A-K Valley hockey teams learn Penguins Cup playoff foes

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, February 27, 2018 | 11:25 PM

The PIHL Penguins Cup playoff brackets were released Tuesday, and Plum, Fox Chapel, Kiski Area and Burrell know where they fit in for each battle to the championship games at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.

Burrell (13-5) earned the No. 3 seed in the Division 2 bracket and will host No. 6 Kennedy Catholic at 9 p.m. Monday at Pittsburgh Ice.

The Bucs, 4-1 in their final five games of the regular season, split with Kennedy Catholic (8-8-1-1). The teams met Feb. 20, with Kennedy Catholic scoring a 4-3 victory.

Burrell led Division 2 in goals during the regular season with 101, 19 more than any other team in the division.

Moon (17-1) is the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 Ringgold (14-4). The semifinals are March 12 at RMU Island Sports Center, with the title game March 19.

Plum (7-11) won the 2017 Class AA Penguins Cup title. Now the Mustangs hope to make a run in this year's Class AAA postseason.

They are the No. 8 seed for the quarterfinals and will play top seed Peters Township at 7 p.m. next Tuesday at Printscape Arena at Southpointe.

The Mustangs and Indians squared off in the regular-season finale Tuesday night. Peters Township scored a 1-0 win to improve to 14-3-0-1.

The Indians also recorded a 6-1 win over the Mustangs in the season opener.

Plum clinched when it topped the Vikings, 4-3, on Feb. 19 and gained a measure of confidence with a 3-2 overtime win over No. 3 Cathedral Prep last Thursday.

The Class AAA semifinals are March 15 at Island Sports Center, and the championship game is March 20.

The top 12 teams earned playoff spots in Class A, and No. 9 Fox Chapel and No. 12 Kiski Area hope to punch their tickets to the quarterfinals with wins in the play-in round.

The Foxes (11-7-0-1) will face No. 8 Sewickley Academy (13-7) at 8:30 p.m. Monday at Robert Morris, with the winner taking on No. 1 Bishop McCort (20-0) on March 8 at 1st Summit Arena in Johnstown.

The Cavaliers (10-10) will take on No. 5 Indiana (15-4-0-1) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Indiana's S&T Bank Arena. The winner of that matchup will meet No. 4 West Allegheny (16-4) at 9 p.m. March 8 at the Baierl Ice Complex in Warrendale.

Kiski Area clinched a spot in the playoffs with a 6-3 win over rival Deer Lakes in its season finale Feb. 19.

Fox Chapel heads into the playoffs winners of four of its final five regular-season games. It scored 15 goals against Beaver last Thursday, one of the highest single-game goal totals from any team in the PIHL this season.

The semifinals will be March 13 at RMU Island Sports Center, and the championship game will be March 19.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Burrell, Fox Chapel, Kiski School, Plum