. North Allegheny improves to 13-6-2 and advances to play Upper St. Clair at the Ice Castle in Castle Shannon on Wednesday night. In an earlier meeting on January 7, USC defeated North Allegheny 5-1.

PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS AA FIRST ROUND:

Elizabeth Forward Warriors 6 – Moon Tigers 2
#7 Elizabeth Forward controlled play from start to finish and, despite a close game early on, pulled away to rout #10 Moon 6-2 and advance to the PIHL Class AA Quarterfinals. Justin Delmaster continued his fantastic play this season, recording a goal and three assists for the Warriors, who outshot the Tigers an amazing 60-18 in the game. Elizabeth Forward wasted little time to get the scoring started as Justin Delmaster would beat Andy Grace with a backhanded shot to give the Warriors the 1-0 lead only 1:19 into the game. Just over a minute later, the Warriors would continue their early onslaught of shots and offensive pressure, gaining a 2-0 lead on a goal from Daniel Neff, who collected a rebound at the 2:41 mark for the first period. However, Moon would strike later in the first on a goal by star center Nigel Crighton at the 10:38 mark, cutting the Elizabeth Forward lead in half. At the end of the first, the Warriors were outshooting the Tigers 23-6. However, Moon would capitalize on an interference penalty on Elizabeth Forward's Casey Houghey by netting a powerplay goal by Koby Uhrig at the 6:00 mark of the second. However, Elizabeth Forward would answer immediately on a goal by Ireland Mooney, who would collect a great pass from behind the net made by Ryan Lizik and bury it, giving the Warriors the 3-2 lead at the 7:10 mark. That score would be taken to the second intermission, with the shot count at 41-14 in the Warriors' favor. Elizabeth Forward would gain a ton of momentum off of an early third period power play and, at the 2:16 mark of the third, would got up 4-2 on a rebound goal by Dustin Briggs. Just over five minutes later, the onslaught was officially on, as Daniel Neff would collect his second goal of the game at the 7:44 mark on assists from Delmaster and Ireland Mooney, pushing the Warriors' lead to 5-2. Casey Houghey would finish the scoring for Elizabeth Forward by putting home another Delmaster assist, moving the lead to 6-2. Elizabeth Forward will move on to face the #2 Bishop Canevin Crusaders in the Quarterfinals on Wednesday night. Moon's Andy Grace would make an impressive 54 saves in the loss.

Scoring:
Moon: 1-1-0=2
EF: 2-1-3=6
1st Period
EF: Justin Delmaster (1) 1:19 (1-0 EF)
EF: Daniel Neff (1) (Assist: Delmaster) 2:41 (2-0 EF)
M: Nigel Crighton (1) 10:38 (2-1 EF)
2nd Period
M: Koby Uhrig (1) 6:00 (2-2)
EF: Ireland Mooney (1) (Assist: Ryan Lizik) 7:10 (3-2 EF)
3rd Period
EF: Dustin Briggs (1) 2:16 (Assist: Greg Vogt) 2:16 (4-2 EF)
EF: Daniel Neff (2) (Assists: I. Mooney, Delmaster) 7:44 (5-2 EF)
EF: Casey Houghey (1) (Assist: Delmaster

Shots on Goal
Moon: 6-8-4=18
EF: 23-18-19=60

Goalies
Moon: Andy Grace- 60 shots/54 saves
EF: Anthony Sschpis- 18 shots/16 saves

Poweplay
Moon: 1/4
EF: 0/3

Managent Science Associates Three Stars
1. Justin Delmaster (EF) (Goal, 3 Assists)
2. Daniel Neff (EF) (2 Goals)
3. Andy Grace (M) (54 Saves)

PIHL PENGUINS CUP CLASS A FIRST ROUND:

South Fayette Lions 5 – Sewickley Academy Panthers 1
They say it's hard to beat a team three times in one season, but that's exactly what South Fayette (12-8-2) did to Section 3 rival Sewickley Academy (7-15-0) in the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday night inside the Ice-O-Plex at Southpointe in a 5-1 decision. The Lions started the scoring at the 4:40 mark of the opening period when Joe Testa knocked home a rebound off assists from Nick Schultz and Blake Barber. Just 1:56 later, Brian Bodine got sprung behind the defense by Sean Hart and backed Panthers goaltender Hayden Moyer into his crease before slipping a backhander past his left skate for a 2-0 lead. It would stay that way until the 8:11 mark of the second when Dan Curtin snapped a seeing-eye wrister from the top of the left circle which managed to squeeze between the wickets on Moyer. Schultz would add what appeared to be the back-breaker at the 14:55 mark, walking in with a sweet backhand move in a two-on-none rush off a pass from Kevin Belasco. Sewickley Academy would spring to life briefly in the third, getting a goal from Alex Pfeifer from Matt Ferrari at 3:48, but Schultz had the final word with another gorgeous breakaway goal at the 6:15 mark. South Fayette doesn't get much time to celebrate, though, as they draw two-time defending champion Mars at BladeRunners in Warrendale at 8:30 PM on Wednesday night. You can catch all the action here on the MSA Sports Network.

Shots:
South Fayette – 39
Sewickely Academy – 38

Three Stars:
3. Joe Testa, South Fayette – 1 G, 1 A
2. Mike Coyne, South Fayette – 37 saves
1. Nick Schultz, South Fayette – 2 G, 2 A

Play of the Game:
Nick Schultz's second goal as he made at least a half-dozen moves on Moyer, bringing the fans to their feet and sealing the victory for South Fayette.
 

Tags: Elizabeth Forward, Moon, Plum, Sewickley Academy