Pine-Richland defeated North Allegheny twice during the regular season in one-goal games, so it was no surprise when the PIHL Class 3A Penguins Cup championship was also decided by one goal.
It also might not be a surprise, then, that it was the Rams emerging victorious, 3-2, at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry to capture the fifth title in school history.
"It’s meaningful,” said Rams coach Jordan Yoklic said. "It’s special for me. It’s special for the team. It’s special for all the families, the organization, the friends, everybody. All the way back to August hockey through tonight, it’s special to earn one of the two goals on the year.”
After a scoreless first period, the Rams broke the ice with a pair of power-play goals in the first 6:20 of the second period.
Ben Bailey’s shot from the left point bounced off a couple of players in front of the net before finally caroming off captain Zach Howard’s leg and behind Cam Junker to give Pine-Richland a 1-0 lead 42 seconds into the period.
It was another strange carom that gave the Rams a two-goal lead. Junker got a piece of a Cullen Campbell shot that also bounced of the crossbar. The puck settled to the left of the net where freshman Carson Verszyla tucked it home for his first goal of the playoffs.
Yoklic was happy with the start of the second period and even more so with his power-play unit.
"We had a good start, and we take pride in special team situations, especially the power play,” he said. "We want pucks to get to the net, and we want our guys to be around the net. Good things happen when you go there.”
"I said it in the pregame: We have to stay out the box,” said North Allegheny coach Andrew Seiss. "We just had the little lapse, and that was costly.”
Despite being outshot and outplayed through the first two periods; No. 2 North Allegheny came on with big push in the third period that started with a power-play goal of its own.
Evan Kerber tapped home a cross-crease pass from Ryan Jackman 1:42 into the final period to make the score 2-1.
Just over four minutes later, freshman Colton Andrigehtti, who was in the penalty box for the Tigers goal, scored what proved to be the game-winner.
Howard pounced on a turnover and fed the puck in front, where Andrighetti was able to bat the puck into the cage to restore Pine-Richland’s two-goal lead.
North Allegheny pulled Junker late in the game and with 1:04 left, the Tigers made it 3-2.
Gianni Lochiatto took a pass from Luke Walkauskas and put the puck behind Brett Sudac to give the Tigers hope.
North Allegheny got the puck again with Junker pulled, but Sudac and the Pine-Richland defense were able to withstand the final push and come away with another one-goal victory.
"We weathered the storm at the end,” said Yoklic. "We’ve been in those types of scenarios before, but maybe not to this magnitude.”
Despite the disappointing ending, Seiss was proud that his team did not quit.
"What an effort by those kids in that third period,” he said. "That puck was just sitting on that goal line (late in the game). They did not quit. They did everything we asked in the period. (Pine-Richland is) a good team and when you are playing good teams, it such a fine line.”
"Fantastic,” Yoklic said of his team’s defensive effort. "We did what we had to do. We blocked shots, and we were boxing out in front of the net. Sudac was seeing the puck fairly well, especially at the end there.”
Junker finished with 30 saves for North Allegheny, while Sudac stopped 27 shots to earn the win for Pine-Richland.
North Allegheny finishes the season at 16-5-2.
The top-seeded Rams stand at 18-4-1. The championship was the first for the Rams since winning the 2A title in 2019. Pine-Richland gets a chance to try to win its fourth Pennsylvania Cup and first since 2019 this weekend.
Yoklic has been a part of a state championship team as a player and a coach and said the team is looking forward for the chance at the state title.
"We always talk about the next shift and the next opportunity, and this is the next opportunity, but it’s a different situation,” he said. "To be honest, I wish the game was in another week. But we’ll certainly enjoy this win and see how the next couple of days go, but we’ll certainly start ramping up for Saturday.”
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The Rams will face the Flyers Cup Class 3A champion — the winner of Wednesday night’s game between LaSalle College and Malvern Prep — at the Haverford Skatium at 5 p.m. Saturday.
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