Last Monday, goaltender Tyler Funk turned in a star-making performance to lead the Penn-Trafford hockey team to its first PIHL Penguins Cup championship.
On Saturday, Funk was at it again.
Funk stopped 32 of 33 shots to lead Penn-Trafford to a 3-1 victory over North Penn in the Class 2A Pennsylvania State High School Hockey Championships in West Chester.
It’s the first state championship for Penn-Trafford and the first for a Westmoreland County team since Latrobe won in 2013.
“Key to the victory was our fight and our discipline,” coach Brian Zagorac said. “We never gave up, and we played so structurally sound and kept our heads in tough moments, which I think was a huge advantage for us. We never folded, only got tougher.”
Penn-Trafford made national news when it used a “Fake Michigan” play to score one of its goals in the Penguins Cup final against Hempfield.
On Saturday, the Warriors took a 1-0 lead on a play no coach could have drawn up.
Zach Grkman took a pass from Nico Castelli and lobbed a puck on net from just inside the center red line that somehow eluded goalie Andy Norton and gave Penn-Trafford the lead that Funk protected the rest of the game.
Penn-Trafford’s second goal, which came with about nine minutes left in regulation, also came on a freak play. Liam Lehneke fired a wrister from the slot that went wide of the right post, bounced off the end boards, got through Norton and sat in the crease until Brock Bienemann tapped it across the goal line.
“So proud of these guys,” Zagorac said. “ ‘Deserve’ is an overused word, but these guys earned this. This was a battle, and we came out on top. Finish the playoffs without ever trailing and never being tied after 0-0. Proud to be a P-T Warrior.”
Funk held the score at 2-0 until North Penn scored with its goalie pulled with 1:01 to play. Gabriel Dunn backhanded a bouncing centering pass into the slot, and Nolan Shingle got the puck past Funk to make it 2-1.
Funk’s work wasn’t done. Danial Cabrales skated up the right wing and made a power move toward the far post when the Penn-Trafford goalie flicked out his right pad to maintain the lead with 45 seconds to go.
“Just come out and give the same effort every time,” Funk told the Sports Fan Base Network after the game. “Shut ’em down. Just another game.”
When Ben Zierski added an empty-net goal with 6 seconds left, the celebration was on for Penn-Trafford.
Norton ended up stopping 36 of 38 shots for North Penn.
Class 3A
Seneca Valley 7, Holy Ghost Prep 2 – Braeden Morin and Cooper Hoehn each recorded hat tricks as Seneca Valley rolled past Holy Ghost Prep to repeat as state champs and give the PIHL a three-game sweep in the finals Saturday.
John Sroka III had a goal and an assist and Carson Lindberg and Jacob Gilbert each dished out two assists for Seneca Valley, which blew open a game that was tied 1-1 after the first period with goals by Morin and Hoehn early in the second period. Chris Nichols stopped 27 of 29 shots to earn the win in net.
Class A
Quaker Valley 6, Hershey 2 – Jace Vasbinder and Ben McHenry scored two goals each as Quaker Valley defeated Hershey to win the Class A stat championship for the third time Saturday at Ice Line in West Chester. The Quakers also took titles in 2006 and 2012.
Max Modrovich added a goal and an assist, Charlie Pyle also scored and defensemen Luke Koehler and Jack Watson recorded four and two assists, respectively. Ian Lorang picked up the win in goal, saving 28 of 30 shots. Quaker Valley finished with 33 shots, including 21 in the second period. Cole Umberger had one goal and one assist for Hershey.