Peters Township wins after improbable run

Franklin Regional and Plum come up short in championship matches

Peters Township forward Will Barnes knew exactly where he needed to be when he took the ice for a late Indians power play in the Pennsylvania Cup championship against Holy Ghost Prep

“Going onto the ice, Coach [Jake] Robash looked at me and said we need someone in front of the net and that’s what I do,” Barnes said. “I go in front of the net.”

Taking a few tough hits in the low slot was worth it, though, as Barnes knocked home a shot past Holly Ghost Prep goaltender Tristan Devine in the third period for the game-winning goal as Peters Township (148-2) capped off an improbable postseason with a 2-1 victory against the Firebirds at RMU Island Sports Center to win their fifth state title and first since 2014.

Peters Township took an early lead on a power-play goal from Ryan Luppe at 8:05 of the first period.

“Sometimes a good three weeks makes a whole year and that’s the truth,” Peters Township coach Rich Tingle said. “We weren’t all that great and you ask them, I busted their tails at practice and Jan. 31, at that point, they hated me.”

To get to this point, Peters Township had to go through the top three seeds in the PIHL Class 3A Penguins Cup tournament, No. 3 Canon-McMillan, No. 2 North Allegheny and No. 1 Central Catholic, then beat the Flyers Cup champion Firebirds in the final.

Tingle also made the decision at the beginning of the postseason to pull his season-long starting goaltender, all-star Wesley Kaylor, and instead start freshman Alex Wilbert.

That move paid off as Wilbert went 4-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average and stopped 108 of 112 shots against (.964 save percentage) including 37 against Holy Ghost Prep.

“It’s been unreal,” Wilbert said. “I didn’t play much and, winning the state championship, there’s no words to describe it.”

Class 1A

Franklin Regional forward Oldrich Virag had the game on his tape when he broke in alone on West Chester Bayard Rustin goaltender Jason Grande three minutes into overtime of the Pennsylvania Cup Class 1A final.

When the Golden Knights netminder stopped the Panthers sophomore cold, Matt Owens counterattacked and took the puck the other way for a 1-on-1 with Daniel Soltesz.

Owens shook loose at center ice and beat the Franklin Regional goaltender on the forehand at 3:07 of overtime to give Bayard Rustin (19-2-2) a 2-1 victory against the Panthers (20-2-0) in the championship.

“I think it was just a little fatigue on our defense,” Franklin Regional coach Brian Kurtz said. “They got behind us and Danny bit on the first move and he couldn’t recover to get back to that post.”

With the win Bayard Rustin became only the third team to win four consecutive championships, joining Class 3A Meadville (1992-96) and Class 1A Bishop McCort (1994-97). It is also the second consecutive year the Golden Knights defeated Franklin Regional after a 6-0 victory in 2016.

“It’s great to be in that world and that’s where we are now,” Bayard Rustin coach Nick Russo said.

Franklin Regional scored its first goal in a state title game when Jamie Mauro fired a wrist shot that got past Grande at 11:51 of the first period. The Panthers had gone 62:51 in state finals play without a goal.

Class 2A

Plum had one of the best lines in the PIHL this season with Nolan Puhala, Dillon Joyce and Anthony Borriello. The three combined to average four goals and nearly nine points per game.

In the Class 2A Pennsylvania Cup championship against Downingtown East, they only scored one time and it wasn’t enough as the Cougars won their first state crown with a 3-1 victory against the Mustangs.

“They were good. That team was very good,” Plum coach Vincent Somma said. “We had our chances, we didn’t capitalize and that’s how the game works.”

Downingtown East took the play to Plum throughout the early going and jumped out to an early lead as Justin Cohn scored at 7:08 of the first period and Jonathan Carreiro at 10:33 of the second to put the Cougars up, 2-0.

“It’s always nice to be playing ahead,” Hendricks said. “We stuck to our game plan and the kids really gave everything they had mentally and physically.”

On a late power play, Luca Pisani scored a muchneeded insurance goal for Downingtown East that closed out the scoring.

“I thought we were going to come back at that point, but the third period we were tired.” Somma said. “They’re a very good hockey team, they played structured, they played fast and it was a good game.”

Downingtown East dropped its two previous appearances in the finals, to Latrobe in 2010 and to Erie Cathedral Prep in 2015.