PIHL playoff capsule: Pine-Richland vs. Upper St. Clair
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Sunday, March 17, 2019 | 9:54 PM
Pine-Richland’s Brandon Kushar uts a shot on Greater Latrobe goaltender Gage Handwork during the second period of their Penguins Cup Class AA semifinal Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2019, at RMU Island Sports Center.
Upper St. Clair’s Quinn Giacobbe scores on Franklin Regional goaltender Daniel Soltesz during overtime in their Penguins Cup Class AA semifinal Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2019, at RMU Island Sports Center.
PIHL Penguins Cup Class AA Championship
Pine-Richland (20-0-1) vs. Upper St. Clair (16-3-2)
8:30 p.m. Monday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex
How they got here: Pine-Richland: def. Latrobe, 5-2, in the semifinals and Hempfield, 8-4, in the quarterfinals. Upper St. Clair: def. Franklin Regional, 9-8, in overtime in the semifinals and Baldwin, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.
Goals for/against: Pine-Richland, 125/38; Upper St. Clair, 120/88
About Pine-Richland: The Rams will try to win their fourth Penguins Cup title and first since they won three in a row from 2006-08. They won 8-3 over the Panthers in the lone regular-season meeting Dec. 3. Pine-Richland won the Northwest Division. William Studt, who had 31 points in the regular season, leads the Rams with five points (one goal, four assists). Jared Eggert led Pine-Richland with 32 points in the regular season, but he hasn’t registered a point in the playoffs. Brandon Kashur, Jordan Rosenbaum and Alexander Rihn have scored two goals apiece in the playoffs. Rams goalie Daniel Stauffer had a .909 save percentage in the regular season with two shutouts. Pine-Richland sports a 4-0 goal advantage in the first period in the postseason.
About Upper St. Clair: Quinn Giacobbe punched the Panthers’ ticket to the final with a goal nine minutes into overtime after a wild back-and-forth semifinal with Franklin Regional. The Panthers won the Southeast Division. Giacobbe had a hat trick in the semifinals and has four goals in the postseason. Upper St. Clair has five Penguins Cup titles. Their last was in 2011, and all of them were in Class AAA. Devin Rohrich (51 points) and Anthony Carone (50) were the top two in points in Class AA in the regular season, and they’ve continued scoring in the playoffs. Carone has seven points (two goals), and Rohrich has six points (three goals). Giacobbe finished fifth in the scoring race with 41 points. The Panthers have won 10 of their last 12 games.
Jerin Steele is a freelance writer
Tags: Pine-Richland, Upper St. Clair
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