PIHL All-Star roundup: Team White rallies in Class 3A game

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, January 29, 2018 | 4:04 PM

Team White just needed a few shifts to come together in Sunday's PIHL Class 3A all-star game.

Once the players developed chemistry, the offense took off. It happened early in the third period when Team White scored four goals in the first 2 minutes, 37 seconds during a 7-4 win over Team Blue at RMU Island Sports Center on Neville Island.

After a scoreless first, Team Blue took a 3-0 lead in the second before Bethel Park's Vince Vituccio broke the shutout.

Team White surged in the third. Peters Township's Conrad Deemer, Canon-McMillan's Johnny MacDonald and Mt. Lebanon's Zach Rudoy scored in the first 1:33.

“Mainly, we just had to get rolling,” said Mt. Lebanon's Wyatt George, who assisted on all three goals. “I had never played with these guys before. After getting the feel of playing with everyone, we really started to bear down, crash the net and have fun.”

Anthony Sandora (Mt. Lebanon) and Vituccio added goals in the third to lift Team White.

“This is a lot of fun,” George said. “It's always fun to play with a different bunch of guys. After playing against them, it's fun to come together and have a little fun on the weekend.”

Class 2A

Montour's Dustin Geregach tallied a hat trick to lead Team White to a 7-4 win over Team Blue.

“It felt pretty good. It was just a blast being out there with everybody and meeting new people,” he said. “It was nice making some new friends. It's something I'll remember forever.”

Team White took control early as it built a 3-1 lead on goals from Jarrett Warrick (North Hills), Zachary Kutch (Armstrong) and Geregach. Will Scurci, Geregach and Kutch scored in the second period for a 6-2 advantage.

Geregach, a sophomore, completed the hat trick in the third period.

Jared Gerger (Hempfield), Devin Rohrich (Upper St. Clair), Cameron Wycich (Shaler) and Gavin Patrick (Penn-Trafford) scored for Team Blue.

Class A

A three-goal flurry in the second gave Team White a lead and it held off a Team Blue charge for a 7-6 win.

Ryan Murdock (Deer Lakes) scored twice to lead Team White. His second was an empty-netter and gave his squad a two-goal edge with 30.7 seconds to go. It turned out to be the winner as Team Blue scored just before the final horn.

“The first one (into an empty net) I missed. I got another opportunity and buried it,” Murdock said.

Team White overcame a hat trick from West Allegheny's Kellen Almady. He scored the game's first two goals and tied it at 4-all early in the third.

Kiski Area's Austin Lapiana and Greensburg Central Catholic's Stephen Kendrish added goals in the third period for Team White.

“It was a competitive game. It was a lot of fun,” Murdock said. “There were a lot of skilled players out there. We just talked in the locker room about trying to keep the lead. Whenever they got a quick one, we were able to get it back.”

Division 2

Tyler Stewart sparked a four-goal second period for Team Blue in its 5-3 win over Team White.

The Burrell sophomore, who leads D2 in scoring with 55 points, set up Team Blue's first goal from Ringgold's Evan Eberlein. He had the helper on Burrell teammate Logan Schoepf's tally and scored the final goal of the second period for a 4-2 lead. Central Valley's Noah Yerdon had the other Team Blue goal in the period.

“It was fun — scoring a goal and getting some assists was nice. It was pretty fun to be a part of this game. I had a lot of fun out there and I am sure all the players did, too,” Stewart said. “At first, we were just messing around because it was an all-star game. Then, we saw it was just like a regular game, so we said we might as well try to win it. Once we got that lead, it was pretty relieving. We could focus on little things more after that.”

Both teams traded goals in the third period. Eberlein finished with a goal and two assists in the win.

Joe Sager is a freelance writer.

Tags: Burrell, Butler, Connellsville, Indiana, Moon, Peters Township, Pine-Richland, Plum